Last year my favorite television episode was “E is For Elevator” on Evil. This segment used the old idea of the “Thirteenth Floor”, a secret and deadly place if you can find it. What made that episode so great was that it was very creepy but ultimately could be explained away logically. Usually that’s a recipe for disaster. The old Ann Radcliffe school of Scooby-Doo ghosts make me cringe. But the writers of Evil, Robert and Michelle King, know what they are doing. As with so much on that show, you can see things either way. You have to decide what is real or not.
I knew there were classic short stories about the Thirteenth Floor but not really until the 20th Century when building technology allowed for the skyscraper. The tallest skyscraper in 1870 was only 50 meters high. The tallest church only 150 meters. Charles Dickens didn’t live to see the Empire State Building and other skyscrapers of the 1930s. I suppose it shouldn’t be surprising that thirteenth floor tales dates from around that time.
The first story I found was “The Thirteenth Floor” by Douglas M. Dold in Strange Tales, November 1931. A woman discovers her hotel does have a thirteenth floor. And this is where all the ghosts are doomed to stay for eternity.
The next one was “The Tenant on the Thirteenth Floor” (Fantastic Adventures, February 1942) by John York Cabot (David Wright O’Brien). This tale reads like most of the comic books to follow. It is a first person narration from an elevator operator who keeps seeing a distinguished businessman between the 12th and 14th floor. Later the man moves out and the narrator learns he has been dead since the building opened. (Thanks to Gianfranco!)
The more famous tale is Frank Gruber’s “The Thirteenth Floor” in Weird Tales, January 1949. A man named Richard Javelin goes to a giant department store called The Bonanza Store (that claims to sell everything: “If The Bonanza Store hasn’t got it, it isn’t…”.) Javelin goes to the 13th floor where he meets a very attractive salesgirl, Miss Carmichael. They arrange to meet after her shift but she doesn’t show. When he goes looking for her, the elevator crashes, killing him. We learn from a newspaper article that Javelin used Elevator 12 which had been out of service for seventeen years after three people were killed in it, one of which was Elaine Carmichael.
There are other stories that mention this particular floor but only in passing. I would have thought there were more stories but I haven’t found them yet.
The comics books, on the other hand, used this idea over and over, from the Golden Age to the Bronze. Most are written by unknown authors and are usually five pages long. Here are thirteen tales of the floor that doesn’t exist…
Golden Age
“The Strange Case of the Absent Floor” (Rangers Comics #47, June 1949) was written by an unknown author. Dr. Drew investigates a hotel room that contains strange spirals and dimension warping. The entire floor explodes, closing the case. I did a post on Dr. Drew’s adventures here.
“Where Gargoyles Dwell” (Venus #16, October 1951) was written by Bill Everett. Venus finds the thirteenth floor invaded by gargoyles who have a beef with the Corpo Company. Man, can she wield an axe! Watch out, you weirdly inflexible monsters!
“The Doorway to Evil” (Sensation Mystery #111, September-October 1952) was written by an unknown author. Steve inherits a fancy hotel but bats and other bad luck omens predict a fiery end. But Steve’s luck wins out in the end.
“The 13th Floor” (Adventures Into Terror #12, October 1952) was written by Paul S. Newman. Mr. Creel rents out the 13th Floor to ghouls. Too bad he doesn’t honor the lease. Creel looks like a cartoon version of Edgar Allan Poe.
“The 13th Floor!” (Mystery Tales #21, September 1954) was written by an unknown author. Hugh Carter, literary agent, finds his office on the 13th floor, a place where people go to die. Like his wife, Mary! This comic is a masterpiece in getting a scare without any real violence, just talking heads.
Silver Age
“The Man on the Thirteenth Floor” (Adventure into Mystery #2, July 1956) was written by an unknown author. Paul Lane is in the elevator when the cable breaks. Instead of plunging to his death he goes to a weird alternate dimension of the 13th floor. The Comics’ Code pushes comics away from Horror to Science Fantasy.
“The 13th Floor” (Forbidden Worlds #55, June 1957) was written by an unknown author. A man sick with Oxlein Fever gets a weird medical preview on the 13th floor that saves him when he actually gets to the hospital.
“The Thirteenth Floor” (Mystic #61, August 1957) was written by an unknown author. Brand finds a 13th floor inhabited by people from the past. He also finds a fortune and steals it. When he shoves his way onto the elevator alone, he plummets to his death.
“What Was That Staggering Secret of the 13th Floor?” (Tales to Astonish #30, April 1962) was written by Stan Lee and Larry Lieber. Willy the elevator boy and Mr. Jordan are joined by a terrorist in the elevator. Jordan freaks out but Willy calms him. The bomber has gone to the 13th floor. The hotel won’t be blown up because there is no 13th floor. Willy disappears too, because he is ghost.
“The World on the 13th Floor” (Strange Adventures #172, January 1965) was written by Dave Wood. Eddie and Joe are window cleaners. Eddie goes into the building on the 13th floor to discover a race of aliens and a gateway to a strange world. Fortunately Eddie saves humanity and returns to the 14th floor. The alien dimension has disappeared. The idea of finding an entrance to other worlds was the focus of Daniel F. Galouye’s Simulacron-3 (1964) that was made into the 1999 film, The Thirteenth Floor.
Bronze Age
“The Man on the 13th Floor” (Twilight Zone #49, May 1973) was written by an unknown author. Mike Mahew is a stock trader who is about to get married. But his superstitions about the 13th floor lead him to sell his stocks and postpone his wedding. In the end, he loses all his money and his girl. The 13th floor cursed him whether he was there or not. The writer adds a horrific dream sequence to make the story more than talking heads.
“The Thirteenth Floor” (Black Magic #6, October-November 1974) was written by an unknown author. Dorn visits the 13th floor and finds it is a processing center for people going to Heaven or Hell. Angels and devils are pilots wearing white and red suits. Dorn overhears a woman will be joining them at 3 pm. He escapes into the elevator. Later he sees the woman killed by a car at the appointed time.
“Don’t Get Off on the 13th Floor” (Action Comics #448, June 1975) was written by Elliot Maggin. Steve Lombard is a defrauder of psychics. He has a strange experience on the 13th floor. He discovers a strange race of Tybaltians (giant green bumheads) there. He also finds out he is one of them. He has a punch-up with Superman before things settle down. The Tybaltians use Earth as a vacation spot because it is so charming. Kind of feels like a re-write of that Strange Adventures story ten years later.
Conclusion
The two ideas that the Pulps supplied, the Thirteenth Floor as a place of ghosts, and as a weird place trapped in time and death, are used again and again here. Later on Science Fiction creeps in and that floor becomes a gateway to other worlds or realities. But to return to that episode of Evil, none of these comics ever tried to explain away their weirdness or give a plausible explanation. They do try the old “Was it a dream?” stance, which was lame by Shakespeare’s time. In this way, “E is For Elevator” was closer to the Gothic roots that inspired the entire genres of Horror and even Science Fiction. The comic stories here are more like Victorian ghost stories not The Mysteries of Udopho.
For more triskaidekaphobic fun, visit Room 1313…
