The Noose of Coincidence

Originally Aired: April 7, 1949 Suspense #335, "The Noose of Coincidence," Christopher Swan, a mild-mannered London bookseller, encounters a strange visitor to his shop—a man who shares his exact name and claims to be a mental telepathist and prophet. The mysterious Christopher Swan makes an unsettling prediction: the bookseller will soon marry a pretty, red-haired woman named Margaret. When this prophecy comes true within days, Swan's skepticism begins to waver. However, his marriage quickly sours as Margaret reveals herself to be a bitter, nagging shrew who resents his modest bookshop and covets his inherited fortune of 50,000 pounds. Months later, the unhappy bookseller encounters the telepathist again at Hampstead Heath, where the prophet delivers a far more chilling prediction. After accurately recounting intimate details of Swan's life—details that couldn't be mere coincidence—the mysterious visitor foretells that on the morning of November 9th, Christopher Swan will be hanged by the neck until dead. As the fatal date approaches, Swan must grapple with whether this prophecy, like the first, will prove terrifyingly accurate.