Baba Yaga StudioTHE SINISTER DOCTOR MORTIS
Restored Sound Archive of Classic Radio Dramas
Started in Punta Arenas in 1945 by Juan Marino Cabello, the largest horror radio drama in Latin America suffered an irreparable loss: thousands of original episodes vanished due to studio fires and family neglect. This independent, 100% non-profit initiative rescues the surviving remnants using audio engineering and machine learning.
The Scale of the Loss and the Rescue Challenge
A race-against-time sound archaeology to save a cultural heritage on the brink of total extinction.
Under 1% (45 Recovered)
Of the roughly 60 deteriorated audios circulating in fragments online, only 45 have been rescued through a rigorous process of private heritage search and collection.
3 Completed Works
Each episode requires between 1 and 3 months of intensive audio restoration work. The archive currently holds three fully mastered pieces, ready to be heard in high fidelity.
4,000+ Estimated Works
Successfully broadcast on Chilean radio stations between 1945 and 1982. Destructive fires in the radio studios and heirs' neglect condemned the vast majority of the original tapes to disappearance.
A Strictly Nonprofit Project
This archive does not commercialize any work. The sole purpose of this technical, time-intensive effort is the active preservation of Chile's collective and historical memory, ensuring that future generations can listen to this landmark of radio horror.
Audio Engineering and Machine Learning
How a sound archive worn down by time is rescued and transformed into studio quality.
AI . Voice Isolation via Machine Learning
Advanced neural processing to separate the actors' voices from static noise and deep tape deterioration, extracting the original performances with unprecedented clarity.
FX . Historical Foley Reconstruction
Meticulous recreation and research of incidental sound effects and period atmospheres, digitally designed to restore the eerie, cinematic texture of every passage in the story.
HQ . Period Music in High Fidelity
Integration of musical arrangements and sound stingers true to the original style of radio's golden years, mastered to contemporary studio standards.
From Decay to High Fidelity
The original recordings survived on highly degraded media. Through technical workflows, each file passes through phases of spectral restoration, neural vocal isolation, dynamic mastering, and immersive sound design.
Available Episode Archive
Listen to the first restored installments in high fidelity under the sound archive's seal.
Some parts of the narrative feature different musical tracks due to the difficulty of finding the originals.
Monsters (Restored version)
In the darkest corners of the natural world and the human psyche alike, terrors exist that defy all reason. In this classic radio drama by Juan Marino, the Sinister Doctor Mortis pulls listeners into a chilling tale where the boundaries between biological monstrosity and twisted human ambition completely dissolve.
Isolated from the outside world and enveloped in a dense, claustrophobic soundscape, the characters will discover—far too late—that true horrors are not born in nightmares, but wherever guilt and selfishness take root.
Hit play and step into this masterclass of mystery, where the macabre laugh of Doctor Mortis seals the inescapable fate of those who dare cross the line into the unknown.
And Then It Started to Rain (Restored)
Cornered by an unrelenting drought that threatens to strip away his land and bury him in debt, a desperate farmer faces a crisis made even more agonizing by his wife's advanced pregnancy and the impending birth of their child. Driven to the edge of sanity, he takes a drastic decision that leads to a chilling climax worthy of the darkest nightmares of the Sinister Doctor Mortis.
A tale of horror and psychological mystery where human desperation becomes the most fertile ground for terror.
Hit play on this classic and discover just how far a man can sink when nature and misery close off every possible escape.
The Truth in the Grave (Restored)
Cemeteries may keep their silence, but the dead hold secrets that no passage of time or heavy headstone can bury forever. In this fascinating episode, the Sinister Doctor Mortis steps beyond his usual role as a mere observer to enter the narrative directly as an active participant, blurring the boundaries between the world of the living and the realm of the departed.
Featuring the unmistakable voice and magnetic presence of Juan Marino, this tale of horror and mystery confronts listeners with buried guilts that demand to be brought to light.
Hit play on this classic radio drama masterpiece and discover what happens when the truth decides to claw its way up from the grave.
The Creator and the Voices of the Era
A lasting tribute to the architects of the golden age of Latin American radio drama.
Juan Marino Cabello (1920 - 2007)
Born in Punta Arenas, Juan Marino was a tireless radio man, writer, screenwriter, and orchestra conductor who worked in radio from age 17 to 87. In 1945, he created The Sinister Doctor Mortis in Magallanes, an absolute landmark of psychological horror and mystery in Chile and Latin America.
The Cast and Radio Actors
Behind every chilling broadcast stood a masterful array of voice actors, announcers, and stagehands who, with purely artisanal talent and the precise use of live incidental effects, transported listeners to dark and fascinating dimensions.
