DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?
[RADIO-SERIES]
“His first radio experience was in the year 1932 when he was called upon to act as emcee of the
NBC Spotlight Revue when it was being broadcast from the Seattle Auto Show. He proved to be a
radio natural. Voice and personality clicked at the very start… For a time he did news broadcasts
over KOMO in Seattle and it was over this station that he launched the famous series of eerie
programs titled ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?.’ The sponsors of this series transferred Burdick to
San Francisco where he continued the series for some time. He broadcast a total of 40 ghost
stories during the run of this series.”
[Oakland Tribune, November 14, 1937—“Yarn Spinner of the Kilocycles” by Jack Burroughs]
“His acting career began when he was a student at the University of Washington. From leading
roles in productions at the university he stepped into similar roles in stock. For several years after
leaving college he played a wide variety of roles ranging from character parts to juvenile roles. For
a time he was stage manager and director of a stock company in Vancouver, B.C…
“…The next step in his career…—his 11 years in newspaper work.
“His first radio experience was in the year 1932 when he was called upon to act as emcee of the
NBC Spotlight Revue when it was being broadcast from the Seattle Auto Show. He proved to be a
radio natural. Voice and personality clicked at the very start. Ever since his radio debut he has
been kept busy in airlane activities, both at the mike and as author.
“For a time he did news broadcasts over KOMO in Seattle and it was over this station that he
launched the famous series of eerie programs titled ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?’ The sponsors of
this series transferred Burdick to San Francisco where he continued the series for some time. He
broadcast a total of 40 ghost stories during the run of this series.
“…Here is the formidable list of his writings as it stood the Here is the formidable list 01 his
writings as it stood the early part of February, this year:
“One hundred episodes in his current series of radio short stories.
Forty ghost stories.
Thirty-five radio news sketches.
Twenty-six true stories of the sea.
The "Dr. Kate" serial drama, in which his wife, Cornelia Burdick, is starred.”
[Puget Sound radio history book] “Burdick, one-time law student at the University of
Washington, was an assistant city editor at the Seattle Times during radio’s formative years. Part
of his job was reading news flashes over KJR. A talented writer, actor and raconteur, Burdick
wound up with NBC, starring in his own show. As ‘night editor’ of a great city newspaper, he
would recount tight, well-plotted stories in which he played all the parts himself.”
Seattle newspaperman Hal Burdick (1894-1978) put together this series of ghost stories shortly
after he became a staff member of KGO in San Francisco. He played all the male roles and was
billed as “the Ghost Adventurer,” with Verna Felton playing female roles and doubling as
announcer.
[Variety—“Obituaries”—June 21, 1978] “Harold P. Burdick, 84… A veteran of World War I and a
graduate of the Univ. of Washington, Burdick worked in theatrical stock companies and was also
a critic and columnist for the Seattle Times.
“As radio gained momentum in the early 1930s, Burdick moved to San Francisco and became
the ‘Night Editor’ on the NBC coast network. He wrote and performed in this series for over 12
years. In 1937, he created a daytime serial, ‘Dr. Kate,’ in which he starred with his late wife
Cornelia.
“During his years in San Francisco he was a prominent member of The Bohemian Club where he
wrote and directed many of the club’s theatrical productions.
“In 1952, Burdick moved to New York where he made a film series of his ‘Night Editor’ stories
for the Dumont Television Network.”
[Oregonian, September 3, 1933] “Harold P. Burdick, widely known Seattle newspaperman,
feature writer and actor, will make his debut over…the network in the first of a series of semi-
weekly programs devoted to ghost stories tonight…
“For his NBC engagement, which includes 15-minute broadcasts every Sunday night at 9 and
every Tuesday at 7:15 P. M., Burdick is writing original tales, some with a legendary background.
He presents a dramatic narrative, in which he interprets all the parts, many of them in character.”
[The Billboard, September 9, 1933] “The Sussman & Wormser Company has signed with NBC to
sponsor a series of programs entitled Do You Believe in Ghosts? Series will be conducted by
Harold P. Burdick and will be presented once each week from 7:15 to 7:30, starting September 7.
KFI, Los Angeles, KGW, Portland, KOMO, Seattle, and KGO, San Francisco, will release the
feature.”
[Hollywood Citizen-News, October 12, 1933] “Mr. Burdick does not believe in ghosts even
though he relates stories about them. He says he has investigated haunted houses, dwellings in
which murders have taken place and other mysterious spots but he has found invariably that the
ghost was a rat or something just as natural.”
[Oakland Tribune, November 15, 1933] “Harold Burdick, whose sepulchral voice has almost
scared the dialers into admitting that they do believe in ghosts, does not believe in ‘ghost writers,’
those unknowns who do the scribbling for celebrities unable to scribble for themselves. Harold
does his own writing. He has been editorial writer, dramatic critic, music critic, columnist and
Sunday editor, and has contributed regularly to various national periodicals. He does not say
whether he has done any ‘ghost’ writing or not.”
Shortly after its run on KPO, Hal Burdick recorded his series for the MacGregor-Solie
transcription company.
[San Francisco Examiner, July 23, 1934] “Hal Burdick has returned to the air!
“The famed teller of ghost stories, who some time ago closed a highly successful series of
dramatized narratives of supernatural happenings, is to be on KPO tonight, and each Monday,
Wednesday and Friday night thereafter, at 8:45 o’clock. In this new series Burdick will offer
stories of adventure, love, mystery and crime.
“‘Lucky Day,’ the first story, will find the raconteur weaving a yarn with a San Francisco setting.
It tells of a pickpocket who turns humanitarian, to his own advantage.”
[The Billboard, August 4, 1934—“West Coast News”] “LOS ANGELES, July 28—…
“Harold Burdick, former assistant city editor of The Seattle Times, has returned to NBC to
continue his Do You Believe in Ghosts? stories over the NBC Coast Stations. Burdick presented
the series last year under an S & W food sponsorship and it is hoped the same account will again
become interested in sponsoring the feature. Burdick recently completed a series of transcriptions
plugging Del Monte salmon at the MacGregor and Sollie laboratories.”
“SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., July 28—…
“Hal Burdick, heard from San Francisco about six months ago in Do You Believe in Ghosts?
series under S. & W. sponsorship has returned to the air with a new series of adventure, love,
mystery and crime tales. He’s heard over KPO Wednesday, Friday and Monday nights at 8:45.
Burdick, actor and former Seattle newspaperman, is tabbed the one-man show of radio. He’s
called upon to do as many as a dozen different voices in one program. Burdick, now a sustainer,
has just completed several transcriptions at the MacGregor and Sollie Labs. here for Del Monte
salmon.”
[Milwaukee Sentinel, April 24, 1934—“Dial Twists”] “Here’s a program we really enjoyed in our
rambling round the dial—‘True Stories of the Sea.’ Remember the Seth Parker yarns of a few
weeks ago? Well, these are on the same order, but much more cleverly done… Last night the
dramatization was that of the disappearance of Theodosia Burr…plenty of material in that story,
and they did well by it…so well that the program’s on our ‘Must’ list from now on.”
[Pittsburgh Press, January 26, 1934—ad for Argo Finest Red Salmon] “Listen to ‘True Stories of
the Sea’—KDKA—7:45 P. M., Tuesday and Friday.”]
Burdick achieved one of his biggest successes in broadcasting with the Night Editor series. San
Francisco Examiner, September 12, 1934: “In the role of the night editor of a metropolitan
newspaper, Hal Burdick, NBC’s popular story teller, will be featured in a new series of weekly
programs over KPO, beginning tonight at 8:45. Burdick, as in his previous broadcasts, will be the
narrator, and will continue to play all characters in his dramatic stories. However, for the first
time he will be assisted by members of the National Players in the opening sequence of his
programs in order to establish the atmosphere of the city room.”’
ORIGINATION: KOMO and KJR, Seattle, Washington; KGO, San Francisco, California (NBC PACIFIC
COAST RED); MacGregor-Sollie, San Francisco, California (electrical transcriptions).
DURATION: December 20, 1932-May 9, 1933 (KOMO); May 16-June 6, 1933 (KJR); September 3-December
7, 1933 (KGO—first series); July ??-????? ??, 1934 (KGO—second series).
[OG-NOTE: The transcriptions were released in 1934 (first series) and 1935 (second series).]
PERSONNEL: Harold P. Burdick (scriptwriter, producer, narrator, voice of “The Ghost Adventurer”), Verna
Felton (announcer—1933, KGO).
CASTS: [KGO] Harold P. Burdick, Verna Felton.
SPONSOR: Sussman and Wormser Company (S&W Food Products).
[CHRONOLOGY]
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? (KOMO, SEATTLE)
[Tuesday & Thursday—10:15-10:30 PM]
December 20, 1932
December 22, 1932
December 27, 1932
December 29, 1932
April 4, 1933
April 6, 1933
April 11, 1933
April 13, 1933
April 18, 1933
April 20, 1933
April 25, 1933
April 27, 1933
May 2, 1933
May 9, 1933
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? (KJR, SEATTLE)
[Tuesday—9:15-9:30 PM]
May 16, 1933
May 23, 1933
May 30, 1933
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? (KGO, SAN FRANCISCO—NBC PACIFIC COAST
RED)
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
September 3, 1933 “Golden Links”
[SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…Harold P. Burdick, Seattle
newspaperman and actor, will make his debut over KGO network
between 9 and 9:15 tonight, in the first of a series of Sunday and
Thursday programs devoted to ghost stories…”]
[“…The setting is a lighthouse on the Oregon coast and the plot includes a
romance between the young light tender and the ‘Lady of the Light.’ The
elderly caretaker tells the story to a man and a woman who are visitors at
a nearby summer resort…”]
SEPTEMBER 5, 1933:
[San Francisco Chronicle—by James Adam]
“We couldn’t get a single thrill out of the first of Harold Burdick’s ghost stories,
although an 11-year-old listening with us thought it was ‘good.’ However, he
didn’t like the woman announcer (Verna Felton of NBC’s dramatic staff), and
we can’t say we did either…”
[Thursday—7:15-7:30 PM]
September 7, 1933 “Into Tomorrow”
[LOS ANGELES TIMES: “…Hold on tight! Here comes another ghost story
over the air… Harold P. Burdick, former newspaper man, relates a story,
‘Into Tomorrow,’ which combines present-day activities with the
unrealities of ghosts. The purely fictional plot deals with a Representative
who is accused of fraudulent methods of letting contracts. When his
nefarious practices are discovered he becomes haunted by a ghost—with
thrilling and dramatic consequences…”]
[“…The yarn is about a congressman who was so crooked his secretary
got scared and committed suicide, thus obligingly furnishing the ghost
needed for the program…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
September 10, 1933
[Thursday—7:15-7:30 PM]
September 14, 1933
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
September 17, 1933
[Thursday—7:15-7:30 PM]
September 21, 1933
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
September 24, 1933 “Contact”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…A spot in northern Oregon on the
airmail route between Pasco, Wash., and Salt Lake City is the scene of the
story. The principal characters are a boy and a girl whose father had been
a boyhood chum of the plane’s pilot…”]
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
September 28, 1933 “Whip Lash”
[SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…It concerns an Englishman who is sent
to Algeria to examine mining properties. He hires a native guide, goes to
his home and there witnesses a meeting between the Algerian and a hill
woman he is believed to have killed years ago…”]
OCTOBER 1, 1933:
[Broadcasting]
“Harold Burdick, formerly with the Seattle Times, has joined the San
Francisco staff of NBC as a writer. He also has charge of news broadcasts.”
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
October 1, 1933 “Pirate’s Gold”
[SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…The plot involves a woman in New
York, whose fiancé is serving a term in Sing Sing Prison. During a visit to
a beach summer resort in Maine she witnesses a strange scene on a
midsummer night, which causes her to determine to wait for her fiancé’s
release…”]
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
October 5, 1933 “Sprung by Dawn”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…a tale of an imprisoned gangster who
fulfilled his threat to find release before daybreak, but in a strange and
unexpected manner…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
October 8, 1933
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
October 12, 1933 “Leopard Cage”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…a circus story…”]
OCTOBER 14, 1933:
[New York Sun—“In the Studios With Peter Dixon”]
“Another program, not heard in the East, caught our ear. Done by one man and
originating in the NBC studios in San Francisco, it is called ‘The Ghost
Adventurer.’ Actually, the program makes your hair stand straight on end. And it
is skillfully introduced. The announcer suggests you turn the lights low—but don’t
do it if you have a weak heart.”
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
October 15, 1933 “Eyes of Jade”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…a strange story in which a Chinese jade
bowl plays a leading part will be narrated in dramatic fashion by Harold
P. Burdick, the ‘Ghost Adventurer’… The bowl is sent from China by the
purchaser to his wife in San Francisco as a gift. A curious feeling that this
bowl is not an ordinary one impels the man to describe it to a dealer in
Shanghai in an attempt to learn its history. While the dealer tells the
story, the wife who received the bowl becomes a victim of the mysterious
influence exerted by it…”]
OCTOBER 18, 1933:
[Brooklyn Daily Eagle—“Radio Dial-Log” by Jo Ransom]
“From Los Angeles comes the story of a radio station that tried to sell a ghost
story sketch to a potential sponsor.
“‘To make the thing more realistic,’ says Variety, ‘lights were turned down.
Audition lasted fifteen minutes and when the light went up the president of the
company was found fast asleep, his head on a desk.
“P. S.: There was no sale.”
[OG-NOTE: I don’t know if this reference was specifically to the Burdick series, but it’s
an amusing story nonetheless.]
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
October 19, 1933 “To the Ages”
[SAN FRANCISCO CALL-BULLETIN: “…a supernatural plea is made to a
governor to save a youth from the gallows…”]
[SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…The tale concerns a youth who is
sentenced to be hanged, and the Governor who refuses a reprieve,
believing that the boy’s trial has been fair and the verdict just…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
October 22, 1933 “Feud’s End”
[SAN FRANCISCO CALL-BULLETIN: “…a weird story of a modern Romeo
and Juliet in the Idaho mountains…”]
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…This tale…concerns a romance between
two young people whose families have been unfriendly for many
years…”]
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
October 26, 1933 “October Afternoon”
[SAN FRANCISCO CALL-BULLETIN: “…A football ghost story—in which
supernatural aid solves the problem of a young coach who sees his grid
team losing an important game…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
October 29, 1933 “Doctor’s Special”
[SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…A weird tale of a frenzied train ride
across an unsafe bridge will be told by Harold P. Burdick, the Ghost
Adventurer…”]
OCTOBER 31, 1933:
[San Francisco Chronicle—“Radio on Parade” by James Adam]
“Harold P. Burdick, the Ghost Adventurer, will be presented in a special
Halloween radio interview today by Rush Hughes (KGO, 3-3:15 p. m.)
“Burdick, whose semiweekly program Do You Believe in Ghosts? is a
popular NBC feature, is a well known writer of ghost thrillers which he narrates
in dramatic fashion before the microphone.”
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
November 2, 1933 “Night Rider”
[SAN FRANCISCO CALL-BULLETIN: “…Hal Burdick’s thrilling ghost story
tonight…is called ‘Night Rider,’ the story of a mystery stranger who saves
a young couple from mob violence…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
November 5, 1933 “Honeymoon’s End”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…This original Burdick story tells of a
young man’s encounters with ghostly experiences in an old house to
which he has gone for a vacation…”]
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
November 9, 1933 “Reprieve”
[SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…A story of the Armistice day on which
the body of the Unknown Soldier was brought home to Arlington
Cemetery, Washington, D.C…. Burdick’s original narrative tells how a
newspaper man found respite from the memory of a war experience that
had always haunted him…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
November 12, 1933
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
November 16, 1933 “The Old Lady of the Knitting Needles”
[SAN FRANCISCO CALL-BULLETIN: “…how an aged couple are saved from
death in a southern California flood by eerie intervention…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
November 19, 1933 “The Carriage Waits”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…Inspired by one of his own experiences,
a ghost story entitled ‘The Carriage Waits,’ will be told by Harold P.
Burdick… Burdick’s narrative deals with an old banshee superstition, and
the scene is laid in Ireland…”]
[SAN FRANCISCO CALL-BULLETIN: “…Hal Burdick’s tale…deals with the
Irish banshee superstition that when the sound of carriage wheels is
heard on gravel, death will follow soon…”]
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
November 23, 1933 “Understudy”
[SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…A thrilling ghost story with a London
theater stage as the setting… The tale is based upon a jinx which
threatens the theater and also anyone who attempts to play the title role
in Rostand’s ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ in that particular house. A young actor
braves the ghostly danger with unexpected results…”]
[SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER: “…A young actor defies a ghostly
presence and the unexpected results of his courage will be dramatized…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
November 26, 1933 “Captain Jones”
[SAN FRANCISCO CALL-BULLETIN: “…The Annapolis tradition that the
ghost of Captain John Paul Jones stalks at night in the academy chapel—
and that it frustrated plans of enemy spies to steal secret plans during the
World War—will be revealed in Hal Burdick’s ghost story…”]
[SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE: “…Based on a tradition which actually
exists at the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis… The captain of
the story is John Paul Jones, whose remains rest in the chapel at the
academy. It is said that his ghost sometimes paces back and forth on a
stone wall nearby. Burdick’s tale deals with the attempt of two spies to
obtain copies of secret plans in the possession of an officer at Annapolis
during the World war. How the spies are frustrated and the officer’s
honor saved bring the story to a climax…”]
NOVEMBER 29, 1933:
[San Francisco Chronicle]
“Verna Felton of the NBC National Players, is the only woman NBC announcer
in the West. Miss Felton signs on and off the air, the NBC Thursday and Saturday
night feature, ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?’… The daughter of a well-known
theatrical family, Miss Felton made her debut with her mother, Clara Allen, noted
actress, and great favorite in Canada. Verna has been on the stage since she was 5
years of age, and is remembered by stock and legitimate audiences from Coast to
Coast.”
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
November 30, 1933 “No Friend at Hope”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…Naturally, today’s culinary indulgences
would not be a success without evoking some kind of a ghost. Therefore,
an unusually eerie tale will be released over KGO at 9:15 tonight…”]
[SAN FRANCISCO CALL-BULLETIN: “…How a train wreck is prevented in a
howling blizzard will be the theme of Hal Burdick’s ghost story…”]
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
December 3, 1933
[Thursday—9:15-9:30 PM]
December 7, 1933
HAL BURDICK, THE STORY TELLER (KPO, SAN FRANCISCO)
[Monday—8:45-9:00 PM]
September 3, 1934 “Thornton’s Signet”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…The story of a signet ring and its
disappearance, and how it was returned to a small boy under very
mysterious circumstances will be related by Hal Burdick… ‘Thornton’s
Signet’ is the title of the tale, which offers Burdick in the second ghost
story in his present series. England is the setting of the yarn…”]
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? (MACGREGOR-SOLIE DISC SERIES ON 6ML,
PERTH)
[Tuesday-Thursday—8:30-8:45 PM]
[OG-NOTE: No information was available on the broadcast times and dates of the first four episodes.]
January 29, 1935 “The Jade Bowl” [PROGRAM NO. 5]
January 31, 1935 “The Silver Demon” [PROGRAM NO. 6]
February 5, 1935 [PROGRAM NO. 7]
February 7, 1935 “The Whispering Telephone” [PROGRAM NO. 8]
February 12, 1935 “The Governor’s Decision” [PROGRAM NO. 9]
February 14, 1935 “Phantom Carriage” [PROGRAM NO. 10]
[WEST AUSTRALIAN: “…Cox Bros. (Aust.), Ltd., presents the tenth of a
series gripping ghost stories…”]
February 19, 1935 “Tanya the Leopard” [PROGRAM NO. 11]
February 21, 1935 “The Big Shot” [PROGRAM NO. 12]
February 26, 1935 [PROGRAM NO. 13]
February 28, 1935 [PROGRAM NO. 14]
March 5, 1935 “Fog Off Hateras” [PROGRAM NO. 15]
March 7, 1935 “The Love Call of the Bayou-Tash” [PROGRAM NO. 16]
March 12, 1935 “The Old Lady of the Knitting Needles” [PROGRAM NO. 17]
March 14, 1935 “The Unknown Soldier Story” [PROGRAM NO. 18]
March 19, 1935 “The Understudy” [PROGRAM NO. 19]
March 21, 1935 “The Ghost Train” [PROGRAM NO. 20]
March 26, 1935 “The Grey Dog of Queens” [PROGRAM NO. 21]
March 28, 1935 “Mary, Lady of Gloucester” [PROGRAM NO. 22]
April 2, 1935 “The Crack Shot”
April 4, 1935 “The Prosecuting Attorney”
April 9, 1935 “The Jack of Diamonds”
April 11, 1935
[PERTH SUNDAY TIMES: “…The final ghost story…”]
NIGHT EDITOR (KPO, SAN FRANCISCO)
[Sunday—9:00-9:15 PM]
October 31, 1937 “Do You Believe in Ghosts?”
[SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER: “…Hal Burdick temporarily drops his
‘Night Editor’ idea to revive one of the ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts’…”]
[OAKLAND TRIBUNE: “…Because tonight is Halloween, Hal Burdick has
elected to chill his listening audience with a ghost story selected from his
erstwhile series, ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?,’ over the Pacific Coast NBC-
KPO network… As the hum and buzz of a newspaper office could hardly
be an appropriate locale for a bang-up spook yarn, Burdick has invited
his young assistant, Bobby, played by Jack Moyles, to his home, where
the mood will be created in the warmth of a room with only the flickering
dance of a hearth fire to stem the threatened advance of restless shadows
lurking in far corners…”]
[SOURCES]
“Ghost Tale Series To Start Tonight.” The Oregonian (September 3, 1933).
PERIODICALS: The Oregonian [Portland], San Francisco Call-Bulletin, San Francisco Chronicle, San
Francisco Examiner
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?
[RADIO-SERIES]
Shortly after its run on KPO, Hal Burdick recorded his series for the MacGregor-Solie
transcription company, based in San Francisco.
[Broadcasting, January 15, 1934] “Twenty-six recordings of ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?’ by and
with Harold Burdick have been cut by the MacGregor and Sollie laboratories, San Francisco, for
general release. The ghost series was previously on NBC for 13 weeks under the sponsorship of S.
& W., food products.”
[San Francisco Examiner, December 16, 1934—“New Series on Wax Network”] “A new series of
the popular radio feature, ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?,’ is now being heard over the MacGregor
and Sollie Broadcasting System.
“Hailed by radio critics in all parts of the West as one of the most awe-inspiring series of stories,
this feature is proving one of the most fascinating to hit the air lanes for many moons.
“Unusual tales of the occult, the weird, the supernatural, are incorporated in this broadcast, and
they are told with great realism. The narrator is a consummate artist—a story teller par
excellence. He holds his audience in the palm of his hand. And he can send shivers running up
and down the spine of the most hardened skeptic.
“‘Do You Believe in Ghosts?’ is broadcast in fifteen-minute episodes, each episode a complete
story.
“This is but one of the many popular features for broadcasting which is now being produced in
the MacGregor and Sollie studios in San Francisco for release over its broadcasting system, the
principal portion of which is in the Pacific Northwest.
“Among the radio broadcasting stations affiliated with the MacGregor and Sollie Broadcasting
System are the following:
“KMED, Medford. Ore.; KORE, Eugene, Ore.; KIDO, Boise, Ida.; KLZ, Denver, Colo.; KGHF,
Pueblo, Colo.; KDFN, Casper, Wyo.; KGDM, Stockton, Calif.; KID, Idaho Falls, Ida.; KHFI, Twin
Falls, Ida.; KFJI, Klamath Falls, Ore.; KIEM, Eureka, Calif.; KVOS, Bellingham, Wash.; KUJ,
Walla Walla, Wash.; KPQ, Wenatchee, Wash.; KFBB, Great Falls, Mont.; KGHL, Billings, Mont.”
[Broadcasting, February 1, 1935—“Transcriptions”] “A new series of Do You Believe in Ghosts?,
produced by MacGregor & Sollie Inc., San Francisco, has been released. The serial is broadcast in
15-minute episodes, each a complete story in itself.”
ORIGINATION: MacGregor-Sollie, San Francisco, California (electrical transcriptions).
DURATION: The transcriptions were released in 1934 (first series) and 1935 (second series). They were
broadcast on KOB, Albuquerque (1934-1935), WRJN,Racine (1935), ?, Bakersfield (1935), KFOX, Long
Beach (1935), 2HD, Newcastle (1935), 4BK, Brisbane (1936), KRGV, Westlaco (1937), WWSW, Philadelphia
(1937), etc.
W6XAI, Bakersfield? (1935—
September 26, 1935: Thursday—9:15-9:30; November 1, 1935; Friday—8:45-9:00; also ran The Hawk,
Flash Gordon, Kern County Union Label League. November 8:same. December 13, 1935: Friday—8:45-9:00.
December 17, 1935: Tuesday—8:45-9:00.
PERSONNEL: Harold P. Burdick (scriptwriter, producer, narrator, voice of “The Ghost Adventurer”).
SPONSOR: Sussman and Wormser Company (S&W Food Products).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: Episodes 3 and 4 (according to Jerry Austin, cited in Hickerson).
[PROGRAM LOG]
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? (DISC SERIES ON KOB, ALBUQUERQUE)
[Friday—8:15-8:30 PM]
October 19, 1934
October 26, 1934
November 16, 1934
November 23, 1934
December 7, 1934
December 14, 1934
December 21, 1934
December 28, 1934
January 4, 1935
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? (DISC SERIES ON KFOX, LONG BEACH)
[Saturday—7:30-8:00 PM]
[OG-NOTE: KFOX presented the show in a half-hour time slot, so presumably they ran two episodes on each
broadcast.]
August 10, 1935
August 17, 1935
August 24, 1935 NA
August 31, 1935
September 14, 1935
September 21, 1935
September 28, 1935
October 5, 1935
October 12, 1935
October 19, 1935
October 26, 1935
November 2, 1935
November 9, 1935
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? (DISC SERIES ON WSIX, NASHVILLE)
[Monday-Wednesday-Friday—7:30-7:45 PM]
January 18, 1937 [1]
[NASHVILLE BANNER: “…George [sic] Burdick, narrator, begins a tri-
weekly series of ghost story broadcasts… Burdick’s ghost stories are
complete in each broadcast…”]
January 20, 1937 [2]
January 22, 1937 [3]
January 25, 1937 [4] “Eyes of Jade”
[NASHVILLE BANNER: “…A ghost story of the Orient…will be told by
Harold Burdick…”]
January 27, 1937 [5] “Silver Demon”
January 29, 1937 [6] “Shadows”
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?
[RADIO SERIES]
This short-lived BBC series dramatized authenticated ghost sightings and legends of the British
spectral tradition. Apparently, it managed to ruffle somebody’s feathers, because the last episode,
“The Dead Witness of the R.101,” was, according to BBC program notes, “not b/c [broadcast] for
policy reasons.”
Episodes that were broadcast included “The Demon Drummer Of Tedworth” (3/6/46), “The
Haunted Rectory Of Borley” (3/13/46), “The Ghostly Squire Of Hinton Ampner” (3/20/46), and
“The Tackley Poltergeist” (4/18/46).
There was later (on December 26, 1952) another program on the BBC entitled Do You Believe In
Ghosts?, but it was a one-shot rather than an attempt at a series, consisting of “recordings by
listeners of personal ghost stories” (a kind of forerunner to today’s Mexican mano programs).
ORIGINATION: Light Programme, London (BBC).
DURATION: March 6-April 18, 1946.
PERSONNEL: Harry Bunton (scriptwriter), John Cheney (scriptwriter), Stephen Grenfell (scriptwriter), Joel
O’Brien (scriptwriter, producer), Jenifer Wayne (producer).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: None.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS? (LIGHT PROGRAMME, LONDON—BBC)
[Wednesday—9:30-10:00 PM]
March 6, 1946 “The Demon Drummer of Tedworth”
March 13, 1946 “The Haunted Rectory of Borley”
March 20, 1946 “The Ghostly Squire of Hinton Ampner”
[Thursday—9:30-10:00 PM]
April 18, 1946 “The Tackley Poltergeist”
DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?
[RADIO-SERIES]
“Program titled ‘Do You Believe in Ghosts’ has been started on WJNC Jacksonville, N.C.,
featuring stories of ghost lore in that area. Program is conducted by Edward Cox.”
ORIGINATION: WJNC, Jacksonville, North Carolina.
DURATION: Circa November 1946.
PERSONNEL: Edward Cox (host).
EXTANT RECORDINGS: None.