Horror Stories - January 1935

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Got hooked on shudder pulps and am working my way through the handful available on Luminist. Here's the ToC:


9 • Strong Medicine • essay by The Editor

10 • Music of the Damned • novelette by Francis James

10 •  Music of the Damned • interior artwork by Amos Sewell

38 • The Night the Devil Walked • short story by Hal Field Leslie

38 •  The Night the Devil Walked • interior artwork by Amos Sewell

48 • Mistress of the Beast • short story by Arthur Leo Zagat

48 •  Mistress of the Beast • interior artwork by Amos Sewell

61 • Claimed by the Dead • short story by John Tracey

61 •  Claimed by the Dead • interior artwork by Amos Sewell

70 • Men Without Blood • novelette by John H. Knox

70 •  Men Without Blood • interior artwork by Amos Sewell

88 • Village of Bones • short story by Robert C. Blackmon

88 •  Village of Bones • interior artwork by Amos Sewell

98 • Her Lover—Death! • novelette by Wyatt Blassingame

98 •  Her Lover—Death! • interior artwork by Amos Sewell

118 • Nightmare House • short story by George A. Starbird

118 •  Nightmare House • interior artwork by Amos Sewell

127 • Chamber of Horrors (Horror Stories, January 1935) • essay by uncredited


The Editor - Strong Medicine: Editor's foreword for this inaugural issue of the magazine. Notes that we no longer have to fear getting waylaid by Satanists, having our wife and daughter raped by Vikings, or being thrown into the dungeons of the Inquisition, and that the present day has little to offer us in the way of fright (just wait a few years, buddy. . .)! However, since it's good for the system to have a catharctic shock, here's a magazine of 'strong medicine.'

Francis James - Music of the Damned: Peru. Cynical New York reporter Bill Weston is dispatched to the village of Tampu-Taco to investigate (that is, ridicule) the crisis among the local population. The "Sacsahuaman", a seven fingered army of the dead, are allegedly responsible for the mutilations and murders of men and women. Weston is skeptical until he sees a horde of yellow-skinned natives, their lips mutilated and skin branded, carrying off a pair of naked young women, while on his way to meet up with archaeologist Duncan Ross, who is leading a party to investigate the same (and has, somewhat unwisely, brought his chubby wife and lovely daughter Mary along; Mary has, even less wisely, brought along her friend Natalie Summers). Also there is Professor Porcas, of the University of Lima, who explains the Sacsahuaman story: The Sacsahuaman were a race of Incans said to be descended from the seven-fingered god Tlactlocalan himself. They lived and worked in isolation to mine the gold around the city of Huyanboto, and to ensure they never revealed the location, their lips were mutilated and tongues torn out. As consolation, they were given wild sex orgies with girls stolen from other villages, who were taught sensual dances to diabolical music that even aroused the conquering Spanish priests.

Veteran adventurer Henry Makanna scoffs at this--"That music is just some love-sick Spaniard with a guitar up in a cabin somewhere"--but the Sascahuaman make their presence known--first with the music, which rouses Natalie to ecstasy, and then by charging the camp and overwhelming the party. Weston wakes up to find Makenna dead and the rest of the group missing, and sets off to find them.


It's not very well edited (Natalie Summers becomes 'Natalie Ross' at one point), and it drags at points; Bill's adoration for Mary seems particularly poorly motivated. And, even from my synopsis above, you can probably guess the culprit of the Scooby Doo ending. Still, there are high points--the initial Sacsahuaman siege of Ross's camp is frightening, and the extended whip torture pleasantly kinky.

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Hal Field Leslie - The Night the Devil Walked: New England. Salesman Jim Hollister is trapped out in the rain with a dying flashlight. The hostile yokels he runs into aren't any help either--they don't take in strangers as a rule, but certainly not on a night that the Devil walks. Specifically, the Devil walks with hoof and one man's foot, and when he walks, a dead woman is sure to follow. Jim finds this is true soon enough, and then comes across improbably named nurse Ora Carew, who crashes her car when attacked by the best. Together, they head off to find shelter at the house of Barker, an old sailor who keeps the strangest pets. . .

An excellent atmospheric opening, and a quick pace, but after the last story, there just aren't enough cheap thrills to make this memorable. 

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Arthur Leo Zagat - Mistress of the Beast: College boy Stan joins four of his dad's friends for a duck hunt; they promptly get lost and picked off by a swamp-dwelling Circe. 

This one was interminable. 

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John Tracey - Claimed by the Dead: Colonial bureaucrat in Egypt takes wife Esther to a tomb; she promptly gets possessed by an ancient Egyptian. Intervention of wizened old priest saves the day, but narrator mopes that his wife is forever betrothed to Thoth. 

Painfully dull mummy boilerplate, and everyone keeps their clothes on. 

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John H. Knox - Men Without Blood: Private detective Stanley Dwight is investigating "The Six Without Blood"--a group of murderers who have been decapitating victims to drink their blood--on behalf of truly tiresome Professor Collins. After a shootout in a flophouse and the kidnapping of his client, Dwight follows a tip to the wax museum, where a half-dozen wax figures of bloodthirsty criminals are on display. There's a challenge to spend the night, which Dwight accepts. Those who've read Burrage's "The Waxwork" know what's next, but there are more surprises in store. . .


Much better, now, with lots of action and gunfights. Disappointing ending that makes just about as much sense as if there had been something supernatural. 

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Robert C. Blackmon - Village of Bones: Cocky young Jimmy Kent has just inherited the defunct Sharon Mine from his grandafther Amos Sawyer, so takes lovely new bride Cora along to inspect the property. This attracts disapproval from Jake Pond, the operator of the filling station they stop at. Pond warns him against going to Sharon, where the dead walk, and especially with a young woman along. But the couple goes on, taking wino Pack-Rat along as a guide/passenger. Once they get to Sharon, eerie sounds fill the air, Pack-Rat disappears, skeletons walk, etc. No points for guessing that Cora gets kidnapped, that Jimmy goes looking for her and gets captured as well, or that he overcomes captivity to take out the gloating villain. 

The motive here is predictable and lame; would have much preferred our villains to be killing for the sake of it. The settings are evocative, at least. 

Story did make me realize that Texas Chainsaw and Hills Have Eyes are essentially just updated weird menace stories.

Wyatt Blessingame - Her Lover - Death! Paint by numbers "did I kill while blacked out? Oh no I am the murderer!" story. Improbably named "George A. Starbird" has to salvage this issue; we shall see if he can. . .

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George A. Starbird - Nightmare House: Burt Greaves comes down to the southern swamps in search of his father, a banker, as well as his secretary Dorothy and his steward--all of whom were kidnapped off their yacht by a loathsome family comprised of a withered matriarch, a knife fetishist, a hulking black servant, and a hulking half-wit manchild. Determined to recoup the money 'stolen by Yankee swindlers,' the family has been mailing amputated pieces of Pater Greaves to Burt and Mother until they pay up. Mutilation, torture, and sexual menace ensue. 

An excellent yarn, second only to "Music of the Damned," that ends this issue on a pleasantly lurid note.