"A Shadow Cast Before" is an early short story by L. Frank Baum. It was first published in the December 1897 issue of The Philosopher, and was reprinted in The Baum Bugle in 1972. Baum experimented with different genres for his adult fiction in the first phase of his literary career. His early short stories were comedies, crime stories, even a futuristic fantasy. "A Shadow Cast Before" is a tale of the supernatural, like his prior "Who Called 'Perry'?" and "My Ruby Wedding Ring."