On a Country Road

Originally Aired: December 9, 1954 Suspense #575, "On a Country Road," stars Harry Bartell and Virginia Gregg as David and Dorothy, a young couple who make a fateful decision to take a shortcut on a stormy Long Island night. While caught in heavy traffic, they hear a radio bulletin warning that Nellie Golar, a dangerous mental patient armed with a meat cleaver, has escaped after brutally murdering hospital staff and is now loose in the area. Despite the warnings to stay off lonely roads, David decides to take a back road through the woods to avoid traffic and beat the approaching storm. As they drive deeper into the isolated countryside, more radio reports reveal fresh murders near their route, and Dorothy's anxiety grows with each bulletin. When their car runs out of gas on the dark, deserted road surrounded by woods, the couple finds themselves stranded in precisely the kind of situation authorities warned against. Dorothy becomes increasingly terrified that the killer could be hiding nearby in the darkness, while David tries to calm her fears. Trapped in their locked car with rain pounding down and lightning flashing around them, they must decide whether to wait out the night in the vulnerable vehicle or risk walking through the storm-swept woods where a murderer may be lurking.