This series was written by Michael McCabe and was produced in South Africa. It
was a replacement for another series McCabe produced, called SF68. That series
adapted famous Sci-fi stories to radio, and it seems to have been the place
where McCabe honed his craft. The subject matter to Beyond Midnight was more
horror oriented, including madness, murder, and supernatural sleuths! What
survives today doesn't involve a horror host per se, but a few include framing
narration (by someone involved in the plot) while others just start up the story
with no announcer or lead-in whatsoever. So it's possible regular host or
announcer was left off the recordings. The host-- if there was one-- may have
only been heard by those who listened to this series when it first aired. It's
just another OTR mystery lost to time, but we're lucky to at least have some of
the recordings! According OTRplotSpot.com, there are 43 known episodes, of which
the recordings of 27 have survived.
Narrator: "I'm an old sailor . I cross the Atlantic pretty often. I have my
favorite ships you see. I have a habit of waiting for certain vessels I favor.
It may be prejudice, but I was only cheated out of passage once in my life. I
remember it very well. It was one June. And the Kenshatka, which was a
voyage I loved to travel on. I say was, because she emphatically no
longer is. She was uncommonly clean in the on aft. She had enough bluffing off
in the bows to keep her dry. And the lower births were more than double. She had
a lot of advantages. But I won't cross that duck pond in her again. Why? You'll
find out. You'll find out the terror that occurred in the upper birth in the
June crossing of the Atlantic that year, when all the drowned souls that ever
were, endeavored to drag me... Beyond Midnight!"
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