Sherlock Holmes aired “The Adventure of the Carpathian Horror” on April 14, 1947. In one iteration or another Sherlock Holmes on radio lasted some 25 years, off and on from 1930 through 1955.  It first hit the airwaves due solely to the tireless efforts of one Edith Meiser, whose story we have written of before here. Meiser’s name is legend among Holmes’ fans and deservedly so.

One of the most popular duos to play Holmes and Watson on radio (and there were several excellent pairings) was Tom Conway as Holmes and the iconic and lovable Nigel Bruce as Dr. Watson, who would continue to reprise his film roles long after Basil Rathbone retired from being radio’s Holmes after the end of his and Bruce’s classic Sherlock Holmes films.

As has been pointed out on several previous occasions, for several years during the period comprising this episode, the Holmes scripts were written by Denis Green and future Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction co-founder Anthony Boucher, a diehard Holmes aficionado. This episode takes us to Romania and “The Adventure of the Carpathian Horror.” Not wanting to reveal too much, it deals with dreams, a hashish smoking madman, and devilish doings in the land of vampires. As a bonus, the preface to the show has the host (of a radio program from some years ago which rebroadcast Holmes episodes) explaining how a radio broadcast comes to be, who wrote what between Green and Boucher, and other interesting behind the scenes information.

Since mid-2009 we have run over 300 Old Time Radio episodes from many different shows, yet this is only the ninth Sherlock Holmes episode to date. We hope you enjoy it, as the previous eight have proven to be quite popular.

(Left: Tom Conway, Right: Nigel Bruce)

Play Time: 30:25

{Having been bitten by the detective/crime bug after listening to the above Sherlock Holmes tale, the neighborhood gang would head for the corner newsstand to find many such magazines to choose from, several of which are showcased below. Note that Super Detective published but four issues in 1947, while both Black Mask and Phantom Detective were bi-monthly.}

[Left: Super Detective, May 1947 – Center: Black Mask, March 1947 – Right: Phantom Detective, March 1947]

To view the entire list of weekly Old Time Radio episodes at Tangent Online, click here.