Strange Tales (Old Time Radio)
May 31, 2026 · 0 min · 4 segments
We take a seat next to The Mysterious Traveler this week, for his episode from July 27, 1947, titled, The Man The Insects Hated. Listen to more from The Mysterious Traveler…
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[dramatic music] Mutual presents The Mysterious Traveler.
This is The Mysterious Traveler inviting you to join me on another journey into the realm of the strange and the terrifying.
I hope you will enjoy the trip, that it will thrill you a little and chill you a little, so settle back, get a good grip on your nerves, and be comfortable, if you can.
[train horn] It's the end of July and rather warm, isn't it? There's probably an insect or two buzzing around in your living room right this moment or banging against your screen trying to get in.
Before we go any further, you better get rid of it.
If you do, you'll breathe easier as you hear the unusual story I have for you today, the story I call The Man the Insects Hated.
[mysterious music] My story begins in a homemade laboratory in a crumbling mansion on the edge of a bayou deep in the heart of the Louisiana swamps.
Outside, the air is filled with the strident hum and buzz of insects, uncounted swarms of them crawling and hopping and flying in the hot, lush atmosphere.
Inside the laboratory, the air is filled with the same sound as a small man with graying hair lifts a wire insect trap to a table.
Listen to them, Mary, how they hate me, every one of them.
The flies, the bees, the hornets, the beetles, the locusts, the spiders, they all hate me.
Oh, John, they don't hate you.
They're just bugs.
They can't hate you.
Yes, but listen to them hum and buzz when I come near.
[laughs]
They know me, and the reason they're so upset is that they know that we're enemies and that I'm going to destroy them, destroy them utterly.
All right, John.
[sighs]
Oh, Mary, you look tired.
This life we've been leading the last few months, it's very dreary for you, isn't it?
It's all right, John.
It doesn't matter.
But it does.
These swamps, they must seem like the last outpost of creation to you.
[dramatic music] Mutual presents The Mysterious Traveler.
This is The Mysterious Traveler inviting you to join me on another journey into the realm of the strange and the terrifying.
I hope you will enjoy the trip, that it will thrill you a little and chill you a little, so settle back, get a good grip on your nerves, and be comfortable, if you can.
[train horn] It's the end of July and rather warm, isn't it? There's probably an insect or two buzzing around in your living room right this moment or banging against your screen trying to get in.
Before we go any further, you better get rid of it.
If you do, you'll breathe easier as you hear the unusual story I have for you today, the story I call The Man the Insects Hated.
[mysterious music] My story begins in a homemade laboratory in a crumbling mansion on the edge of a bayou deep in the heart of the Louisiana swamps.
Outside, the air is filled with the strident hum and buzz of insects, uncounted swarms of them crawling and hopping and flying in the hot, lush atmosphere.
Inside the laboratory, the air is filled with the same sound as a small man with graying hair lifts a wire insect trap to a table.
Listen to them, Mary, how they hate me, every one of them.
The flies, the bees, the hornets, the beetles, the locusts, the spiders, they all hate me.
Oh, John, they don't hate you.
They're just bugs.
They can't hate you.
Yes, but listen to them hum and buzz when I come near.
[laughs]
They know me, and the reason they're so upset is that they know that we're enemies and that I'm going to destroy them, destroy them utterly.
All right, John.
[sighs]
Oh, Mary, you look tired.
This life we've been leading the last few months, it's very dreary for you, isn't it?
It's all right, John.
It doesn't matter.
But it does.
These swamps, they must seem like the last outpost of creation to you.
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