A journey into the foggy world of the macabre awaits. Who knows what ghouls and ghosts, and what specters of horror lurk around the corners? We shut off our eyes but turn on our minds and let the powers of story, description and sound be the guiding hand of our adventure. It is a place where we shall all gather and share and listen to stories over the radio, particularly older radio dramas from the conception of radio in the 1920s to the radio drama twilight era of the 1970s.

This is what local radio fanatic Isaiah Ives ’23 told me when I asked him about his ongoing Radio Nights program at Furman. I went to this program’s first happening a couple of weeks ago, because the concept of listening to radio dramas as a group and the noir-style posters I saw around campus intrigued me. I arrived at Furman Hall under the cover of darkness and made my way to the meeting place. Ives was there waiting, and he emphatically introduced himself to me.

Ives was a very enthusiastic ringleader, and you could tell just by talking to him that he has listened to a lot of radio dramas. He was very eager to let other people in on the culture and share some of his interesting opinions about 70s radio. He was the perfect man to organize this spooky event. There were only a few other people who showed up, but it was nary a concern for Ives. Every time even one person walked through the door, his face would light up and the energy in the room lifted a little more. Eventually, though, the hands of the clock reached eight, and it was time to begin our entertainment for the evening. Ives turned off the lights and put a video of a fireplace up on the projector, because a story is not spooky if you are not sitting next to a dimly lit fire as you listen to it.

Ives gave an emboldened welcome to everyone who showed up and shouted a loud foretelling of the horrors and intrigues that would come in the two radio stories we would come to listen to. He put on the first radio story through a portable speaker. At first, the volume seemed as though it would be oppressively loud, but we would all turn out to appreciate the louder volume. The audio on the first story was a little outdated and garbled. Everyone in the audience had a little trouble making out what was being said a couple of times. Isaiah seemed to take notice of this, though, so I think he will either do something to remedy this in the future or try to give everyone advance notice of how the audio will sound. However, listening to the audio like that did evoke a nostalgia for the olden days of radio entertainment, even if it made the experience of listening to it a little rougher.

Aside from this nitpick, though, the tales we listened to were captivating. The first story was called “The White Wolf”. It was the older story that night, and it told the story of a family who live alone in the frozen wilderness, trying to escape their father’s past, and whom a vicious white wolf attacks. The family tries to trap and kill the wolf, but things get complicated when, in the middle of their hunt, they encounter a beautiful woman in the frozen wilderness. The second story was more modern, both in style and sound design. It was called “The Odd Kids”. Who are the odd kids that live on the other side of the forest? Do the kids who cross the creek really disappear? And what is that godforsaken chittering noise coming from them? There’s only one man who knows the truth, but has he paid too much of a price for his knowledge?

 Both stories were creepily delightful campfire tales, fitting since there was a fireplace on the projector. They provided lots of atmosphere and suspense to those of us sitting in the classroom that night. I could have even sworn that the projection of the fire was warming up the room.

Radio Nights was a very crisp and chill-inducing experience, perfect for a cold fall night. Ives told me he plans to hold two more happenings on November 15 and December 7, with possibly even twice as many this coming spring. I have no doubt that we will see each other again soon throughout the coming year. Other have grown curious of the mysteries of the radio as well, as the most recent happening this week was almost a full house. I invite you to join us for Radio Nights as well, dear reader. That is, if you can muster up the courage to face that which lurks in the unknown.