Title: Horror in Wax
Air date: February 26, 1939
Plot summary: The police, already very busy, get a shocking report: a dead woman has been found in a boardinghouse room. Commissioner Weston sends one of his men, Officer Brophy. Brophy discovers that the "dead woman" is neither dead nor a woman: she is a wax dummy.
Brophy's report back to police headquarters is followed closely by a call from The Shadow, offering his services for anything Commissioner Weston would like him to investigate. Weston, irritated by The Shadow butting in (and always showing him up) has a moment of inspiration. He tells The Shadow that the wax dummy found in the room is a murder case, and that The Shadow can go investigate that.
The police station erupts in guffaws of laughter after The Shadow hangs up. But naturally, the joke is on Commissioner Weston, because that was a dead body. Lamont uncovers a very strange case that involves murder, human trafficking, indentured servitude, and a mad scientist who can turn people to wax.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Biology: Dr. Ferno can turn people to wax with a special serum, and also has an antidote that can bring people back out of wax suspension and into their regular state. Well, sure.
- Driven to Suicide: Dr. Ferno kills himself when he realizes the jig is up, injecting himself with his waxifying formula and smashing the last bottle of antidote for good measure.
- Human Trafficking: Surprisingly, the reason for the scheme. Dr. Ferno and his goons are turning immigrants into wax dummies, shipping them through American border controls as such, then revivifying them and forcing them to kick back 25% of what they earn.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Ferno, turned evil by his rage, has started to use his serum in a human trafficking business. And if sometimes they get the dosage wrong and the victim doesn't wake up? Too bad. The victim found at the beginning of the episode is a woman who was dumped there after the waxification process killed her.
- Officer O'Hara: Officer Murphy, the first responder, speaks in a thick Irish brogue.
- Snipe Hunt: Commissioner Weston and the gang at HQ think it's a fine joke when they send The Shadow off to investigate the "murder" of a wax dummy. Naturally it really is murder.
- Taken for Granite: The illegal immigrants are passed through Customs by waxifying them and pretending they are wax dummies.
- They Called Me Mad!: A bitter Dr. Ferno goes on at length about how his colleagues laughed at him for his findings about the waxification process.
