Hollywood Hostages

Originally Aired: February 21, 1956 In Suspense #638, "Hollywood Hostages," location scout Tommy Brown and photographer Eve McVeigh arrive at a deserted ghost town called Powderville, 180 miles from Hollywood, to scout locations for a new picture. Tommy, a veteran of director Murphy's notorious practical jokes, warns Eve about their boss's twisted sense of humor. When a mysterious man appears in one of Eve's photographs and steals their car, stranding them in the desert, Tommy is convinced it's just another elaborate Murphy prank. However, things take a darker turn when they seek shelter from an approaching rainstorm in the hotel and discover a wounded man bleeding on the floor. Tommy remains skeptical, insisting the injured man is another planted actor using ketchup for blood, but Eve isn't so sure. As they wait on the hotel porch in the rain, the line between elaborate joke and genuine danger becomes increasingly blurred. When another car finally approaches through the storm, they hope for rescue, but in this isolated ghost town where nothing is as it seems, the real question becomes whether they've stumbled into a deadly situation that has nothing to do with Hollywood pranks at all.