“The Graveyard Rats” (Weird Tales, March 1936) by Henry Kuttner was a spectacular debut for a writer of horror. Though in later years Kuttner seemed embarrassed by the tale, it remains one of the creepiest stories to come out of the pulps. (One blogster claims it has been reprinted thirty-five times. I don’t doubt it.) The plot follows Masson, a corrupt undertaker, who wars with the rats in the graveyard where he robs the dead of their plunder. When a particularly rich corpse is taken, Masson follows the culprits into their twisting tunnels. The battle is on. Masson, using his revolver, fights off the cat-sized rodents. The only problem is the rats are not alone, but under the control of ghoulish inhabitants. Masson flees back to the coffin from which he entered, only to find he got lost in the dark, and has gone to a different coffin! The rats close in and finish him off. The ending, claustrophobic and unrelenting as the rest of the story, seems to be the part readers remember best. Joe R Lansdale called it “a classic little booger tale” and certainly it was the inspiration for Stephen King’s “Graveyard Shift” (along with Bram Stoker and HG Wells).
Now you’d expect such a pulp classic to have been adapted many times in the horror comics and you’d not be disappointed. The comics have given us four variations on Kuttner, sadly none giving the author credit.
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https://www.michaelmay.online/2015/02/the-graveyard-rats-kuttner-komiks-guest.html
