Rod Serling's Triple W

Rod Serling's Triple W: Witches, Warlocks & Werewolves (Bantam, May 1963: 5th printing, Feb. 1967)



Rod Serling - Introduction

Gordon R. Dickson - The Amulet
Anon - The Story Of Sidi Nonman
Jack Sharkey - The Final Ingredient
Malcolm Jameson - Blind Alley
Nathaniel Hawthorne - Young Goodman Brown
Jane Roberts - The Chestnut Beads
Fritz Leiber - Hatchery Of Dreams
Rudyard Kipling - The Mark Of The Beast
Joe L. Hensley - And Not Quite Human
Bruce Elliot - Wolves Don't Cry
Charles G. Finney - The Black Retriever
Charles MacKay - Witch Trials And The Law



That super badly posed photo cover is from the 1967 edition but looking at it now, maybe there was a method in Bantam's madness as it's possibly a tribute to the original artwork? Never was much enthused by the line up, but it's a better collection than I took it for. At a time when vintage issues of Weird Tales were providing the source material for many US anthologies, bar the odd trusty classic, Serling revived many of these from 'fifties issues of Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Beyond.

includes:

Bruce Elliot - Wolves Don't Cry: Panic at the zoo when the keeper makes his morning check on Lobo the Timber wolf, only to find the creature gone and a naked man in his place. "You Goddam drunks! Wasn't bad enough the night a flock of you came in here, and a girl bothered the bear and lost an arm for her trouble!" Eventually an ambulance is called and the 'drunk's lengthy rehabilitation begins. Trouble is, the 'drunk' really is Lobo and knows it, and he detests his new life among the two-leggeds. Can he get back to his old self?

Charles G. Finney - The Black Retriever: Mr. Charles is on the look-out for the elusive beast responsible for slaughtering he and his neighbours' pets. He is distracted by the sight of Miss Betty hanging out her washing in just her bra and shorts and indulges in some harmless peeping-tommery. Good thing he does, too, as Betty suddenly vanishes before his eyes. And then he hears the clawing on the roof of his car.

Gordon R. Dickson - The Amulet: The ancient witch of Spiney Hollow and her younger rival Marie-Elaine conspire to ensnare a vicious thug. He's so impressed by their powers that he beseeches them to make him just like them. But you begin this game at the bottom, and the crone now has a new cat for her familiar. Found this one a bit ABC, but it's painless enough. Far more like it is:

Jack Sharkey - The Final Ingredient: From childhood, Kathryn has dreamed of becoming a witch, but to date her hexes have failed abysmally, and her love potion actually killed her boyfriend. After Joe's death, Kathryn meets a crone who points out where she's been going wrong - her heart was never in the job. If she wants to work evil, she must first renounce love. So, accompanied by the unsuspecting Aunt she'd once playfully tried to destroy utilizing a voodoo doll, Kathryn visits Joe's grave. If she can hate him, she can hate anyone and all her spells will work!

Joe L. Hensley - And Not Quite Human: All it took was one spaceship to conquer Earth and the Arcturians even captured the few skeletal specimens who miraculously survived the attack. But as the ship roars through space, the crew are afflicted by nightmares (even though these have been abolished) in which blood, bats and skulls feature prominently. The crew then begin committing suicide in increasingly imaginative ways. The captain is incredulous: "It's been bred out of the race ... it just doesn't happen! ... it's against the rules!" A visit from one of the earthlings, Adam Manning, educates him as what is and isn't possible to the undead.

Rudyard Kipling – The Mark Of The Beast: Fleete, new to India, gets drunk with the Brit ex-pats on New Years Eve and, staggering home past the Temple of Hanuman defaces the image of the monkey god by stubbing his cigar out on its forehead. As his friends Strickland and the narrator try to placate the worshippers, a leper slips from a recess and lays his hand on Fleete’s chest. He rapidly degenerates into a were-leopard …. until his mates torture the leper until he lifts the spell. The narrator at least has the grace to admit “we have disgraced ourselves as Englishmen for ever.”