"Dark Venture" was a horror / thriller anthology series of over 50 episodes, that ran from 10 September 1945 until 10 February 1947; with John Lake as the narrator.
The first episode of Dark Venture began with an introduction by Lake:
"Over the minds of mortal men come many shadows... shadows of greed and hate, jealousy and fear. Darkness is absence of light... so in the sudden shadows which fog the minds of men and are to be found in the strange impulses which urge them on to their venture...in the dark".
From Radio Horror Hosts:
Dark Venture was a grim kind of thriller where the listener got inside the twisted head of the murderer and heard his thoughts. It was not supernatural horror, but horror just the same... the kind that evil minds spawn when they are scheming ways to kill someone and get away with it. The writing was sharp and gritty. These killers were hardened sociopaths that didn't give a damn about anyone else. They had no conscience and were diabolical in their plots. Unfortunately for them, the audience also liked to see others suffer, especially if that person was guilty and deserved his comeuppance. So each week millions could tune in to "see" the murderer meet his fate on the radio in their mind's eye. The killing method wasn't especially creative. It was usually the tried and true technique of strangulation, knifing, or shooting. No, what made Dark Venture interesting was the manner in which the killer plotted to get away with it all. Killers would devise sinister mind games to trick their wife into believing she was going insane, or manipulate a business partner into thinking he was being stalked by a phantom lover. Both of these elaborate plots were dreamed up to provide a fall guy for the murder, and both would have worked too - except for some small detail that would unravel the entire conspiracy. It was racy radio alright, the kind that made them pass new regulations in 1947 to tone it down. Maybe that's why Dark Venture ended that same year. (Or maybe it was that producer Donald Wilson was too busy with a similar series which was even more popular, The Whistler.) Whatever the reason, only a few samples of this sinister series survive.
Listen to the episode "Eclipse"
Play Episode
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