The Black Museum
The Hammerhead
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The Black Museum is a crime anthology presented by Orson Welles, who introduces each story from the perspective of a curator examining an object associated with a real criminal case. The object becomes a doorway into a tale of violence, deception, and investigation.
In “The Hammerhead,” the title points to the kind of unsettling artifact that gives the series its distinctive frame: an item preserved in the museum, connected to a crime and the people caught up in it. Welles’s narration guides listeners from the exhibit into a dramatized account, with actors bringing the case and its consequences to life.
The program blends documentary-style framing with suspenseful radio drama. Welles’s measured, atmospheric delivery lends the stories a grave, macabre tone, while the museum setting gives each episode the feeling of a guided encounter with the darker side of human behavior.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.