Podcast Summary: Harold's Old Time Radio

Episode: Sci Fi Radio 89-09-10 (01) "I'm Scared"
Date: January 3, 2026

Overview of the Episode

This episode of Harold's Old Time Radio features the debut installment of the "Sci Fi Radio" series, titled "I'm Scared." Adapted from a short story by Jack Finney, the program is a suspenseful science fiction radio drama exploring inexplicable incidents where time seems to slip, merge, or rewind. Through a series of vignettes and eyewitness accounts sent via tapes to the fictional radio host, James Edward Kerr, the episode considers whether mass longing for the past could destabilize the very fabric of time.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to the Mystery

• [01:07]–[02:49]
  • Jack Fitty insists a skeptic listen to a recording he’s made—one that seems ordinary at first, but he swears it was captured live on his radio the previous night, despite being an old broadcast.
  • "You must think I'm out of my mind. It's just an old radio show. ... But what you don't understand is that I recorded this on my own radio just last night." – Jack Fitty [02:49]
  • He raises the issue: Are these isolated weird events or signs of something larger and more menacing?

2. Host's Framing and Listener Tapes

• [02:13]–[05:46]
  • Host James Edward Kerr receives a series of tapes from an anonymous, distressed source (Jack Fitty), asking them to be broadcast for public awareness before "it's too late."
  • "Well, I... do think you deserve to hear them. Then you can judge his story for yourself." – James Edward Kerr [04:14]

3. The Case of the Painted House

• [07:01]–[09:25]
  • Lewis Trachner (coal and wood dealer, Danbury, CT) relates inexplicable painting incidents:
    • First, he finds a gray stripe painted carefully across his house; months later, after repainting, a matching stripe of old paint appears—seeming to swap places in time.
    • "Suppose for a moment, that something had happened on each occasion to briefly disturb the orderly progress of time" – Jack Fitty [09:25]

4. A Pattern of Disturbed Time

• [09:25]–[11:59]
  • Jack Fitty catalogs more occurrences: a man receives a phone call from the future, a check is deposited before being written, a letter travels instantly across the country—all suggesting time anomalies.
  • Collecting these stories becomes an obsession for Jack.

5. Julia Eisenberg’s Lost Dog

• [11:59]–[15:08]
  • Julia Eisenberg, an office worker, recounts two dog episodes:
    • First, a mysterious dog clings to her for days and disappears.
    • Years later, her own grown-up dog vanishes—and she comes to believe she herself sent her own dog away before it was even born.
    • "You may think I'm crazy, but that was the same dog. ... I chased my own dog away two years before he was born." – Julia Eisenberg [14:28]

6. The Kirch Family Photograph

• [16:25]–[18:17]
  • Paul B. Kirch, an amateur photographer, discovers that his final family photo shows his family wearing entirely different clothes, his son appears older, and an unknown woman is present.
  • His wife speculates: "I think that photograph shows how things will be a couple years from now. I think that woman is going to be your new wife after I’m gone, either divorced or dead." – Paul’s Wife [17:57]
  • The couple is shaken; Jack suspects the photo to be a glimpse of the future.

7. A Case from the Morgue: Rudolph Fence

• [19:06]–[23:35]
  • Police Captain Rem shares a bizarre case:
    • A man in outdated Victorian garb is killed by a cab in Times Square. On him: only coins and bills from the 1800s, and a receipt from an 1876 stable.
    • Captain Rem uncovers a missing person’s report from 1876 matching the man’s description.
    • "You think this guy walked off into thin air in 1876 and showed up again more than a hundred years later?" – Captain Rem [23:21]

8. Broader Implications of Escapism on Time

• [24:19]–[26:41]
  • Jack Fitty offers a chilling theory:
    • The world's obsession with escaping the present—the popularity of nostalgia, science fiction, and fantasy—is exerting mass psychological pressure on time itself.
    • "I'm completely convinced that this terrible mass pressure of millions of minds is already slightly but definitely affecting time itself." – Jack Fitty [24:19]
    • He suggests that these incidents are occurring more frequently, and may presage a catastrophic breakdown of temporal order.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On skepticism and the unknown:

  • "Try telling your friends that you heard a radio show that hasn't aired for years and see what reaction you get." – Jack Fitty [05:46]

• Linking events to a wider phenomenon:

  • "Suppose... that something had happened on each occasion to briefly disturb the orderly progress of time..." – Jack Fitty [09:25]

• Personal anguish of the witnesses:

  • "He couldn't have disappeared like that. He just couldn't. But he did." – Julia Eisenberg [14:28]

• On mass escapism and its consequences:

  • "The present was a glorious time. But they talk that way now. I believe this is the first time in history that people are desperate to escape the present." – Jack Fitty [24:19]

• Doubt and fear of officialdom:

  • "I hate this case. I hate it, and I wish I'd never heard it." – Captain Rem [23:22]

Important Segments & Timestamps

• [02:13] – Start of "Sci Fi Radio" series with James Edward Kerr as host
• [04:14] – Reading the anonymous letter that launches the investigation
• [07:01] – The case of the painted house begins
• [11:59] – Interview with Julia Eisenberg about her uncanny experience with the dog
• [16:25] – The Kirch family photograph anomaly
• [19:06] – Rudolph Fence: the man out of time
• [24:19] – Jack Fitty’s theory about mass escapism affecting the flow of time
• [26:41] – Wrap up and credits

Tone

The episode maintains a tone of mounting unease, curiosity, and intellectual suspense, blending everyday dialogue with unsettling science fiction concepts reminiscent of classic radio plays. Voices are natural and earnest, with an undercurrent of disbelief giving way to deepened fear and urgency as each case unfolds.

Conclusion

This immersive audio drama uses a series of mysterious, interview-based stories to steadily escalate the stakes, suggesting a metaphysical crisis rooted in humanity’s desire to flee the "now." It concludes with a warning: mass nostalgia's side effects may soon tear apart reality itself—and only awareness and appreciation of the present might halt the impending disaster. Fans of classic radio mysteries and speculative fiction will find this installment an atmospheric, thought-provoking journey into the nature of time and memory.