1945-3-18 The Case of the Flaming Skull

Broadcast March 18th 1945 on Mutual at 5:30 p.m. EST sponsored by D.L. & W. Coal Company "Blue Coal" and syndicated for the summer by Goodrich Tires

This episode is included in Radio Spirits CD Set The Shadow: Hearts of Evil (See note)

This episode was adapted and recorded for broadcast in Australia as "The Case of the Burning Skull " by Grace Gibson Productions and is included in The Shadow Volume 2

Written by: Alfred Bester

Announcer: Don Hancock

Cast: John Archer (Lamont Cranston/The Shadow) Judith Allen (Margot Lane)

Music: Elsie Thompson

Synopsis:

Steve Grant is kidnapped by a mysterious figure described by witnesses as a flaming skeleton. After a series of robberies across town is attributed to just such a form, Commissioner Weston and his men fail to apprehend the ghostly shape. The Shadow questions Dr. Harrison but the doctor is murdered before he can talk. Working with the police, Lamont sets up a trap for the criminal in an old mansion just outside the city. There, The Shadow reveals the simple solution: Grant had developed incurable radium poisoning. With two months left to live, the chemist became a thief, giving a ghost-like appearance of a flaming skeleton in the dark because the radium emanations are the only thing that can make a man’s bones shine in the dark. Grant turned desperate and tried to raise money to leave for his wife. Attempting to flee the scene, Grant gets too close to the tremendous current of the high-tension wires on the road and is electrocuted.

Listen to the original episode rebroadcast

Listen to the Australian episode

Note:

The script for this episode was published in Sanctum Reprint #111 The Radium Murders & The Crystal Skull

This episode was rebroadcast as part of Mystery Playhouse on the American Forces Network during World War II, which is the episode presented here.