Suspense: The Mystery of the Marie Celeste (AFRS

Suspense: 12/27/55, episode 629
Brought to you by the Old Time Radio Researchers, courtesy of The Suspense Project
This is the second broadcast about the Marie Celeste, a ship found intact, adrift at sea at sea about 700 miles west of Gibraltar, but without its crew. The episode proposes a fictional solution to the strange 1872 maritime mystery. The ship still held cargo and personal belongings of the crew. Writer Gil Doud adds to the mystery by inserting a subplot of a murderer who attempts to escape police detection by stowing away on board just before the ship leaves port. He is found, but is allowed to stay, but they figure out that he is a murderer, and throw him in the brig. One morning he wakes up, still restrained, hears a lot of noise of people outside, and then silence. He realizes he is all alone on the ship as it starts moving again.
The original 1953-06-08 broadcast starred Van Heflin. Details about that broadcast and the history of Marie Celeste and speculations about its mystery are at suspenseprojec...
Two recordings of this broadcast have survived. The network recording has background noise, some distortion, and narrow range. The recently discovered Armed Forces Radio Service recording (AFRS#563) is in excellent full-range sound, and is the preferred recording.
The cast: John Dehner (Sam Newcomb), Joe Kearns (Police Officer + Captain Briggs), Paul Frees (Hubbard + Passerby), Vic Perrin (Narrator), Ben Wright (Bowle), Joe DuVal (Lindley the Deckhand), Helen Kleeb (Mrs. Grace Briggs), Larry Thor (Suspense Narrator)
Kearns and Frees played the same roles in the 1953 broadcast.
For more information visit suspenseprojec...