If you missed the first part….
Continuing our look at tree monsters. Last time the trees were angry because of murders, taking their justified revenge on the killers. As the decade moved on, this supernatural scenario is used again and again until the Silver Age where it will replaced by more Science Fictional
ideas.
“The Strange Tree” (Mystic #1, March 1951) was written by an unknown author. Roger Catlett’s mother is a problem but not as much as the tree that grows outside their house. When Roger chops it with an axe it oozes blood!
“Forest of the Living Dead” (Mystic #4, September 1951) was written by an unknown author. Ainsley Carson has been experimenting on the trees in the woods. David wants to marry Drusella, Ainsley’s stepdaughter. The mad scientist sends the trees to kill David when he says he will tell the authorities. Unfortunately for Carson, his own creations attack him, allowing David and Drusella to escape.
“The Harvest of Horror” (Worlds of Fear #9, April 1953) was written by an unknown author. Bradley, the supervisor of the county poor farm, hires Mr. Tabson to find out why his garden is no longer producing huge vegetables. Gabson discovers the garden is located on an old graveyard. The years of growing have depleted the soil back to normal. Bradley gets a plan to kill the poor wretches who work the farm to replenish the soil. The spirits of the dead take over the trees and Bradley ends up fertilizer himself. A prize melon for the fair looks just like Mr. Bradley.
“Death Has Deep Roots” (The Thing #8, May 1953) was written by Carl Memling. A gang of crooks go to the remote home of an old man rumored to possess a treasure. The treasure is protected by a tree that kills off the thugs one at a time. The last one finds the treasure inside the tree then is choked to death.
“The Tree of Death” (House of Mystery #14, May 1953) was written and drawn by Morris Waldinger. The deaths of the Dalhousies can be predicted by the tree planted by the first earl. This half page filler was reprinted several times.
“Reaching For the Moon” (Weird Mysteries #7, October 1953) was written by an unknown author. The tale has a transplanted ironwood tree dying. Theron Moore, a disliked botanist, pours his revitalizing serum on the plant despite being told off. The monster begins killing people and growing bigger and bigger. By the time aliens fly by Earth, there is only a gigantic tree reaching for the moon. (This one reminds me of Brian Aldiss’s Hothouse (1961) in its ending.)
“True Tales of the Supernatural #45” (The Beyond #23, November 1953) has an ancient jungle terror rediscovered. The writer is unknown.
“Tree of Terror” (Forbidden Worlds #26, February 1954) was written by an unknown author. Barry Jones, a geologist, is in Sumatra with Pete looking for uranium. A beautiful local girl named Keeta is the only one left in her deserted village. Pete disappears. Barry saves Keeta from a man-eating tree. Later Keeta transforms into a tree monster, her father being a witch doctor, and attacks. Barry shoots her in the chest with his pistol. She turns back into a girl. He picks her up and feeds her to the man-eating tree. He is almost caught by the tree and then the collapse of the pit it sits in.
“The Forest of Death” (This Magazine Is Haunted #15, February 1954) was written by an unknown author. Pierre has been cheating his partner, Jacques, so he kills him by falling a tree on him. Jacques’ ghost in the bar then later in the forest in a tree. Pierre dies when Jacques’ tree falls on him.
“The Thing With the Golden Hair” (Forbidden Worlds #27, March 1954) was written by an unknown author. Philo Kendrick and Jeff Gullen are searching for Maitland in Africa. Maitland has gone in search of a valley created by a fallen meteor. The natives won’t go to the valley because it is tabu. The two white men shoot their way through to the valley and find strange flowers that look like animals. Then they find a tree that has hair just like Maitland. Too late they realize the truth when roots begin sprouting out of their feet and hands…This story reminds me of the Weird Tales story, “The Tree-Men of M’Bwa” by Donald Wandrei. Wandrei has a Lovecraftian element that is not found here. Of course, stories like Clark Ashton Smith’s “The Seed From the Sepulchre” also feel back of this but Wandrei has the feet roots.
“The Man With the Green Thumb” (Mister Mystery #19, March-April 1954) was written by an unknown writer. Dr. Dana is a botanist who works for the criminal, Drago. Wanting to hide his plant formula, the doc drinks it. After this he finds he does not bleed. Even a car hits him, he is uninjured. Drago loses patience and shoots Dana. His bullets do not harm him. Only when lightning strikes the botanist does he die. In his place is a tree.
“The Haunted Forest” (Web of Evil #15, June 1954) was written by an unknown author. Yates and Manning, debunkers of the supernatural, go to the Haunted Forest to prove the whole thing is a scam. Between killer trees and giant spiders, Manning gets off lucky ending up in an insane asylum. Yates, not so much.
“The Terrible Tree-Man of Tanganyika” (The House of Mystery #30, September 1954) has Gregory, the owner of a pineapple plantation in Africa telling his workers to cut down a sacred tree, a tree-man. When the tree is cut, it falls on the plantation owner, getting even.
“Invitation to Doom” (Thrills of Tomorrow #11, October 1954) has a scientist searching for a treatment for lost limbs. Unfortunately it turns you into a tree instead. The tree goes on a rampage and must be burned to save humanity. Some of the elements in this story remind me of Swamp Thing, that will appear in 1973. The author is not known.
“True Tales of the Supernatural #58” (The Beyond #29, November 1954) was written by an unknown author. When the villagers discover Bower burying the dead body of Gretchen Meister in the orchard, they come to arrest him. He flees into the trees, but the spirits of his victims claim him.
“The Tree Man” (House of Mystery #37, April 1955) was written by an unknown author. Trent takes over the plantation of his recently killed uncle. The foreman, Frank Wall, is a brute. When Trent asks to see where his uncle met his accidental death, he is shown a tree with a human face carved on it. This is the tree-man. Trent hears a tale of how the tree had saved his uncle’s life. He also learns that Wall killed him. Confronted, the foreman draws a gun on Trent. The tree-man saves the nephew as well.
“Mysterious Tree” (House of Mystery #44, November 1955) features a sacred tamarind tree in India. When anyone tries to cut it down terrible things happen to them. A nice partial page filler. The writer is not known.
Conclusion
Plant Monsters of the Golden Age, with their roughly human shape, are a natural menace (no pun intended). It is easy to turn a harmless tree into a tall, hard-barked killer. The branches, that look like arms and hands naturally give the tree an advantage. Its non-human body does not suffer pain like we do, making it even harder to kill. Walt Disney used branches-like-clutching-hands in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1938). Though the trees aren’t actually supernatural, the forest’s attack is a reflection of Snow White’s terrified mind.
