CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER: THE HOUSE AND THE BRAIN (MARCH 6, 1978)

Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)  was a British author and politician.   Among his more noted novels were Pelham (1828), Paul Clifford (whose opening sentence famously began, "It was a dark and stormy night...";1930), Eugene Aram  (1832), The Last Days of Pompei (1834), Zanoni (1842), and The Coming Race *1871).  His most lasting work, perhaps, is his ghost story "The Haunters and the Hanuted; or, The House and the Brain" (Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, August 1859, originally uncredited); which has been reprinteded at least 150 times -- surprisingly, it was never reprinted during Bulwer-Lytton's lifetime.  H. P. Lovecraft called the story "one of the best short haunted-house tales ever written,"  and the L. W. Curry, Ltd. website calls it "perhaps the best haunted house story ever written."  His other legacies (besides the "dark and stormy night" quotation) lie in some of the popular phrases he coined:  "pursuit of the almighty dollar," "the pen is mightier than the sword," "dweller on the threshold," and "the great unwashed," among them.  His 1862 novel A Strange Story influenced Bram Stoker as he was writing Dracula.

The story was filmed at least once:  1948's The Ghost of Rashmon's Hall (also known  as Night Comes Too Soon), and at least twice for television in the anthology series High Tension (1953) and The Wide World of Mystery (1973).

And it made it to radio on CBS Radio MysteryTheater, in this episode featuring Gordon Heath, Richard Dryden, and Court Benson, with E. G. Marshall serving as your host.  CBS Radio Mystery Theater was created and produced by the legendary himan Brown, who also direct this episode, which was adapted by Percy Grainger.  CBS Radio Mystery Theater ran from 1974 to 1982 for 1,399 episodes, all of which are archived on the internet.

Concerning this tale:  "The persistent appearance of a spirit at a local residence prompts two men to investigate into a mysterious tale spanning over a century.  They learn the power of pure intellect as they pursue the entity that is haunting a local house." 

Enjoy this chilling tale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-uCCbvAN70&list=PL6U_Lk_PlFCU2qwytcNP_2AtEfQCYY3XL&index=14