Dr. Spektor and Mr. Hyde (18 pages)
Dr. Adam Spektor and his secretary Lakota Rainflower visit the ancestral home of Dr. Henry Jekyll in London, England. Spektor has paid a large sum of money to the current tenant, Howard Jekyll, to be allowed to examine his infamous ancestor's belongings. Howard Jekyll gives the visitors access to the laboratory, and The Journal of Dr. Henry Jekyll, though he reveals that the page containing the formula for the Hyde transformation is missing.
As Spektor reads the journal, he is overcome by a "psychic throbbing" and, like a man possessed, he runs impulsively to the family crypt, where he finds the lost formula in the casket containing the remains of Henry Jekyll. Spektor hurries back to the lab, where he mixes the potion and drinks it before Lakota can stop him. The horrendous "Mr. Hyde" side of Spektor is unleashed, but Spektor manages to regain control before he can harm Lakota.
Howard Jekyll sits the Doctor down to some tea, as Spektor begins to feel more weak and confused. At Jekyll's invitation, Spektor retires to a bedroom to sleep. As Spektor is plagued by nightmares, a fiendish Mr. Hyde robs a jewelry store, killing the owner and scuffling with the police before disappearing into the night. From a composite sketch of the villain, Scotland Yard Inspector Paul Klug identifies him as Mr. Hyde, and sets off to Jekyll Mansion to investigate. Thinking he has become Mr. Hyde and killed someone, Dr. Spektor tries to turn himself in to Klug, but Lakota stops him.
Finding the formula missing from the laboratory, Spektor and Lakota search the family library for clues to an antidote. Spektor takes the opportunity to sneak out, still intending to turn himself over to the police. Lakota rushes out to Crystal Palace with its dinosaur statues to find Spektor. There, she encounters Mr. Hyde, barely escaping him before meeting Dr. Spektor again. Spektor tells Lakota that he isn't Mr. Hyde after all, but feeling she cannot trust him, Lakota runs away. Suddenly, Mr Hyde attacks, and knocks Spektor unconscious.
As he moves to attack Lakota, Hyde is confronted by the ghost of Dr. Henry Jekyll. The ghost reveals that he had possessed Spektor in the hopes of seeing his work completed, but that the result had only been another fiend, who must now be destroyed. Spektor and Lakota see Hyde struggling with no one, and think he has gone mad, until Hyde finally strikes his head against a statue of an iguanodon and is killed.
Inspector Klug arrives to identify the body as Howard Jekyll, who had apparently drugged Spektor with his tea and used the formula to turn himself into the bestial Mr. Hyde. Spektor tells Lakota that he intends to keep the formula for his files, but promises that no one will ever again be allowed to use it.
Little Ol' Coffin-Maker (7 pages)
Herr Stossel, an old-fashioned coffin-maker in modern day America, awaits an important client to pick up his latest hand-carved casket. Burt Ott, a dangerous fugitive from the law, barges into the establishment and demands that Stossel hide him. Ott hides in the new casket as the police arrive. Stossel tells the officers that he has seen no one, and takes the opportunity to lock the casket. As the police leave and Ott begins to beg for his freedom, midnight strikes and Stossel's important client arrives. He is a man in black, who shows himself to be a vampire and carries off the new casket. Herr Stossel chuckles to himself as he wonders how Burt Ott will enjoy meeting Count Dracula.
Note: 2nd story ("Little Old Coffin Maker") is reprinted in The Occult Files Of Dr. Spektor #25 (Whitman).
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