If you missed the last one…
We continue out look at Weird Tales stories that made it onto television with another episode of Boris Karloff’s Thriller. This one was called “Trio For Terror” and it used August Derleth’s “The Extra Passenger” for one of its three pieces. This triptych format would not become common on Thriller but Robert Bloch would use it for Horror films using his stories like The House That Dripped Blood (1971) and Richard Matheson’s Trilogy of Terror (1975).
“The Extra Passenger” appeared in Weird Tales, January 1947. It appeared under Derleth’s “Stephen Grendon” pseudonym. He started using the nom de plum in 1944 with “The Gentleman From Prague”. Like many prolific writers, Derleth found he could sell more (and to the same magazine, even the same issue) if he had a second name. Derleth wrote over a hundred stories for Weird Tales.
This story appeared at the same time in The Night Side, a Horror anthology from Rinehart. That book was illustrated by Weird Tales artist, Lee Brown Coye. Oddly, Coye did not do the illustration in the magazine. That was done by A. R. Tilburne, showing the climax of the tale.
August Derleth was largely influenced by British Mystery fiction. He wrote a long series of Mystery pastiches based on Sherlock Holmes featuring Solar Pons. He even created a book line, Mycroft & Moran to publish them. Many of his Horror stories mimic English writers as well, being set in London rather than the US. “The Extra Passenger” begins like a Mystery tale. Mr. Simon Arodias realizes that the train loops widely compared to the road, and that he could jump off the train, murder his Uncle Thaddeus, then drive quickly in his neighbor’s car and get back onboard, none-the-wiser. This is exactly what he does.
Now if this were a Mystery story, some detective would have to figure this out and arrest him. But this is a ghost story. When Arodias returns to his compartment, he finds an unwanted “extra passenger”. He clears his throat, trying to wake the shabby figure who hides in a hat and coat. When the man starts talking to him, Simon quickly wishes he hadn’t. The stranger knows all about Arodias’s crime, he even calls him Simon. The man reminds the killer that his Uncle was a sorcerer and he had a familiar. That thing flew him to the train on its wings. The nephew finds himself powerless before the undead wizard. It is his Uncle Thaddeus returned. The dead man strangles him.
It is a short and nasty tale that begins like a Mystery but quickly becomes a terror. When I saw the title I thought I was in for the old chestnut of men talking on a train about ghosts, then one of the passengers disappears. I was pleasantly disappointed.
Thriller adapted the story along with two others on March 14, 1961. The shortness of the tale made it necessary to create “Trio For Terror” with “A Terribly Strange Bed” by Wilkie Collins (from 1852’s After Dark) and “The Mask of Medusa” by Nelson S. Bond (from Blue Book, December 1945) but also appeared in The Night Side) filling out the remainder of the show. The screenplay was by Barré Lyndon. It was directed by Ida Lupino, the famed actress who was also a producer and director. Simon (Richard Lupino, the director’s second-cousin) carefully shows us the map and explains to himself what he plans to do. We get a demonstration of how the railway carriage door can be unlocked from the outside with an Allen wrench. We now know how Simon plans to return to his room unseen. 
When he gets to the house we see Uncle Julian (Terence de Marney) playing with his magical gear. De Marney is wonderfully creepy in an over-the-top way that reminds me of John Carradine. We see a rooster strapped to a board with zodiac signs. Simon strangles his uncle then hurries back to the train.
When Simon gets back to his coach, he speaks with a porter to establish Simon’s alibi. Up to this point it could be an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. When he turns around, there is the shabby man. They speak and Simon is powerless to resist. When Uncle Thaddeus comes to strangle him, it is a giant chicken hand that does the job. The familiar and the master have been made one.
This piece was short and didn’t really have much room to strut its stuff. The producers felt the story needed a little punch so they played up the familiar chicken. This may or may not work depending on the viewer. Does it come off like Colonel Sanders’ revenge? For myself, it was alright because it was short and sudden. I wish they would have thrown in some Cthulhu Mythos for fun. Uncle Thaddeus looked like a guy who would known a deep one if he saw one.
Conclusion
There are so many (remember, over a hundred) Weird Tales stories by Derleth to chose from. This one works mostly because it didn’t require too much in terms of special effects. There are so many others I would rather have seen including two of his bests, including his very first, “Bat’s Belfry” (Weird Tales, May 1926) and his masterpiece, “The Shuttered House” (Weird Tales, April 1937). Others that would be fun include “The Woman at Loon Point” (Weird Tales, December 1936), “The Drifting Snow” (Weird Tales, February 1939) and any of the Cthulhu Mythos pieces he is most often remembered for. Derleth would receive four adaptations but not for any of these suggested titles.
Next time…”Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” by Robert Bloch
