Suspense - Man Without A Body [episode 0] Broadcast Unknown

Summary

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Podcast Summary: "Old Time Radio Stories" – Suspense: Man Without A Body

Episode Title: Suspense – Man Without a Body
Podcast: Old Time Radio Stories
Host: Old Time Retro Radio
Air Date: July 5, 2026
Source: Remastered classic OTR episode, public domain (original air date unknown)

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Episode Overview

This episode features a classic broadcast of “Suspense: The Man Without a Body,” a mystery thriller play that artfully blends elements of small-town English life, war-era paranoia, and stage magic. Set in the secluded fictional village of Albridge, Suffolk, the story revolves around reports of an “invisible man” terrorizing the community. Local characters — including a doctor, a vicar, and an eccentric American professor — struggle to make sense of the strange events around them. The narrative builds an eerie atmosphere, culminating in an exposé of trickery and hidden motives.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

1. Mystery Unfolds in Albridge (00:33–06:00)

• The story opens with strange news reports: villagers claim to have seen a hat floating in the air and other evidence of a man “without a body”.
• Local gossip quickly gives way to hysteria. Professor Ansmith, an elderly American inventor, becomes the focal point of suspicion.
• Reverend Morley and his daughter Janice, disturbed by what they've witnessed, ponder whether to confront Professor Ansmith directly.
• Notable Quote:
  • "A man without a body. Completely invisible." — Janice Morley [02:29]

2. Strange Occurrences in the Vestry (06:00–11:30)

• In the vestry after church, the characters discuss their experiences. Mr. Emmett, the church verger, is visibly shaken, claiming to be brushed by an unseen force.
• The skepticism of Dr. Jim Norwood is challenged when the Reverend and Janice recount a disturbing sight: a pair of gloves, apparently empty, wind up a gramophone and keep time with the music in an empty, locked room.
• The fear begins to take hold, and the supernatural seems real.
• Notable Quote:
  • "The left hand glove steadied the gramophone. The right hand glove wound it up... They both hung in the air beating time to the music. It should have been funny. I can only assure you it was not funny." — Reverend Arthur Morley [09:10]

3. Panic, Violence, and Mob Mentality (11:30–17:00)

• Bell ringing in the empty church tower adds to the growing sense of wrongness. Emmett is attacked by an unseen force and thrown from the belfry; only a tree breaks his fall.
• Suspicion and fear escalate as villagers prepare to confront Professor Ansmith, believing he is responsible for the invisible man.
• Notable Moment:
  • “He fell.” “No, Janice, he did not fall. He was thrown.” — Janice and Reverend Morley [13:20–13:24]

4. The Confrontation: Science or Supernatural? (17:00–22:00)

• A heated face-off at Dr. Norwood’s house. Professor Ansmith denies involvement, insistent upon his innocence.
• An impromptu demonstration reveals the “invisible man” as a clever illusion using mirrors — not magic, but science and stagecraft.
• Key Reveal:
  • "The trick of the looking glasses... Panels of looking glass are fitted in the two sides facing you... What you actually see are the side walls of the room reflected in those two mirrors." — Professor Ansmith [21:54–22:13]
  • The glove trick is revealed as an old magician's illusion, not evidence of the supernatural.

5. Exposing the Real Tricksters (22:00–27:00)

• Attention turns to the violent bell tower incident. Professor Ansmith explains it was achieved with compressed air, not supernatural means:
  • "A compressed air pipe with a thousand pounds pressure behind it was run up into the tower... It made the heavy bell swing like a toy." [24:01–24:45]
• Revelation: Dr. Norwood and Wellman, using equipment from air raid shelters, orchestrated the stunts to unmask Professor Ansmith, who they believe is secretly Karl Heinrich von Kuff, a German magician and suspected spy.
• Emotional reactions follow as Janice feels betrayed, and motivations are discussed.
• Notable Quote:
  • “We had to prove that this pretended American was no other than Karl Heinrich von Kuff, the celebrated stage magician from the Winter Garden Theater in Berlin.” — Dr. Jim Norwood [27:38–27:46]

6. Resolution and Final Twist (27:00–28:17)

• The entire series of supernatural incidents is explained as a mixture of well-timed illusions and psychological manipulation.
• The true “man without a body” is revealed to be not a ghost, but a very human magician—turning the mysterious into the mundane, and leaving behind only nervous laughter and relief.
• The episode ends on a note of restored order but lingering questions about trust and reality.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Janice Morley [02:29]: “A man without a body. Completely invisible.”
• Reverend Arthur Morley [09:10]: "The left hand glove steadied the gramophone. The right hand glove wound it up... They both hung in the air beating time to the music. It should have been funny. I can only assure you it was not funny."
• Professor Ansmith [21:54]: “The trick of the looking glasses...”
• Professor Ansmith [24:01]: “It was compressed air.”
• Dr. Jim Norwood [27:38]: “We had to prove... this pretended American was no other than Karl Heinrich von Kuff, the celebrated stage magician...”

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Important Timestamps

• 00:33 – Introduction by the Man in Black, setting the stage
• 02:29 – Janice utters the first reference to “a man without a body”
• 09:10 – Reverend Morley describes the gloves scene
• 13:23 – Emmett is thrown from the belfry
• 21:54 – Professor Ansmith reveals the mirror trick
• 24:01 – Explanation of the compressed air mechanism
• 27:38 – Norwood reveals Ansmith’s real identity
• 28:17 – Story closes, order restored

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Style & Tone

The episode is delivered with classic radio drama flair — suspenseful, briskly paced, and thick with rising paranoia. The language is formal, with actors using clipped, direct speech and British accents. The soundscape adds to the vintage atmosphere: bells, the sea wind, and the creak of old doors and windows. The tension is deftly managed, keeping listeners guessing until the finale.

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In summary:
“Man Without a Body” is a masterclass in classic radio mystery, blending rational explanations with a mounting sense of dread, and ultimately showing that the scariest thing may not be the unseen — but the manipulations of people in plain sight.

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Transcript

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

You are listening to Old Time Retro Radio. For full access to our archive, visit patreon.com old time RetroRadio. Suspense.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

This is the man in Black. We're again to introduce Columbia's program Suspense in our starring Hollywood cast tonight, a Mr. John Sutton, who appears as a young English doctor, Jim Norwood, who knew a great deal more than he admitted concerning the strange events which we are about to relate. And Mr. George Zuko, who plays the village curate, the Reverend Arthur Morley. Our story, and it bears none but a coincidental resemblance to H.G. wells famous short novel the Invisible Ma man is by John Dixon Carr and is called the Man Without a Body. Tonight's tale of suspense. If you have been with us on these Tuesday nights, you will know that suspense is compounded of mystery and suspicion and dangerous adventure. In this series are tales calculated to intrigue you, to stir your nerves, to offer you a precarious situation and then withhold the solution until the last possible moment. And so it is with A Man Without a Body and the performances of John Sutton and George Zuko, we again hope to keep you in suspense. A lonely beach of low white sand hills edged by the surf of the North Sea. And back from the beach, drowsing as it has drowsed for 10 centuries, lies the village of Aldbridge in Suffolk. The sea wall now defaced by air raid shelters. And there are the rolling grain fields, the thatched white cottages, the spire of St. Duke's Church above the oak trees. Ancient and barrel haunted, lost among hedgerows. This village could never cause consternation in London newspaper offices. And yet, on that warm night nearly four years ago, this time it's really happened.

[Janice Morley]

A man without a body. Completely invisible.

[Professor Ansmith]

Toby boy, Bobby Bob, look at this dispatch. Reign of Keller in sop up village. Has a number of HG Wells romances come true.

[Janice Morley]

An invisible man. I can't believe it.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

What's the matter with that village?

[Henry Emmett]

They all gone static?

[Professor Ansmith]

Mr. George Wellman, builder, states that as he was returning home along the main road from Bury St. Edmund, he distinctly

[Janice Morley]

saw a man's hat without any head under it, moving towards him about six feet above the ground.

[Henry Emmett]

George, was it going to be full of beer?

[Professor Ansmith]

We can't use this story, copy boy.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Even more surprising evidence was given by the Reverend Arthur Morley, vicar at St Luke's Church.

[Professor Ansmith]

Who? The parson. You don't think he was full of beer?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

One question above all agitates the village.

[Professor Ansmith]

Who is Professor Ansmith?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Who is this elderly American said to be an inventor who has Settled at Aldridge and least a part of the house belonging to the local doctor.

[Professor Ansmith]

Out of some terrifying workshop to strike like a maniac where least expected has

[Janice Morley]

there at last emerged a real invisible man.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

The Church of St Luke, Albridge, on

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

that same Sunday evening. Evening service is over now, though an echo bell still lingers in the vestry at the rear of the church, where white surpluses hang like ghosts. The Reverend Arthur Morley sits with his daughter Janice. It is a stone room of painted windows now, many coloured in the sunset. And here is the drowsy summer light turns the dusk.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Janice. I don't believe it.

[Janice Morley]

I know, Father.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I saw it with my own eyes. Yet I don't believe it. You don't think we were dreaming, do you?

[Janice Morley]

No, Father. We weren't dreaming.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

If this goes on, the whole village will be in a frenzy. But what can I do?

[Janice Morley]

We could go to Professor Ansmouth and ask him straight out.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Ask him whether he's responsible for these. Yes, I wonder. Janice, a man isn't hurting anybody, you know. You couldn't ask for a quieter person or a better neighbor. And yet.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

What's that, Father?

[Janice Morley]

You are upset, yet it's only Mr. Emmett coming down from the belfry.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Emmett?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Oh, yes, of course. Is that you, Mr. Emmett?

[Professor Ansmith]

It's me, all right, sir, and very

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

much in the flesh.

[Henry Emmett]

Did you think I was the invisible man?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Mr. Emmett, I forbid you to mention that subject.

[Henry Emmett]

Very good, sir. But there's others, begging your pardon, that do mention it.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Oh, yes, yes. Forgive me. I spoke too sharply.

[Henry Emmett]

That's all right, sir. No arm done, no bones broken, mind you. Not that I hold with this talk about invisible men. Ain't natural, I say, it ain't hardly Christian. I'm a greengrocer by trade, and I believe in what I can weigh and feel and.

[Janice Morley]

What's the matter, Mr. Emmett? Is anything wrong?

[Henry Emmett]

Excuse me, sir.

[Professor Ansmith]

And you too, miss.

[Henry Emmett]

Do you see anybody in this room except us?

[Janice Morley]

No, of course not. Why?

[Henry Emmett]

Because I. I could have sworn something brushed past me just now.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

You're imagining things, Mr. Emmett.

[Henry Emmett]

Yes, sir.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I dare say there's nobody hidden in the belfry tower, I hope.

[Henry Emmett]

No, sir. I had a look, see? And what's more, there's not going to be anybody up there once I've locked the door now, but I'd like to try and get in.

[Janice Morley]

Oh, please, Mr. Emmett. And you too, Father. You're talking about this invisible man as though he actually existed.

[Henry Emmett]

There's something funny going on, miss. You can't deny that.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

No, none of us can deny it.

[Henry Emmett]

And what's more, sir, it's getting pretty dark in here. Didn't you and Miss Janice better get along to the vicarage while I lock up?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

No, we can't go just yet, Miss remmet. We're expecting Dr. Norwood.

[Henry Emmett]

Dr. Jim Norwood, sir? What does he say about all this?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Oh, you might ask him yourself, Miss Remmet. I think that's probably him now.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

Come in.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

The vestry door is not locked.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Hello, Padre. Hello, Janice. I'm sorry I'm late.

[Janice Morley]

Hello, Jim. You seem a good deal out of breath.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

I am out of breath, Janice, because there's blue blazes to pay down in the village.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Not more trouble?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, I'm afraid so. They're holding a mass meeting at the Coach and Horses and they're ready to murder Professor Ansmith. If this invisible man cuts any more capers, we may see a real old fashioned lynching in an English village.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Now look here, my boy. This has got to stop.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

I know that, Padre, but how are we going to stop it?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Sit down there, Jim. Across the table from me.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, sir.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

First of all, what do you know about this Professor Ansmith?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Nothing, sir. Nothing at all.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

But you've been part of your house, dame.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Oh, my dear Padre, that house is twice as big as I can possibly manage. I was only too glad to get a tenant.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

He gave you references, I imagine.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, but I didn't bother to check him. He's a quiet old boy. Pays his rent on the dot. Never does anything except read and go for long walks.

[Janice Morley]

Are you quite sure of that, Jim?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Her village has war nerves, that's all. With a camouflage aerodrome in the neighborhood, they're apt to imagine anything.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

True, perhaps.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

But that talk about dynamos humming in the old boy's room and blue lights flashing as rubbish out of a sensational film. They imagine the whole thing. Finally, this crazy story about an invisible man playing the gramophone.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Why, that's not a crazy story, Jim. Janice and I saw it happen.

[Professor Ansmith]

You what?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Last night, about half past nine, Janice and I were out for a walk in the lane that runs past your house. On the way, we met Willie Kendrick and he joined us.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Well, sir.

[Janice Morley]

Listen, Jim. On that side of the house, there's a little square room with two windows and no furniture except a round table and a couple of chairs. Do you know the one we mean?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, of course. Professor Ansmith uses it. What about the room?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

It wasn't quite blackout time. The windows were up, the curtains weren't drawn and the room was brightly lighted. On the table stood an old fashioned gramophone with a horn and a crank handle. Beside it lay a pair of white cotton gloves like. Like gardener's gloves. The gramophone was playing away for dear life, but there was nobody in the room. Janice thought that was a bit odd. A gramophone going full tilt with nobody there and called my attention to it. Just then the gramophone started to run down. We could hear the record slow and go off key as it did so.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Well, sir, go on.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

As it did so, those white gloves got up off the table. Got up off the table, Got up off the table, took hold of the gramophone and wound it up again.

[Janice Morley]

Mr. Ellis, what on earth are you doing?

[Henry Emmett]

I dropped some candlesticks.

[Janice Morley]

So I see. Please pick them up again.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, padre. Are you serious?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Perfectly serious.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

A pair of gloves without any hands inside them. Yes, but what did they do exactly?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

The left hand glove steadied the gramophone. The right hand glove wound it up. Then they both hung in the air beating time to the music. It should have been funny. I can only assure you it was not funny. Oh, what happened then?

[Janice Morley]

Oh, Jim, it was horrible. Willie Kendrick let out a yell and ran down the lane between the apple trees as though the devil were after him.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

I can't say I blame him.

[Janice Morley]

Well then I just stood there and

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

stared at the word, my dear.

[Janice Morley]

Yes, stared. I can't forget any of it. The three legged table and the whirling record and the blue flowers on the wallpaper. But there was nobody there. We could see past the table and under the table and all over the room.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

And there was nobody there except the man without anybody.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Confound the man without anybody.

[Janice Morley]

Father, suppose it is true?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

As a clergyman, my dear, I prefer to remain agnostic. This thing's trick.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, but how's it done?

[Professor Ansmith]

And why?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

That's the whole point, Jim. What worries me is the effect on our people here. We call ourselves intelligent and yet look at us. Even Mr. Emmett there.

[Henry Emmett]

Hey, hey, what's that about, Peter?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

A few minutes ago you thought something brushed past you when you were coming down the stairs from the bell tower. Now didn't you?

[Henry Emmett]

Yes, sir.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

You see what I mean, Jim?

[Henry Emmett]

But I didn't really think so, sir. Not really. It was imagination, just like the doctor said. Could I search that die? I lock the door after it.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Exactly. At the mere force of suggestion. Nothing more might lead you to believe.

[Janice Morley]

That's not suggestion, father.

[Henry Emmett]

Bye bye bye below. There's nobody in that belfry.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Bells can't ring by themselves, old man. There's somebody pulling the rope up there. And we're going to find out who it is.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

One moment, all of you.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

What's wrong, Padre? You're as white as a ghost.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

This blasphemous mockery, it seems, extends even to the church. Very well. You will stay with the Janice, my boy. Emmett and I will collar this invisible man.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Why can't I go too?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I don't believe in this, but I should prefer to have someone with Janice. You're not afraid, Mr. Emmett?

[Henry Emmett]

If it's alive, sir, I'm not afraid of it.

[Professor Ansmith]

And if it's dead?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Well, whether it's.

[Henry Emmett]

You're not afraid of it. The tower door's open, sir. I'm ready.

[Janice Morley]

Don't do it, Father. Don't go.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

You can't help them. Janice. Sit down here. Take it easy.

[Janice Morley]

Jim Norwood, what's wrong with you?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Wrong with me?

[Janice Morley]

You've got an odd look, too. And the light's fading. And the surpluses look like ghosts. And in another minute that bell would drive me mad. Suppose he has got his. Oh, the invisible man.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Don't talk. Right.

[Janice Morley]

As there are sounds that the ear cannot hear, so there are colors that the eye cannot see. I read that somewhere. Hasn't hurt anybody yet. But suppose he turns nasty and does hurt somebody?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

He can't hurt anybody.

[Janice Morley]

How do you know?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Janice, listen to me.

[Professor Ansmith]

Take my hand.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

I want to tell you a few things. You won't understand. I don't ask you to understand. I just asked you to remember.

[Janice Morley]

Well, what is it?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

The first is a question. If you were a government official and wanted to find an expert on camouflage, where would you go?

[Janice Morley]

An expert on camouflage?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

And the second point is this. I studied medicine in Germany.

[Janice Morley]

I know that.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

But that's one night on a bet I hid backstage at the Winter Garden Theater in Berlin. I saw the whole show from backstage. And? And I learned a great deal.

[Janice Morley]

Jim Norwood, what on earth are you talking.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

George Bellman and I have talked the whole thing over in a way. Janet. There is an invisible man. I can tell you who he is and how he works, but there's no danger. Do you understand? There's no danger at all.

[Janice Morley]

What was that?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

I don't know.

[Janice Morley]

You do know. I can see it in your face. You do know.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

I think somebody's fallen. Fallen from the top of the belfry. Stay here, Janet. You can't do any good.

[Janice Morley]

Let go of my arm. I'm going up there.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

No, you're not.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

I didn't think what the danger might be. Besides, there's Somebody coming down the stairs. Now stay just where you are and don't move until.

[Janice Morley]

Oh, Father. Father, are you all right?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Steady, sir. Take it easy now.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I'm perfectly all right. Yes, but you'd better go into the churchyard and see to Emily.

[Janice Morley]

He fell.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

No, Dennis, he did not fall. He was thrown.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Thrown? By whom?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

There's no time to argue now. You're a doctor. Go out and see to him.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Well, is he?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I don't know. Go.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, sir.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

For I will work a deed in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. Janice, this is incredible.

[Janice Morley]

Why?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

You heard the bell ring.

[Professor Ansmith]

I saw it ring without anybody there.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I was as close to that bell as I am to you now. No hand held the rope. There were no strings or wires or any tricks to make it move. Yet it clanged back and forth, alone in the tower. And I thought I heard someone laugh.

[Janice Morley]

Laugh?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Oh, don't take that too seriously. We were both overwrought and the noise of the bell was deafening.

[Janice Morley]

What about Mr. Emmett?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Emmett yelled some words I couldn't hear and lunged for the bell. Then something caught him. Something caught him and gave him a sledgehammer blow in the back. That belf is nothing but open arches. You heard him scream. I saw his face just before he went over.

[Janice Morley]

Lock the door to the car, Father. Lock it.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I can't lock it. Emmett has the key. But why should I lock it?

[Janice Morley]

Because he's still in there.

[Professor Ansmith]

He.

[Janice Morley]

He hadn't done any harm before, but he's done harm now. There's no telling what might happen if he gets loose.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

You mean.

[Janice Morley]

I mean Professor Ansmith's protege. Whoever he is. The man without a body.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

Under the red sunset, some quarter of a mile away, a grass carpeted lane winds between rows of apple trees. The lane is dusky, though lights shine into it from the windows of a large stone house. Dr. Norwood's house. Beyond the apple trees, up and down, up and down, a shadowy figure is pacing. An elderly figure, dejected figure, tall and frail as a shadow among shadows, muttering to itself, shaking its head now and then, raising one fist in bewilderment or anguish. Sometimes the light gleams on large spectacles and kindly mouth. Up and down, endlessly, up and down strides.

[Henry Emmett]

Professor Ann Smith.

[Professor Ansmith]

I'm not guilty.

[Henry Emmett]

I'm not guilty.

[Professor Ansmith]

How can I convince them that I'm not? Who's there? I saw you dodge behind that tree. Stand out, sir. Did you call me, Professor Ansmith? Yes, I did call you. Who are you?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

You probably won't recognize me. Professor Haynes.

[Professor Ansmith]

Nevertheless, my friend. May I ask what your name is?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

My name is Wellman, Professor George Wellman. Wellman.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

Wellman.

[Professor Ansmith]

I've heard that name.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Maybe you have. I'm a builder by trade and a great friend of Dr. Norwood's.

[Professor Ansmith]

Wait one moment. Aren't you the young man whose firm is putting up these air raid shelters along the sea wall? And making such an unholy din with your riveting machines?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

That's me. And come to think of it, aren't

[Professor Ansmith]

you the one who first started this alarm about an invisible man?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Yes, because I met him.

[Professor Ansmith]

You did not meet him, sir. This whole thesis is scientific nonsense, and I won't have it.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

You won't have what?

[Professor Ansmith]

I'm an old man, Mr. Weldman. I never did anybody the least harm. As God is my judge, I know nothing whatever about this. This.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

What's that?

[Professor Ansmith]

It looks like the Victor's car.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Professor, you'd better stand back.

[Professor Ansmith]

This is a pretty narrow maze.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Ansmith. Professor Ansmith.

[Professor Ansmith]

Yes, Mr. Morley, I hear you.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

We thought you'd better drive over here straight away. I. I think you met my daughter. And of course, you know Dr. Norwood. But there's no time for any social formalities. Get into your house, Professor Ansmith. Get in quickly and close the shutters.

[Professor Ansmith]

But why should I do that?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Because there's a mob coming, sir, and we can't stop them.

[Janice Morley]

Hurry. Do hurry.

[Professor Ansmith]

A mob coming here?

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

Why?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Haven't you heard the news?

[Professor Ansmith]

I've heard nothing, my friend. The only person I've seen has been that young man there who chews a toothpick and hides behind the trees.

[Janice Morley]

George Wellman. What on earth are you doing here?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Watching. Jenny's.

[Professor Ansmith]

Watching and waiting, just as usual.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Listen to me, Professor Ansmith. Henry Emmet, the head verge of St. Luke's was thrown from the belfry window not 20 minutes ago.

[Professor Ansmith]

Not by me, sir.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

I assure you.

[Professor Ansmith]

I had nothing to do with.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

No, not by you, but apparently by the invisible man.

[Professor Ansmith]

Oh, Father in heaven, will this never stop?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Not till we catch the fellow, no. Be quiet, Mr. Bontail. I'm sorry, Padre. I take it back. I myself can testify that no visible person laid hands on Emmet. He was struck. Struck as though with a gigantic fist. What's the matter, Professor Ansmith? Is anything wrong?

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

No, no, no.

[Professor Ansmith]

I. I was just thinking. Is Emmett dead?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Fortunately, no.

[Professor Ansmith]

I'm glad of that, my friend.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

For the certain person's sake, he's not even seriously hurt. The bell tower isn't high and a tree broke. The force of his fall. But he's badly shaken up. And that crowd of the Coach and Horses means trouble. If you haven't anything to say to us, if you haven't a word of explanation to utter.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Listen, Padre. Don't you hear anything?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Yes. I thought I heard voices.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Can't be that crowd from the village. We're too far ahead of them.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

It's a crowd, all right, and they've

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

been here for hours.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

But where? I don't see anybody.

[Janice Morley]

Jim, look behind the trees.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Look behind the trees, beyond the hedgerows. Look for any place where a watcher can hide.

[Professor Ansmith]

And may I ask what they're doing here? They're watching you, Professor Ansmith. More of your spies, you mean.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

You can call them anything you please. They're getting impatient and they want to show down. If I as much as hold my

[Professor Ansmith]

hand up like this. Don't throw stones at the windows.

[Janice Morley]

You phoned.

[Professor Ansmith]

You're only breaking the doctor's window. Gentlemen, I can't have any more of this. Be quiet, all of you, and listen to me.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Well, sir, we're listening.

[Professor Ansmith]

I'm a peaceful man. I like to live in peace with my neighbors. I have nothing to do with this so called reign of terror. But you don't believe that, do you?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

No.

[Professor Ansmith]

Then I must expose a fraud. Now, don't blame me if I expose the trickster too. I have made preparations to show you the invisible man, the man without a body.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Quiet, everybody.

[Professor Ansmith]

Mr. Morley, I believe you and your daughter walked through this lane last night while I was away at the very St. Edmunds.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I don't know about your being away, sir. My daughter and I were certainly here. Yes? Good, good.

[Professor Ansmith]

Ms. Janice Morley?

[Janice Morley]

Yes, Professor Antony?

[Professor Ansmith]

Will you look towards your right, please, at the house. What do you see?

[Janice Morley]

It's the same room.

[Professor Ansmith]

What room?

[Janice Morley]

The room with a little round table and the gramophone.

[Professor Ansmith]

It's a three legged table, you notice?

[Janice Morley]

Yes, of course.

[Professor Ansmith]

But there's nobody in the room.

[Janice Morley]

No, nobody at all.

[Professor Ansmith]

Are conditions exactly as they were last night?

[Janice Morley]

Yes. Except there aren't any gloves on the table.

[Professor Ansmith]

No, but the invisible man is there. A living presence ready to act and breathe and even kill. With your permission, I shall now address him. Hello, in there.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Hello in there.

[Professor Ansmith]

Hello in there.

[Janice Morley]

If anybody answers him, Father, I'm going to scream.

[Henry Emmett]

Quiet. Jenny Square.

[Janice Morley]

Father, look. The gloves are appearing on the table.

[Professor Ansmith]

I call out to him and I speak as follows. Hold the phonograph with your left glove. That shit. Turn the handle with your right. 1.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

Turn.

[Professor Ansmith]

2. 3.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

4.

[Professor Ansmith]

That's enough. Touch the spring with your left hand. Push the record, lower the needle with your right and, Ladies and gentlemen, the invisible Man.

[Janice Morley]

You fools.

[Professor Ansmith]

Don't you see? On the contrary, let them throw all they like. Aim at the table, my friends. Aim at the table. Fire at the table, because then they'll see the trick.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I don't follow you. What trick?

[Professor Ansmith]

The trick of the looking glasses.

[Janice Morley]

There,

[Professor Ansmith]

you see now, my friend, I think I do. The legs of the table form a triangle with its point towards you. Panels of looking glass are fitted in the two sides facing you.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

What do you know about me?

[Professor Ansmith]

You think you can see under the table, but what you actually see are the side walls of the room reflected in those two mirrors.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Oh, wait a minute.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

You mean.

[Professor Ansmith]

I mean that my old servant, hidden behind the mirrors, has just been working the gloves to a panel in the tabletop. It's a very old trick, first shown by Colonel Stader at the London Polytechnic.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

And that's what happened last night?

[Professor Ansmith]

Yes.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

And you had nothing to do with it?

[Professor Ansmith]

Nothing whatever. Nor had my servant.

[Janice Morley]

Then who did do it? And why? What is the explanation of all this?

[Professor Ansmith]

Well, I can't tell you why, that's what beats me. But I can tell you everything else.

[Janice Morley]

This invisible man who's been scaring us all silly.

[Professor Ansmith]

My dear young lady, there's no invisible man. There never has been.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I might believe that, Professor Ansmith, if I hadn't seen a church bell ringing where there was no hand to ring it. And poor old Emmett flung out of the tower as though a giant hand had got hold of it. You're not saying that was done with the looking glasses?

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

No, my friend, not at all.

[Professor Ansmith]

That was really clever. Strings, wires, ropes. No, they weren't necessary.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

But the thing's impossible.

[Professor Ansmith]

Oh, no. The same principle was used by my old friend Gian Maskelyne to make mechanical figures work. Psycho played Whis and Zoe drew pictures. I myself.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Go on, sir. You yourself? What are you going to say?

[Professor Ansmith]

The secret I was about to say remains unknown even today. You were right in a way when you tell us that Emmett acted as though a giant had got hold of him. A giant had got hold of him. At least a gigantic force.

[Janice Morley]

Oh, before we all go completely mad, would you mind telling us what this gigantic force was?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Not at all.

[Professor Ansmith]

It was compressed air.

[Janice Morley]

Compressed air?

[Professor Ansmith]

But don't you see it even yet? Any of you? No. A compressed air pipe with a thousand pounds pressure behind it was run up into the tower facing the bell. It could be operated from the ground outside. The pressure was turned on and off in bursts. It made that heavy bell swing like a toy. Emmett, don't you remember? Emmett rushed forwards towards the bell and the air pressure. The air pressure struck him like a sledgehammer and flung him headlong out of the tower. There's your miracle, gentlemen. That's all there was to it, sir.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

I can't doubt what you say. It's too circumstantial and to write, but.

[Professor Ansmith]

But what, my friend?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

The compressed air tanks, the mechanical apparatus to work this trick.

[Professor Ansmith]

Well, what about it?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Where did it come from? Such things don't go on bushes.

[Professor Ansmith]

No, but they do grow on riveting machines.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Riveting machines?

[Professor Ansmith]

Yes, such as the riveting machine they're using on the air raid shelters along the seawall. Would you care to tell us, Dr. James Norwood, why you and your friend Wellman have been playing all these tricks?

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Jim Norwood, is this true?

[Professor Ansmith]

Why, of course it's true, Mr. Morley. Don't be so gullible.

[Janice Morley]

Jim and George Wellman doing all this? I don't believe it.

[Professor Ansmith]

Take a look at their faces, young lady. Did you ever see a guiltier looking pair?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Do we look guilty? Do we?

[Professor Ansmith]

Frankly, you do.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

We played the whole game and convinced the village there was an invisible man, is that it?

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

Yes.

[Professor Ansmith]

You worked the glove trick in your own house, and Wellman worked the air drink with his own equipment. Everything else was nothing but a pack of lies and a lot of atmosphere. Playing conjurers and making a blasted hash of it.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Is that all, Professor Ansmith?

[Professor Ansmith]

Well, remember, you brought this on yourselves. I didn't want to expose you. No, Professor, I bet you didn't.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Easy, George. Take it easy.

[Janice Morley]

Jim, is this true?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Before you start pitching into me, Dennis, let me have my word first. Do you remember what I said to you at the church tonight?

[Janice Morley]

At the church?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes. I asked you to remember something even if you didn't understand it. All right. Can you remember what it was?

[Janice Morley]

Oh, Jim, please. You're only trying to evade this. I. I'm so confused now. I don't remember anything. All I can think of is this horrible business and what's behind it. Father can't believe his ears, and I'm not much better. We've practically idolized you. All we want you to do is answer a straight question. Jim, are these accusations true?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, they are true.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Doubtless he had a good reason. Janice. Doubtless he had a good reason.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, we had a good reason.

[Professor Ansmith]

The very best reason in the world.

[Janice Morley]

You had a good reason for scaring people half to death and trying to kill poor old Henry Emmet.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

We didn't mean any harm against Emmett.

[Professor Ansmith]

That was an accident.

[Janice Morley]

But you dare to defend yourself now?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Yes, just that.

[Janice Morley]

Before we go home, Father, shall we apologize to Professor Ansmith? I hope he'll try to think better of English hospitality.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Good, Janice, good. I hope he will too.

[Janice Morley]

You hope he will?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Listen, Janice, before you act on any belief, you have to be absolutely sure in your own mind. George and I had to prove something. And now I'm glad to say we have proved it.

[Janice Morley]

Oh, I can't stand this any longer. If you have anything to say, go on and say it straight out. What was it you had to prove?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

We had to prove for our own satisfaction that this pretended American who calls himself Professor A. N. Smith.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

Pretended American who calls himself Professor Ansmith.

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

We had to prove that this pretended American was no other than Karl Heinrich von Kuff, the celebrated stage magician from the Winter Garden Theater in Berlin.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

What?

[Dr. Jim Norwood]

Whose real job is to find the camouflage aerodrome near Bury St. Edmunds. He explained his own tricks very nicely, George. We'll swear out a warrant in the morning.

[The Man in Black (Narrator)]

And so closes the Man Without a Body. Starring John Sutton and George Zuko, tonight's tale of suspense. This is your narrator, the man in black, who conveys to you Columbia's invitation to spend this half hour in suspense with us again next Tuesday when The distinguished actress Ms. Agnes Moorhead will be heard in one of her many brilliant characterizations. Starring with Ms. Moorhead will be Ms. Ellen Drew, who is Carol Linden tells the amazing story of Uncle Henry's Rosebush. The producer of these broadcasts is William Spear with Ted Bliss, the director, Bernard Herman and Lucian Mahowitz, conductor and composer, and John Dixon Carr, the author, collaborated on tonight's suspense.

[Reverend Arthur Morley]

This is the Columbia Broadcasting System.