Showcase #80

ME CALL ME THE PHANTOM STRANGER

When a group of children go into a cave to cast a spell to remove a curse, they attract the attention of both the Phantom Stranger, and Dr. 13. Phantom Stranger appears first and tells them a story about how he aided and tells the children about how he had once aided a artist find and break up a Leopard Cult.  Dr. 13 and his fiance Marie Leeds arrive to debunk the Phantom Stranger as a hoax. Dr. 13 tells the children how he is is a famous ghost breaker who has become famous for debunking fake supernatural phenomenon. He tells of how after his father died and he took up the reigns of the Ghostbreaker, his first mystery was solving the apparent haunting of his fathers home, which turns out to be a recording.  After telling their stories, the curse makes itself appear, a giant insect in the sky. The Phantom Stranger reveals it to be a hoax when he uses his powers to reveal that it's really a disguised ship created by men who are taking advantage of the villages superstitious nature. Afterwards, the Phantom Stranger disappears, without any clear conclusion of whether or not the Phantom Stranger is a hoax or not.

THE THREE SIGNS OF EVIL...

When an artist unknowingly intrudes on a murderous cult's plot to tap into ultimate power, the Phantom Stranger must rescue him from becoming a human sacrifice.

I TALKED WITH THE DEAD!

Dr. Thirteen is the Ghost-Breaker: a man dedicated to exposing supernatural hoaxes. This mission was given to him by his father and the two made a pact that five years after the latter's death, son Terrence would head to Doomsbury Hall at midnight on New Year's Day to see if the veil between the living and the dead would drop and they could communicate. As he enters, his fiancee Marie pleads with him to reconsider but he insists on honoring their pact and enters the purportedly haunted mansion.  While he waits for the clock to strike midnight, he thinks back to the time that he broke into his father's study as a youth: he saw paintings of several of his ancestors being lynched and murdered due to superstition. His father made Terry to swear that he would never live a life ruled by superstition and always seek to know the truth. He gave him a set of instructions to try to contact him from beyond the grave once he dies. The day came three years later, when the elder Thirteen's car skidded off the road. Terry was considered an outcast and others considered him cursed by his family name but he insisted on exposing charlatans and proclaiming the truth.  In the present day, Terry recites the questions on the paper his father gave him upon the stroke of midnight and hears his father's voice respond. Skeptical, he checks the grandfather clock that has a record player with the answers pre-recorded. Marie reveals that she also had a pact with Terry's father. She planted the record to test his detective skills and commitment to the scientific method and he passed. The duo leave to dispel the "Curse of Thirteen".