I stole the title of Hugh B. Cave’s “The Ghoul Gallery” (Weird Tales, June 1932) because it makes my point nicely. The story is about a haunted painting. This is a good example of how the word “ghoul” has become indistinct compared to “vampire” or”werewolf”. When you say “vampire” you get a very clear picture of some creature, perhaps Dracula, with fangs turning into a bat. When you say “ghoul” not so much. Is it a man who has taken to eating corpses? Is it a supernatural creature? Writers tend to use the word rather flippantly to describe any scenario with death in it.
The ghoul is actually a mythological creature of pre-Islamic Arabic origin. The “ghul” was a demon or monster that fed in graveyards. The first solid piece of fiction to use the idea was Edward Lucas White’s “Amina” (The Bellman, June 1, 1907). He wasn’t the first, but his tale is best remembered. His ghouls are dog-headed. This is the link to H. P. Lovecraft.
Now Lovecraft didn’t help much either. He has two different kinds of ghouls. The dog-headed kind can be found in his Dreamlands in stories like “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath” (The Arkham Sampler, Winter Spring Summer Fall 1948) and “Pickman’s Model” (Weird Tales, October 1927) while “The Outsider” (Weird Tales, April 1926) features another kind, the walking skeleton version. Lovecraft’s best ghoul story might be “The Tomb” (reprinted in Weird Tales, January 1926) where we get to see a man go down the slow road to becoming a ghoul.
Another culprit in the watering down of the word “Ghoul” is the Shudder Pulps. Horror Stories, Terror Tales, Thrilling Mystery, each of these and many others featured a brand of Horror fiction that was ultimately resolved without true ghouls. The fiends in these tales of female mutilation and rape were portrayed as demented, stunted, mutated and weird. They were often called Ghouls though they were simply serial killers. “Ghouls Ride the Highway” by Arthur Leo Zagat, “My Brother, the Ghoul” by Henry Kuttner, “When Ghouls Come Seeking” by Ray Cummings, you get the idea. None of these stories has an actual undead, flesh-eating monster in it. That was against the rules in a Weird Menace story. The monster always had to be proven to be an earthly, if twisted, individual. The editors followed the rules set down by Ann Radcliffe and the Gothics of the 1790s. The tradition hasn’t died out. Michael Slade wrote a Lovecraftian Mystery novel, Ghoul in 1987.
The comic books of the 1950s had plenty of ghoulish action but we get the same kind of fuzzy definition. There are lots of stories about guys who work in funeral homes, tales of vampires and other misdirection. I’m not interested in those. I want the ones that have the ghoul as a separate creature, dog-headed or otherwise. Take for example Garry Ghoul on the cover of Horrific #12 (July 1954). Besides having a really good name, he acts as host. When you look at him you can see he is not a human being. He may have been once, but not any more. The green skin is often a giveaway.
So here are a dozen “real” ghoul stories for your consideration. From the best of these stories you should get a good Lovecraftian vibe. These tales were all written by unknown authors (except where indicated) and can be found for free at DCM.
“The Ghoul of Death” (Dark Mysteries #1, June-July 1951) has a radical surgeon operating on the criminally insane. The evil force transfers into the body of his fiancee and nurse, making her the new monster.
“The Ghoul of the North” (Blue Bolt Weird Tales #113, May 1952) was written by Jay Disbrow. There is so much going on in this tale but Disbrow’s monster does eat dead bodies, whether he looks like a werewolf, a sasquatch or giant bat (depends on the frame). For more on this story, go here.
“The Ghoul Walks!” (Eerie #7, June-July 1952)Â has a ghoul murderer haunting the streets. Our hero chases the monster only find he is the monster. That ending is quite familiar to Lovecraft fans of “The Outsider”.
“The Wage-Earners” (Weird Terror #1, September 1952) has Henry meeting a beautiful woman in the swamp. Later he marries then kills an ugly woman for her money. After dumping her body, he meets the beautiful woman again, who takes him to meet her father. The house is filled with green, ghoulish “wage-earners”. The wages of sin bring death.
“The Return of the Ghoul” (Blue Bolt Weird Tales #115, October 1952) was written by Jay Disbrow. A creature so popular, it had to have a sequel. For this story, go here.
“What is a Ghoul?” (Chilling Tales #13, December 1952) was a text story by an unknown author. A ghoul is captured in the Irish town of Laracour. It is thin, hairy with large bat-like ears and fangs. A cave is found near the graveyard , filled with human bones. The creature is designated insane and sent to an asylum where it starves to death. There are theories on whether the thing is a monster or man. No closure here.
“The Ghoul at Eldritch Manor” (Beware! Terror Tales #5, January 1953) was written by Bill Woolfolk. Ellison Eldritch inherits the family home filled with ghoulish portraits. He admires the crypt where all the Eldritches are buried in open coffins. But someone has been sneaking into the crypt to feed on the bodies! He has the police watch the place and ends up getting arrested himself. He is the ghoul — like all his relatives before him.
“Ghoul’s Bride” (Voodoo #6, February 1953) has Rita awaiting execution on Death Row when a strange figure comes to her, offering escape. She takes the weird elixir and is hung. The ghoul resurrects her body. She transform into a green-skinned monster. Her first act as new ghoul mistress is to get revenge on the Governor who sent her to her death. Her neck gets caught on the bell chord as she flies in through the window. She is hung again.
“Ghoul Crazy” (Mysterious Adventures #15, August 1953) has Gregg Carlton killing women to pay for his extravagant lifestyle. Unfortunately for him, they have a ghoulish surprise for him at the end. This is a common trope you find in Horror comics, pairing a living ghoul with undead ones.
“Guest of Ghouls” (Beware #7, January 1954) begins with Javitt Rodman, collector of tombstones. His ghoulish behavior gets him invited to join a group of ghouls and a look at the ultimate tombstone. His own! This one feels the closest to Lovecraft’s “The Tomb”.
“The Ghoul of Ghost Swamp” (Web of Evil #13, April 1954) Surveyors and locals get attacked by the ghoul of the swamp. It turns out to be Jason Parker in a costume. Too bad Jason gets killed by the real monster. Another false monster story until it isn’t. That costume looks like Man-Thing of future Marvel Comics. The actual monster is more ape-like.
“Gravestone For Gratis” (Fantastic #11, January-February 1955) has Dr. Ted Lawrence going to Banbury to find the ghoul that appears every one hundred years. He tracks down the strangely weak creature and puts it in a cage. Ted has an epileptic fit and wakes to find himself in the cage. The monster, that hasn’t eaten for a hundred years, will feed tonight!
Conclusion
The Ghoul Gallery is a Golden Age gathering but none of these comics offer us the dog-headed ghoul of Lovecraft but the old master is certainly here with his Outsider version. I think the dog-headed ghoul is problematic for artists. It looks too much like a werewolf.
The creation of the Comics’ Code Authority put the coffin nail into ghoul comics (at least for a few decades). Specifically the code says “Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead, torture, vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism, and werewolfism are prohibited.” No surprise, if you search CGD for ghouls after 1955 you find none until the black & white Horror mags of the 1970s.
After the 1970s, Horror comics returned big. The Ghoul as a monster did not have the renaissance that vampires, werewolves, zombies and other creatures had but they were not forgotten either. Steve Niles and Berni Wrightson gave us a rather Frankenstein-like monster in The Ghoul (November 2009-March 2010) a three issue mini-series from IDW. Maybe some day we will get an actual adaptation of Edward Lucas White’s “Amina”? The ghoul’s future is open to new interpretations.
