Feb. 11, 2026

THE SHADOW Episode 10: The Society of the Living Dead

THE SHADOW Episode 10: The Society of the Living Dead
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This episode is widely considered one of the most chilling and macabre entries in the Orson Welles era, diving deep into the realms of horror and medical suspense.

Episode Overview

  • Title: "The Society of the Living Dead"
  • First Aired: January 23, 1938
  • Network: Mutual Broadcasting System
  • Sponsor: Blue Coal

Cast & Voice Actors

  • The Shadow / Lamont Cranston: Orson Welles
  • Margot Lane: Agnes Moorehead
  • Commissioner Weston: Dwight Weist
  • Announcer: Ken Roberts
  • The Villain: Often voiced by a guest actor from the Mercury Theatre, playing the role of a mad scientist/cult leader.

Episode Summary

The story plunges the listener into a nightmare of biological horror. A series of prominent citizens are falling into a state of suspended animation, a death-like trance that defies medical explanation. These victims are not truly dead, yet they are being entombed in a secret, underground sanctuary.

The Shadow discovers that a brilliant but deranged scientist has formed The Society of the Living Dead.  By using a secret drug, he is collecting people to serve as his slaves in a subterranean empire, or perhaps to wait out a perceived coming apocalypse. Lamont Cranston must infiltrate this living tomb, risking the drug's effects himself, to pull the living dead back from the brink of the grave. The episode is famous for its claustrophobic atmosphere and the genuinely unsettling idea of being buried alive.

Trivia & Fun Facts

  • Horror Roots: This episode draws heavy inspiration from the "Gothic Horror" and "Mad Scientist" tropes that were popular in Universal Monsters films of the 1930s.

  • Soundscapes of the Grave: The sound department had to work overtime to create the muffled, echoing acoustics of an underground tomb, adding to the listener's sense of unease.

  • A Welles Favorite: Fans of Orson Welles often point to this episode as one of his best vocal performances, as he balances the cool logic of Cranston with the terrifying, otherworldly whispers of the Shadow.

  • Suspended Animation: The concept of suspended animation was a popular pseudoscience topic in 1930s pulp magazines, often used to bridge the gap between crime fiction and early science fiction.

Credits

  • Research and Production Gizelle Erickson
  • Executive Producer Jon Hagadorn
  • The Shadow sourced by AcousticMonster on Internet Archive

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