A lab experiment goes wrong and a scientist ends up with radiation poisoning. Realizing he will soon die, he goes on a robbing spree to collect money for his soon to be widowed wife. However, after killing his first victim, he becomes obsessed of being "the burning man," and begins to terrorize the city.

A lunatic ex-executioner is believed dead and Lamont Cranston and Margot Lane are stranded in his house where a fortune is supposedly hidden but which is also filled with death traps and murder.

A man who was accidentally hit by Shrevie’s cab appears to be a bit out of joint with time, as he seems to think it is a day later than it actually is and tells of crimes he says he read about which end up happening later. Lamont is more inclined to believe that he knows of them because he is in on them rather than possession of any psychic abilities.