Title: The White God
Air date: May 1, 1938
Guest star: Bill Johnstone
Plot summary: A yacht owned by an inventor named Rudolph Hoyt disappears without a trace in the South Pacific Ocean. It is only the latest of a dozen ships to disappear in that particular area, earning the area the unfortunate nickname "the graveyard of ships." The U.S. Navy has no clue what is going on, so when The Shadow expresses an interest the Navy is only too happy to give him and Margo Lane a ride on a cruiser.
The Shadow, once he makes it to the area, hears rumors of a "white god" conducting human sacrifices on a remote island. He and Margo get a seaplane pilot to take them there...and they are pulled down to the island by a mysterious force. It turns out that the island has been turned into a giant magnet, and the missing ships are visible, crashed against the rocks after they were pulled in by the magnet. The "White God" turns out to be one Lloyd Collins, who just happens to be Rudolph Hoyt's disgraced assistant.
Tropes:
- Bittersweet Ending: With Rudolph Hoyt's death (and Collins's), the secret of the magnetism technology, which could have revolutionized industry, dies with him. The Shadow says that unfortunately someone else will have to reinvent Hoyt's technology. But at least Collins has been stopped and there will be no more ship sinkings and human sacrifices.
- Contrived Coincidence: Collins calls it "sheer coincidence" that his old boss (and the inventor of the magnet technology) happened to sail his yacht right into Collins's clutches.
- Disposable Pilot: The unfortunate pilot who winds up getting pulled into the volcano along with Margo and The Shadow is killed, without even getting a name.
- Human Sacrifice: Something the island's natives like to do, and apparently why Collins is using his magnet to attract ships and victims to his island. Lamont and the gang arrive just as Rudolph Hoyt is being sacrificed.
- Jungle Drums: The sound of drums is what alerts The Shadow, Margo, and the pilot that there are people on the island.
- Mighty Whitey: A crazy white man comes to a South Pacific island and manages to make the "ignorant natives" (this episode is pretty darn racist) believe that he is a god.
- Motif: When The Shadow is being given a ride by the Navy, the typical Stings used for scene transitions turn into the opening notes of "Anchors Aweigh".
- Narrating the Obvious: Hard to avoid in radio, and heard in this episode when Lamont and Margo have to tell each other that Rudolph Hoyt is being dragged up the volcano.
- No Name Given: Neither the pilot nor, surprisingly, Collins's daughter (whom they find still alive in the volcano) are named.
- Volcano Lair: The island is an extinct volcano. The White God impresses the natives by coming out the top of the volcano, because evidently the natives haven't explored their own mountain and don't know that there is a shaft that allows access.
