The Crowd

Originally Aired: September 21, 1950 Suspense #395, "The Crowd," Lieutenant Johnny Stilano investigates the murder of Edgar Dale, an ordinary man found stabbed to death on a New York City street in broad daylight. Within minutes of the killing, a mysterious crowd has gathered around the body, their faces pressed in to witness death. As Stilano begins his investigation, speaking with Dale's landlady and employer Elliot Becker at the Becker Sign Painting Company, he discovers the victim was a solitary man who kept to himself, worked quietly, and left little impression on those around him. The case takes a chilling turn when Stilano receives a special delivery envelope containing a newspaper clipping of the crime scene, with a disturbing message scrawled beneath it: "I did well, didn't I, police? Next time it will be even better." The killer himself calls Stilano directly, boasting about the murder and promising an even more spectacular killing to come. The murderer seems obsessed with crowds and creating public spectacles of death. Stilano races to trace the call to Gilbert's Shoe Repair shop, but arrives moments too late as the killer vanishes back into the anonymous masses of the city.