The Red Death

Originally Aired: October 30, 1940 Cavalcade of America #198, "The Red Death," Dr. Joseph Goldberger arrives in the rural American South in 1915 to investigate a mysterious and deadly disease called pellagra that is devastating the region's poorest communities. Unlike other medical researchers who rely solely on laboratory work, Goldberger takes an unconventional approach, making the hills and people themselves his laboratory. He walks among the afflicted, studying their daily lives and eating habits rather than just examining the dead. As he follows in the footsteps of this phantom killer, Goldberger gradually pieces together a startling discovery about the disease's true cause. Despite mounting evidence from his field research, Goldberger faces fierce opposition from a medical commission that insists pellagra must be caused by a germ. When they laugh at his findings, a frustrated Goldberger resolves to prove them wrong through a dramatic and dangerous personal experiment. With his devoted wife Mary at his side, he prepares to inject himself with blood serum from pellagra victims to demonstrate once and for all that the red death is not contagious at all.