Weird Wonder Tales edited by Ron Hanna, Wildcat Books, 2005
Black Pool for Hell Maidens by Hal K. Wells
Borderland by Arthur J. Burks
The Devil's Crypt by E. Hoffmann Price
The Thing That Dined on Death by John H. Knox
Blood-Bait for Hungry Mermaids by John Wallace
Satan's Faceless Henchmen by Steve Fisher
The Shrieking Pool by G.T. Fleming-Roberts
Blood for the Vampire Dead by Robert Leslie Bellem
Black Pool for Hell Maidens by Hal K. Wells - 1938
Larry Kent is trying to trace his fiancée, Dorothy, who disappeared after leaving him a brief note. In the swamps of Alabama he encounters the mysterious Dr. Carlin and his hospital of amputees. With Carlin's aides is Dorothy, but she appears not to know or care who Larry is. Larry remembers stories of the disgraced Dr. Carlin, struck-off for his experiments on amputees with a serum derived from crayfish - who have the natural ability to grow new limbs. Is Carlin genuine in his endeavours or is it a nasty money-making scheme? And how is Dorothy mixed up in it? And what is the dreaded 'Dweller in the Pool' ?- another of Carlin's experiments or something even more diabolical?
I thought this was a little cracker of a story to get us underway, you can't really go wrong with mad scientist stories can you! On second thoughts:
Borderland by Arthur Burks - 1934
Cleve is trying to catch crocodiles in a Dominican Republic lake (with charges of dynamite!) for a museum, when he encounters large iguanas, we're talking Godzilla-size here, coming ashore to terrorise nearby communities. They seem to him to emanate from an island in the lake, so he set's off and encounters the mastermind behind it. This wasn't so great, just couldn't believe the machinations of the bad guy, and the hero's actions are simplistic all the way through.
The Devil's Crypt by E. Hoffmann Price - 1934
Being a friend and associate of H.P. Lovecraft, Price is the most well-known of the authors on show here, but this is a slight piece and no mistake. In the old-walled French city of Bayonne, Louise Marigny's throat is torn out by... a winged something. The American Davis Barrett and his old friend Pierre D'Artois come to the conclusion that black magic is being practised in the city, the likely culprit is the spaniard Don José Guevara Millamediana. They then go and defeat him, with the aid of Sidi Abdurrahman. The locations are nicely done but the plot and execution are shallow, and this is a real disappointment.
The Thing That Dined on Death by John H. Knox - 1936
This more than makes up for the slightness of the two previous pieces, and in fact is the standout story in the whole book. Cliff Slade, the doctor in a small local community, is believed to be behind the butchery of livestock in which the kidneys are removed. Another mystery to him is the behaviour of his sweetheart, Esther. Recently she has become fascinated with radio astrologer Merro Daak, who locals believe holds demonic orgies in his country home, and has told Cliff that she is seeing his best friend, Len Marsden, who lives with his paralysed father. This is a superb romp, that twists all over the place in the final stages, where nothing and no one is what it seems. I can't find anything else that Knox wrote, which is a real shame as this is truly weird and wonderful.
Blood-Bait for Hungry Mermaids by John Wallace - 1939
Bob Barton and a few friends and associates are fishing just off Florida near to a rock that is said to be frequented by mermaids every twenty years. After consuming some port with his guests, he collapses, comes to and finds a nightmarish scene being enacted. He and some of his male associates are fishing for mermaids - successfully. When two are caught, their lips are sown up before being sliced open from neck to navel. What is going on? Are they really mermaids? Where are the girls? Who is behind this diabolical game?
This is a gruesome little tale but very tasty, and the overall scheme is ingeniously disturbing.
Satan's Faceless Henchmen by Steve Fisher - 1936
One hour after the death of Harry Spencer, his body is kidnapped. His sister, Enid, and brother, George receive a note from 'The Monks' stating that they have the power to restore Harry to life - for a fee. Together with the narrator of the story, Enid's fiancée Bill, they meet the Monks at their mountain laboratory - where they are astounded to see and hear, the admittedly still death-like, Harry. Has he been restored to life or is it a sinister scheme by the Monks? Who are they really? And why do they have monkeys running around?
This isn't bad, bit on the short side perhaps, and Bill works everything out rather too easily, but that's in the tradition of pulps isn't it!
The Shrieking Pool by G.T. Fleming-Roberts - 1936
The Jordan Institute has inherited a mansion close to the shore of 'Black Pool', thought locally to contain a sea-monster. Larry Corrin, a journalist, is invited there for a story - and on his arrival a rowing boat containing two of the Institute's members is tipped over and one of them is dragged under by a pair of huge talons. Does 'Black Pool' contain a relic from the dinosaur period or does the answer have a more human solution?
Like the previous story, everything comes to the hero rather too quickly, but a decent little tale nonetheless.
Blood for the Vampire-Dead by Robert Leslie Bellem - 1940
Tim Croft, a doctor in the rural Ozark mountains is confronted by a local clan, the Ludwells, who believe that one of his patients is a witch-vampire - and is responsible for the recent death of a female member of the clan, and the draining of her blood. The patient, unknown to her husband, actually died that afternoon - but when her body is found to be missing and a nurse killed and drained in similar fashion, Tim has to find out what is going on.
A suitably deranged piece to close proceedings here by Bellem. I'm currently reading some of his 'Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective' stories which are equally insane.
Overall the Knox story was the standout for me with the Wells, Wallace and Bellem each having their inspired moments. Check the Knox story out online, and see if you figure out the culprit, because I didn't.