KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

The Seance by Bob Carlson On a summer night in the early 1990's, a small group of friends gather for a dinner party in Los Angeles. Just for fun, someone suggests having a seance with a homemade , makeshift Ouija board. The glass begins to move and by the end of the evening, perceptions of reality have been altered, relationships have been damaged, and the guests are forever changed. Three people who were there return to tell us the shocking, funny , and hauntingly tragic story of The Seance .

The Pit and the Pendulum   from Suspense We had such fun with Mr.  Vincent Price  on the program last week that we're inviting him back again! This time, he'll give us a stunning performance i n an adaptation of  Edgar Allan Poe 's 1842 tale "The Pit and the Pendulum"  from  the legendary radio program, Suspense. A s are many of Poe's tales, it is told through the eyes of the main character.  Price stars  as the delirious victim of a most cruel and inhuman punishment sentenced by the  Spanish Inquisition . John Dickson Carr adapted the story for radio and it co-stars Ellen Morgan as the hallucinated voice of his wife, with  Jay Novello , Ben Wright and John Hoyt. A staple in American radio drama, Suspense ran from 1942-1962 on CBS. Our episode originally aired on November 10, 1957. "Suspense -- Stories from the world’s great literature of pure excitement. A new series frankly dedicated to your horrification and entertainmen...

The Death of Poe from The Truth This audio drama depicting Poe's last day on earth was inspired by a story from  Matthew Mercier . Matthew was once the caretaker of The Edgar Allan Poe Cottage   and lived  in its basement. We'll hear that o ne day he  was visited by mysterious devotee who was raving about  how Poe spent his final hours. P erformed by Christian Paluck, Ed Herbstman, Chet Siegel , and Louis Kornfeld.  It was produced and directed by  Jonathan Mitchell . The Imp of the Perverse read by Vincent Price Do you think you might be "one of the many uncounted victims of the Imp Of The Perverse?" Well, we will learn how the budding field of phrenology has overlooked one very major portion of the mind -- the natural human tendency to do wrong for wrong's sake. Procrastination, greed, overeating, envy, and even murder are all examples... but to confess? Could that possibly be wrong? Could that be the "imp" at play? Written in 1845, rec...

La Llorona: An Evolving Myth by Beth Hoffman A good myth can stand the test of time. It can find itself being told hundreds maybe even thousands of years later;  La Llorona is one such myth.  The  tale of "the weeping woman"  continues to resound with those who tell it, hear it, and retell it, all these years later.   Since the time of the Spanish conquest , from Mexico to the American Southwest, those who hear the wails of the crying woman, or who are touched by the hem of her gown, are marked for death.  In this program , we'll hear about this tragic mother and her story -- and  how its meaning has grown and changed over time.  We will know that as the  myth spreads , La Llorona will go on haunting our children for generations.