The Pasteboard Box: Twins, Murder, and a Fatal Switch

Originally Aired: January 17, 1946 In Suspense #176, “The Pasteboard Box,” identical twins Jack and Walter Parcell embody Cain and Abel reborn. After staging his own “suicide,” Jack murders Walter and slips into his life—his wealth, his identity, even his fiancée. But while Walter’s body proves hard to dispose of, his head remains an especially grim problem, hidden in a pasteboard box that seems to follow Jack everywhere. When police come calling with questions about a murdered woman, Jack’s frantic lies collapse in a final, cruelly ironic twist. A grim tale of greed, identity, and justice inescapable. Cast: Joseph Cotten Tags: Suspense, thriller, psychological, JosephCotten, pasteboardbox, twins, oldtimeradio, mystery, murder, identity, noir, vintagecrime, 1940sradio, classicdrama, femmefatale, suspensepodcast