The Mysterious Traveler


The Mysterious Traveler was an American media franchise created by Robert Arthur and David Kogan. All versions of the franchise focused on suspense and crime fiction, with occasional elements of horror or science fiction.
The anthology radio series debuted in 1943 and ran until 1952, featuring a narrator-host known as "the Mysterious Traveler". The concept was later adapted to magazine in 1952-53, and the comic book format in 1948, 1956–59, and in 1985.

Radio

Written and directed by Robert Arthur and David Kogan, the radio series was sponsored by Adam Hats. It began on the Mutual Broadcasting System, December 5, 1943, continuing in many different time slots until September 16, 1952. The lonely sound of a distant locomotive heralded the arrival of the sinister narrator, who introduced himself each week in the following manner:
The narrator also took an active role in some episodes. In "The Accusing Corpse", he appears as a coroner named Roger. In "The Good Die Young" he appears as a general practitioner named Doctor Smith.
Cast members included Jackson Beck, Lon Clark, Roger DeKoven, Elspeth Eric, Wendell Holmes, Bill Johnstone, Joseph Julian, Jan Miner, Santos Ortega, Bryna Raeburn, Frank Readick, Luis van Rooten, Ann Shepherd, Lawson Zerbe and Bill Zuckert. Sound effects were by Jack Amrhein, Jim Goode, Ron Harper, Walt McDonough and Al Schaffer.
"Behind the Locked Door", a popular, much-requested episode which took place in total darkness, was repeated several times during the years. Two archaeologists discover a century-old wagon train that had been sealed in a cave following a landslide. When their Native American guide is mysteriously and brutally attacked, the two, now lost in the darkness, conclude that the descendants of the wagon train are still living in the cave.
Only 75 of the original 370 Mysterious Traveler episodes still exist. The popularity of the series spawned other supernatural shows, such as The Sealed Book. With scripts by a Mysterious Traveler writer and Tarplin as host-narrator, The Strange Dr. Weird was a nearly identical program.

Magazine

Grace Publishing's 1951–52 Mysterious Traveler digest-sized magazine ran for five issues with cover paintings by famed pulp illustrator Norman Saunders. The publisher was David Kogan, and managing editor Robert Arthur also contributed many stories. The first issue carried a welcome from the Mysterious Traveler himself:

Comic books

Trans-World Publications' one-shot Mysterious Traveler Comics #1 had a direct tie-in with the radio series, including the story "Five Miles Down", taken directly from an episode scripted for the radio program. Only a single issue was published.
Charlton Comics published a separate Tales of the Mysterious Traveler comic book for 13 issues from 1956 to 1959, followed by two more issues in 1985 shortly before the company went under. Steve Ditko illustrated many stories in this title. Stories intended for future issues saw print in Renegade Press's Murder. In 1990, Eclipse Comics published a large-format paperback collecting 19 Ditko stories from the Charlton title. Some of those stories were reprinted in Pure Imagination's Steve Ditko Reader.

Short story and biography

Anthony Boucher's 1950 detective story anthology, Four-and-Twenty-Bloodhounds, paired each story with a brief biography of the detective. In the case of "The Big Money" by Robert Arthur, Boucher apologized to the reader:

Influence

Writer Harlan Ellison, in a 1981 column, wrote that he stumbled across a particular episode of Quiet, Please in his childhood. He remembers the title of that episode as "Five Miles Down." Ellison writes, "I heard something I have never forgotten... What I heard that Sunday afternoon, so long ago, that has never left my thoughts for even one week, through all those years, was this:
Ellison goes on to relate the plot, and asks, "ow many stories you heard or saw or read fifteen years ago, ten years ago, even five years ago...do you remember that clearly today? And I heard 'Five Miles Down' at least forty years ago. And it's still with me."
Ellison's recollection was inaccurate: he relates the story being broadcast "early in the Forties" on Quiet, Please when it was in fact a late-1940s episode of The Mysterious Traveler.
In 2004, Ellison took part in a recreation of the "Five Miles Down" script from The Mysterious Traveler at a convention of the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy. He "acted and helped direct the show" and recalled hearing the episode when he was growing up.

Listen to

  • 70 single episodes – OTRR official – stream and download
  • RealPlayer required. The first of the 66 episodes available is actually from The Mercury Theatre on the Air, not the Mysterious Traveler