1938-9-11 The Witch Drums of Salem

Broadcast September 11th 1938 syndicated for the summer by Goodrich Tires

This episode is included in Radio Spirits CD Set The Shadow: Unearthly Specters

Written by:

Announcer: Ken Roberts

Cast: Orson Welles (Lamont Cranston/The Shadow) Margot Stevenson (Margot Lane)

Music: Rosa Rio

Synopsis:

In 1692, in the village of Salem, Massachusetts, Dame Anna West was tried, found guilty of witchcraft and burned at the stake. Her husband, Captain West, attempted to defend her but became a victim of the same eternal hellfire, though he managed to place a curse on the family of Minister Cotton, the man responsible for the public condemnation. West claimed the spirit of his wife would haunt and torment generations of the minister’s offspring with the madness of the Congo drums he brought back from Africa. While venturing through New England, Lamont and Margot learn that a small boy died from what Lamont suspects is the masking of madness and witchcraft. Exploring West’s house late that evening, The Shadow discovers young Anna West suffering from madness. Her uncle and guardian, Jonathan West, who formerly managed a trading post in Africa, came to the U.S. five years earlier with an African woman named Mowambi who tended to the child. Jonathan hired Mowambi to engineer the sound of voodoo drums to drive the young girl crazy, so he would not have to account for the girl’s inheritance which is spending. While facing The Shadow, Jonathan accidentally shoots an oil lamp and set fire to the house. The Shadow succeeds in turning Mowambi against West, and the guilty battle to the death with knives. Young Anna hears the voice of The Shadow and follows him out of the burning cellar to safety.

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