Dark Adventure Radio Theatre® - The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar

Great stuff

You’d have thought this free sample, if shorter than normal, DART episode, would have been the first one I’d have downloaded, before embarking on more. It wasn’t, as I simply forgot it! That had some advantages, as coming to it after listening to many other DART shows, I can confirm this is a valuable, if abbreviated, guide to the general level of DART excellence. It might not have been penned by Lovecraft, but it may well have influenced some of his stories, and it is a good, brief tale among the Poe canon, for all its prosaic title. The expanded version in the “Bad Medicine” DART anthology episode is probably best listened to after this one - I deliberately chose to do that, certainly. One downside is of course that there are no physical props with this production, although there are liner notes and suitably mesmeric artwork for it available on the main HPLHS website for free download, including Valdemar’s final handwritten note. The “Bad Medicine” props include a little more on mesmerism as well. A nicely fresh framing sequence adds further to the whole for those familiar with other DART adaptations, maybe paving the way for other shorter DART adventures?

Pleasantly surprised with the quality of the narration, voive actors, music and production overall, definitely will check the rest of the DART collection!

For a Poe story it's not story bad one, not one of the best but it's a great rendition of a pretty good story.

The artists behind DART definitely took a 3 star story and made it a 4 star, I might have to go get the prop set for this on my next order.

I love the quality and the sound. It really puts me in mind of the family sitting around the old radio listening to old radio shows. I'm looking forward to listening to other DART shows.