With Halloween only a few days away, the sleuthing turns spooky with old time radio mysteries involving mummies. First, The Green Hornet discovers a murder in a museum, a missing ruby, and a sarcophagus crime scene in “Revenge for Melakim” (originally aired on ABC on June 15, 1944). Next, a fresh body is found in the place of a mummy in “Murder Makes a Mummy” from Crime Club (originally aired on ABC on May 29, 1947), and then William Gargan gets a mummy delivered to his office - along with a visit from an Egyptian princess - in “Never Murder a Mummy” from Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator (originally aired on NBC on March 30, 1955).

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It’s been a crazy month, and the Halloween Haunts countdown of bonus episodes suffered as a result. To make it up to you after a lengthy delay, I’m sharing a trilogy of terror - three scary old time radio shows to enjoy in the days before Halloween. First, Frank Lovejoy learns about the consequences of defying a voodoo curse in “Papa Benjamin,” a Cornell Woolrich adapted for Escape (originally aired on CBS on January 24, 1948). Next, Peter Lorre stars in “The Black Cat,” Edgar Allan Poe’s tale of cruelty, rage, and a killer undone by the strangest of circumstances from Mystery in the Air (originally aired on NBC on September 18, 1947). Finally, Ida Lupino and Vincent Price co-star in Lucille Fletcher’s Victorian era horror story “Fugue in C-Minor” from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on June 1, 1944).

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The moon is full, there’s a chill in the air, and everything smells like pumpkin spice. It’s time for the annual Down These Mean Streets spooktacular special! We’re trick-or-treating through the golden age of radio with eight shows that will get you in the Halloween spirit. First, Orson Welles goes for a drive in “The Hitch-hiker” from Suspense (originally aired on CBS on September 2, 1942), and Jack Benny and Harold Peary as The Great Gildersleeve each attend Halloween parties (originally aired on NBC on October 29, 1939 and October 31, 1943). We’ll learn about real-life psychic phenomena in “Report on E.S.P” from The CBS Radio Workshop (originally aired on CBS on March 9, 1956) and we’ll witness a small town’s dark tradition in Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” from NBC Presents Short Story (originally aired on NBC on March 14, 1951). Abbott and Costello pay a visit to Peter Lorre’s sanitarium (originally aired on NBC on January 13, 1944) and a recently departed soul learns the ropes in “Good Ghost,” a darkly comedic tale from Quiet Please (originally aired on ABC on October 28, 1948). Finally, the world’s greatest detective hunts for a supernatural suspect in “The Sussex Vampire” from The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (originally aired on Mutual on December 14, 1947).

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Hold on to your wallets when you’re around the smooth-talking con artists and swindlers in this week’s show. Fortunately, some dogged radio detectives are also on hand to stop these scammers in their tracks. We’ll hear “The Case of the Bookworm” from Bunco Squad (originally aired on CBS on April 20, 1952). Then, Sgt. Joe Friday tracks down a phony investment guru in “The Big Bunco” from Dragnet (originally aired on NBC on April 17, 1952), and on The Line-Up, Lt. Ben Guthrie pursues a crook preying on families of deceased soldiers in “The Buggered Bunco Boys” (originally aired on CBS on November 12, 1952).

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Paula Winslowe, aka the long-suffering Mrs. Riley on The Life of Riley, returns to the podcast in two more radio thrillers. First, she’s in a frantic race against the clock to find a woman in danger in “The Death Parade” (originally aired on CBS on May 15, 1956). Then, she’s a florist who may be the only person who can identify a murderer in “The Twelfth Rose” (originally aired on CBS on June 5, 1956). Plus, we’ll hear Ms. Winslowe and William Bendix in a baking contest on The Life of Riley (originally aired on NBC on October 27, 1950).

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Our annual countdown to Halloween kicks off with one of the biggest names in Hollywood horror. Boris Karloff plays a scientist who thinks he can bring the dead back to life, and he wants to test his theories on his late wife. Lurene Tuttle co-stars in “Death Robbery,” a chilling tale from Lights Out (originally aired on ABC on July 16, 1947).

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It’s time to match your powers of deduction against those of Ellery Queen and see if you can solve three baffling radio mysteries before he reveals the solutions. We’ll hear the brilliant sleuth in “The Adventure of the Circus Train” (originally aired on NBC on March 28, 1943); “The Adventure of the Mischief Maker” (originally aired on NBC on January 15, 1944); and “The Three Frogs” (originally aired on ABC on April 29, 1948). Plus, some sixty-second Ellery Queen radio mysteries with quick puzzles for your sleuthing pleasure!

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British actor Ben Wright’s natural voice made him a perfect fit for characters like Sherlock Holmes and Scotland Yard men, but his affinity for accents and dialects allowed him to play all sorts of parts - sometimes even multiple characters in the same radio episode. We’ll hear him as a wounded man on the run in a radio adaptation of the classic film Odd Man Out (originally aired on CBS on December 30, 1954) and as a detective investigating a murder in a coal mine in “The Cave-In” (originally aired on CBS on July 5, 1955). Plus, Wright shows off his versatility by playing two roles in “The Englishman” from Have Gun, Will Travel (originally aired on CBS on January 11, 1959).

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Ante up for three radio mysteries involving gamblers and the sometimes deadly bets they make. First, a pet shop owner is killed when he refuses to offer his store as a front for a gambling ring in Boston Blackie. Then, a real-life Chicago reporter cracks the case of a poker game that ends in murder on The Big Story (originally aired on NBC on April 4, 1951). And finally, Sgt. Joe Friday hunts for floating games in the City of Angels in “The Big Gamble” from Dragnet (originally aired on NBC on May 8, 1952).

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Big screen tough guy Sheldon Leonard went from cutting a menacing figure in To Have and Have Not and It’s a Wonderful Life to producing classic TV sitcoms like The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show. In three old time radio thrillers, he’ll show off his acting chops, first as a hired killer who’s looking for a friend in “Feast of the Furies” (originally aired on CBS on July 11, 1946). We’ll also hear him co-starring with Rosalind Russell in “When the Bough Breaks” (originally aired on CBS on May 3, 1951) and Jack Benny in “The Face is Familiar” (originally aired on CBS on January 18, 1954). Plus he shows off his lighter side as a proud papa of a safecracker in “Butch Minds the Baby” from The Damon Runyon Theatre.

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