The Man in the Room

Originally Aired: May 11, 1950 Suspense #384, "The Man in the Room," stars John Lund as a freelance writer who hires Miss Markham, a typist working in a shabby office building, to handle his manuscripts. From the beginning, something seems off about the building's peculiar elevator operator, a dwarf-like old man with rounded shoulders who listens at doors and intercepts the writer's visits. When the elevator man begins taking the manuscripts himself and preventing any contact with Miss Markham, offering excuses about why she cannot be disturbed, the writer's suspicions grow. The old man even completes the typing work himself, claiming to help Miss Markham when she's ill. Unable to concentrate on his current story, the writer becomes obsessed with creating a mystery plot based on his real situation. He imagines the elevator man, whom he names Graklin, has murdered Miss Markham and hidden her body. But when he calls her office number to check on her, Miss Markham answers, seemingly alive and well. The writer must now confront whether his imagination has run wild or if something sinister is truly unfolding in that strange building.