Imagine it is July 18, 1954. It’s a warm Sunday evening and you’ve tuned your floor-model radio into your local Mutual station to listen to another thrilling adventure of The Shadow. You are about to hear a story about a Voodoo doll — an evil ouanga charm — and a blood sacrifice! A story called “Death and the Conjure Man.”
Back in 1954, everyone knew who The Shadow was, of course. But Ted Mallie, the announcer, still was obligated to remind listeners that “The Shadow, who aids the forces of law and order, is in reality Lamont Cranston, wealthy young man-about-town who years ago while in the Orient learned the hypnotic power to cloud men’s minds so that they cannot see him. Cranston’s friend, Margo Lane, is the only person who knows to whom the voice of the invisible Shadow belongs.”
After a 60-second public service announcement for Savings Bonds, the story began.
The dark swamps deep in the bayous of Louisiana are like mysterious, uncharted seas. A hundred years ago a man named La Farge found an island there and built a plantation that was the pride of the bayous. Its main house was noted for the bright colonnades towering over the jungle growth La Farge had conquered. But now, the wheel has turned full circle, and La Farge, as the island and the house were known, is now being conquered by the swamp. Hanging moss trails across the broken windows, thick vines strangle the colonnades till they have become chipped and cracked from the strain. Only the shell remains… only the broken shell of a long-forgotten dream.
According to the original La Farge will, every descendant who inherits the island must live in the mansion for two months every year. Currently living in the old house is Helene La Farge Cristophe, her husband Col. Peter Cristophe and their 10-year-old daughter, Nancy.
Nancy’s new doll
Someone has given Nancy a new doll. A doll with real hair… a doll that looks just like her mother, right down to the blue eyes and the dress. And the doll has a pin stuck in it. And just who gave little Nancy the doll? A strange old man named Papa Bouki.
The three are not alone on the island, you see. Out somewhere in his hut lives the local conjure man… a witch doctor named Papa Bouki. Helene La Farge Cristophe has given Papa Bouki sanctuary on her island.
Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane are visiting Dr. Gaspard, a heavy, middle-aged southerner who lives in a small Louisiana township on the edge of the bayou. Dr. Gaspard is called to the island and Lamont and Margo join him. Helene has had another attack of needle-like pains in her abdomen.
Night is falling as they arrive on the island. Col. Cristophe greets them and escorts the doctor to the house. Lamont and Margo trail along behind. In the dark, they bump into something. It’s a dead goat, swinging by its neck from a rope… the symbol of a Voodoo blood sacrifice!
At this point, the story pauses for a commercial. Camels cigarettes. Back in the 1950s, cigarette commercials hadn’t been banned on radio yet. That would happen in 1971. But the commercial is mercifully short and we are quickly back into the story.
Act II
Inside the falling-down house, Dr. Gaspard has just given Helene Cristophe a sedative to relieve her abdominal pain. Gaspard can find nothing wrong with the woman. Her pulse is normal, her reactions are perfect. But still, there is the pain. Barely conscious, she mutters, “The doll, take the needle from the doll.”
Dr. Gaspard, accompanied by Lamont, makes a visit to the hut of Papa Bouki, the strange old man of Voodoo. They find him out on the edge of the bayou mixing up some strange concoction in an iron pot. He’s chanting strange incantations as the two interrupt him. Harsh words are exchanged as they question him about the hanging goat and the odd circumstances surrounding Helene’s mysterious illness.
The following morning, Lamont, Margo and Peter meet in the study. They speak of the cloud of Voodoo which surrounds them. It seems they are helpless. Helene suffered all through the night, but refuses to leave the island to go to a hospital. Calling the police would be futile; there is no evidence of Papa Bouki’s perfidy.
Young Nancy runs into the room to show Margo her new necklace. It’s a leather cord with a pouch attached, given to her by Pape Bouki. Inside the pouch is a scrap of paper with Helene’s name written on it in blood. Papa Bouki has entered the mansion!
The announcer breaks in for another public service announcement promoting the advantages of getting your news from the radio. And 60 seconds later, we are back on the overgrown island in the Louisiana swamps with Lamont and Margo.
Act III
Peter Cristophe seems convinced that the only way he can save his wife is to kill Papa Bouki, the conjure man. The old Voodoo man runs from Helene’s room, with Peter in hot pursuit, throwing sizzling slugs from his revolver.
Dr. Gaspard examines his patient, not knowing that also in the room with the two of them is a third, unseen visitor… The Shadow. His laugh, cold and quivery, breaks the thickness of the atmosphere. The Shadow is here to see justice done.
Helene reveals that Papa Bouki has given her a small bottle of some dark liquid. She trusts the old witch doctor. His potions have helped her before. Dr. Gaspard grabs it and smashes the bottle of evil brew against the wall. Was he saving her from poison, or destroying an antidote to poison? The Shadow’s laugh sends the doctor running from the room.
Outside the mansion, Peter encounters Dr. Gaspard. Peter forces the doctor, under gunpoint, to take him to the hut of Papa Bouki. In the hovel, they find Papa Bouki muttering incantations over his bubbling pot. “I summon the avenger, I summon the good…”
The Shadow’s sibilant laugh fills the hut. The avenger of crime has arrived. The guilty party is accused: It is Peter Cristophe. A rare poison given to him in the jungles of Africa by a witch doctor, during his time in the Service. Point by point, The Shadow refutes Peter’s alibi. Papa Bouki wasn’t harming Helene; he knew what Peter was doing, and was giving her an antidote. Peter had made the doll with Helene’s hair. Peter had hung up the dead goat.
The Shadow reveals Peter’s reasons for murder. Oil. Oil bubbling up from the swamp. Oil worth millions. Helene would have never allowed drilling on her ancestral property. She had to die if Peter were to exploit the untold riches.
Madly, Peter fires his last bullet at The Shadow… and misses. The taunting mirth of The Shadow echoes in his ears. “You’re at the end of the rope, Peter Cristophe — just like the goat you hung as part of your crazy scheme!”
Demouement
Announcer Ted Mallie interrupts one more time to plug Mutual’s five-minute news roundups, and then we return for a brief denouement. Lamont and Margo are driving back to New Orleans, discussing their recent adventure.
Papa Bouki had found the place where oil seeped to the surface of the swamp. But to him, it only meant a place where he would find certain herbs growing that would make powerful conjure medicine. Peter Cristophe is now safely in the hands of the law. And perhaps Papa Bouki’s love charms will steer Helene into Dr. Gaspard’s arms.
“You don’t really believe Papa Bouki’s witchcraft!” Margo asks.
“Why not?” Cranston raises an eyebrow. “He conjured up The Shadow, didn’t he?”
And the music rises over their laughter as another weekly adventure of The Shadow concludes.
It was less than six months later when The Shadow left the air. On Dec. 26, 1954, the final Shadow radio mystery “Murder by the Sea” was broadcast. Right up until the end, The Shadow continued to encounter weird and fantastic situations in which crime and evil threatened to prevail, if not for the actions of the unseen battler for justice — The Shadow.
I’m sure you meant “denouement” with an N. You just misspelt it.
What’s that? You mean demouement isn’t a real word? Maybe I just created a new word. Hey, if Walter Gibson could make up words (“squatly” might be one of those), then I guess I’m in good company.
I could go back and fix the word in this blog entry, but then people reading these comments wouldn’t understand what we are talking about. So I shall let my shame remain public and uncorrected.
I remember back when I was young, there was no such thing as a spell-checker. A person actually had to know how to spell. And back then, I did. But I’ve become lazy with technology rescuing me, now, when I need it. And in this particular case, the spell checker let me down.