The Burning Bough
Description
A mother believes her son will die if a certain tree branch is destroyed, based on an old legend that has become real. But when her son commits terrible acts, she faces an impossible choice - like an ancient Greek goddess before her, will she find the strength to burn the branch and kill her own child?
A woman is convinced that her son's life is tied to the existence of single tree bough in this ancient myth come to life. However, her son's misdeeds bring her despair; and like the Greek goddess of decades past, will she have the resolve to cast the branch into the fire and end his life?
Madelyn Hunter, a teacher and a widow, resorts to superstition to save the life of her dying baby, Jimmy. Like Althea of Calydon in Greek mythology, she pulls a blazing log from a fireplace. Althea was told that until the log was consumed her son would live. Jimmy turns into a spoiled brat, causing the deaths of five others. Madelyn’s brother, George, insists that she throw the log back into the fire, but she, always a loving mother, refuses to do so.
CBS Radio Mystery Theater is a radio drama series created by Himan Brown that was broadcast on CBS Radio Network affiliates from 1974 to 1982, and later in the early 2000s was repeated by the NPR satellite feed. In New York City it was not aired by the then all-news WCBS but by its originating station, WOR, which produced and announced it as simply Radio Mystery Theater.
Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Updated Jul 16, 2026.
