 The makers of Mars Forever Yours bar, and all those other good Mars candy bars, invite you through the creaking door for another thrilling, inner sanctum mystery. Tonight, the unforgiving corpse, starring Louis Van Rooten. Good evening, friends of the creaking door. This is your host to welcome you once again into the inner sanctum. Come in, come on in. Uh, spooking of baseball. We've a team that you'll really lose your mind over. Our pitchers are real sweetheart, razor sharp. His best pitch is, uh, ghost ball. Swing at it and it disappears, along with a pitcher. Ah, double-headed. Nobody's better equipped for them than we are. An odd sight, you know, watching nine ball players with 18 heads. And to kill the umpire? In our league, but that's no idle prayer. Now into the inner sanctum for thrilling mystery, but first this is Alan Z. Anthony. You know, certain things are very personally yours, things that make you the person you are. Your voice, your features, your manner. Yes, your particular tastes, too. For example, you may be one of those extra special individuals who strongly preferred dark chocolate. And that's why Mars puts their special candy making magic to work to bring you that delicious Mars Forever Yours candy bar. For you who particularly preferred dark chocolate. Forever Yours makes the most of that dark chocolate by delightful flavor contrast. By wrapping it thick around creamy, whipped, pure vanilla nougat topped with golden caramel. Yes, the not too sweet taste of elegant dark chocolate in a refreshing flavor combination with the clean, bright taste of pure vanilla. That's Forever Yours. That's the candy bar particularly for you and made to be Forever Yours. An awful tonight's quakes and shutters. Acted out in San Amado, a prairie town somewhere beyond the limits of reason. Hear them? Coyotes. It's a lullaby you sleep to in San Amado if you can sleep. And here's another soothing sound in the night. An express train roaring by. It doesn't stop in San Amado except on signal. Prairie coyotes and screaming train whistles night after night every night. They can haunt you. That is, if you haunt like old Ben Sears. Sears is station master at the railroad whistle stop and very morbid about it. When the man's head is bowed low with grief and guilt, he sometimes sees the devil rise before him. He sees the devil and he gives him a face. And what face do you give me Ben Sears? I ask what face do you give me? Silver white like the moon sits on your shoulders. And my eyes? Eyes cold. The sockets cold like a frost. Like the touch of death. Shall I touch you? No! Why so afraid Ben Sears? You and I, we're talking. You think not? We've things to recall together Ben Sears. What things? Things like your murder of me? Have you forgotten the old 1155? No, it's a brand on my memory. Then say my name. Kirby Willis, engineer of the train. The rail was split at Jericho Bend, but you did not signal for me to stop. No, they found Kirby Willis in hollow of Jericho Bend with his hand on the throttle. I died when no man should. When no man should, Kirby? I had a girl promise to me. Your Jenny? My Jenny, yes. You cost me more than life that Black Knight Ben Sears. What payment are you here to take from me? Live through this week and see, old man. Live through this week and keep your eyes to the ground. I'd be a haunted man. It was a promise made by the devil himself. I'd be a haunted man. Pop, open up. It was that my stepson bringing me a warming drink like he did every night. Why the locked door, Pop? Against prowlers. Is that a motto? That's a joke. The only prowlers around here are poor-legged. Coyotes, I'll coffee for you. I'll go home to bed now. Fred, wait. I saw a man tonight. I saw Kirby Willis. Kirby Willis? Who's he? Hey, wait. The name's familiar. Your mind's not slipping back into the dark. Not again. It was Kirby. He stood before me in the station yard. He spoke to me. And invited you out of your mind. I murdered him, Kirby said. Your time when no man should die. Forget Kirby Willis and think of the miracle that happened. Only one life lost. The rails were split. I didn't signal Kirby to stop. Because you couldn't know about the busted rail? You were acquitted of negligence at the hearing? I never acquitted myself. Because you like living in the dark. Ten years now. A telegraph message coming in if you're up to it. Take it for me, Fred. Says 1155 Dubai in one minute now. It's right on time. On a button. Hey, move over, Pop. Make room in the dark for a relative. Make room? There's more to the message. Last half says, I'll be riding the engine again. Sign? Kirby Willis. 1155. Willis rode the 1155 that night. Found him in the hollow. Sealed in his wrecked cab with his hand dead on the front. Shut up, Pop. Shut up. It's gone. Hey, Pop. Yes, Fred? You're like something contagious. Stick close to you nights and I can get to be just as crazy as you. I'm sorry, son. You know, just then with the 1155 clearing the station. You know what crazy thought flies through my head? This is the anniversary week of the wreck of the old 1155. It would really be one for the books if the ghost of Kirby Willis rode the 1155 into another wreck. How about that, Pop? I, too, had the same thought. I kept my mind in the dark. My eyes to the ground, later in Santa Marta Cemetery. I held my lantern over a headstone. Here lies Kirby Willis. It wasn't from the dead he was. It was every side. An open grave. An open coffin lid. I could see by the shine of my lantern that Kirby wasn't in his coffin. You came to see with your own eyes that Kirby Willis is outside his coffin. Kirby? On the path. Plain in the light of your lantern. See me? Yes. I rode the 1155 tonight. I know. Kirby, to send a message on the wireless. How was it done? I'll be riding the 1155 every night. This anniversary week fences. And on the last night, will the train go through on the last night? Live through the week and see. Since you've come to comfort the dead, why not take yourself over to Jenny? To Jenny? Five graves from this one. Count five graves from mine. Go. Ask Jenny to tell you how she died. I counted five graves from Kirby's. I stood there with my mind in the dark. My eyes to the ground. An open grave. This one too. The lead of the coffin was closed. But it opened while I watched the specter in white rose up. Ben Sears? Are you Ben Sears? I am. Kirby sent you to me? Yes. To ask how you died, he said. How did you die? My wedding gown. I was fitting it to wear for Kirby when the news came that night. It was a tragic hour. I stood there and didn't move. When they told me about Kirby, I never moved again from that minute. You willed yourself to die. My heart swelled up as big as myself. And then it stopped. I stopped it. It was a bad time to die when living was so good. And Kirby, affirmed to his promise, wrote the 1155 for the anniversary week. And always with a message for me at 1154, just one minute before. The engine of the 1155. Look to the race. Kirby meant to ride 1155 to his death again. Stop! Friends, your host with a friendly warning. We may wind up with a thrill that'll chill you. Remember, if you go for dark chocolate, go get it. Yet in a Mars, forever yours candy bar. That'll thrill you. And when the heat's on, pal, keep cool. Keep that forever yours in the refrigerator. For a real chiller thriller. A frosty friend that's truly forever yours. Then sense of guilt isn't so big, really. Size two, that's all. Kirby and Jenny. That engineer Kirby, well, he's really stirring things up. He may be dead, but he's no deadhead. But it's Jenny who gets me. Isn't she a dream girl? Now, let me see. How far out of mind did we get? Oh, yes. There were the serenading coyotes. And old Ben Sears. Sears had just seen history repeat itself. Operator, operator, this is Ben Sears. Sears at the station. Operator, terrible thing. This is 1155. Operator, operator. Oh, friend. What's talking in a dark now, Pop? The telephone. You... I can't make myself understood. Give me the phone. What am I to say? Outside, which is so... 1155. All right. Who would be interested in hearing that? Who would be interested? Friend, pick up the telephone. Pop, you're a maniac. You worked hard to becoming one and you made it. Now, what about the 1155? By the way, it... it's a... it's a wreck. Kirby Willis, a ghost engineer on a ghost train. The wall clocks behind you, Pop. See what time it says. Hmm? 1154. It's only 1154. Here's the 1155 now. Right on time. You're 1155, Pop. It crashed in your head. Say no mind than mind. I needed this say no mind than mind to take me by the hand. The wisdom of my years. Where was the wisdom of my years? Wilson, the town supervisor. I let him take me by the hand. Back to the Sanamata cemetery. Which of the two grades? Oh, over here. Oh, over here is Kirby Willis. This grave. This grave, you say? It says Kirby Willis on the gravestone. I'll hold a letter to it. Where do we see different things, Wilson? I see. An open grave. An open grave. And an open carving. And here's five graves from this, Wilson. Count five graves. Five. I've counted five. I'm an old man. I've lost my reason. But not you, Wilson. You're the best mind in Sanamata. The town supervisor. What do you see? A grave. As unnatural as the first. Open. And the coffin. Empty like the first. Here. Is it Jenny calling to you, Ben? You hear her, too? Yes. And my heart swelled up. When it stopped, I stopped. So I could be with Kirby Willis. It was a bad time to die. Such a bad time when living could be... Wilson. Yes, Ben? You heard what she said? Every word. And did you also see her? Yes. Like a white mist. Long flowing hair. And no flesh that I could see. I do have your hallucinations now, Ben. In the morning, Wilson, the best we had in Sanamata, put his hallucinations to rest. Well, I thought about the things we saw and heard, Ben. All night long, I thought about it. This morning, a clear thought came to me. Clear thought? A guiding spirit behind these sights that have turned your mind. I don't understand. A guiding spirit with a scheme at hand. A scheme against you, Ben, seeers. This morning, I took action. Now, let's see what the ghosts do. What action did you take? I ordered an arrest. The arrest of your stepson, Fred. You arrested Fred? Yes, the culprit. With others in with him, looting graves and dressing up to masquerade as ghosts. Why would Fred conspire against me? To drive you into the madhouse. Even to drive you to your death. I can't believe it, yes, I know. I know it's a great shock to you. But the boy hates you, Ben. Fred hates me. Well, unbalanced as you've been these ten years, an unsteady, brooding man. Fred's mother died to shut her eyes to the sight of you grieving. The boy thinks this. Fred, grames me for Margaret. His mother's passing. And there's your house and land. With you gone, it will pass to him. There's profit in hate for Fred. Now, I've raised it all out. Now, let's see what the ghosts will do. There was a message that night. That last anniversary night. Ten years to the day of the old wreck. Kirby Willis, firm to his promise. I could hear his voice in the keys. I'll ride the 1155 for the last time tonight. Look to the rail at Jericho Bend. Look to the rail at Jericho Bend? This time I would. I'd be no negligence this time. Jericho Bend, I saw what I hadn't seen ten years before. The rails, the rails were split. Once again the rails were split. Stop the train. I had to stop the train. This time I knew to stop the train. My signal landed. I waved it. Waved it high in the air so Kirby could see it. Look from a long sleep in the outdoors. Is someone standing over me? Wilson? It's me. The 1155 was in the 1155. The 1155 came and went. Came and went? You signaled it to stop and it stopped. It's gone now. A train can't wait on a hallucinating old fool. The rail at Jericho Bend, it was split. I saw that with my own eyes. The train took the bend with nothing on it. But I saw it. I'll show you. Here, here at the bend. I'm standing here to be shown, Bend. No. No, the rail is firm now. It's fine. What I saw, I didn't see. Except in your mind. Yes. But on the ground there, in the hollow. I see a body, a lonely body in the night. Yes, Bend. A dead man. It's Kirby Willis. Dead where he died before. Oh, Bend, not Kirby. We've a strange corpse in this one. And a man who died tonight. Tonight? Blood soaked in his clothes and in the dead. And still bleeding. The old dead don't bleed, Bend. And the old dead don't wear police handcuffs. Police handcuffs? Yeah, on his wrists. And a bullet hole in his head. See? This one was shot to death. A telephone recorder to come take the murdered man. Operator. Wait, wait with the telephone. It's Kirby on the wireless again. Kirby, is it? I'll take this message, Bend. What is the message? An awakening. From a detective who was on the 1155 tonight. He's telegraphing from the first town he came to after here. He lost a prisoner, he says, when you stopped the 1155 tonight. I don't understand. A prisoner he was taking to the state penitentiary. Willy French, a convicted man. The message says we're to look for a short man, bald, wearing a dark suit and handcuffs. That's the murdered man out there. That is. And we're to tell our sheriff to look for a gangster named Curly Sands and a gun girl named Jenny. A pair who schemed to board the train here in San Amado and seized the prisoner. A scheme to seize the prisoner and murder him. That's how your hallucinations came about. San Amado was the place they picked to stop the 1155. You were to stop the train for them. Bend. They played on your imagination all this anniversary week to get you to stop the train tonight as you did. Bend. Hey, here's the message coming in from Kirby. Bend, come to your senses. We know the truth now. I must decode the message. Bend, help yourself. The keys aren't going. They aren't going. Except in your mind. These are going. But we don't feel the same thing anymore. Not anymore. Well, ops in handcuffs. It's a fresh seasonal style note, friends. It's merry month of Mayhem. It gives death that little added weight. An old stationmaster bent away. He kept crying over spilt guilt. A stiff stood up in a coffin and band blew his lid. Moral? Oh, sure. This one's a hint on proper behavior. When wandering through graveyards, never stop to chat with strange women. Now, as I was saying, if you like dark chocolate, remember to ask for a Mars for ever yours. That's the candy bar that brings you the friendly, honest, not too sweet taste of dark chocolate, delightfully accented with the bright, clean, fresh taste of pure vanilla. Forever yours for elegant, pure, dark chocolate, wrapped thick around snow-white pure vanilla nougat, topped with golden caramel. And say, if the weather's getting warm where you are, hear this. Forever yours bars are being double-protected now with a special warm-weather inner wrapper to protect and seal in that delicious flavor. For a chill thrill that's really wonderful any warm day, just try a chilled forever yours. Get a supply of forever yours bars and keep them handy in your refrigerator. Yes, keep them chilled, and you'll enjoy a chill thrill that's particularly for you. Meant to be forever yours. Now, back to our hosts. Tonight's Inner Sanctum Mystery was written by John Robert and starred Louis Van Rooten in the role of Ben. Lawson Cervie played Wilson. Music was by Lou White. This month's Inner Sanctum Mystery novel is Burden of Guilt by Ian Gordon. The entire production of Inner Sanctum is under the direction of Hyman Brown. Well, friends, it's time again to close that creaking door. Until next week at the same time when we'll be back with more Spooks and Shudders. Next week, we're featuring a sprightly little item entitled A Corpse There Was. Starring a winsome girl who liked to drag corpses around the house, evidently on the principle of not letting any grass grow under her or over them. You'll be sure to listen, won't you? Until then, good night. Pleasant dream. This is Alan C. Anthony reminding you that now it's the Mars Forever Yours bar that brings you Inner Sanctum. And remember to listen at the same time tomorrow night over most of these stations to Can You Top This? Also brought to you by Mars where they believe that faithful quality makes faithful friends. This program came to you from New York. This is ABC, the American Broadcasting Company.