Short Story Theater

Fast forward many thousands of years into the future to a land where there hasn't been a crime for 3 millenna!  But now that the stupidest man on Arinor is guarding the treasure, things may change. 

A tale of terror in a nearly empty Cape Cod hotel in the off-season.

The Hounds of Fate will follow you, no matter where you go. You cannot hide from them.

In tropical South Florida, three thieves are preparing to steal the treasure of a retired director of a wildlife research program. They soon find that the treasure is much larger than they expected.

A retired fisherman on Boston's North Shore attempts to catch a ghost ship named The Carolina Queen.

In a classroom, far away in a distant, advanced planet, a student presents his science project - a living, miniature planet that he calls Ear

Thou Shalt Not Kill. It is a commandment, perhaps the most important one. Thou Shalt Not Kill - but there is a caveat, an exception to the rule. In times of war, even your clergyman will slap you on the back, hand you a chocolate bar, and send you off to kill. Bill Russo's tale, The Death Squad, is the story of Private Shadow of the Union Army, who near the end of the U.S. Civil War is assigned to a firing squad which must kill 80 prisoners a day. Shadow dislikes the horrid duty and soon grows to dread it, and tries to find a way out.

In Bill Russo's new tale, the creatures of the Juns Federation - Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune, are poised to conquer earth, by capturing one human being at a time. They have chosen desolate Ragged Mountain in Northern Maine for the starting point of the invasion. A lone disc-jockey sits in a solitary cabin at the top of the peak. In winter it is not possible for any vehicle to scale the icy mountain, or for any helicopter to land. But in the swirling snow outiside his window, the radio announcer sees someone - or some thing!

An irreverent, satirical look at the news from June/July 2023

In Hyannis on Cape Cod back in the 1950s, police would respond to a call from the Kennedy Compound in about 2 seconds. A business on busy Main Street could expect to see a response from a call to the police department in five or ten minutes. On Leftover Main, where the tourists don't go, the police won't go! So, on Leftover Main, it's every man for himself. Luckily for The Chicken Man of Leftover Main, he's up to the job.

A sample episode of an unusual comedy-music radio series called Cheese Please, with Snarfdude and Daffodil. If you like the episode, you can listen to the weekly shows on radio or on podcast sites.

The letters E, I, O, and sometimes A, are the last letters of the names of virtually all of the Italian people. Are these letters truly evil? Are the people who have these letters at the end of their name evil? Find out in Bill Russo's mostly true tale of the E, I, E, I, O and sometimes A, people.

The true tale of Dr. Abner Hersey, the eccentric doctor, who willed a forturne to the 13 churches of Cape Cod, and vowed to come back and haunt them, if any 'scobberlochers' mishandled his money.

Short Story Theater, News From the Past - a look at the sad life of one of the worlds' most successful authors. She was born in poverty in a small town, and amassed great wealth, but never found happiness.

A young girl fless an abusive and violent stepfather and ends up on Leftover Main Street in Hyannis, the unofficial capital of Cape Cod. She finds refuge in the toy store of a kindly lady. But back in Boston, the horrid stepfather who raped and beat her, is bent on finding out where she is. He plans to drag her back to Beantown and continuie abusing her.

Journey back to Old Cape Cod in the 1950s where Gable Stone leaves a game of 8 ball, to hunt for the killer of a mob boss, on a trail that runs from Hyannis to Boston to New York.

Millions of readers know the exploits of Sherlock Holmes from the stories of Doctor Watson. In this episode of Bill Russo's Short Story Theater, for the first time, Sherlock Holmes relates a narrative about Watson. The good doctor undertakes a risky mission to build a hospital and he ends up fighting not just to build the structure, but for his very life!

Every night at three hours beyond midnight a man is awakened by a knock on his front door. He walks up to the door and there is no one there, even as the knocking continues. Under increasing strain he calls 'Hostile Haunts' in hopes they can scare off the invisible intruder.

The Second Life of Riley Adair is a brief dramatized query into a consciousness below consciousness. Does it really exist? After you listen to the tale, you be the judge.

Dodge City - Duel at Dawn, is the sequel to "I Grew Up in Dodge City in 1875". Deputry Sheriff Chalky Jones tells about the most unlikely gunfight the "Wild West" ever witnessed.

The Martian Express. A tale of the first human expdition to land on the Red Planet. It is an event that has not yet happened. Or has it?

Knotso Clanky is a storyteller, who is sometimes accused of stretching a little tale into something as big as Sugarloaf Mountain. It is just possible that his account of meeting and becoming a friend of Bigfoot, is somewhat exaggerated!

Today's edition of Short Story Theater is not a fictional tale designed to frighten you but an audio documentary that will frighten you as we take you "Inside the Chicken Coop"

The Death House Rescue - featuring one of the earliest Superheroes - the mysterious and invisible Shadow. In reality The Shadow was a billionaire named Lamont Cranston who went abroad as a youth and learned the secrets of invisibility. As The Shadow he fights the forces of evil.

Far off the coast of Florida, past the last inhabited island (Key West) there was at one time a tiny key, no larger than a big, flat rock. When a crew came to build a lighthouse there, they found the skeletal remains of three escaped convicts. They named the place, Three Skeleton Key. To unlock its secrets, listen to our tale on Short Story Theater.

Early Sci-Fi from the 1800s - The Damned Thing. A tale of invisibility written by Ambrose Bierce which may have been the inspiration for a work 50 years later by H P Lovecraft.

They went North to Alaska in 1897 to seek Gold. A few found it. Many others found only a frozen, hard death. Sam McGhee was one of those dying prospectors whose last wish was to be warm one final time.

Bill Russo, whose account of his meeting with a 'Puckwudgie' was one of the highlights of the Bridgewater Triangle Documentary, takes you on a ride through the unknown in, "Welcome to the World of the Paranormal"

At a premier university in Northern New Hampshire, Professor Winslow is ready to deliver his first lecture of the new school year - he has no idea that his first class, will also be, his last class.

On Leftover Main Street in Cape Cod, there is a sign above a stark storefront that says simply, "Gable Stone - Services Rendered". When something is too tough for the police, or perhaps too illegal for same, Cape Codders in the know, head for Gabe's little shop next to The Downtown Tap, for solutions to just about any problem.

Not quite a death-bed confession, but at age 90 and knowing there will be no birthday cake with 91 candles for him, an old man reveals a dark secret that he has kept hidden in the deepest part of his mind for almost seven decades.

The greatest Sci Fi series ever seen, was viewed in the theater of the mind - old time radio - under the title of X-Minus-One. Here is a little-known episode of that series

The legendary Wampum Belt, a priceless Native American treasure, thought to be lost for centuries, was actually in a tepee on THE FIFTH FLOOR of a museum.

Chapter two of the iconic, original Winnie the Pooh collection of stories, as enacted by Basil Nightingale of Short Story Theater. You can also view this episode on the Bill Russo YouTube channel to see the original illustrations.

Chapter One of Winnie The Pooh, from the original book published nearly a century ago. Read by Basil Nightingale.

"The House of the Past" Notes by Bill Russo. Some dreams are more than dreams. So lifelike, they seem real. Such is the case with the surreal musings of Algernon Blackwood, as described by Chiquito Crasto of Australia for Episode 14 of Season 3 of Short Story Theater.

A deranged maniac is murdering people with a weapon that matches their name. Mr. Hammer was killed with a hammer. Mr. Gunn was shot with a pistol. Retired Cape Cod Police Chief Rick Bates is summoned from his barstool in Key West and asked to return to New England to use his 'Baits' to apprehend the "Name Game Killer".

A lonely, older woman standing by the edge of her private beach on Cape Cod, sees a young man emerge from the waves. He approaches her. Is he a fortune hunter, a serial killer, or the Fountain of Youth?

Short Story Theater takes a page from the David/Seinfeld book and presents "Five Minutes of Wasted Talk While Waiting for a Bus"

In a tiny New Hampshire village, the hand of a mass murderer was chopped off at the wrist, after he was hanged. The body remained buried but the gruesome hand, finger-walks all around town trying to strangle everyone within reach!

The strangest tale you will hear this year. Two strangers meet at the very top of the United States in Maine and begin an adventure that takes them to the bottom of the U.S. near Miami - where the saga ends in both life and death.

Everyone needs a second chance. Sometimes it comes early, sometimes late, and sometimes not at all. For Jose Mendez, it came at TEN!

A chilling tale of a middle-aged man who finally gets the courage to face his worst childhood fears, with an eerie result.

The Producer and Director of Short Story Theater, Bill Russo, tells about his two weeks as a player on the roster of the World Champion Boston Red Sox.

A retired "Yankee" from New England travels to "Old" England to research his family tree. Renting a long abandoned mansion for solitude, he soon finds that the rundown, eerie place is haunted.

For many people Halloween is not just one day in late October, but a whole season that begins as soon as summer fades away and lasts until the Jack-O-Lantern is replaced by a Christmas Tree - this story is for them!

Hank Williams On The Inside takes you to back 1951, in the studios of WSM radio, where Hank Williams is about to premier his new song, Cold Cold Heart - but the story of the sad incident that led to him writing the song, is colder than the song itself - details on the inside...

The amazing, true tale of Phineas P. Gage who survived having a 13 pound iron bar shot through his brain.

Season 3 of Short Story Theater kicks off with the story of Swilling's Mills which may soon become the biggest city in the United States.

A small 350 acre pond in Bridgewater, called The Nip, may be the deadliest place in the entire Bridgewater Triangle. Once, hundreds if not thousands of people swam in its quiet waters, before mysterious drownings forced swimming to be forever banned. Now the deadliest location in the Bridgewater Triangle, may also be the most deserted place in the Triangle! Join Bill Russo in the summer of 2021 and he re-examines The Nip.

A man claiming to be 120 years old tells of the days when he was the top boss of crime in New York and Chicago, and he recruited a young guy from The Five Points to be his assistant. The boy's name was Alphonse Capone, also known as "Scar-Face".