Beyond Midnight - Insect Man aka Insects

Summary

Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Beyond Midnight – Insect Man aka Insects
Date: March 12, 2026
Host: Harold’s Old Time Radio
Source: “Beyond Midnight” radio drama by Michael McKay

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Episode Overview

This episode of Harold’s Old Time Radio presents “Insect Man” (also known as “Insects”) from the classic supernatural radio series Beyond Midnight. The story revolves around Bill Tinsley, a man afflicted by an intense, irrational fear and hatred of insects, rooted in a traumatic childhood event. As those around him try to help, the episode delves into paranoia, psychological unraveling, and the blurred lines between reality and delusion — all with the eerie atmosphere of Golden Age radio.
Filled with dramatic tension and tight psychological horror, the story explores mankind’s relationship with the insect world, the power of the mind, and the eternal struggle between good and evil.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Highlights

1. Bill Tinsley’s Obsession and Paranoia

• Introduction to Bill: We are introduced to Bill obsessively killing any insect in sight–flies, mosquitoes, ants, moths–with a “magnificent fly swatter.”
  • Notable Quote:

    “Tinsley destroyed anything that buzzed or flew. Destroyed it instantly with one stroke of his magnificent fly swatter.” (03:48, Bill Tinsley)

• Extreme Phobia: Bill’s phobia pushes him to spend vast sums on insecticides and anti-termite measures.
  • Notable Quote:

    “You mean the $100,000 bucks you’ve sunk into your insect sprays and ant pastes in the last four weeks? Someone should stop you.” (06:08, Narrator/Commentator)

• Paranoia Builds: Bill believes insects are agents of an evil force, relaying information and overseeing humanity.

2. The Childhood Trauma

• Explanation of the Trauma: Bill’s deep-seated terror is traced to his youth, when his father died in a hunting accident, his corpse swarmed by insects.
  • Notable Quote:

    “The entire body, the arms, the legs and the shattered contour of the face was clustered over and covered with scuttling, twitching insects, bugs, ants, flies. Insects of every description drawn by the sweet odor of blood.” (12:26, Narrator/Commentator)

• Irony of the Father’s Profession: The elder Tinsley had been a renowned naturalist—killed by the very creatures he studied.

3. Attempts at Intervention

• Concerned Friends: Bill’s secretary/friend and a psychiatrist friend, Susan, attempt to intervene, interpreting his fears as paranoia or a delusional disorder.
  • Notable Quote:

    “I may be a psychiatrist, but I wouldn’t stand a chance unless Tinsley came to see me. I couldn’t help him unless he wanted help.” (06:47, Susan)

• The Psychiatric Approach: Susan tries both subtle and direct means (even going on a date with Tinsley) to unravel his obsessions.
  • Notable Quote:

    “He refuses to talk when there’s an insect in the room... He’s afraid they’ll discover what he knows about.” (14:08, Susan)

4. Theories and Delusions

• Tinsley’s Theory of Evil:
  • Monologue:

    “Have you ever realized how cruel the world is?... We are being watched constantly. Is there ever a moment in our lives that passes without a fly buzzing in our room?... They listen to our prayers, our hopes, our fears.” (18:02–18:48, Tinsley & Narrator)

  • He expands on how insects “collect data” for a dark force managing evil.
  • Bill is convinced that killing insects is a campaign against evil, and that talking openly is dangerous, as the insects will report on him.

5. The “Experiment”: Facing His Fear

• Friends’ Proposal: They propose Bill conduct all his activities openly for eight weeks, believing this will prove the irrationality of his fears.
  • Notable Quote:

    “If nothing happens to you in eight weeks, then you have to agree that your fears are baseless.” (20:05, Susan)

• Tinsley’s Reluctant Agreement:
  • Notable Quote:

    “They’ll kill me.” (20:14, Tinsley)
    “If you die, we die too. And I value my life greatly.” (20:15, Susan)

6. Climax and Tragic Conclusion

• The Final Night: As the experiment progresses, Bill grows more frantic. Strange incidents (such as a fly landing on a piece of chicken at midnight) feed his paranoia.
• Tinsley’s Breakdown and Demise: Bill’s paranoia peaks; after a terrifying incident, he is found dead under mysterious, grotesque, possibly supernatural circumstances—his body ravaged by sudden disease.
  • Notable Quote:

    “Is that you lying there, Bill? Your body changed by leprosy and gangrene, bubonic and malaria, tuberculosis. All at once.” (25:33, Bill Tinsley)

  • His secretary sets Bill's corpse and car aflame, horrified at the inexplicable, rapid decay.
• Apocalyptic, Bleak Epilogue: The story ends with the survivors feeling stalked by the same fate, as the narrator’s own body begins to exhibit signs of decay.
  • Notable Quote:

    “Now I realize why Bill Tinsley lived so long. While his efforts were directed against insects, birds and animals who were representatives of the good forces, the evil forces let him go ahead... But when he comprehended that bacteria were the real enemy, then the evil ones demolished him.” (27:58, Narrator/Commentator)

  • Final chilling lines:

    “They’re killing me. I’m dying. As I write this, believe me, no story—I’m telling, no flesh of me—will slide like a diseased cloak from my skeleton. But I must write on and on until I must...” (28:26–29:04, Susan/Bill Tinsley)

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Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• The “Million Dollar” Mistake:

  “He was the man who threw away a million dollars on fly spray, some insecticides and ant killers.” (00:47, Bill Tinsley)

• Bill’s Outlandish Paranoia:

  “We are being watched constantly... Billions of insects. Checking, reporting, correlating, controlling humanity.” (18:02–18:52, Tinsley)

• Susan’s Rational Plea:

  “If nothing happens to you in eight weeks, then you have to agree that your fears are baseless.” (20:05, Susan)

• Bill’s Realization:

  “What I’m doing with insecticides is merely the beginning of the campaign. It may take a thousand years, but in the end, we can liberate ourselves.” (20:46, Tinsley)

• Final Descent:

  “No flesh of me will slide like a diseased cloak from my skeleton. But I must write on and on...” (28:27–29:04, Bill Tinsley/Susan)

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Important Timestamps & Segments

• Opening Mood & Flashback: 00:47 — Bill’s narration, setting the theme of obsession.
• Origin Story (Traumatic Event): 11:06 — Backstory of Tinsley's father and the psychological seed for Tinsley’s fear.
• First Psychiatric Consult: 06:47 — Susan the psychiatrist’s attempts to diagnose/help Tinsley.
• Theory of Insect Surveillance: 18:02 — Tinsley’s “evil insects” speech.
• Experiment Proposal: 20:03 — The friends’ challenge to test Bill’s fear.
• Climax & Death: 23:46–25:33 — Bill’s horrifying demise.
• Epilogue & Legacy: 27:58–29:04 — The narrator’s chilling last words.

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Tone & Atmosphere

• The episode combines classic radio drama suspense with psychological horror and a creeping sense of paranoia.
• Dialogues are delivered with chilly earnestness, enhancing the sense of doom and inevitability.
• The mood transitions from skepticism and concern to dread and terror as events unfold and reality seems to dissolve.

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Summary Value

Listeners are drawn deeply into the surreal terror of “Insect Man,” a tale as much about the power of fear and traumatic memory as about the supernatural. The episode’s unsettling conclusion leaves lingering questions about the nature of evil, the limits of rationality, and the consequences of seeing monsters in every shadow.

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If you enjoy atmospheric radio horror with psychological depth and vintage flair, this episode of “Beyond Midnight” will not disappoint.

Transcript

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[Bill Tinsley]

In this room, the sound of the tapping of the typewriter keys is like knuckles on wood, and my perspiration falls down upon the keys that are being punched by my trembling fingers. A mosquito circles above my bent head. There are flies buzzing and colliding with the wire screen around the naked yellow bulb in the ceiling. A bit of torn paper that is a moth flutters. An ant crawls up the wall. I watch it, the aunt with bitterness. How mistaken we three were, Susan and I and William Tinsley. Whoever you are, wherever you are, if you hear this, do not ever again crush the ants upon the sidewalk. Do not smash the bumblebee that thunders by your window. Do not annihilate the cricket upon your heart. You see, that's where Tinsley made his colossal error. You remember Tinsley? He must have. He was the man who threw away a million dollars on fly spray, some insecticides and ant killers. And there was this man's secretary just after the Second World War. I was with him when he wandered into a web and became lost forever from human eyes. Beyond Midnight. Biotechs the new Soak and Pre Wash Powder presents Beyond Midnight by Michael McKay

[Narrator/Commentator]

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[Bill Tinsley]

There was never a spot for a fly or a mosquito in Tinsley's office. Tinsley destroyed anything that buzzed or flew. Destroyed it instantly with one stroke of his magnificent fly swatter. I shall never forget that instrument of death. Tinsley carried the swatter to work with him one morning in July, 1946. By the week's end, if I happened to be in one of the filing alcoves out of sight when Tinsley arrived, I could always tell of his arrival when I heard the swicking, whistling passage of his fly swatter through the air and the thump as it landed. People, I reckon, have a right to be as eccentric as they please, but Tim's lady was ridiculous.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Oh, hello, Steve.

[Bill Tinsley]

Already? Yeah, already. Before we start, would you mind cleaning away the corpses?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Right to sh. Little Philadelphia.

[Bill Tinsley]

Dear little. We'll invest money in your insect spray.

[Narrator/Commentator]

$5,000.

[Bill Tinsley]

Stop. 5,000. 5,000.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Advise immediate production.

[Bill Tinsley]

Sincerely, you think I'm crazy? Is that a P.S. are you talking to me? Oh, did you get that check for $1,000 off to the termite Control Company? One thing I like about my offices. All iron, cement, solid. Not a chance for termites.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Blast it, Steve. Has that been there all the time? Come on, help me find it. What?

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Why?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Quickly, Steve.

[Bill Tinsley]

Systematically.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Don't just sit there.

[Bill Tinsley]

Hold on. Hold up. Hey.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Stay out.

[Bill Tinsley]

Stay out. Don't open that door.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Don't come in. Come and help me. Steve, listen. I'm a secretary and a right hand

[Bill Tinsley]

stooge, not a spotter for high flying insights. I haven't got eyes in the back

[Narrator/Commentator]

of my head and neither have they.

[Bill Tinsley]

So you know what they do? They? They? Who are they? Never mind. Forget it. Don't talk about this to anyone. Bill, you should go and see a psychiatrist. Sure, sure, sure. And the psychiatrist will tell his wife and she tell others, and then they find out.

[Narrator/Commentator]

They're everywhere.

[Bill Tinsley]

Don't you understand?

[Narrator/Commentator]

I don't want to be stopped with my campaign.

[Bill Tinsley]

You mean the 100,000 bucks you've sunk into your insect sprays and ant pastes in the last four weeks? Someone should stop you.

[Narrator/Commentator]

You'll break yourself and me and the Stockholm. Shut up. You don't understand.

[Bill Tinsley]

Doesn't understand. How can he understand? How can anybody?

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Well, look, I may be a psychiatrist, but I wouldn't stand a chance unless Tindley came to see me. I couldn't help him unless he wanted help. I'll look him over for you if he insists so. For old times sake. But I have the fights lost if the patient won't cooperate.

[Bill Tinsley]

You've got to help me, Susan. He'll be stark raving in another month. I think he has delusions of persecution. Besides, I need him. I need my job. Just won't do for the guys. The first date worked out well. We laughed, we danced, we dined at the Brown Derby. Tinsley didn't suspect for a moment that the slender, soft voiced woman in his arms was a psychiatrist. Picking his reactions apart as they waltzed. We drove home that night in a happy mood. No, no, no, no. Wait, wait, wait. I remember now. I went, well, you're both wrong.

[Narrator/Commentator]

How many know?

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

No, no, it's.

[Narrator/Commentator]

What is it?

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Bill? Get hold of the wheel.

[Bill Tinsley]

M. Did you see it? Got in my face. I crushed it.

[Narrator/Commentator]

There, you see?

[Bill Tinsley]

Against the dash. 99% of all life in the world is insect life.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Steve. He's in a terrific complex from Cell. I'm having lunch with him tomorrow. He likes me. I might find out what we want to know. Oh, by the way, Steve, does he have any pets?

[Bill Tinsley]

I never owned any animal. He detests them.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Yeah, I expected that. Well, good night, Steve. See you tomorrow.

[Bill Tinsley]

The flies were breathing, thick and golden and buzzing like a million intricately fine electric machines in the pouring direct light of summer noon.

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[Bill Tinsley]

I went to see lawyer Remington, who had been Tinsler's family representative for 30 years even before Tinsley was born. Poor, poor Kingsley.

[Narrator/Commentator]

He was only 17 when it happened.

[Bill Tinsley]

It happened. What happened? Some accident or something.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Tinsley's father took him hunting up in the Lake Arrowhead region in the Autumn of his 17th year.

[Bill Tinsley]

Beautiful country.

[Narrator/Commentator]

I was hunting not far from there in that self. Same afternoon. Game was plenty. Tinsley's father leaned his gun against a bush to raise his shoe when a flurry of quail arose. They were frightened and they flew straight at the man and a boy. One of the birds knocked the gun over and it fired off and the charge hit still Tinsley senior full in the face.

[Bill Tinsley]

No.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Well, that wasn't the least of it. What followed was something indescribable to the boy. He ran five miles for help, leaving his father dead. Young Tinsley made it to the road and back with a doctor and two other men in something like six hours. Son was just going down when they hurried through the pine forest to where the father lay. The entire body, the arms, the legs and the shattered contour of the face was clustered over and covered with scuttling, twitching insects, bugs, ants, flies. Insects of every description drawn by the

[Bill Tinsley]

sweet odor of blood.

[Narrator/Commentator]

It wasn't possible to see one square inch of the elder Tinsley's body.

[Bill Tinsley]

Sorry. I just. Sorry.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Oh, you cut your hand. Glasses aren't made to squeeze that hard, boy.

[Bill Tinsley]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Let me get you something to put in your hand. So there it is. That's why Tinsley has the sphere of insects and animals.

[Bill Tinsley]

What.

[Narrator/Commentator]

What was his father's profession? I thought you knew. Why, the elder Tinsley was a very famous naturalist. Very famous indeed indeed. Ironic in a way, isn't it, that he should be killed by the very preachers he studied.

[Bill Tinsley]

Here, hold your hand out. Oh, that's not bleeding too much. Don't worry.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Yeah, Tony pretty well puts the finger on tin tail. Right. He's been brooding. Look around. See how easy it'd be to believe that insects really are the hurry they make them out to be. There's a monarch butterfly pacing us. Is it listening to our every word? Oh, it's gone now. Couldn't keep it up. Tinnigli the elder was a naturalist. Then what happened? He interfered. Busybodied where he wasn't wanted. So brain, they who control the animals and insects kill him night and day. For the last 10 years, that thought's been on Bill's mind.

[Bill Tinsley]

I can't say I blame him. My father had been killed in like fashion.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

He refuses to talk when there's an insect in the room. Isn't that so, Steve?

[Bill Tinsley]

Yeah. He's afraid they'll discover what he knows about.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Well, you can see how silly that is yourself, can't you? Well, he couldn't possibly keep it a secret, granting that butterflies and ants and houseflies are evil. Because you and I have talked about it, and others too. But he persists in this delusion that as long as he himself, there's no word in their presence. Well, he's still alive, isn't he? And if they are evil and fear of knowledge, wouldn't they have destroyed Monado?

[Bill Tinsley]

Maybe. Maybe they're playing with him. You know, Susan, it's strange. The elder Tinsley was on the verge of some great discovery when he was killed. It fits a pattern. The next Sunday morning, the three of us went to church. On the back of the bald head of the man in the pew in front of us, a fly crawled. For the first time in my life, I felt a strange interest, foreboding almost. And I had to resist a temptation to crush the insect there and then on the man's head. That Sunday afternoon, we went for a picnic. Bill Tinsley, Susan and I. She tried to get him to talk about his fear, but he merely pointed to the column of ants straggling across the tablecloth towards the jam. Shook his head angrily. I felt, however, that he was near breaking point and would confide in us pretty soon if we were only patient. We didn't have to wait long. Two days, in fact, For the man

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[Bill Tinsley]

So just for an Hour or two. You fine.

[Narrator/Commentator]

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[Bill Tinsley]

Tuesday evening, inside the locked study of Tinsley's house, he strode up and down. Susan and I. We stood, cocktails in hand. Metal. No maggots, ticks, wood beetles, termites, metal chairs. Metal everything. We're alone, aren't we? I think so. Good. Have you ever wondered about God and the devil and the universe? Steve. Susan.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Have you ever realized how cruel the world is?

[Bill Tinsley]

How we try to get ahead and every time we succeed a fraction we're hit over the head. The forces of evil.

[Narrator/Commentator]

How do these forces get around?

[Bill Tinsley]

I used to wonder. Now I know. We are being watched constantly. Is there ever a moment in our lives that passes without a fly buzzing in our room with us? Or an ant crossing our path or mosquito skirting around a netting? Small winged things we take no notice of. They follow us every day of our lives. They listen to our prayers, our hopes, our fears. They listen and then tell what there is to be told to him or it, or whatever dark force it is that sends them out into the world.

[Narrator/Commentator]

What are insects for? They're nothing but evidence to us mortals.

[Bill Tinsley]

Well, there's a very simple, although scientific answer. The government of them, of evil is a small body, perhaps only one. It can't be everywhere at the same time. So it sends the flies, the ants, the bugs. There are so many of them, and there have been for so many years. We pay no heed to them. Familiarity has blinded us to them. No, I don't believe any. Let me finish before you judge. Think of it. Billions of insects. Checking, reporting, correlating, controlling humanity. Come on, Bill. You're getting worse. Was that an accident when you were a kid? You let it feed on your mind. You can't go on, Steve.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

You won't help with talk like that. Bill. If what you think's true, these creatures are what you say they are. They must know about you. Why are you still alive? Why?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Because I have worked alone.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

But if there is a they or it evil force like you say, it must have known for a month now because Steve and I have talked about you without taking any precautions. Flies, ants, these things could have overheard us. Isn't this proof that you're wrong? Listen. Will you agree to an experiment?

[Bill Tinsley]

What kind of experiment?

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

From now on, all your Plans will be above board, in the open. If nothing happens to you in eight weeks, then you have to agree that your fears are baseless.

[Bill Tinsley]

But they'll kill me.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Listen, Steve and I will stake our lives on this. If you die, we die too. And I value my life greatly. We don't believe in your horrors, and we want to get you out of this.

[Bill Tinsley]

I. I don't know.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Eight weeks, Bill. You can go on manufacturing insecticides for the rest of your life if you want, but don't have a breakdown about it. The very fact of your living must prove they bear you no ill will. They've left you intact.

[Bill Tinsley]

What I'm doing with insecticides is merely the beginning of the campaign. It may take a thousand years, but in the end, we can liberate ourselves.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Carry on with your campaign, then, for eight weeks. Tell everyone about it. And then if you do die, evidence will be left behind you. The world will know. And if, when the eight weeks are up and you're still at liberty, you'll be free of these fears forever, Bill. Won't that be wonderful?

[Bill Tinsley]

Susan. Steve, I.

[Narrator/Commentator]

There.

[Bill Tinsley]

Quick.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Above your head.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Steve.

[Narrator/Commentator]

What? What?

[Bill Tinsley]

I got the darn thing. I. I got it. I. I don't know why. You stake your lives on this with me. I reckon. Eight weeks. We stayed with him at his house. That night I couldn't sleep because of the crickets outside. I wandered down into the kitchen. There I found Susan. We agreed that we were hungry and robbed the icebox and a leg of chicken in a carcass. We were about to plunge our nose knives into the carcass when a fly landed on it. We sat looking at the fly for five minutes. Then we put the carcass back into the icebox and went back to bed. Hungry. I don't know why. At least I didn't, not then. But I do now. Heaven help me, I do. Now. I still couldn't sleep. And then something happened that put sleep out of my mind forever. I don't mind hearing a woman scream occasionally, but a man's scream is so strange and is heard so rarely that when it comes, it turns your blood into an arctic torrent.

[Narrator/Commentator]

What's wrong? What is it?

[Bill Tinsley]

What?

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Steve, don't judge me. It'll happen to you. I was wrong. But so near the truth. So near. It doesn't matter. Keep away.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Steve.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Steve. We got D for dirt this time.

[Bill Tinsley]

He's gone out.

[Narrator/Commentator]

He's been in the shower. He's soaking wet. He's barely dressed.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

I know. This shower's stalling. He Got the burden out. He in the car. The godfather. Bill. Oh, Bill. You idiot. You fool. Slow down and wait for us, you nut.

[Bill Tinsley]

He went east. I'm certain of it.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Why would he. Under a scalding shower, Bird burning himself. Why?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Why, There he is. There's. There's his lights 500 yards ahead.

[Bill Tinsley]

That's all. And then suddenly it happened. Bill Tinsley's car slunk right down. Suddenly he.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

Something's wrong. He stopped.

[Bill Tinsley]

Stay here. Hear me? Stay here. Bill? Bill. He didn't answer me. He couldn't. He slumped in his seat, his head back. Didn't do any good to kill flies, did it, Belle? No good to kill moths, termites, mosquitoes. The evil ones are too clever for that. Kill every insect in the world. Destroy the dogs, the cats, the chipmunks, all the animals in the world. And it could be done, eventually. And then what have you got left? Bacteria. Microbes. That's why you took that scalding shower, isn't it, Bill? But you can't kill bacteria fast enough. They multiply and multiply.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Stay where you are.

[Bill Tinsley]

Is that you lying there, Bill? Your body changed by leprosy and gangrene, bubonic and malaria, tuberculosis. All at once. Verse, little heavens. The color and the smell of you. The rotting, fetid combination of disease. You are microbes, messengers. Millions of them, billions of them. Flies, maybe. Flies are good. Insects are good. Invented by a merciful God to watch over his peoples. Not to do them harm, though. But the evil ones, they were clever too. They invented bacteria. Go home now. I've got a job to do. Oh, Bill, you look so different. I drove Bill's car into the ditch and set fire to him. And it Susan drove away, not looking back. Now tonight, a week later, I'm typing this out for what it's worth, here and now, in the summer evening, with flies be buzzing about my room. Now I realize why Bill Tinsley lived so long. While his efforts were directed against insects, birds and animals who were representatives of the good forces. The evil forces let him go ahead. Tinsley was unaware that he was working for the forces of evil. But when he comprehended that bacteria were the real enemy, then the evil ones demolished him. In my mind, I still remember the picture of the elder Tinsley and his terrible death. Why would the quail, representatives of the good, kill him? The answer to this is clear now. Quail, too, have disease, and disease disrupts their natural setup. This caused them to strike down Tinsley's weapon, killing him and the ants in columns over the dead man. Perhaps they were bringing some to him from his Maker. The game of chess continues. Good against evil, and I am losing. Tonight I sit here writing and waiting, and my skin itches and softens. Susan is on the other side of town, safe from this knowledge, which I must set on paper, even if it kills me. Even as I write, the skin of my fingers changes color and loosens. My face is wet and slippery. My tongue tastes bitter and acid. My stomach stuck. There's a ringing in my ears.

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

They're killing me.

[Bill Tinsley]

I'm dying. As I write this, believe me, no story I'm telling, no flesh of me will slide like a diseased cloak from my skeleton. But I must write on and on until I

[Susan (Psychiatrist)]

must.

[Bill Tinsley]

It.