Reptile Death: Tarzan (May 14, 1935)

“Reptile Death” is an episode of Tarzan, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 14, 1935. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Tarzan leads an expedition searching for the lost archaeologist Brian Gregory, whom Atan Tom and Lal Tusk believe Tarzan to be. Along the trail, stampeding elephants threaten the camp, and Tarzan steers them away. Meanwhile Wolf pressures Margaret to steal a map from Helen Gregory, and Helen, warned of danger, agrees to hand the map to Tarzan in front of the group. As the party approaches a crocodile-infested river, a native ceremony led by a witch doctor unsettles the bearers, and a hunter named Arthur DeWarte attempts to shoot a crocodile against Tarzan's warning.

The African jungle, near the equator, along a trail toward the Ashir valley and a river full of crocodiles.

Characters: Tarzan, Brian Gregory, Helen Gregory, Margaret, Wolf, Atan Tom, Lal Tusk, Darno

Listen for: Helen's warning to Margaret about the map and the danger it carries, and the sound of the crocodile attack at the end.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.