Ray Bradbury

The Scythe

English · Horror, Dramatic Readings, Science Fiction

Ray Bradbury’s “The Scythe” is a dramatic radio adaptation of his short story. A family arrives at an isolated farm during a time of hardship and discovers that its harvest carries an unsettling consequence. The story blends rural survival with the uncanny, turning an ordinary tool and a field of grain into sources of mounting dread.

Bradbury’s fiction often brings speculative ideas into intimate human situations, and this tale draws its tension from the choices facing people who are desperate to protect those they love. The radio format gives the story room to build atmosphere through voices, sound, and silence, while its central mystery gradually sharpens into a moral dilemma.

The result is a compact, eerie piece of storytelling: part suspenseful fable, part supernatural drama, with the emotional weight of a family under pressure. Its quiet setting and stark premise make “The Scythe” a memorable listen for fans of thoughtful, unsettling radio fiction.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.