Six Feet Under

Originally Aired: April 13, 1950 Suspense #380, "Six Feet Under," finds carnival performer Jack Daly trapped in more ways than one. Ten hours a day, he lies buried alive in a coffin while paying customers stare down at him through a glass window, his survival dependent on an air pump that seems to beat in rhythm with his heart. Above ground, Jack drowns his misery in whiskey, haunted by the knowledge that he abandoned his dreams of a successful juggling act for this morbid spectacle. His beautiful wife Miriam seems increasingly distant, and Jack's suspicions grow darker when Cliff, a former accountant who inexplicably joined the carnival, admits he's dying and would do anything to make Miriam happy, even kill Jack. As tensions escalate, Jack finds himself caught in a deadly triangle. Cliff buries him each day and digs him up each night, holding Jack's life literally in his hands. When Jack overhears a conversation between Miriam and Cliff about making things different after tomorrow night, his worst fears seem confirmed. Trapped six feet under with only his paranoid thoughts for company, Jack must wonder whether the air pump will keep running or if this performance will be his last.