“Crimson Wraith from the North” is a strange Northern that appeared in Baffling Mysteries #18 (November 1953). Uranium is the Arctic treasure once again. The author isn’t known but the artist was Sy Grudko. As with yesterday’s story, a team is in the Arctic to find radioactive materials for the government.
Professor Hugo Charters leads an expedition to Alaska to find uranium. The Valley of Smoke is a bad place to the local Eskimos. Charters is warned to stay away. Ignoring their guide’s warnings, the scientists enter the valley. It has a creepy feel that Charters disregards as a mere suggestion. He can’t deny the fact any longer when ghostly hands form and strangle his colleague.
Another expedition comes looking for Professor Charters when the scientist disappears. It is lead by Jane, his daughter, and her beau, Greg Watson. Entering the Valley of Smoke they find all the other scientists’ bodies, drained of blood. Only Professor Charters is missing. Or so they think! Charters appears and can’t explain why he has survived.
The family returns to San Francisco. On the voyage home, Greg admits that Jane’s father seems different. A sailor is found dead on board, a weird cloud hanging over him. They follow the blood-drinking cloud to a cabin where Professor Charters is. Jane is worried that the smoke has attacked him, while Greg has other suspicions. At home, Greg brings a Geiger Counter to Charters’ house. The man sets off the counter.
The thing that looks like Professor Charters admits that it is not the man but a smoke imitation. The smoky creature tells that it must protect the valley because if humans take the uranium the ghosts will die. Greg tests another theory. He pulls a fire brand from the fireplace and thrusts it at the wraith. The ghost is repelled. The monster flees. Greg tries to inform the police but they won’t believe him. Many victims are drained of their blood…
Greg knows that the wraith will return to kill them as they pose a danger. The night finally comes, with the ghost attacking Jane. Greg grabs another firebrand and saves her. The flames catch on the wraith, destroying it. The blaze sets the room on fire. They escape the burning building, knowing the monster has been stopped. Greg tells Jane that the army has to go to the Valley of Smoke with flame-throwers and destroy all the wraiths. With that done, the US will have more uranium than any other country.
It is almost like this comic story combines “Comes the Dawn” and its vampire with “They Saw the Light” and its valley of uranium. This, of course, isn’t true, simply because of chronology. “Comes the Dawn” appeared in July 1954, nine months after this tale.
I liked the blood-drinking smoke monster in “Crimson Wraith from the North”. It reminded me of how Dracula was supposed to become a cloud of mist in the novel. Films have never really exploited that much. Hugh B. Cave was fond of it for his vampires in the Pulps. He liked to have his blood-suckers become clouds with burning red eyes. Sy Grudko draws his wraiths as clouds with evil faces. The over-all plot reminds me of Sci-fi B-movies, with the ‘encounter in strange place and then a rampage at home’ model. (Think Ray Harryhausen’s 20 Million Miles to Earth). For that matter, that was the short version of King Kong, wasn’t it?
