The Mysterious Traveler

The Mysterious Traveler was a drama anthology series which ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System network for nine years, from December 1943 to September 1952. Created by Robert A. Arthur and David Kogan, it ran for nearly 400 episodes, of which only about 70 survive today. The show won the Edgar Award for best radio drama in 1953. Each week listeners were invited to ride a train with  a mysterious stranger (Maurice Tarplin) who always had a dark, mysterious tale to tell. These are the surviving fantasy, SF and supernatural episodes.
Episode 1: Beware of Tomorrow
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​All doesn't go to plan when a scientist constructs prototype robots using the brain tissue of an executed murderer.

​First broadcast: 9 April 1944.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Will Hare, Don Randolph, Phillip Clarke, Maurice Tarplin.
Episode 2: The Queen of The Cats

​A man comes to regret marrying a selfish, jealous, Egyptian woman with a strange love of cats.

First broadcast: 2 July 1944.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Sarah Burton, Staats Cotsworth, Sandra Gould.
Episode 3: They Who Sleep

A jealous woman finds a way to transfer her soul into the body of her sister.

First broadcast: 6 January 1945.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Phillip Clarke, Gertrude Warner, Helen Claire.
Episode 4: Death Comes For Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler is trapped in a U-Boat at the bottom of the Atlantic as he tries to flee to South America. The ghosts of Nazi victims scratch at the boat trying to get in.
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​First broadcast: 24 March 1945.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Tony Barrett, Lon Clark, Phillip Clarke.
Episode 5: If You Believe

Does a newspaper reporter's hype about an elderly scientist's experiments lead to the creation of a blob monster?

​First broadcast: 29 December 1946.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Chuck Webster, Louise Fitch, Wendell Holmes, Edgar Stehli, Bill Smith.
Episode 6: New Year's Nightmare

A drunk is run over at New Year and wakes a year later to find himself married to an unknown woman.

​First broadcast: 5 January 1947.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Louise Fitch, Stuart Brody, Hester Sondergaard, Mort Lorentz.
Episode 7: The Woman In Black

A newspaper reporter tries to track down a woman named Theda, who always seems to be around when murder is committed.

​First broadcast: 9 March 1947.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Chet Stratton, James Van Dyke, Wendell Holmes, Morton Lawrence, Joan Tompkins.
Episode 8: Mind Over Murder

The world's greatest mind reader intends to take his wife with him when he dies, by forcing her lover to murder her.

​First broadcast: 25 May 1947.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Jan Miner, Ian Martin, Maurice Tarplin, James Van Dyke, Rod Hendrickson.
Episode 9: Death Is The Judge

A brain surgeon and his wife buy an ancient Tibetan bell from a curio shop. The bell is reputed to have the power to bring the dead back to life, but only at the expense of another life.

​First broadcast: 15 June 1947.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Donald Buka, Eleanor Phelps, Juan Hernandez, Mort Lawrence, Maurice Tarplin, Cameron Prud'Homme.
Episode 10: The Locomotive Ghost

​After causing a train wreck, a train robber is pursued by the ghostly 'Judgement Special'.

​First broadcast: 6 July 1947.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, James McCallion, Cameron Andrews, Joseph Julian, Bryna Raeburn.
Episode 11: The Man The Insects Hated

​A scientist invents the perfect insecticide, but the insects don't like it one bit!

​First broadcast: 27 July 1947.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Eric Dressler, Helen Shields, Maurice Tarplin, Robert Dryden.
Episode 12: The Man In The Black Derby

A woman is convinced that Death is stalking her in the form of a man wearing a black hat.

First broadcast: 20 January 1948.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Grace Matthews, Ted Osborne, John Martin, Helen Tithers.
Episode 13: Death Writes A Letter

A ghost writes a letter to his brother warning of his impending death.

​First broadcast: 18 May 1948.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Roger De Koven, Eric Dressler, Bryna Raeburn.
Episode 14: Zero Hour

The Martians are coming! The Martians are coming!

​First broadcast: 22 June 1948.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Lawson Zerbe, Cameron Prud'Homme, Maurice Tarplin, Bill Smith.
Episode 15: The Man Who Vanished

An albino man, searching for a cure for his condition, discovers an invisibility serum.

​First broadcast: 6 July 1948.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Wendell Holmes, Roger De Koven, Art Carney, Maurice Tarplin, Richard Coogan.
Episode 16: Till Death Do Us Part

A man resorts to murder to escape his overbearing wife, but even death can't keep them apart.

​First broadcast: 11 November 1948.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Grace Coppin, Karl Swenson.
Episode 17: The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

​A diver searching for sunken treasure finds a ship guarded by a ghost.

​First broadcast: 6 January 1949.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Mason Adams, Santos Ortega, Maurice Tarplin.
Episode 18: The Last Survivor

The first space mission to Mars returns just in time to witness the destruction of the Earth by atomic weapons.

​First broadcast: 11 October 1949.
Original Story by Arch Oboler (adapted by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan).
​Cast: Maurice Tarplin, Ralph Bell, Robert Dryden.
Episode 19: The Man Who Tried To Save Lincoln

A man travels back in time in an attempt to prevent the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

​First broadcast: 7 February 1950.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Leon Janney, Ralph Bell, Maurice Tarplin, Lesley Woods, Raymond Edward Johnson.
Episode 20: The Big Brain

A computer scientists uses a state-of-the-art computer to predict the winners of horse races. He soon comes to the attention of his underworld bookie.

​First broadcast: 14 March 1950.
Original Story by Robert A. Arthur & David Kogan.
​Cast: Santos Ortega, Maurice Tarplin, Leon Janney, John Martin, Marilyn Erskine.