Beyond Midnight - Short Circuit

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Harold’s Old Time Radio — Beyond Midnight: “Short Circuit”

Podcast: Harold’s Old Time Radio
Host: Harold’s Old Time Radio
Episode: Beyond Midnight - Short Circuit
Date: March 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of Harold’s Old Time Radio presents the suspense-laden tale "Short Circuit" from the series Beyond Midnight. Set in the tradition of psychological horror, the story explores themes of paranoia, obsession with security, isolation, and the unintended consequences of extreme precaution. Listeners are taken deep into the heart of a state-of-the-art, fortress-like house built for the reclusive millionaire, Mr. Fassberger, whose desire for absolute protection spirals into a harrowing ordeal of entrapment—both physical and existential.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

1. The Allure and Danger of Security

• [00:30] The narrator, Mason, introduces the episode’s thematic focus: “It isn’t only the ghoul, the vampire, the undead dead… In this tale, there is nothing outwardly ghostly. It is a story of unease.”
• Mr. Fassberger desires “desolation, privacy and security” and spares no expense building a technological fortress.

2. A House Like a Safe

• [01:59–04:41] Mason gives Fassberger an extensive tour of the fully engineered home:
  • Magnetic, coded locks, steel fortified doors, one-way glass, steel shutters.
  • House is “completely sealed off from the rest of the world” and built for impenetrability; emergency generator and independent fuses for each room.
  • Notable quote:
    Fassberger [04:31]: “A steel fortress. Fassberger’s fortress. Impenetrable. Impregnable.”

3. Catastrophe Strikes

• [05:30–08:24] Demonstrating the shutters, Fassberger’s diamond ring becomes trapped in the window frame as the steel shutter closes.
  • An electrical fault occurs, blowing the fuse, locking his hand in place.
  • The house’s security becomes a prison when the power outage seals all exits.
  • Fassberger [07:34]: “A fraction of an inch either way and I’d have lost my blasted finger.”

4. Entrapment and Desperation

• [08:42–10:44] Unable to call for help (the phone is not connected), Mason realizes they can neither access the generator nor leave the house—a direct result of the security measures.
  • Mason [09:24]: “We’re sealed in, Mr. Fassberger.”
  • Fassberger [10:00]: "Not one it's impossible to escape from.”

5. Bargaining and Survival

• [14:57–16:26] Fassberger reveals his reasoning for the house—his belief in an imminent global crisis and his investment of £4 million in precious stones hidden in the house.
  • He offers Mason 10% if he can solve the predicament—then quickly reduces the offer.
  • Fassberger: “Every day I reduce it by 1%.”
  • Mason: "You mean after five days I get nothing?"
  • Fassberger: "After five days, we'll both be dead." (16:26)

6. Pain, Loss, and Sacrifice

• [17:10–17:54] In dire pain and with his finger likely dead, Fassberger attempts to sever it with a pen knife.
  • “If I want to cut it off, I'll … will cut it off.”

7. Aftermath and Isolation

• [18:26–20:56] Time passes. Mason dies, Fassberger is left alone—starving, dehydrated, and feverish.
  • He contemplates the horror of cannibalism but dismisses it.
  • Salvation finally arrives as rescuers open the shutter just as he is about to succumb.

8. A Change in Values

• [20:56–22:41] In the aftermath, Fassberger visits Mason’s widow, Mrs. Mason, offering part of the promised reward, and decides to sell the house:
  • Fassberger [21:49]: “I have acquired a new sense of values. I sought security only to find insecurity and danger. My plans didn’t really work.”
  • Mrs. Mason [21:59]: “Life is not an investment, Julius. You can’t really live in terms of profit and loss. In the long run, life is people.”

9. A Final Twist — Revenge

• [23:14–25:07] Mrs. Mason requests a final visit to the house. Once inside, she locks Fassberger in, leaving a letter revealing her vengeful intentions:
  • Mrs. Mason’s letter [25:07]: “You will… be standing alone in your electronic monstrosity, the house which became my husband’s tomb… I hold you responsible for his death. Therefore, I think it is only fair that you should share his fate. And after all, no one will miss you, will they?”
  • The episode ends with Fassberger realizing he is now doomed to suffer the same fate as Mason.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “A steel fortress. Fassberger’s fortress. Impenetrable. Impregnable.”
  — Fassberger [04:31]

• “We’re sealed in, Mr. Fassberger.”
  — Mason [09:24]

• “I have acquired a new sense of values. I sought security only to find insecurity and danger. My plans didn’t really work.”
  — Fassberger [21:49]

• “Life is not an investment, Julius. You can’t really live in terms of profit and loss. In the long run, life is people.”
  — Mrs. Mason [21:59]

• “When you read this… you will… be standing alone in your electronic monstrosity… I hold you responsible for his death. Therefore, I think it is only fair that you should share his fate. And after all, no one will miss you, will they?”
  — Mrs. Mason’s letter [25:07]

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |---------------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 00:30 | Introduction: Theme of psychological unease | | 01:39–04:41 | House tour: Fortress features explained | | 05:30–06:36 | Shutter accident: Fassberger trapped | | 07:34 | Consequences: Near loss of finger | | 09:24 | Realization: Entire house is a sealed prison | | 14:57–16:26 | Bargaining: Fassberger offers Mason a reward | | 17:10–17:54 | Desperation: Fassberger decides to cut off his finger | | 18:26–20:56 | Isolation and death: Mason dies, Fassberger is left alone | | 21:00–21:50 | Aftermath: Fassberger offers compensation, sells house | | 23:14–25:07 | Final twist: Mrs. Mason enacts her revenge |

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Final Thoughts

“Short Circuit” illustrates a chilling paradox: in the quest for total security, one can unwittingly create the perfect trap. Combining suspenseful storytelling with psychological depth, the episode builds atmosphere through its characters’ flawed decisions and eventual vulnerability. The twist ending, executed with grim irony by Mrs. Mason, highlights the theme that the walls we build to keep out danger may ultimately imprison us with our own regrets—and with no one left to notice.

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Transcript

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[Mason]

It isn't only the ghoul, the vampire, the undead dead, the scream in the night, or similar shafts of fear selected from the quiver of horror that spellbind the listener and fascinate the casual turner on of a radio switch. In this tale, there is nothing outwardly ghostly. It is a story of unease. And we challenge you to make your radio set silent without listening all the way to short circuit. Desolate. Yes, Mr. Fassburger. Though mind you, at this time of year, I mean, when spring comes and

[Fassberger]

the trees are in, I prefer it Desolate. Why do you imagine I bought 100 acres of ground on which to build a house?

[Mason]

Yes, of course, Mr. Fassbeck.

[Fassberger]

I want desolation, privacy and security. I can afford to get what I want. Well, let's take a look at the house.

[Mason]

And the two men, Mason and Fassberger, walked towards the building. The two men walked, each bent unknowingly upon his own individual journey beyond midnight. The main structure was completed about three weeks ago. Since then, the engineers have been installing and testing the electrical circuits. The final tests were only made yesterday in the builders. They were flown back to the continent immediately. The danger of information leaking out is remote. Shall we go in, Mr. Fassburger? Now, to all intents and purposes, this lock is an ordinary lock with an ordinary key. Mr. Fassburger. Nobody would suspect that the tumblers are actuated by coded magnets in the key and that they in turn operate six electronic locks which are built into the door and quite inaccessible. Laminated steel, you see. Like the walls and floors. It'd stop an armor piercing shell. And I'll switch the lights on. The whole ceiling glows, you see. Not. Not just a globe or collection of globes exact to your specification. Naturally, it'll look better with furniture. And in about nine months time when the decorations are completed.

[Fassberger]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Mason]

The windows. Deceptive, aren't they? You'd never imagine there'd be space for steel shutters to glide across. And you see here, the grass is polarized. You can see out, but nobody can see in.

[Fassberger]

And all the windows are the same?

[Mason]

Exactly. The whole house was built as a precision engineering job. The moment someone tries to tamper with the windows or the outside doors, the whole of the engineering electronic gadgetry comes into play. The house is completely sealed off from the rest of the world.

[Fassberger]

A steel fortress. 5 Glassberger's fortress. Impenetrable. Impregnable.

[Mason]

The main electricity supply for the whole house comes in here. That black box carries the power supply's fuses. Naturally, it's sealed, and only the company's electricians can open it. But every other room in the house is individually fused, so nothing can go wrong, you see? But now there is an emergency diesel generator in an outhouse at the back. So in the event of a power failure, you can generate your own electricity. We've thought of everything.

[Fassberger]

I hope so. The place is costing me nearly 250,000. I want perfection.

[Mason]

You're getting it. Now, if you'd care to go into the next room and watch the window, I'll just show you how rapidly and efficiently the steel shutters slide across. Then afterwards, I'll go outside and pretend to be a burglar.

[Fassberger]

Very, very.

[Mason]

Fosberger stood by the horizontal window and fingered the edge of the steel frame with his pudgy fingers. The big diamond ring in its flashy platinum setting Glittered richly in the subdued daylight. Ready?

[Fassberger]

Yes.

[Mason]

It happened so suddenly that his eyes were completely deceived. One minute there was a window looking out on bare, bleak countryside. Next instant, the window had gone, and in its place was a sheet of blue gray steel. Curiously, there was an agonizing pain in the middle of his right hand. Even more frightening, the hand suddenly seemed to have become immovably attached to the window frame. Mason.

[Fassberger]

Mason.

[Mason]

Train Sims.

[Mrs. Mason]

Go.

[Mason]

I think it's one of the fuses that's blown up.

[Fassberger]

Open the shutter, man. Can't you see my hands caught in the thing? It's caught. My ring might have lost my hand if it hadn't been for the diamond.

[Mason]

Yes, I'll go.

[Fassberger]

This diamond's harder than steel.

[Mason]

Blasted shutter might have chopped my hand off. I can't open the socks till I get the new screws. Mr. Passmother is for fuse. The new fuse is going too. Because the sun is down. The drive motor's taking too much current. It's about your short circuit on the power line.

[Fassberger]

Well, do something about it. Don't just Stand there talking blasted technical rubbish.

[Mrs. Mason]

Can't you.

[Mason]

Can't you take your finger out?

[Fassberger]

If I could take it out.

[Mason]

Why do you think it's just unfortunate that that shutter is edged with a special alloy that'll cut through anything. If someone tried to smash through the window with a steel bar, the shutter would cut the thing in half. Diamond's too hard. A fraction of an inch either way and there'd have been no trouble.

[Fassberger]

A fraction of an inch either way and I'd have lost my blasted finger.

[Mason]

That wouldn't have blown the fuse. It's. It's the diamonds causing the trouble. The drive motors come to a standstill. It may even be burning at this moment.

[Fassberger]

I don't.

[Mason]

The fuse is only rated for 5amps, you see.

[Fassberger]

Then put in a bigger fuse.

[Mason]

It might work if one could only open the shutter of a fraction of an inch. Pops oh,

[Fassberger]

30amps or more.

[Mrs. Mason]

Standby.

[Mason]

I put a dead short across the fuse. This ought to produce results. The light's gone. All the lights gone.

[Fassberger]

I am, Mr. Mason, supremely aware that there is no light.

[Mason]

The company's fuses are blown. This really is a short circuit.

[Fassberger]

Telephone the power company, tells them to send the electricians here immediately. Tells him it's urgent.

[Mason]

That's. That's impossible, Mr. Fassberger. The telephone isn't connected yet.

[Fassberger]

In that case, you'd better take my car, drive to the nearest town, bring back electricians, engineers, fire brigade, anyone you like. But let's have some action. Don't you realize that I'm in dreadful pain?

[Mason]

I can't get out of the house. There isn't any power to operate the doors and windows. We're sealed in, Mr. Fassberger.

[Fassberger]

Then start the diesel engine.

[Mason]

The diesel's outside. Unless I can open a door, I can't reach it. Now

[Fassberger]

tell me, Mason, what do you propose to do? I asked you to build a house

[Mason]

that couldn't be broken into.

[Fassberger]

Not one it's impossible to escape from.

[Mason]

I suppose the only thing to do is to try and force open the power company's fuse box. The point is that I haven't got any tools. The fuse box is sealed and you have to have a special star shaped screwdriver. All I've got is a pipe scraper and a bunch of keys.

[Fassberger]

Feel. In my right hand trouser pocket, you will find a key ring with a small gold pen knife attached.

[Mason]

Yes, I. I'll need light, too. It's practically dark here. It'll be completely black. Back.

[Fassberger]

Back there in my coat. Pocket there is a gold cigarette lighter. You may use it.

[Mason]

Yes, I. I. Right, then. I'll. I'll do what I can.

[Fassberger]

Do what you can.

[Safeway/Albertsons Announcer]

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[Mason]

After several hours, when the strip of sky visible through the gap in the shutter was beginning to darken into night, it became obvious that Mason was achieving exactly nothing. It's no use, Mr. Fassberger. I can't make any impression at all on those screws, not without the proper tools.

[Fassberger]

So what are we going to do?

[Mason]

I don't know. I don't know at all.

[Fassberger]

I can't stand here all night like this. This ring's almost cutting through the bone of my finger. In fact, my finger feels quite dead already.

[Mason]

Do you suppose.

[Fassberger]

Suppose what?

[Mason]

Well, it might be possible to cut through the ring. That would release your finger.

[Fassberger]

But the ring's platinum. You can't cut platinum with gold.

[Mason]

I could try.

[Fassberger]

Very well. Why?

[Mason]

No good. Perhaps. Perhaps if the diamond could be prized from its setting.

[Fassberger]

Might be difficult. The diamond alone cost £2,000, and it was made with exceptionally strong claws to hold it. I wouldn't want to risk losing it.

[Mason]

No, of course not.

[Fassberger]

You can try.

[Mason]

There is one point. There's a danger of dislodging the stone if I succeed in opening the claws.

[Fassberger]

Danger? What of?

[Mason]

Look, Mr. Frostburger, the house is completely sealed. If I should dislodge the diamond, you know, when I release your finger, the shutter would close and we'd lose even the quarter of an inch we have got. The house would become our tomb.

[Fassberger]

It's already that as far as I'm concerned.

[Mason]

But we still have got the gap. Sooner or later, we'll be missed, and people will come for us. Huh?

[Fassberger]

And you mean sooner or later?

[Mason]

Two days. Perhaps three. The people will miss me.

[Fassberger]

Nobody will miss me, Mason. I'm a lonely man. Always have been.

[Mason]

In that case, it wouldn't really matter if you were to die here in this house.

[Fassberger]

No, it really wouldn't matter.

[Mason]

Then What I don't understand is why build the house in the first place? Concealed safe deposits and all those elaborate security precautions, hmm?

[Fassberger]

I have an instinct for certain things, Mason. And I know that the world's on the brink of what will be the worst economic crisis in history. Currency will lose all its value. Gold would be worthwhile investment if one could buy gold. But I've settled for precious stones. I've sunk nearly all I've got into diamonds, natural sapphires and emeralds. £4 million worth. When the crisis comes, these stones will not lose their value. They will increase. There isn't a bank in the country I would trust, so I will build my own bank. My fortress.

[Mason]

You're shrewd. Very shrewd. But what are you gonna do about your finger?

[Fassberger]

I give 10% of all I have to the man who can solve this predicament.

[Mason]

You mean that? 10%?

[Fassberger]

5%.

[Mason]

4 million hats. 200,000. Can I rely on your word?

[Fassberger]

Of course. But I reserve the right to revise my author. The situation develops, but every day I reduce it by 1%.

[Mason]

You mean. You mean after five days I get nothing?

[Fassberger]

After five days, we'll both be dead.

[Mason]

That night passed, and much of the next morning, too. It's not easy to sleep standing up, finger going dead. Mason, you can't stand there through today, and perhaps tomorrow like that with a dead finger. It'll have to come off. One of us will have to. Well, you see, Mr. Fassberger, all right.

[Fassberger]

You'll have to use a small gold pen knife.

[Mason]

It's blunt.

[Fassberger]

It's all we have.

[Mason]

Mr. Fassberger. I. I couldn't. I.

[Fassberger]

In that case, give me the pen knife.

[Mason]

I. I can't let.

[Fassberger]

Mason. It's my blasted finger. If I want to cut it off, I'll blast it. Will cut it off. Give me that knife.

[Mason]

Yeah,

[Fassberger]

I'm free. I can move around. I'm more than halfway towards solving the entire problem.

[Mason]

Yes, yes, indeed you are.

[Fassberger]

It's only a matter of time, Mason. Only a matter of. Of time.

[Mason]

On the eighth day, Mason died. Fosberger. When he could bring himself to move from the corner in which he lay, hour after hour, day after day, watched for a sign of human life through the quarter inch gap, his one contact with the world. Fast burgers. Hunger and thirst became obsessive. His hand was swollen, festering from some obscure infection. His tongue cracked along its surface. The ninth day dawned with monstrous dreams of food and drink. Yes, of course, Fastberger had thoughts of cannibalism. After all, nothing could hurt Mason anymore. But the millionaire dismissed the idea as soon as it entered his mind. Life, yes, but not on those terms. The ninth day passed. Fassberger, managing to mentally elbow thoughts of food and cool clear water aside, pondered for a few lone seconds on the absence of any will. And then big pictures of venison and wine crowded back. And Fosberger, aware of little except late evening filtered sunlight like a rod through the quarter inch crack in the shutters, prepared to die. And then suddenly. Hello. Hello in there. Just like that. Lifeboat at sea. Arrival of the cavalry. Nick of time. Miracle saved life and limb. Hanging by single thread. Just like that.

[Mrs. Mason]

Will you have another sherry, Mr. Fassbedder?

[Fassberger]

Thank you, madam. Thank you.

[Mrs. Mason]

I'm so glad I decided on a private funeral. Poor Harold would have hated the relations to have been there. Especially his mother. He never got on with his mother. Isn't that strange? Mother and son, yet with Harold.

[Fassberger]

Oh, well, thank you. I would like to give you something, Mrs. Mason. Your late husband and I entered into an agreement. It concerns a sum of money. £200,000, to be precise. I have decided to sell the electronic house mirror.

[Mrs. Mason]

Have you, Julia?

[Fassberger]

Yes. I have acquired a new sense of values. I sought security only to find insecurity and danger. My plans didn't really work.

[Mrs. Mason]

Life is not an investment, Julius. You can't really live in terms of profit and loss. In the long run, life is people, just like you and me.

[Fassberger]

Yes. Quiet. So I shall sell it.

[Mrs. Mason]

Don't think me a goo, but may I see it? The house, I mean. Before you.

[Fassberger]

I don't think I.

[Mrs. Mason]

Just one small visit. A short one. I feel maybe I. Please.

[Fassberger]

Very well. The lawyers were prompt and thorough. The money. Everything is satisfactory?

[Mrs. Mason]

Oh, yes, thank you, Julia.

[Fassberger]

That's about all there is to it. Of course, I. I don't expect a lady to fully grasp the intricacies of.

[Mrs. Mason]

Oh, but I do. I understand. Pathety. It really is a work of art.

[Fassberger]

But it has painful memories for you, so I.

[Mrs. Mason]

Yes, of course. Oh, Julius, I forgot. I want you to have this. Please don't open it now. Later.

[Fassberger]

Thank you.

[Mrs. Mason]

Later, when you're alone.

[Fassberger]

Oh, yes. All right. Well, I'll just close the shutters. You know, despite what happened here. Despite the fact. Maybe. Let's go now. Maybe. Where are you? I think we leave now. One has enjoyed the usefulness of two hands for more than 40 years. Getting familiar with one hat.

[Mason]

What? Maver. Mabel. Where are you? Maver. Hello, Mabel.

[Fassberger]

Please. What's the meaning of this?

[Mason]

It's idiotic. You locked me in mine.

[Fassberger]

Come, Fassberger. It's an accident. Something's wrong, that's all. An explosion.

[Mason]

What? What she done with the current? It blown fuse everything and shut in. Why has she done this? How?

[Fassberger]

That letter, the one she gave me.

[Mason]

I can't see light.

[Fassberger]

I don't believe it.

[Mrs. Mason]

When you read this, Mr. Fassberger, you will, if all goes well, be standing alone in your electronic monstrosity the house which became my husband's tomb. Always supposing I have managed, by the time you read this, to seal you in the house and cut off the power. I shall return in perhaps three weeks. Oh, I have a strong stomach, believe me. I shall destroy the letter you are reading now. Wherever you decide to hide it as evidence, I shall find it. You see, I love poor Harold and I hold you responsible for his death. Therefore, I think it is only fair that you should share his fate. And after all, no one will miss you, will they? Thank you for the £200,000. Goodbye, Mabel Mason. No. No.

[Mason]

Beyond Midnight is presented every Friday night at half past nine by Biotex, the new soak and pre wash powder. The program is adapted for broadcasting and Produced by Michael McCabe.

[Safeway/Albertsons Announcer]

Safeway and Albertsons have made saving easier than ever with great savings on family favorites this week at Safeway and Albertsons. USDA choice beef, boneless, tri tip, whole or flank and style ribs bone in are $6.99 per pound member price and asparagus are $1.99 per pound member price plus 16 ounce strawberries. Six ounce raspberries or blackberries are $1.97 each. Limit three member price with digital coupon. Hurry in. These deals won't last. Visit safewayoralbertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.