Podcast Summary: This Is Your FBI: The Unwelcome Guest

Podcast: Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Episode Aired: December 14, 2025 (original broadcast: January 25, 1946)
Series: This Is Your FBI
Episode Title: The Unwelcome Guest

Episode Overview

This classic radio drama from the This Is Your FBI series dramatizes a case file involving extortion, blackmail, and murder in middle-class America. The story centers around John and Emma Fulton, a respectable married couple whose lives are upended when Leonard Parker, a menacing figure from John’s secret past, becomes an unwelcome “guest” in their home. The episode unfolds as the FBI unravels a bank robbery case, setting the stage for a tense collision between criminal cunning, family loyalty, and federal justice.

Key Discussion Points & Episode Structure

1. Setting the Scene in Suburban America

• The tranquil Hudson River Valley is depicted as “attractive country” with well-ordered, “middle class” lives suddenly disrupted by crime ([03:49]).
• The Fultons, John and Emma, introduce the typical domestic routine, setting up the emotional impact of the threat to come.

2. The Arrival of the Unwelcome Guest

• Leonard Parker, claiming to be an old friend, appears at the Fulton home ([05:52]).
• John is initially unable to place Parker until it’s revealed they were once prison escapees together 21 years prior ([06:14]).
• Parker’s intent becomes clear—he’s on the run after a bank robbery, the police are after him, and he strong-arms his way into staying at the Fultons’ home ([07:04], [08:01]).
• Key quote:
  • Leonard Parker: “I'm so hot right now that if you touched me, you'd burn yourself.” ([06:52])

3. Criminal Pressure and Blackmail

• Parker’s presence quickly overwhelms the household. He is rude, domineering, and makes no effort to conceal his real purpose.
• When Emma pushes John to evict Parker, Parker threatens to reveal John’s criminal past:
  • “You want me to tell your wife about you?” ([11:04])
• Parker exploits John’s secret, coercing both him and Emma into submission and complicity.

4. The FBI Investigation

• Agents Beckley and Preston parallel the action as they follow leads in a bank robbery and trace the suspects ([08:20], [12:34]).
• A key clue—a hotel key—ties Leonard Parker and his accomplice to the area, and a phone call links them to John Fulton ([13:07]).
• The FBI’s dogged detective work provides a procedural counterpoint to the domestic drama.

5. Escalation: Violence and Deceit

• After Parker kills his accomplice and begins physically dominating John, the episode’s tension reaches new heights ([17:33], [18:27]).
• Memorable exchange:
  • Emma Fulton: “I insist that we call a doctor.”
  • Leonard Parker: “Shut up. I'm giving the orders around here. And one more thing... If [the FBI] call again, you tell them there's no such person here as Leonard Parker.” ([18:38])

6. The FBI Closes In

• The agents arrive at the Fulton home, but Emma, under Parker’s threat, lies to protect her husband—and, by extension, Parker ([19:49]).
• Quote:
  • Agent Beckley, noticing inconsistencies:
    “That story about Fulton being driven to the station's a phony... There isn't a fresh mark in the snow in front of the garage.” ([21:26])

7. Parker’s Escape and Capture

• Parker forces Emma to flee with him, planning their escape using an alias—Ralph Cousins—his “respectable” alter ego in New York ([24:45], [25:12]).
• The FBI cracks the case due to a label found in a suit—Parker’s inattention to this detail is his undoing.
• Dramatic reveal:
  • Agent Preston:
    “The suit you were wearing had your name inside. That suit is going to convict you for murder.” ([27:01])
  • Parker, wryly:
    “You know something? I always liked that suit, too.” ([27:08])

8. Aftermath and Moral

• Parker is tried, convicted, and sentenced to death.
• The narrator underscores: “John Fulton's life might have been spared if he had followed the simple instructions issued by the FBI... Criminals cannot be defeated by ordinary, decent, law abiding citizens unless those citizens avail themselves of the help that lies at the other end of every telephone line.” ([27:24])

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On criminal mentality:

  • Narrator: “Those others, like Leonard Parker, suffer from too exalted an opinion of themselves, an opinion which makes it beneath their dignity to work for a living.” ([17:33])

• John decides to come clean to Emma:

  • John Fulton: “I never wanted to keep this story from the world... But I did want to keep it from Emma because I thought it would hurt her. Now that she knows, I'm willing to take my chances with the law.” ([14:45])

• Chilling threat:

  • Parker, to Emma: “Do as I say. Because if you don't, you'll be very, very dead.” ([25:46])

Important Timestamps

• 03:49 – Narrator paints the setting and introduces the Fultons
• 05:52 – Parker reconnects with John, reveals their past
• 08:20 – FBI agents begin to investigate the bank robbery
• 11:04 – Parker threatens John with exposure
• 14:53 – John confesses his past to Emma
• 18:27 – Parker enforces dominance through violence
• 19:49 – FBI visits the Fulton home; Emma lies to protect John
• 21:26 – FBI agents suspect Emma’s story is false
• 24:45 – Parker takes Emma hostage; prepares escape
• 27:01 – The FBI uses the suit label to identify Parker and secure his capture
• 27:24 – Moral lesson and outcome delivered by narrator

Summary & Tone

The episode delivers its story in the matter-of-fact yet suspenseful tone typical of the golden age of radio crime drama—combining personal peril, moral dilemmas, and the procedural confidence of the FBI. The tense dynamic between Leonard Parker and the Fultons, the inexorable pressure of the investigation, and the fateful undoing of the criminal all unfold in crisp, rapid exchanges, culminating in a traditional moral: that cooperation with law enforcement is both the safest and most responsible course.

This episode serves as a vivid, cautionary tale about the danger of secrets, the peril of old crimes revisited, and the vital role of the law.