Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Dreadful John – The Boarded Window

Date: September 15, 2025
Host: Dreadful John (Harolds Old Time Radio)

Overview

In this episode, host Dreadful John presents a dramatic reading of Ambrose Bierce’s classic horror tale, "The Boarded Window." The episode blends historical insight about Bierce’s life with a chilling performance of his atmospheric frontier ghost story, transporting listeners to the "Golden Age of Radio" when families gathered around to be entertained—and spooked—by voice alone.

Key Discussion Points & Narrative Breakdown

1. Introduction to Ambrose Bierce and the Story

• Dreadful John opens with a brief biographical sketch of Ambrose Bierce:
  • Born adventurer, Civil War veteran, renowned journalist, and critic known for his sharp wit.
  • Bierce’s mysterious end is noted:

    “At the age of 75, he went off to Mexico to join peers and of revolutionists. He was never heard of again.” (00:24)

• Sets the stage for "The Boarded Window," a story not just of terror, but of isolation and frontier hardship.

2. Setting the Scene: Frontier Loneliness

• The story takes place near Cincinnati in 1830, when the area was a vast forest.
• Settlers, described as restless, leave as soon as they’ve "hewn fairly habitable homes out of the wilderness," driven by "some mysterious impulse" westward.
• The protagonist, Murloc, lives in solitude, exemplifying isolation:

  “He lived alone in a house of logs, surrounded on all sides by the great forest, of whose gloom and silence he seemed a part, for no one had ever known him to smile, nor to speak a needless word.” (01:27)

• The cabin's single window is ominously boarded up; no one remembers it being otherwise.

3. Murloc’s Tragic Past

• Listeners learn about Murloc’s past through the narrator’s (Dreadful John’s) grandfather.
• Murloc’s aging is accelerated by tragedy:

  “He was apparently 70 years old, actually about 50. Something besides years had had a hand in his aging.” (02:15)

• Murloc's wife—her name and character lost to time—shared his hardships. Her death is hinted as the cause for his hermitage and despair.

4. Death, Grief, and Isolation

• Murloc finds his wife gravely ill, with no help nearby. He attempts to nurse her, but she dies after days of fever.
• His reactions are mechanical, numb—“He was surprised, too, that he did not weep... It is unkind not to weep for the dead.” (04:18)
• Quote (Murloc's internal monologue):

  “Tomorrow, I shall have to make the coffin and dig the grave, and then I shall miss her when she is no longer in sight. But now she is dead, of course. But it is all right. It must be all right. So somehow things cannot be so bad as they seem.” (04:26)

• At night, he sits exhausted, mind racing with grief.

5. The Supernatural Attack (Main Horror Sequence)

• As Murloc dozes, a wailing sound like "the cry of a lost child" comes through the night (06:00).
• Startling sounds escalate—a shaking table, soft steps, then a violent struggle.
• Murloc springs to action in the darkness:

  “He saw an enormous panther dragging the dead woman toward the window, its teeth fixed in her throat.” (08:30)

• Shot fired, chaos, and then silence.

6. Shocking Twist and Aftermath

• At dawn, it's clear what transpired.
• The panther tried to drag the wife's body through the window but was frightened off.
• A gruesome revelation:

  “The ribbon with which he had bound the wrist was broken. The hands were tightly clenched. Between the teeth was a fragment of the animal's ear.” (09:40)

• Implying she may have been alive as the beast attacked—a chilling ambiguity central to the horror.

7. Memorable Closing and Host’s Final Words

• Dreadful John recites a traditional Scottish blessing against the supernatural:

  “From ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. Dear Lord, deliver us.” (10:10)

• Promises to return "this same time next week," maintaining the classic radio vibe.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• On Bierce’s spirit:

  “His aggressiveness and sharp tongued wit stood him in good stead, and his stories and sketches won great popularity.” (00:20)

• On Murloc’s grief:

  “He did not know he was so hard struck that knowledge would come later and never go. Grief is an artist of powers as various as the instruments upon which he plays his dirges for the dead...” (04:55)

• The haunting sound:

  “At that moment came in through the open window, A long wailing sound, like the cry of a lost child in the far deeps of the darkening wood.” (06:00)

• Horror revealed:

  “Between the teeth was a fragment of the animal's ear.” (09:40)

• Traditional ending:

  “From ghoulies and ghosties and long legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. Dear Lord, deliver us.” (10:10)

Important Segment Timestamps

• Intro & Bierce biography: 00:00–00:45
• Story introduction & setting: 00:46–01:57
• Murloc's history and tragedy: 01:58–04:00
• Grief and death scene: 04:01–05:50
• Supernatural events: 06:00–08:45
• Aftermath and closing revelation: 08:46–09:45
• Host’s conclusion: 10:00–end

Episode Takeaway

A masterful reading of Bierce’s “The Boarded Window,” this episode exemplifies the art of radio storytelling—conveying rich character, mounting dread, and cosmic ambiguity using only voice. Dreadful John’s measured delivery and classic sign-off immerse listeners in the eerie nostalgia of the Golden Age of Radio, while the tale lingers with an unsettling question about grief, the supernatural, and the thin veil between life and death.