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#69
Ghosts, #68

Published: September 1978

Cover

Ghosts #68

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Issue Contents:
Phantom of the Class of '76
1 page horror-suspense

"More Pulsating Pages in 5 Haunting Spectral Stories!"

Storyline

Death attends a college graduation seeking its diploma.

Characters
  • college graduation
  • photographer
  • ghost in cap and gown
Credits
Story Notes

Colors credit provided by Anthony Tollin.

Ghosts and the Supernatural
Story 1 1 page horror-suspense

"Ever since their co-existence on this superstition-ridden planet began, man has sacrificed animals to rid himself of sin and sickness."

Storyline

Animal sacrifices in Arabia, India, and Australia are discussed.

Credits
Story Notes

Introductory page.

The Phantom of the Class of '76
Story 2 6 pages horror-suspense

"It's a harrowing ghost story, but if it keeps even one of you from experiencing the torment I suffered, it's worth re-living the nightmarish ordeal with... The Phantom of the Class of '76"

Storyline

After going missing for three days, college student Marnie Rollins attended her graduation ceremony but was mysteriously "blank-whited-out" from the class photo. Boyfriend and fellow student Jeff Taylor and Brian Willard, attorney for the missing student's family, investigate her disappearance. The trail leads to the temple of Guru Rahma Nari, founder of an "Oriental cult [which has] been infiltrating colleges".

Characters
  • Jeff Taylor
  • Brian Willard (attorney)
  • Marnie Rollins (missing person)
  • gatekeeper for Guru Rahma Nari's temple
  • Guru Rahma Nari
  • Guru Rahma Nari's bodyguard
  • ghost
Credits
Story Notes

The title is worked into the story's first line. "Jeff Taylor" is the presumed-fictional protagonist of the story, yet he is credited - both in the issue's published credits - and in this index - as the "person" who "told" writer Carl Wessler this tale. Taylor is given a script credit in this index (which, technically, he has in the published story), but also a creator record object in the GCD database which contains no information beyond his "name". There are database entries for a *character* named "Jeff Taylor" (a common enough name for a fictional character) in several disparate stories - but it would seem that the gimmick of crediting "Jeff Taylor" as having told the story to one of DC's writers has found its way into the GCD creator object database. The entry in this index will be left "as-is", pending conclusive proof one way or the other.

The Haunted Hoard
Story 3 1 page horror-suspense

"Scudder shriveled under the slashing rain, his body bent forward, discomforted by the thin rivulets running down the back of his neck."

Storyline

Time-obsessed Scudder believes that all the time he saved by making instant coffee and frozen TV dinners, speed reading, driving above the speed-limit, and taking the Concorde from New York to Paris can be stored in his bank's safety deposit box - and be ready for him to use to forestall death when it comes. That moment comes for him in a most ironic way.

Characters
  • Scudder
  • ghost
Credits
You Will Die Yesterday
Story 4 4 pages horror-suspense

"Out of the mist of time came a phantom hero to warn the greedy merchants of death that... You Will Die Yesterday"

Storyline

Captain Floyd Ralston's heroin-smuggling ship is attacked and doomed by the ghost of Admiral Ralston, a war hero of 1812, and his cannon-firing ghost frigate for bringing great dishonor to the Ralston name.

Characters
  • Floyd Ralston (captain of heroin-smuggling ship)
  • Ralston's first mate
  • Ralston's crew
  • Admiral Ralston (ghost of a war hero of 1812)
Credits
Story Notes

The title is worked into the story's first line. This story bears a great resemblance to the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV episode "The Haunted Submarine" (1966), but with a few elements "turned-about". In it, the ghostly ancestor of Admiral Harriman Nelson, Captain Seamus O'Hara Nelson, sails his ghostly frigate out of the mists and begins firing its cannons on the Submarine Seaview. Here, however, the admiral is the mortal human, and the captain is the ghost, and it was the ghost who brought dishonor to the name of Nelson as a slave trader. Considering the enduring popularity of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea in syndicated reruns (still running weekly as of 2022), it is far from unlikely that this story's writer or editor might have seen "The Haunted Submarine" during or around 1978, and considered it good source material with a few necessary tweaks.

Onward and Upward
Story 5 1 page non-fiction

"Changes. These days, they come fast and furious."

Storyline

Jenette Kahn discusses the latest cover price increase (to 50-cents) and the corresponding additional eight pages of new story material. "A 47% gain in story, for a 43% raise in price." Also the removal of all advertising in the "Dollar Comics" line.

Credits
Story Notes

Between pages 2 and 3 of previous story.

The Spectral Stones
Story 6 5 pages horror-suspense

"England abounds with tales of the supernatural... from the dripping figure of the bloody pirate rising off the stormy coast of Cornwall to the ghosts of the condemned, rattling their chains in the dank dungeons of Warwick Castle."

Storyline

In 1971, Allan and Jane visit Stonehenge. Jane is unnerved by an old man's story of ancient druids and human sacrifice, but skeptical Allan becomes too curious.

Characters
  • Allan
  • Jane
  • old man
  • druids (in flashback)
  • young sacrificial maiden (in flashback)
  • taxi driver
Credits
Funeral for a Phantom
Story 7 5 pages horror-suspense

"In a Germany recovering from World War II, a single man's death was hardly a shocking event, no... until it was followed by a fantastic Funeral for a Phantom"

Storyline

In 1945, a renowned magician dies of heart failure while on stage. His two assistants steal "the strongbox containing the secrets of his most famous tricks", which should have rightly belonged to the magician's family. With their stolen secrets, they form their own magic act, an act of very short duration.

Characters
  • The Great Wilhelm (magician)
  • Heinz
  • Clara
Credits
Story Notes

The title is worked into the story's first line.

The Ghost Who Wouldn't Die
Story 8 4 pages horror-suspense

"The victim was an easy mark, for he was mere flesh and blood!"

Storyline

In the northern Rockies of 1971, a murder victim's ghost "invigorates" a broken-down old sheriff and leads the lawman to his killer.

Characters
  • Eustace Blakely (murder victim)
  • Sam Lewis (sheriff)
  • Jake Walters (killer)
Credits
Volume 77 [78] Issue 24 - Week of June 12, 1978
Story 9 1 page

"Brave & Bold features Human Target!"

Storyline

Previews of The Brave and the Bold (DC, 1955 Series) #143, Shade, the Changing Man (DC, 1977 Series) #9 [which doesn't appear to have been published], and Black Lightning (DC, 1977 Series) #11 [which was the final issue of that series] - all of which were to have an on-sale date of June 19th, 1978. The Daily Planet page shares space with "Ask the Answer Man" and "Direct Currents".

Characters
  • Human Target [Christopher Chance]
  • Odd Man
  • Ray [Happy Terrill]
Credits
Story Notes

Except for The Brave and the Bold, the previewed titles for June 19, 1978 were affected by the DC Implosion.