Chet Chetter’s Tales from the Morgue
Chet Chetter's Tales from the Morgue is not a Golden Age old-time-radio series. It is a modern audio-theater project created by Mark Sawyer and Jay Reel that deliberately borrows the voice of classic horror radio while adding its own Biloxi setting, dark comedy and late-twentieth-century production sensibility.
Program History
Modern old-radio-style audio theater created by Mark Sawyer and Jay Reel, not a Golden Age series. Nineteen frozen tracks belong to Tales From The Morgue (1989-1992 source-tag years); two later frozen tracks are tagged M & J Presents (1993-1994) and are retained as collection spillover rather than rewritten as original-series episodes.
The run breaks into several distinct periods: Tales from the Morgue production period (1989 to 1992), NPR Playhouse broadcast/commission period (1990 to 1992) on National Public Radio, and M&J Presents collection spillover (1993 to 1994).
Names that turn up again and again in the surviving run include Jay Reel (performer).
The stories often return to modern old-radio revival audio theater, supernatural and macabre situations, science fiction and bizarre technology, absurdist and dark comedy, Biloxi / Deep South setting and dialect, and horror-host framing and Inner Sanctum homage.
The show also sits in a wider radio history that includes Modern old-time-radio revival production, M&J Presents expansion beyond Tales From The Morgue, The Highway of Death launches the Chet Chetter project, and Initial NPR Playhouse acceptance and broadcast.
All Episodes & Recordings
Search this program or browse in its validated catalog order.
The Bogus Beavers of Barnakver 2
More alien beavers descend on Biloxi and overwhelm the sheriff’s department, turning the earlier encounter into a full-scale invasion. Remembering how the creatures react to Pest Away repellent, the townspeople…
Elmer Versus the Mutant Mole Rats
Biloxi is threatened by enormous flesh-eating mole rats spreading through underground tunnels. Elmer and his friends burn through the infestation while a visiting scientist traces the creatures to laboratory experimentation,…
Escape from the Mysterious Island 1
Elmer, Cecil and several companions are swept through a violent storm to a mysterious island populated by prehistoric animals. With their transportation destroyed and giant cats closing in, they learn…
Escape from the Mysterious Island 2
Still trapped on the prehistoric island, Elmer and the others race through dangerous terrain and hostile wildlife toward the recurring storm that can return them home. Their escape carries them…
Elmer Versus the Invaders
After helping return a dead extraterrestrial, Elmer is taken to the aliens’ world and discovers that their exhausted food supply has led them to abduct humans for processing as nourishment.…
Return of the Master Constipator
The Master Constipator survives his apparent destruction and abducts Gail Taylor, taking him before the feared Great Creator. Taylor again exploits the Master’s top-heavy design, while the encounter ends with…
If You Can't Stand the Heat
A man involved in an extreme solar experiment experiences an escalating nightmare in which his body becomes hotter and hotter, turning him into a living fireball whose descent threatens the…
The Bogus Beavers of Barnakver 1
Strange beaver-like aliens arrive near Miller’s Pond just as Biloxi is dealing with its yearly beaver problem. A misunderstanding with local law enforcement turns violent until a strong animal repellent…
Fall and Rise of the Master Constipator
Rebels in the galaxy of Constipation finally strike at the tyrannical Master Constipator and disable the mechanical ruler with an attack that shorts out his systems. The apparent victory does…
Excursions in Fear
Chet Chetter presents a pair of old-radio-style horror tales built around obsession turning deadly. One story follows a murderous landowner confronted by the dead he buried, while another follows a…
Elmer Meets Death
Elmer encounters Death after strange events begin around an abandoned house. When Death stops doing his job, people who should die remain alive in grotesque condition and ordinary life begins…
Elmer and the Book of Absolute Truth
A wealthy man offers Elmer a fortune to retrieve the legendary Book of Absolute Truth, said to contain every answer humanity could ever seek. Elmer crosses a trap-filled jungle and…
The Bitter Pill
During the Vietnam War, counterculture believer Gail Headrush Taylor volunteers for a dangerous mission and survives horrific wounds through the mind-control teachings of Professor Troubadour. When fellow soldiers abandon his…
The Conquest of the Master Constipator
The Master Constipator launches a campaign to conquer another galaxy, but his arrogance backfires when enemy resistance exposes divisions among his own forces. A rebellion spreads through the ranks, and…
Peace to the Frifalites
Amateur space traveler Gail Taylor reaches the tiny Frifalites, who are being terrorized by the mechanical Master Constipator. Taylor discovers that the tyrant is physically unstable despite his bluster, topples…
Interface to Terror
A computer expert invents a device that can transfer information directly into the human brain, but his criminal brother quickly sees it as a way to steal financial data and…
The Mand J Variety Show
M&J opens its archives for a collection of comic sketches originally created in the late 1980s, parodying television game shows, police dramas, movies and other pop-culture formats. The program moves…
It Came from Video
A bitter scientist uses a particle accelerator to pull a giant monster out of a cheap Japanese videotape and unleash it on Biloxi. Townspeople scramble to stop the creature while…
The Highway of Death
Driving a lonely highway at night, Elmer enters a supernatural road populated by the dead and learns that a demon named Cervius has trapped their souls there. To escape and…
1-800-Big Bang Part 1
A mysterious satellite crashes near Biloxi carrying a toll-free warning number and an active countdown. Elmer Corn and Cecil Ferris become entangled with the scientists responsible for it, and their…
1-800-Big Bang Part 2
Elmer and Cecil survive the satellite incident only to find themselves displaced into a future ruled by machines. Forced into a televised arena and confronted by deadly robots, they improvise…