There Is Laughter In Hell This Day!; Out Of This World last edited by pikahyper on 06/30/20 12:04PM View full history

    While out in the tropics, Dr. 13 and Marie witness a ceremony where a man is sacrificing himself to Tala, a death god that the indigenous people worship. When Dr. 13 tries to debunk their beliefs as superstition, he unleashes Tala upon the world.

    There Is Laughter in Hell This Day!

    Doctor Terrence Thirteen, and his wife, Maria, are in Haiti, to debunk the legend of Tala. During a ceremony to honor Tala, a man dives into a pool of water, and does not come back up. Thirteen dives in after him, nearly being pulled into a tunnel, by a strong underwater current. Thirteen has the tunnel sealed with explosives, Unwittingly, Thirteen actually releases Tala from her centuries long imprisonment. Thirteen, with Maria, travels to New York, to debunk another supposed case of the supernatural. Unbeknownst to Thirteen, Tala is riding on the wing of the airplane.

    Tala plunges the sky into darkness, then blacks out New York City. Tala's mystic activity alerts the Phantom Stranger to her presence on Earth. Glowing like a beacon, the Phantom Stranger guides the airplane down, safely, to the runway. Tala confronts the Phantom Stranger, teasing a later confrontation. Thirteen rails at the Phantom Stranger, still determined to prove him a fraud. The Phantom Stranger disappears in the fog. Four teenagers earn some quick cash selling junk. The dealer gives them a locked book, along with the money.

    As the four teens approach an abandoned brownstone, the book seems to grow heavier with their every step. The teenagers explore the interior of the brownstone. The sound of mournful lamentation causes one of the teenagers to drop the book. The impact breaks the lock on the book. Tala uses her sorcery to cause the book to open to a particular passage. The teenagers recite the enchantment, bringing stone gargoyles to life. The Phantom Stranger appears, and battles against the gargoyles. A curtain rod becomes a sword in the Phantom Stranger's hands, and with it he "slays" the gargoyles.

    The Phantom Stranger forces Tala to apperar. Tala attempts to seduce the Phantom Stranger, to draw him over to the dark side. The Phantom Stranger resists and, ultimately, repels Tala. Thirteen enters the room. The teenagers claim the brownstone is haunted. Thirteen scoffs at the notion. Thirteen reveals that the brownstone was once owned by Reed Jones, a millionaire. Jones' sweetheart, Linda Phillips, disappeared on her way home from Jones' home. Supposedly her ghost has haunted the brownstone ever since. Once more, the mournful lamentation echoes through the brownstone.

    The Phantom Stranger cuts through a wall to reveal Phillips, astonishingly still alive. Phillips reveals that on the night she expressed her desire to leave Jones, he assaulted her, and walled her up in his home. Jones never left his home again. Upon his death, Jones left instructions, in his will, to keep the brownstone unoccupied, and untouched. With Phillips release, the brownstone collapses in on itself. The Phantom Stranger, and Thirteen, get the teenagers out safely. Phillips, free at last, dies in the Phantom Stranger's arms. At Phillips' gravesite, Thirteen, again, rails at the Phantom Stranger. The Phantom Stranger disappears. Thirteen vows to reveal the Phantom Stranger as a fraud.

    Out Of This World

    The Phantom Stranger tells a tale of the supernatural. During a rainstorm,Paul Seldon offers Mary Shaw a ride home. Seldon encounters Shaw, standing on the edge of a cemetery. Seldon drives Shaw home, then nervously makes a date, to go dancing with her, the next night. For a week straight, Seldon and Shaw go dancing every night. Seldon proposes marriage to Shaw, but Shaw refuses.

    The next night, Seldon arrives to pick up Shaw for their date. Seldon meets Shaw's mother, who is quite confused over Seldon's assertions that he has been dating her daughter. Shaw's mother takes Seldon out to the cemetery, where he first laid eyes on Shaw. Selden is shown Shaw's gravesite. Selden, disbelieving, has no choice but to accept that he had been dating a ghost. One he would never see again.

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