Title: The Reincarnation of Michael
Air date: July 17, 1938
Plot summary: Michael Welch happens to be a multimillionaire, and also completely crazy. He has become convinced that he is the reincarnation of a 12th century Italian duke. The Italian duke in question was a rather violent fellow who once took revenge on three of his enemies by locking them in his castle and releasing some plague-infested mosquitoes on them. Michael has decided to do the same to three of his enemies, and luckily, he has hooked up with a mad scientist. Professor Charles, also crazy and bent on revenge against the world in general, has the technical know-how and has provided Michael with jars of plague mosquitoes.
Unluckily for Michael, one of his three revenge targets, Mrs. Bell, took the liberty of inviting two more people to the party: Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane. Once Lamont puts together what's going on, The Shadow intervenes to stop Michael's scheme.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – History: The whole story is nonsense, of course, but specifically, nobody would have been using mosquitoes as a biological weapon in the 12th century because the role of mosquitoes in spreading diseases like yellow fever (and malaria) was unknown at that time and would remain unknown for 700 years or so after.
- Contrived Coincidence: Completely out of nowhere, Mrs. Bell asks Lamont whether or not he believes in reincarnation. This elicits an angry outburst from Michael Welch who absolutely does believe in reincarnation and is plotting to murder three people because he does. Mrs. Bell's random question helps Lamont figure out what's going on.
- Driven to Suicide: Michael Welch shoots himself after his plans are ruined (and after he shoots Prof. Charles).
- The Ghost: Two of the three guests at Welch's party, the guy who sold Welch some crappy stocks and (surprisingly) the woman who "might have been my wife," have no dialogue. It's Mrs. Bell (whose sin against Welch was to borrow money and never pay him back) who first invites Margo and Lamont and then makes the injudicious remark about reincarnation.
- Karma Houdini: A rare example of this on the show. Professor Charles is shot and killed by Welch after Welch thinks Charles betrayed him, and Welch kills himself. But Tony, the minion who blows up a dam on Welch's orders solely to trap everyone in the castle, gets away.
- Mad Scientist: Professor Charles's motivations for helping Welch with a murder scheme are pretty vague; he explains that after he was "struck with fever" and the world abandoned him, he turned to evil. In any case, he's pretty excited about loosing jars full of plague-infested mosquitos on people.
- Saying Too Much: Welch, fuming about how hard it is to punish his social inferiors, says that back in the 12th century "I had much less trouble" exacting revenge. When Prof. Charles notices this odd remark Welch lamely covers, saying that he meant people like him.
- Villain Opening Scene: The episode opens with Welch and Charles gleefully recounting how they're going to kill Welch's guests.
- Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: Mrs. Bell's last appearance has her desperately ill after she was bitten by one of the plague mosquitoes. No mention is made of whether she lived or died.
