Today’s post is brought to you by Monster, a collection of essays from the pages of Dark Worlds Quarterly. (Topics include Vampires, Space Vampires, Alien Space Bats, Slime Monsters, Clark Ashton Smith, Edmond Hamilton and Ape Creatures.) Later this week, the second volume, Monster II will appear. (This one has Robots, John Wyndham, Algernon Blackwood and the Strange Northern, and L. Sprague de Camp and the Cthulhu Mythos.)
The lighthouse has always had a creepy reputation despite being no more than a short tower. I think this is largely due to the remoteness of some lighthouses. Placed on a lonely rock in the sea or on a headland, they offer the Horror writer that most necessary of factors: the bottleneck. If you have to have your characters cut off from help, what better place than a lighthouse?
And there is the weather, of course. And the darkness. That beam of light shining through the storm, cutting a beacon of guidance through the night to passing ships. There is hope for those vessels even if the people in the lighthouse are lonely and isolated. And what things those keepers must see: ghost ships, dinosaurs, phantom sailors, kraken and other terrors. I try to think of a classic lighthouse tale from Horror literature but can only recall Robert Bloch completed an unfinished tale by Edgar Allan Poe called “The Lighthouse” (Fantastic, January-February 1953). Perhaps the lighthouse was more often used in Gothic novels?
Well, even if fiction hasn’t given us several masterpieces, the comics have. Beginning here (and finishing in a separate Silver and Bronze post later) we’ll look at some of these lighthouse comics. I have chosen only supernatural tales (so no Scrooge McDuck or Reynolds of the Royal Mounted type stuff today). As with all Golden Age comics, the authors are usually unknown. I have indicated them where possible. Most of these comics are available for free at sites like Digital Comics Museum.
Golden Age
“The Dead Will Return!” (Vault of Horror #13, June-July 1950) was written and drawn by Al Feldstein. Bert and Flo have murdered Flo’s husband and thrown his body into the sea. They want to find his fortune secreted away in a lighthouse and go there to search. They can’t find the money. Hubbie’s body washes up by the lighthouse. Again and again. When others come they find Bert and Flo dead, strangled and covered in seaweed.
“Grunwald” (The Thing #1, February 1952) begins with a new recruit coming to the lighthouse on Grunwald Island. A derelict ship floats by filled with rats. The three keepers, Joe, the hunchback Hans and Arturo, try to keep them at bay but things go badly. Hans shoots Arturo and Joe throws Hans off the top of the lighthouse. Only Joe survives. This one has a nice William Hope Hodgson vibe.
“Staired…in Horror!” (Vault of Horror #23, February-March 1952) was written by Al Feldstein and Bill Gaines. Irma has just lost her husband. She meets another man at the graveyard. He has recently lost his wife, Ethel. The man’s name is Robert and he is rich. Irma begins to weave her web. She killed her last husband for the insurance. She pushed him off the top of a lighthouse. She marries Robert and starts planning on his death. Irma’s new house has a spiral staircase, which she loathes because it reminds her of the lighthouse. The specter of Irma’s first husband shows up to throws her down the spiral staircase.
“A Monster Among Us” (Mystic #8, May 1952) begins with Jose telling the crew about hairy tentacles that grabbed Pedro. This angers the Captain Dan Harper. The fishermen revolt, leaving the captain without a crew. The man defies the sea but has to take refuge in a lighthouse. The lighthouse keeper says he can have his boat. When Harper tries to leave the keeper becomes the monster and kills him.
“The Fatal Note!” (Nightmare #1, Summer 1952) begins with Walt Gregory taking his rich fiancee, Eve Taylor, for a sail. A storm wrecks their ship. Walt takes refuge on a raft of wreckage. And their is only room for one. (Shades of Titanic!) He allows Eve to drown. Walt manages to get to land, where there is a lighthouse. After sleep, he meets the keeper, Death himself. Death makes him a deal. If he writes a note about how he allowed Eve to die, he will live. If not, Death will come for him in a year. Walt is returned to the sea and rescued. He falls in love with another woman and never writes the note. A year later, Walt sees the light from the lighthouse and tries to swim to it. He drowns.
“The Haunted Lighthouse” (Adventures Into the Unknown #34, August 1952) has a man staying in a haunted lighthouse even though he has been warned. He sees the demon of the deep, is attacked but it is only a dream. Then he sees the real thing and we are left with a letter right out of Lovecraft. Was it real? You decide. The artist is Leo Morey of Amazing Stories fame, another Pulp illustrator turned to comics.
“Beam of Terror” (Tomb of Terror #7, January 1953) has Zachery and Wilmer, two lighthouse keepers, out of a job with the closing of the lighthouse. The two men had found a map in a bottle, bought a ship and now is the time to find the treasure. Zachery kills Wilmer so he can have all the gold. The dead man’s ghost haunts the captain, driving the man as he and the crew get the treasure. The ship crashes when it nears the lighthouse for someone has sabotaged the beacon. Wilmer’s ghost watches from the lighthouse as Zachary is eaten by a shark.
“Death Light?” (Voodoo #5, January 1953) has two new lighthouse keepers seeing mysterious lights. The legend of Captain Jonas Howe and his disappearance haunts them. A ship full of party girls comes by but even these are not real. Ghosts are attracted to the lighthouse’s beacon. The last keeper is taken away insane after meeting Captain Howe.
“The Weird Tale of the Rock Bound Ghost” (The Thing #6, January 1953) has Clint and Marge buy an old lighthouse. The place proves to be haunted by the ghost of Hiram Beale. The light must never be re-lit or “they will come for him”. Clint proves to be a crook and wants to relight the beacon for his smuggling operation. The ghost ship, the Sally J., shows up. Her captain leads the crooks to the secret caves where a fortune in gold is kept. They over-fill the boat and the sea kills them all.
“Baffling Mysteries #21” (Baffling Mysteries #14, March 1953) begins with a boat approaching a lighthouse. The boat is full of ghosts and it will return tomorrow night. The lighthouse keepers quit and head for the mainland.
“Horror at the Lighthouse!” (Beware! Terror Tales #6, March 1953) was written by Bill Woolfolk. Lester comes to the lighthouse seeking peace and quiet. The keeper attacks him then explains that there is a monster. Later the visitor sees the tentacular fiend kill a boat-load of men. The lighthouse keeper fed the boaters to the beast to keep it satisfied. But the keeper is now a ghost. Lester enjoys a short period of solitude. One day the monster pulls him under the water but he doesn’t drown. The man’s kept inside an air-filled cube. The monster tells Lester he must change the light on the tower so that ships will crash. He refuses then changes his mind. Lester allows a boat to crash. He reads about it in the papers, knowing none will believe him. What should he do?
“Lighthouse of the Dead” (Web of Evil #14, May 1954) has Pearly Marston lighting the beacon every night to keep the ghosts at bay. One of the drinkers at the inn follows Pearly to see what he is up to. Skeletons attack him but Pearly’s light saves him. He makes it back to shore, but his hair has turned white and he is insane. This incident drives sentiment to have the old lighthouse torn down. They throw Pearly in jail so they can dismantle the light. That night a gang of skeletons invades the town. Pearly sacrifices himself, leading the ghosts out to sea. This one reminds me a little of John Carpenter’s The Fog.
“The Beast From the Deep” (Tales of Horror #7, October 1953) was written by an unknown writer most surely ripping off Ray Bradbury’s “The Foghorn” (The Saturday Evening Post, June 23, 1951). A lighthouse’s foghorn calls a dinosaur out of the depths. The Navy kills it with its big guns. The story was adapted as The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953).
“Any Sport In a Storm” (Vault of Horror #38, August-September 1954) was written by Carl Wessler. Scollay’s superstitious tales of the Sea Hag anger Captain Shannon. Later a storm causes the ship to get lost. The Captain and Scollay find a lighthouse on an island to weather the storm. Inside they meet a man named Daniels and his pretty daughter, Heather. Shannon is struck by the girl’s beauty. The two find comfort in each other’s arms. The next day Shannon leaves, only to find Heather on the boat. She changes into an octopus monster. She is the Sea Hag. She drags Shannon to the bottom. The Sea Hag was a recurring villain in the Popeye comics.
“The Spectral Lighthouse” (Dark Mysteries #22, March 1955) has Bob and Ann stop off to see an abandoned lighthouse when a light comes from the tower. While exploring, their boat is set adrift, stranding them. The tracks show it was done by a peg-legged man. They look around some more. Bob finds a secret slave chamber. Later, the pair see a ghost ship and pirates on their beach. A real boat comes by and the living people make a run for it. Bob bumps into the peg-legged ghost. Once safe, they report the incident. There is no evidence but Bob has a souvenir, a gold doubloon, which he got from the pirate he ran into.
Next time…Part 2: The Silver and Bronze Age…
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