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Title

Stairway to Oblivion

Plot

In order to visit a distant relative, Julia Stephens travels to his remote mountain top estate named Oblivion. During her stay she attempts to unravel the mysteries surrounding the fate of the manor's previous visitors.

Episode

0291

Air Dates

  • First Run - June 13, 1975
  • Repeat - October 11, 1975

Actors

Writer

Listen

Rating

115
98     17


9 Responses to Episode 0291

Following the death of her father, 35-year-old Julia heads west on the train to meet her Uncle Caleb. He's her only remaining relative. He's also the stationmaster at a train station out in the middle of nowhere in mountain country. It's a place that the train doesn't even stop daily but the old man makes an appearance there each day as part of his job. Anytime a train is scheduled to pass by he's there in case it stops, or if a switch needs to be thrown. She's been writing to him in advance of her journey but she doesn't know a lot about him. Her father never had much to say about him even though they were brothers. When she arrives, he's surprised because he thought that she was coming two weeks later. He lives in a charming cottage that is at the top of a flight of stairs leading from the train station. She notes that when looking at the staircase from the bottom that it seems to go on forever. They climb to the top and she settles in to take up residence with the old man. She finds him a curious person. He has some unusual habits and things that he does are somewhat puzzling. Some things about the house seem unusual too. Not long after her arrival, a couple appears at the cottage. They have a cabin on a path off the stairway about halfway up. They had not planned on visiting their cabin this year but plans changed and they decided to come after all. They too have always found the old man unusual and they've held some suspicions about him. But, when they find his niece there, they decide to take a more active interest in the happenings at the house at the top of the stairs - if for no other reason than to make sure the girl is safe. Don't assume anything when listening to this program. It has a couple of twists and turns and is not predictable - which is good! It's a very interesting program and I loved the setup - the stairs going up into what the old man calls "oblivion" is enough to pique curiosity.

Allister L.

A Julia Stephens travels to a remote mountain town to visit an uncle she has never met. His mountain top estate has the unlikely name of "Oblivion". Julia finds that Oblivion has had many guests before her who leave clues behind to their fate.

Norma Reeves

After her father's death, a young woman visits her last living relation, an uncle who lives alone on a mountain tending a train stop. While she has corresponded with him over the years, her father refused to have anything to do with him. She finds him to be polite and caring, if only a little bit eccentric. Isolated as they are, she is surprised when a couple arrives with curious questions about her uncle's sometimes strange behaviour.

J. Jones

An odd sort of story, but nothing "too" out of the ordinary. Just heard this one recently too.

Franco

This is an interesting program. It is unique and the stairway is the kind of hook that gets me interested. As for the ending, it clearly does not go in the direction that you think it will, but it also doesn't take the kind of 90 degree turn that I hate when what happens at the end doesn't make sense with everything else that you have heard. A "straightforward story with a dash of skeletons thrown in." I pictured the uncle looking like Uncle Joe on Petticoat Junction. I encourage people to listen to this program and make their own conclusions about what happened at the end.

Jeff

An interesting listen. Even at the end you aren't quite sure what may have happened in the past, but you probably have an idea one way or another. It's nice having an episode that keeps you guessing until the end.

Alec

A really good story that I thought was going to be a lot better, but it never really reached a definite conclusion - just hints of something either dark and murderous, or 'otherwordly' and supernatural. It seems like quite a few stories in CBSRMT were actually a little too long to be covered in 40+ minutes, so they just 'wrapped them up' as best as they could. But that's just my opinion - maybe you will find it more thought-provoking this way, and perhaps that was the author's intention.

TimmyRanko

I too enjoyed the suspense that continued till the conclusion of the episode. A good listen.

Anastasia

A very interesting episode.

Scooter D & no Greens


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