“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. The Shadow knows!”

“Death Coils to Strike” aired on March 21, 1948. It opens with the appearance of a beautiful young woman who dances sinuously to music from her recently departed home in South America, where she caught the eye of an American engineer who then brought her to the Untied States to marry. But at the same time a rare and deadly snake–also recently imported from South America–has escaped. Murder and mayhem follow and lead to the snake and the young woman becoming inextricably intertwined. What is at the bottom of this unusual case? Magic perhaps? An even more powerful and devilish form of  sorcery from the ancient jungles to our south? Hallucination and madness creating a different form of reality? All bets are off as the Shadow must unravel the deadly secret before he too becomes one of its victims.

“The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Crime does not pay.” — The Shadow

(Cover left, October 15, 1939 — Cover right, April 1, 1934)

The history of the Shadow in the magazines and on radio is a long and storied one. For an introductory overview see our first Shadow episode here.

Play Time: 25:20