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Tobin's Spirit Guidz
most energetic. From the turn of the century until England. The area they traveled through
at least 1920,when his book was published,he was occupiedby Turkish forces,but since
spent practically all of his time studying spirits. there was no open conflict at the time it was
Here's a rough reconstruction of where he went not especially dangerous-at least, no more
during those 20 years: dangerous than a camelback ride through
Late 1899 to 1900-In Egypt, tying up the hundreds of miles of desert is under normal
Ahagotsu Affair; miscellaneousexploration. circumstances.Again, Tobin seemsto have
1901-02-Established an office in London, with had some sixth sense about not getting
Shrewsbury Smith as his assistant and col- caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
laborator. By placing advertisementsin Just months afberhe left the Middle East,
newspapersand otker periodicalsin and British troops descendedon Palestine and
around London, Tobin was more than moder- began driving the Turks back.
ately successfulin getting people to come to 1917-18-Tobin stayed home until the war
him with their stories of contaits with the drew to a close,doing more researchand
spirit world. He must have talked to an probably composing a lot of the final manu-
enormous number of crackpots, and his script ofthe book.
training in psycholory helped him to sepa- l9l9-Immediately after the armistice was
rate the flakes from the people who were signed, Tobin began making plans for a brief
telling the truth. Tobin made some mistakes trip to the United States, to round out his
(for example, see the introduction to the sec- research. He stayed only two or three
tion on Eastern Europe), but for the most months, never venturing far away from the
p?rt he was pretty good at reading people. eastern seaboard,and came back to put the
1903-05-A seriesof shorbjaunts into France, finishing touches on the book, which was
Germany, and the Low Countries, sort of an supposedto have been received by the
extended working vacation. Shrewsbury publisher no later than mid-February of
Smith went back to London by himself a few 1920.The fact that he missed his deadline by
times, presumably to clean out the mailbox a coupleofweeks doesnot appear to have
and renew the lease on the office. Bv the caused anY Pfobl;mst
time he finished his book, Tobin could read >i< {<
and write at least four foreign languages What did Tobin do after the book was finished?
(French, German, Dutch, Russian) and could That's pretty much a mystery. All we know for
speak a half-dozen others well enough to sure is that he had no intention of calling it quits.
make himself understoodon a simple level. He writes about wanting to make another, much
1905-06-Another period in the London office. longer trip to the U.S. As air travel becamemore
1907-11-A long expedition into Eastern sophisticated and less risky, he may have decided
Europ-eand then southward through Turkey to head out for more far-flung places-Australia,
into Mesopotamia,becausethe extremely China, South America. If he did so. he must have
ancient civilizations of Erypt and the n{iaate traveled alone or with a new companion,because
East always were his first love. Shrewsbury Smith died in 1924.
1912-13-More channel-hopping,following up For all we know, after Shrewsbury's death John
leads uncovered from the mail in the LJndon Horace Tobin vanished from the face of the earth.
office. Tobin's timing was lucky, becauseby But he was of robust health, and he could easilv
the time World War I broke out he had have lived another 10 or 15 years. Ifhe did con-
gathered all the information he needed from tinue his work, which seemsalmost a certainty,
the Continent. And fortunately for his work, why didn't he publish another book? (Spengler
he escapedserving in the British army would love an answer to that question. I would
becausehe was too old to be drafted. love for Spengler to stop asking questions.) The
1914-16-Back to Egypt, a trip he had been only reason I can come up with is that he died
postponingfor severalyears, maybe because suddenly and unexpectedly, and probably in a
he enjoyedthe feeling ofbeing able to look place where the peopledidn't know how important
forward to it. He and Smith ringed up and he was. Maybe the notes will turn up someday-
down the Nile, from Alexandria to Aswan. and maybe in the same way that this book did.
They went by ship from Suez to Aseb, at the Maybe we haven't found them yet becausethe
southernmostedgeofthe Red Sea. and back irit oI
sprrr[ of Jonn
John .Florace
Horace Tobin is still doing research,
lobtn rs
again. This excursionended with a forav l n a pplace to which he could n
in never have traveled
north to Damascusand then east to Beirut, while he was alive. And if we're really lucky, he'll
where they caught a steamer headed for deliver them personally when he's done.
Dr. Ray Stantz
April 1, 1989
u.l
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Table of Contents
Dujonus ........4L
Mari-Yvonne................ ......................42
Tregeagle.. .......................43
The Spectral Voyager .....44
The Sexton ......................48
Nuckelavee ......................49
Samhain .......50
Death'sMessengers ...........................51
The ShaggyBeast ...........52
Chapter Three: Spirits of Eastem Europe..54
The Buda Pest .......... ......55
The Fool .......57
The GozerianCult ........... ..................59
BabaYaga .......................0f
Eshmahkie ......................63
Chapter Four: Spirits of Eastem America..64
Captain Lightfoot ...........65
Calvin and Hobbes .........67
The HeadlessHunters. ......................67
Old Tom the Pirate .........69
VoodooLoas .......... ..........?0
Noisesfrom Nowhere ............. ...........7L
Chapter T\ro: Spirits of Great Britain and Flighty Lucre ..................72
Westem Europe ChumboroHouse ............79
TheFour-EyedCat .........91 The Curse of Chocorua ......................74
GratefulGhosts ..............92 Variable Ectopresence:
TheBoggartand ThePantrySpirit.....................99 A New and Optional Rule ............75
FoundationSacrifice ......9s
Hudkin .........37 Index of Spirits, Spooksand Specters.................76
TheRestlessPeople ........99
LU
I.H. CobiNs Spinit guiDe
BEINGA COMPENDIUM
Cods,Spirits,
of Chosts,
andManifestations
fromOutsidetheNormalRealmsof Existence,
WITH ATRAVELOGUE
andNoteson a Philosophy
of theOccult
GUZMAN,SCON,AND BONTERRE
PueusFrsRs
. MADRID
LottooN r Paruso H.r,NaguRG
FirstEdition . October1920
tw;|;.9u.r,,'
hanh you, and congratulations! Neither Shrewsbury nor I will realize any nxone-
I reso-luedlong_agot when I first began to con- tary gain from the publication of this work---and if
template the idea of consolidating my research we did, what profit we might gain would be a rnere
*t into this book,that the first thing I woutd do in print fractio,n of ihoi *" haie slent on ou.r research
f was_expressmy gratitude to you, EsteemedReader, expeditions.Proceedsfrom the sale af this book, and
:; an^dgiue
{ W! my commendation. By the mere act of aiy fees we might receiueas the reiult of speaking
t' lifting this book ond opening it to the first page, you engagementsthat deriue therefrom, witt be-contrii-
haue demonstratedy-ourselfto be a person of excep- utedtotheWestEndSociety,anorganizationoftruly
tional judgment and htgh inte,lligence. selflessindiuiduals whosegreatesipleasureis giuiig
d*' How do I know this? How do I know that you are happinessto others.
t not a skeptic,whoseonlypurposein reading this boolz So,then, what is in it for us? Wewilt be satisfied,
&, is to scoffat its contents?BecauseI haue learned ouer and wilt feel as though o'ur effort was worthwnite, t1
q the years that people of that sort do not ftnd it we are able to *oki yor, Estuemed Read,er, more
necess_ary to hnow-anything about a subjectin order -awareof the world around you-.ognizant of ihe
S, fact
f to mahefun of it-because, of course,it is much easier that thereare forcesafoot on earth iot of our'mah'ing.
i for them to cling to their disbelief if they da not ullow Wehaue no control ouer when and.where they.migi;t
F themseluesto be confronted by facts and euidence. appear, but we often tlo haue recoursewhen it "o*es
f Francis Grose,writing nearly one hundred and fifty ti combating or otherwiseclealingutith them. This
o years ago in "The Antiquarian Repertorv," hit the boohcontainsnot onl3tinformati.onbut aduice---our
. 1t has long been the fashion to laugh at the ,'esearch,on how to escapefrom or frustrate a spirit
: study of Antiquities, and to considerlt as the thrtthaschosenyouasitsnexttarget.Needlesstosay,
, idle amusement of a few humdrum. plodding we would be mostpleasedto hear from anyone utho
L fellows,who wanting geniusfor noblei studies] takesour aduiceand ft.ndsit benefi.cial.
f Uuried themselves-i]r heaping up iltegible It seemsthat as the human race becomesmore
* Manuscripts, mutilated St;tues, ottiteratea cultured, more "ciuilized,"tnore world.Iy,it becomes
# Coins,and broken Pipkins;in this the laughers lesshnowledgeableabout andlessa,ppreciatiue of th,e
7
of our
!:l:.!::,:!:::i:.t'.:iy:!
preseruin'g l::?q"::
thei'r mummifted
capobteof
F?!i":s centuries'
rulers for
1
!
w
'".&,. " -*'h\
*..**ta,@"@*r4l., .r61r@s4r:6r:fiW,eze*,. " xig# #'ifr'"''s#'*t
Tobin's Spirit Guide
f f 7 e must begin where man began,in the crad.le gone so far afield as India for a contrast.But let us
lrl/ of ciuilization. Here our ancestorsfi,rst set start where my heart belangs.
Y V down words for us to read, and here we read
of rnan's first encounters with unearthly spirits.
The twa great riuer ciuilizations of the ancient Egypt
Middle East, those of Egypt and of Mesopotamia The land of Egypt has had a long and glorious
(Iiterally, "the land betweenthe riuers") deuelopedat history. Many, many different peoples have con-
roughly the same tirne in hurnan history and under quered and ruled it over the courseof time, and thus
somewhat the same conditions. They also deueloped men ofmany different nations have encountered the
adjacent to one another, and thus rnay haue encoun- spirits of Egypt. Somehave comeunder their spells.
tered the sarne spirits. Somehave been seducedby their powers.Thesemay
I haue spent much of my time and space in this make it possible for the spirits of ancient Erypt to
aolume on Egypt, as I haue a fondness for and an travelto otherlands andexercisetheir powersthere.
intellectual delight in that culture particularly, but Thus can Sebek appear in the streets ofParis. Thus
',,:Ihaue taken pains to
find room for singularly im- can the mummy of Ahagotsu haunt the music halls
pressiue spirits beyond the banks of the Nile. The of London. From Europe, who knows where these
M esopotarnianem.pires of Assyria and B abylonia are unearbhly things might be able to go: to Australia?
represented,as well as ancient Sumer, and I haue To Asia? Even to America?
Sebek
In the summer of 1798, so the story goes, a Sebek
lieutenant in Napoleon's garrison at Alexandria, the paranormal nerd
along with a companion, was strolling down a back
street ofthat fair city when an odd figure approached Sebek's strange appearance, strangely
from the opposite direction. The creature was no enough, doesn't frighten people; they just as-
higher than four feet tall, with a stubby human body sume he's wearing a mask and trying to get
and a green'scaledhead that looked for all the world their attention (which is partially true). He
like the head of a huge crocodile. "Pardon me," it wants people to like him, and takes large bites
said, although it had some trouble with the words out of anyone who makes fun of him or merely
because a crocodile's mouth does not shape the "p" pretends to like him.
sound easily, "but I require somedirections." It then He shows up in what he thinks is a popular
asked the lieutenant the way to eighteenth-century locale; unfortunately, he's always just a little
(at least) behind the times. When he's in New
Alexandria's most notorious night club.
A Frenchman true to his nature. the officer re- York, he looks for a good time at Studio 54; in
plied (here translated): "Sir, you speakFrench abomi- Texas. he wants to ride the mechanical bull at
nably. Are you an American?" Gilley's;in Small Town U.S.A., he stands on a
The little creature openedits long, toothy mouth street comer and checks out the girls. Being a
as far as it could and bit the officer in half. The nerd, ofcourse, he'll never be really popular-
officer's companion, who related the story, had but that won't keep him from tryrng.
achieved the distance of half a block before the Brains 3 RecognizeRidicule
remains of the lieutenant's body hit the ground.
Neither French military investigators nor the Alex- Muscles 2 Take Large Bites
andrian constabulary ever solved the case, nor did Moves Manipulate Slide Rule 6
they frnd the mysterious creature. Nothing like it is
recorded again until Cairo, 1882, when drunken Cool Make Small Talk
soldiers reported that they had attended a party Power Bore to Tears
thrown by an Egyptian dwarf in a crocodile mask Read Mind
who spoke only perfect French.
Goal: Popularity
Tags: Physical, intelligent; crocodile head,
? pocket protector, slide rule attached to belt,
I other paraphernerdlia
)
Tobin's Spirit Guidz
ru
like a cobra. }Ier Ectopresenceis lowest when
on this planet several times since the fall of the she's in a noisy place (a rock concert, the floor
Egyptian civilization, and each time she has been of the stock exchange) and highest when she's
more displeased at the tumult and din that marks in a place she really enjoys (a cemetery, the
our modern world. principal's officeduringdetention, orthe middle
From 1551B.C., Mertsegerwas worshipedby the
f
of a forest, whether a tree is falling or not).
gr'ayediggers and caretakers of the necropolis near
Ttrebes.Sheappearedto them sometimesasa woman, Brains 3 Detect Whisper
sometimes as a giant cobra. Thebes was sacked by
Cool Ignore Disturbance
the Assyr"ian king Assurnasirpal in 663 B.C. We
have very little in the way of records for this period, Power Creature Featuie (G)
.. ,.ada,
but we do know that Assurnasirpal sent one of his Materialize
generals into the necropolis on a scouting mission. A Terrorize
flagmgn! of the clay tablet that is his report sur- Ecto-
vives. Below is a reproduction ofthe hieroglyphics on presence5x
that fragment, and a rough translation:
* uariable
Goal: Silence
rflhfl -fl"""*,\- fS rF Tags: Ectoplasmic,intelligent; skin like a snake
(even when she's not one): often wears ear-
Tranelation:We went into the necropolis. There plugs or big, thick hoods
were lots ofgraves there.And then we heard a noise.
SNAKE! BIG SLIMY SNAKE! !
Hatshepsut
Other women beforeher had been called queen, Questions for a Colleague
but (as we Britishers well know) when a king and a I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting
queenrule at the sametime, the latter is always sub- my esteemed colleague Howard Carter. Al-
servient to the former. Hatshepsut was the frrst fe- though both ofus have spent many years ex-
male to consolidate the power that made a pharaoh ploringthe antiquities alongtheNile, our paths
a pharaoh, the first woman to be recognized(aswere havenot crossed.Ifthey do (perhapsas a result
all pharaohs) as a deity in the form of a mortal. of the publication of this work), I shall be sure
A scenepainted on the wall of her temple, dam- to ask two questions that have long been prey-
agedbut still discernible,showsHatshepsut in what ing on my mind.
is obviously a warlike stance, opposinga figure with It was Dr. Carter who, only a few years ago,
the body of a man and the head of a pig. This latter led the expedition at Der-el-Bahri that un-
image is thought to be a derogatory rendering of the earthed the tomb ofQueenMakare Hatshepsut.
obscure deity Shovanisti, the god of domination. The record is clear and complete conceming
One of Hatshepsut's most signifrcant achieve- the treasures the tomb yielded, but that is not
ments was the reopening of traffic to and from the where my interest lies. I want to know whether
land ofPunt, the area ofAfrica and Arabia bordering Dr. Carter smelledany unusual odor when the
the southernmost part ofthe Red Sea,and the source tomb was breached. And I want to know if,
of the most fragrant and pungent incense in the subsequentto the openingof Hatshepsut'stomb,
world. (Both ofthese facts are quite relevantin light he noticed a change in his attitude toward the
of the anecdote I will relate.) women in our society.
Correlate this with the intelligence that Hat- Strange questions to ask of a renowned
shepsut's tomb was just recently breached, and you Eryptologist? No-not ifone knows the history
can see why we have arrived at our conclusion: of the Queen and relates it to our world today.
The woman who initiated the drive for equality I am convinced that Hatshepsut's spirit,
between the sexesis out to finish thejob she started afbermany centuries'repose, is with us again,
nearly four millennia ago-and I, for one, am not exerting influence over women (and somemen)
about to suppose that she will not succeed. to bring heretofore unparalleled vitality to the
campaign for women's suffrage. Although so-
Hatshepsut cial reformers have beencampaigning for scores
world's first feminist of decades,it is only now, in the wake of Dr.
Men are not immune from Hatsheput's visits. Carter's discovery, that the movement has be-
Intelligincense is an odor of any sort-what- come a real force in our culture.
ever gets the person's attention. A woman A man cameto us not too long ago,asking for
might enjoy the sweet smell of success, or our help in expunging an evil force that had
might decidethat her present situation stinks. taken over his wife's mind. He was quite disap-
The second ability causes the victim to clip pointed that our line of work did not extend to
articles from I ArnWoman magazineand tape that sort of activity, but shared his story with
them to the refrigerator, put her husband's us nonetheless. He and his wife had what he
dirty socksunder his pillow, or open a separate called a perfect relationship, which is to say
checking account. The frrst ability, which is that she provided for all his needs and he was
every woman's prerogative, never fails. kind enough to keep coming home to her after
work every night.
Brains 9 Identify Then one day, a week before he sought us
Injustice L2 out, shebecamelackadaisical about her chores,
Cool voiced her opinions about things that women
Persuade
weren't to be eoncernedwith, and she began an
Chauvinist Pig
unsettling habit of wrinkling up her nose at
Power Change Mind him whenever she was in the same room.
ERAise Consciousness Finally her discontent erupted into outright
Intelligincense rebellion. She packed her things and said she
Ecto- could no longer stand to live this way, and
presence 10 further, she simply could not stand the smell of
him anymore. She went offto live in a mission
Goal: Equality for Women sponsoredby the Women's Social and Political
Tags: Ectoplasmic,intelligent; fragrant, single- Union, and has refused to see him ever since.
minded
7
"4,'k4**,.W..,....
- "
Tobin's Spirit Guide
f
F . Jars.
Selkis Who Cools Throats is perhaps the most
a shield clutched in both hands in front of her abdo- :'
men. If a person'sstomach looks like it needshelp-
?, ttoublesome of these guardians becauseit is shewho in particular, ifit is distended from overindulgence-
i, is most ofbensummoned by evil men. Not only does she hands him her shield, and then she and the
v",w. Selkis guard the entrails ofthe embalmed dead, she object vanish. Thereafter, for as long as her control
"; is also Mistress of the House of Books, the Nubian Iasts, the victim feels disgust at the thought of
patroness of magic. I myself have encountered the eating, and if he actually ingests some food, he
Throat-Cooler, and she is a terrible thing to behold. becomes nauseous, perhaps to the point that the
Ifyou seea beautiful woman acrossa crowded dance food refuses to stay where he has put it.
floor, and if she has a giant living scorpion curled If she is in the mood for a prank, she can cause
around her head, she is probably Selkis Who Cools one's stomach to growl as though one has not eaten
Throats. and she will not know how to waltz. for days. Or she can make her victim's trouserg '
Selkis appears as a gorgeousAfrican Negress in unbearably tight, so that he or she immediately'l
stylish clothing. Shepossessesincredible knowledge loosens them (with predictable results).
of lost Nubian magic, which she teaches in very And frnally there is Nephthys, the guardian ofthe
small dosesto those who follow her. She holds great lungs, who is also the sister of Isis. In fact, this
power over the organs ofthe body that are in thejars familial connection is apparently the only reason
she guards, and her followers'magic also affects why Nephthys was afforded the responsibility of
these organs. Selkis controls the functions of the being the fourth guardian. Everylhing we know
upper and lower intestines. Legends tell that she about her suggests that she was something of a
also can summon the scorching heat of the desert, misfit, who could not succeed at anything more
and the combination of the two powers must ad- complicated than jar-guarding.
versely affect one's sense of smell. Finally, there is During the early period of her existence, Neph-
that scorpionatop her head.... thys was the antithesis of what her sister stood for,
Isis is another of the guardians of the Canopic that being wifely fidelity and maternal care. In some
Jars, as well as the Egyptian spirit of wifely fidelity respects, it seemsas though Nephthys still has not
and maternal care. Somehow,this spirit has gained changed her ways. When she appears before a vic-
a reputation for seduction and beauty. My research tim, she is in the form of a strikingly beautiful
indicates that this is not warranted; in fact, she is woman, sufficiently attractive to take a man's breath
quite bovine, even down to the cow's horns which away even from across a room. When Nephthys
sprout from her forehead. If the curse of Isis falls departs, it is usually because Isis has come to fetch
upon a man, she doteson his every need.No sneeze her little sister-or so I must surmise from the
takes place without the spirit appearing and forcing frequency of reports that once the beautiful woman
the poor man prone under the nearest available is out of his presence,the man she bewitched begins
covering.One may detect the presenceof the spirit, consuming liquor and does not stop until he
even if she is invisible, by the sickly odor of chicken thoroughly intoxicated.
soup that follows her everywhere. Duringthe time of the New Kingdom, the custom
Isis guards the jar of the liver, and must control ofremoving organs from the body ofthe deceasedfell
the function of that organ. I have no independent ogt of fashion. The Canopic Jars were an empty
confirmation of that hypothesis, however; my col- (literally) formality for years afberward, and finally
leagues who began research into this matter each their use was discontinuedaltogether.
becameutter alcoholicsand abandonedthe work. It seemsto have been around this time that the
- Neith guards the CanopicJar that contains the guardians,looking for something elseto do, started
' stomach. One of the reasons for her having this visiting the mortal realm and, eachin her own way,
responsibility may be the fact that in somerender- makingpeople aware*sometimes painfully aware-
ings she is depicted as the earth-mother cow who of how important their intestines, livers, stomachs,
, nurses Re, the sun-god,to keep him frt and healthy and lungs can be.
Selkis Neith
guardian of the intestines guardian of the stomach
If she'sfeeling mischievous,Selkiso nirnates Neith's ability to make someonerepulsedby
the victim's lower tract (making it uncontrol- the thought offood, and nauseousifhe doeseat,
lable). If she's really nasty, she possesseshis is a variation of control mind. (How often have
mind and makes him do what he ordinarily you beentold, when you felt sick to your stom-
wouldn't have the guts for-and neither she ach, that it was all in your head?)The degreeof
nor he (in his possessed state) care about the nausea varies by how much food the victim
consequences. swallows,ranging from I'm a Little Queasyto
Where's the Bathroom? She can use uentrilo-
Brains 4 Power of Persuasion quism to make the victim's stomach growl so
Cool Charm Scorpion that it's always audible at least ten feet away.
Neith can animate clothing, causing it to fold
Power Animate
and buckle and making the garment feel much
Cut the Cheese
smaller than it actuallv is.
Materialize
Possess Brains 7 GuessCorrect
Ecto- Weight 10
presence 7 Cool Cast Iron Stomach 10
Goal: Intestinal Fortitude (or lack thereof, Power Animate
depending on her mood) Control Mind
Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; when materi- Materialize
alized, real live scorpion turban, smooth Ventriloquism
dancer (most of the time) Ecto-
presence 8
GoaL Abdominal Awareness
guardian ofthe liuer
Tags: Ectoplasmic,intelligent;bow & arrows,
Isis's material form is that of a matronly stomach shield, growling stomach (yours,
nurse (wearing a cap to hide her horns). Once not hers)
she has selected a "beneficiary" for her care,
shesummonspesfs:pills that appear beforethe
patient every four to six hours, not to exceedsix Nephthys
doses in twenty-four hours. guardian ofthe lungs
If he protests too much or gives her a hard Nephthys usesreadmind when she sashays
time in someother way, Isis uses her ability to into a room, trying to pick out the best subject
dematerialize the contents of an alcoholic bev- for her to approach. When she settles on a
erageand makesthe liquidreappearinside her target (usually either the biggest nerd in the
victim's stomach. The "beverage" may be any- bunch, or a guy who thinks he's a real Casa-
thing from a swallow of beer to a half-gallon of nova),shepossesses the personand makes him
vodka, depending on how offended she feels. pant like a bloodhound that has just run 10
miles. Then she uses an obscureversion of ter-
Brains . 5 Determine Dosage rorize to make the poor sucker freeze in his
Cool Ignore Protests tracks, unable to do anybhing but sigh.
Power Animate Brains 1 Small Talk
Dematerialize Object
Materialize
Cool Seduce T2
Summon Pests Power Materialize
Ecto- Possess
presence 8 Read Mind
Terrorize
Goal: Tender Loving Care (almost to the point
Ecto-
of Killing You With Kindness) presence 10
Tags: Ectoplasmic,intelligent; when materi-
alized, white uniform or apron, horns under Goal: Take Men's Breath Away
hat, smells like chicken soup Tags: Ectoplasmic,intelligent; makes Bo Derek
look like a five
N@
lbbin's Spirit Guide
Sphiny
This is one of the most unusual, familiar, and with the rise of the Greek empire, in which these
fearsome creatures of all of those that divide their manifestations from the ether frgured prominently.
existence between the physical world and the realm A guardian the sphinx still was (and would always
of the ether. We have the ancient Egyptians to thank remain)-but now it was a guardian that kept others
for statues ofwhat the earliest sphinxes looked like, on their guard. The sphinx in Greece still had the
and the somewhat less ancient Greeks to credit for body of a lion, to which were affixed the head and
the frrst meaningful glimpse into the sphinx's dis- upper body of a human female plus a pair of wings.
tinctive personality. As such, it is the embodiment of some of the best
Most Egyptian sphinxeshad a simple, if bizarre, attributes of the animal kingdom: the intellect and
anatomy: the body of a lion and the head of either a "heart" ofhomo sapiens,
the physical strength of the
sl humanbeingor ofone ofthe sacredanimals (usually lion, and the ability to fly.
a ram, ibis, or bull). When the sphinx had a human
f head, it was usually meant as a representation of a
pharaoh. We know what these sphinxes look like
I repeat here two tales which lie at the extremes,
one showing the sphinx capable of doing a deed that
was basically good (except from the tavern keeper's
because of the many images the Egyptians left point of view) and the other demonstrating how
behind in wall paintings and sculptures. In every sinister and unfeeling the spirit can be. Perhaps it
such case,the position and placement of the images has its reasons for everything it does; since it is
&
affirms that sphinxesin Egyptian times were guardi- apparently impossible to converse with the spirit
ans-strong, stolid, and silent. The spiritual entities aside from the strict question-and-answer dialogue
that correspondedto these earthly representations that it initiates, we may never know any more about
certainly had some kind of consciousness,but no the inscrutable sphinx than we do right now.
f
anecdoteshave survived as to the wit or sensibilities In the popular Greek legend, a sphinx guards the
ofthe sphinxin theseearlytimes. All ofthatchanged entrance to the city of Thebes-which, not coincir,
''.'{r,***a".,. "\
'a ...rlt,-r.#ttli.-."
Tobin's Spirit Guide
.et'e/te{,&Wr*k,,,6agv,86v*;giJ@4,,,. %'"
Tobin's Spiri.tGuid.e
Ka
We have the ancient Eryptians to thank for the called the fetch; in Germany, the doppelganger,and
earliest recorded commentary on a phenomenon of in both ofthose cultures it generally has a negative
the spirit world that is unequaled by any other, both connotation-a person who seeshis double is soon
in the frequency ofits occurrenceand in the effect it destined to die. Jewish lore, on the other hand,
has on the human race. maintains that to see one's double is good luck
u
From whatwe know ofgenetics, even though that becauseit endows the person with the ability to
scienceis still in its infancy, we have goodreason to know his own future,
believe that no two people living on earth, even so- The truth of the matter seemsto be that encoun-
called identical twins, look exactly alike. From there tering one's double produces a result that is as
it is a short jump to the theory that each of the unpredictable as the fact of whether or not the
thousands of millions of human beings who has ever double will appear to begin with. The result of a
Ka
b
double trouble
If one seesa ka that isn't his or hers, one
might not know it's a ka or what model ka it is.
(Late-modelkas all seemto look the same.)
&, If a personever meets his own ka, he or she
& has to be very Cool not to be frightened out of
* his or her skin. If he tries to drive his ka away,
g it reads his mind (which is, afberall, its mind)
x
and knows exactly what the personplans to do.
* The real problem is that in addition to the
victim's mind, every ka has a mind of its own.
,F:i It doeswhat it thinks is best for itself-which
( may or may not be best for the person.
t 1
q \i
I
Brains
Muscles
Just as Smart as Victim
Just as Strong as Victim
Moves Just as Quick as Victim
{
Cool Just as Cool as Victim
Power 10 Read Mind
Terrorize to the Max
Goa[: Be Just Like Victim
Tags: Physical, intelligent;just like victim
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Caligorant
In the earliest days of Egyptian civilization, Cali- Caligorant
gorant waylaid travelers. We know that the spirit tormentor of trauelers
was originally personified as a cannibalistic giant
who would ensnare voyagers with an enormous net. If an illusion of a bogus street sign or a
It is probable, based on what we have learned from broken-down bridge doesn't get the victim to
eultures since the days ofthe pharaohs, that Caligo- change direction, then Caligorant uses control
rant is actually an ethereal being, and that the spirit mindto make him or her thinkleft is right and
is not technically cannibalistic or murderous-al- east is north. If he resists that, the spirit
though its influence can irfure or kill its victim. murphies his compass into grving a wrong
What Caligorant does, in simplest terms, is to reading,orturnsthe road mapinto suchamess
cause people to becomelost en route from one place that no matter how he or she folds it, the victim
to another. Caligorant can be a thick fog that con- can never frnd the section he needs to see.
cealsthe path its victim should have taken. It canbe Brains 2 Ingenuity
an oasis or some other sort of illusion that disap-
pears when the traveler reaches the spot. Coo] Perseverance 10
There is no way to ward offthe spirit if it succeeds Power Control Mind
in insinuating itself into a traveler's mind. The best Make Illusion
avictim can do is admitto himself(and to any fellow Murphy (L)
travelers) that he is lost, and stay in one spot until
help arrives or until the feelingof disorientation and Ecto-
presence 13
hopelessnesspasses(evidence Caligorant has tired
of the game and moved on). The worst he can do is
r
Goal: Confusion
continue to insist that he knows where he's going,
Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; feeling of dis-
for the unhappy traveler may frnd his new destina-
orientation, clumsiness,bad luck
tion is a place from which there is no return.
l
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Ahagotsu
My frrst experiencewith an Eryptian spirit in fact phisticated humor, limericks and liquor were enough
took place in England in 1899. I was a clerk in the to satis$ the normal crowd at Hobb's Lane. Even
Alexandria office ofmy company, but I had returned this degreeofentertainment stretched the talents of
to London when my father took ill. As fate would the troupe to their limits.
have it, he died two weeks after my arrival. I took a The papers I held in my hands had frrst appeared
leave of indeterminate length because,as the man of at Hobb's Lane someweeks ago,mysteriously deliv-
the family, I was obliged to settle my father's estate. ered to the desk of the troupe manager, Mr. Sears
During this time I became involved in what I have Wornwell. To Wornwell, they were just crude pic- ' :,..:
sincereferred to as the Ahagotsu Affair, and, as well, tures on paper. He mentioned them casually to some
made my first acquaintance with that intrepid membersofthetroupe (fromwhomShrewsbury sub-' :
adventurer and my good friend Shrewsbury Smith. sequently learned about the incident), and threw
Properly grieving for my father, I had not paid them in his wastebasket. Indeed, Wornwell received
"gift" a few days after the first-and
.much attention to the newspapers,so I did not know another such
of the terror that was taking place in the East End two days afterhe crumpled and discardedthe second
of the city. But what a terror it was! The poor message, Sears Wornwell disappeaied. Witnesses
pantomime troupe at the Hobb's Lane Music Hall saw him go into his office, but no one ever saw him
b,'**a., leave.
were not only receiving bad reviews from the critics
.,&
but were being stalked by some hideous East End Life went on at Hobb's Lane; since Wornwell was
phantom. Was this a reappearance of Jack the Rip- neither very popular nor very efficient as a manager,
per (or someonelike him), the nefarious murderer of no one thought much of his absence.Many patrons
young women, turning his attention to other vic- were heard to remark that the show was better off
tims? Thus the papers speculated, and thus I be- without him, while others observedthat any change
lieved, until amysterious stranger called uponme in in the troupe would have been an improvement. .,::ii
the middle of a rain-soaked night. Papers with similar drawings next appeared on'':."
The visitor stood six feet tall, square-shouldered the dressing room table of Polly Porter, the woman
and square-jawed, with the rugged good looks that Shrewsbury had known. I assume that she was a
one generally attributes to an Eton man. He wore a friend of his sistet's, or perhaps someonewhom he
long wool overcoatand a battered brimmed hat, both hadmetinchurch. The symbols onthese pagesmust
of which had seenbetter days. When he spoke,I was have meant little to Miss Porter, and like Wornwell
amazedto hear the lilting, Celtic sound ofthe collier- she apparently mentioned them in passing to others
ies instead of a clipped, well-bred English accent. in the troupe but thereafter ignored them. A day
'Will you be Mister Tobin, then?" he asked po- later, on the stage at Hobb's Lane, as she began the
"The French Floozy's Lament,"
litely. "Late of Alexandria in Egypt?" second chorus of
"That is correct," I replied. Miss Porter was abducted.
"Then I am in desperate need ofyour assistance. Both of the sober witnesses in the audience that
May I come in?" evening told police the same story. Miss Porter had
I let the visitor into my house, and so began my trouble with breath control, and she had to draw a
"tur-
long friendship with Mr. Shrewsbury Smith. He seconddeep breath in the middle of the word
quickly told me his story. He was in fact a Welsh- pentine" in the third line of the chorus. The wit-
man, though born in Shropshire and rather well- nessesremember this, becausefor them it was the
educated. He had seen service in India and Africa. high point of Miss Porter's performance, if not the
and only recently retired from the arrny. He knew high point of the entire show, and they waited to
one of the women who had vanished at Hobb's Lane begin drinking until after it had taken place.
Music Hall, and he could not be satisfred with the But I digress....The witnesses told police that
conduct of the police in that matter. He had some- suddenly a hideously deformed creature dropped
thing to show me-evidence that he believed Scot- onto the stage from somewherein the rafters above.
land Yard had overlooked. He reached into his vest It could have been human, for it had legs and arms
pocket and pulled out several paper pages. where those limbs usually are placed. It moved
On each page, drawn in an irregular hand, were slowly and awkwardly, and it was dressed in tat-
signs and symbols which I recognized instantly. I tered rags which clung grotesquely to its body. Miss
demandedan explanation. He explained.Shrewsbury Porter stopped in the middle of her second breath
is like that. He doesnot waste words. and stared dumbly at the creature. It bent forward,
The company at Hobb's Lane was not a particu- apparently in some sort of a bow, frrst to the audi-
larly talented one. If the music hall's regular audi- enceand then to Miss Porter. It then beganto shuflle
ence had demanded talent from the performers, in its feet in an odd manner, as if it were having trouble
fact, the members of this company would probably standing up. The audience began to throw things
not be working there. But the regular audience was onto the stage.The creature made a deep,unearthly
uncouth and hard-drinking. Bawdy songsand unso- growl and swept Miss Porter into its arms. The
-"
Tobin's Spirit Guide
witnesses think that she fainted as it ran offstage more important than the disappearanceof a few bad
with her. She has never been seen again. actors and the dwindling attendance at a mediocre
'That thinghas comebacktwice now,' Shrewsbury East End music hall. Whatever wrote this had aspi-
"It's taken two more people,and one ofthem rations to the stage. IfShrewsbury and I could not
told me.
is the only clown the troupe had. He's not very funny, somehow stop this thing, the entirety of British
but there's supposedto be a clown." He pointed to the humor as we understand it could be in danger.
"Trash never gets thrown away at There were further clues on the pages, clues not
papers I held.
Hobb's Lane. These are the strange messagesthat connected with the translation, clues that only
each person receivedbefore he or she was abducted. someonetrained such as I could detect. Just as we
I think I know what they are, and I have been told English no longer spell our words the way that r'
that you will be able to read them." Geoffrey Chaucer did in the fourteenth century, so ,i
Of courseI could read them. It was not for nothing the Egyptians of different eras used different s5rm-,'''
that I had taken a degree in Obscure Ancient Lan- bols to refer to the same thing. These hieroglyphs
-Suages at Oxford. The symbols on each page were were particularly distinctive, because only during
ancient hieroglyphics, the crude system of writing the brief reign of one Old Kingdom pharaoh was the
that developed in Egypt thousands of years ago. depiction of a ram-headed man kicking another man
"hilarious."
What I held in my hand was not ancient writing, inlhe buttocks the symbol for the word
however. Someofthe symbols were drawn on news- Whatever had written these horrible messageshad
papers with last month's football scoreson them! learned to write hieroglyphics as they were written
I went to my study desk and lit the lamp there. in the reign ofthe pharaoh Ahagotsu.
Shrewsbury followed me, and on my desk we ar- Smith and I rode a cab toHobb's Lane Music Hall,
ranged the messagesin order oftheir appearance. determined to look for more clues to this baffling
Painstakingly I began my translation. The results mystery. The theater was dark and deserted, but
were astonishing. The first, receivedbyMr. Wornwell, Smitfr forced the door open and our lanterns pro- ,
read as follows: vided us with adequate light for our search. As we
There once was a Kushite from Edfu worked our way past the dressing rooms, we heard
Who had troubl,eassembling his tutu. a strange sound coming from the stage. Smith and I
From ballet it d.etracted exchanged nervous glances. Neither of us could
And on his body it acted recognizethe odd moaning. Smith reachedunder his
A lot like the Nile cataracted. overcoat and pulled out a pistol. I felt better, and we
"My God, that's awful," Shrewsbury said. "ft's cautiously advanced toward the stage.
We entered at the rear of the room, behind the
worse than the limericks the troupe uses. Are you theater seats.Down on stage was a horrifring sight.
certain that's what it says?" The thing that the witnesses had described, this
"Yes, quite." My mind raced as I nodded to
thing that perhaps had once been human, stood on
Shrewsbury. The Kushites were an ancient people the stage wrapped in rags, wearing a black top hat
who lived in the region of the Sudan. Edfu was an and a clown's round red nose. It shufiled its feet in
ancient city in southern Egypt. A cataract was a somekind ofhideous danceand spread its arms wide
point in a river where the water spilled over a large
as if it were receiving applause.And then it bowed to
cliffor precipice. Today we call it a waterfall. What the empty seats. ft's a mummy!" f whispered to
performer in his right mind would include these
Smith. "It's an Eryptian mummy!"
words in a limerick? More importantly, who on "That is what ran offwith Polly!" he declared. He
Earth would think this was funny? tooktwo strides forward and aimed his pistol, firing
I translated the secondmessage.My horror grew. a shot that clearly penetrated the mummy's chest as
The third. skit is too subtle. When the d.ragon the creature rose from its secondbow.
dnclares his loue to St. George instead of the Thebullethad no effect whatsoever. The mummy
princess, the audience may not see the joke. removed its top hat and pulled out of it a large white
Haue the dragon build a giant stonc tomb for rabbit. If the bullet had done any damage,the thing
George.That should make it clear. could not have accomplished that trick.
I heard Shrewsbury gasp behind me as he read The mummy ran offstage right. The rabbit exited
the translation over my shoulder. I knew how he felt. stage left. Smith and I ran after the mummy. We
I remember distinctly the cold perspiration on my followed it backstage, always able to hear the sound
brow as I began the next translation. Myhand could of its stiff, worn rags sliding across the dusty floor.
barely hold the pen steady as I wrote. Then suddenly we heard nothing. Our lanterns
Thejoke about gouernrnentis wond,erful.An showed us only tantalizing Shadowsof prop guillo-
opposition political party is a hilarious idea. tines and clothing mannequins. Smith shot one of
May I use that joke in my routine? the mannequins, just sothe others would not get any
ideas. It seemedreasonable to me at the time.
This affair had become about something much
Tobin's Spirit Guidc
"Look," Smith said. I knelt to shine my lantern on troupe members, if they were still alive, were being
the ground. The marks wherethe mummy'sfeethad kept in the network of tunnels underneath Hobb's
slid through the sawdust were clearly visible. We Lane Music Hall. I began to explain what it was that
followed them and turned a corner. Smith shot them. but Smith stopped me. Over
had abducted them,
anothermannequin. Then we reached aplace, inthe breakfast, he explained why.
"That thing is from a world outside of their expe-
middle of what appeared to be an empty storage
room, where the mummy prints just stopped. They rience, Tobin," he told me between bites of kippers
"The police are goodmen, but
didn't lead anywhere, and they gave no clues. It and stewed tomatoes.
looked as if the mummyhadvanished in mid-flight. not educated men. Do you think they would take us
Smith strode to the point in the floor where the seriously if we explained to them that a two-thou-
tracks stopped and shot it. I was mildly startled. sand-year-old mummifred Egyptian who wanted to
Smith fired once more into the floor and then knelt break into show business had kidnapped Polly and
"The light, Tobin," he said to the others? I'm having a bit of diffrculty with the
to inspect the damage.
me. "Bring me your light." concept myself, and I went to public schoolz!"
I did as I was told and together we saw that the I quite saw his point. Bullets hadn't halted that
bullets had not imbedded themselves in the wood of thing. I rather doubted that anything we modern
the floor. Instead, they had gone neatly through, people understood was likely to have an effect on it,
"It's hollow either. It was then that I hit upon the idea of
leaving two clean holes in the planks.
underneath there," I exclaimed. Smith nodded and researching the situation in the family library.
stamped his foot hard on the wood. The floor planks Perhaps the ancients themselves had anticipated
splintered and broke away, revealing a shallow such a problem, and discovered a way to solve it.
passagewaythat dropped below the theater. After what seemedlike hours of poring over the
Smith lowered himself into the passageand held collection of transcriptions from Old Kingdom Egypt
"There
his lantern out. "I seeseveralmore,'he said. that my father and I had amassed over the years, I
are tunnels in all directions down here. Two men believed I had hit upon the solution' The Egyptians
alone will never be able to search them." then were not, by and large, as concernedas we are
That was it, then. We left the theater and called
on Scotland Yard. We told the detectives there that 2InEngland, a public schoolis an exclusiuepriuate school,and the
SearsWornwell, Polly Parker, and the other missing public ges to Comprehensiueschool.Wherecomprehensiuesgo.'..
:.-
Tobin's Spirit Guide
today about mummies coming back to life. But there ofjewelry which peoplebelieve possesssomekind of
was one mummy of one pharaoh that the sourcesall magical power. These charms are made of simple
show greatly concernedthe ancient Egyptians. That natural materials, but are usually distinct in some
pharaoh was Ahagotsu, the clown-king of Egypt. way such as color or texture. Stones with unusual
The ancient Egyptians buried their pharaoh with colors or markings are very often made into charms
all that they thought he would need in his life after and talismans. The ancient Egyptians liked to carve
death. They buried warrior pharaohs with chariots their charms into distinctive shapes,and one of the
and spears,for instance. They buried their pharaohs most common shapeswas that of the scarab beetle.
with food and gold, and in somecaseswith mummi- The scarab beetle was important to the Eryptians
fied servants to attend the kings in the afterlife. The becausethey believed that the god Khepera rolled
records of the building of the tomb ofAhagotsu show the sun across the sky just the way that the scarab
that he was buried with large, messy,cream-covered beetle rolled a ball ofdung across the earth. I put
1. pastries, with hollow, bladder-like cushions that aside Dr. Budge's notes and left my cabin to take a
- emitted an embarrassing sound when sat upon, and stroll on the deck. Standing there, watching the
:.1$
,,,4'r; iti'ith other such odd, unkingly things. familiar European shore grow ever smaller in the
:r,' For reasons not entirely clear in the chronicles, distance, I felt a twinge of-how shall I put this?*
though I suspect they were as worried about the foreboding about our upcoming adventure. I pulled
future ofEgyptianhumor as we were about ourown, out the translation that I had made of the ancient
the priests and people ofancient Egypt were very chronicler's instructions and looked at it again.
concernedthat Ahagotsu never return to the land of Place that scarab on the body of Ahagotsu's
the living. At the conclusion of one ofthe accountsof rnu,mrny,and he will giue you no problem.
the pharaoh's reign, a scribe had written:
I was reassured.
Should the bodyof Ahagotsu eueragain walk After alongjourney over seaand land, Shrewsbury
the banks of the riuer Nih, take heart, for there and I arrived at Memphis. We faced the unknown,.
isarernedy.Deepinthepharaoh's ou)ntombwe the deadly and mysterious spirit world. My blood
haue placed a scarab made of channed sar- raced through my veins as we plotted the strategy of
donyx. Place that scarab on the body of our assault onAhagotsu's pyramid tomb. Shrewsbury
Ahagotsu's n'tutrLtny,and he will giue you no thought that the more people we took into the
problem. coming conflict, the more likely that somenumber of
Aft,er nearly a full day of searching through seem- them would survive, and the more likely that some
ingly endless, dusty, stiff-paged books, I had found of them would be us. I chided him for his gallows
the solution! Archaeologists had partially excavated senseofhumor and explained that I could not in good
the pyramid-tomb of Ahagotsu near Memphis. conscienceendanger innocent lives.
Shrewsbury and I could book passage on a ship to So we stood, two men alone, on a windswept,
Alexandria, travel to Memphis, find the scarab dusty desert plain outside Memphis. Before us rose
charm, and retum to England to put an end to the a majestic stone structure, pointed at the top and
mummy menace in a matter of months. broad at the base. Here, in this pyramid, the terror
I A gentleman from Scotland Yard called that af- beneath the Hobb's Lane Music Hall would meet its
tertroon. His men had found Wornwell, Polly Parker, match. Here the Ahagotsu Affair would end!
and the other missing members of the troupe in the "How do we get in, then?" Shrewsbury asked.
tunnels beneath the music hall. They were alive, but Our spirits only slightly dampened, we rode back
nearly deranged from their ordeal. They had been to Memphis in search of a local guide. An archaeo-
forced to endurejoke afterjoke, prank after prank, logical team had partially excavated the site, and
comedysohorrible and unfunny that only an Ameri- over the years the tomb of Ahagotsu had been plun-
can could have endured it and emerged unaffected. dered by grave robbers. There must be someonein
The mummy ofAhagotsu was nowhere to be found. this city who could locate the entrance. Shrewsbury
He remained hidden in the dark hallways under found a small boy who-for a modest fee-would
London. Shrewsbury and I still had a job to do. show us a secret passagein the tomb wall.
I had originally planned to return to Erypt any- So we stood, two men and a boy, alone on a
way, to continuewithmybusiness career.The search windswept, dusty desert plain outside Memphis,
. for the scarab charm and the hope of ridding London once again ready to put an end to the earthly exis-
ofAhagotsu now gavethejourney a greater purpose. tence ofAhagotsu. The boy presseda secret stone in
I spent mytime readingallthe literature thatl could the wall of the pyramid, and a door reluctantly
about Egyptian amulets and charms. The work of groaned open to reveal a narrow passageway.
Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge proved particularly fascinat- Shrewsbury lit a kerosene lantern and handed it
' ing and,
I hoped, would be useful. forward to me. I stepped into the ancient passage,
t Every society in the world seemsto have its own and almost immediately a small form hurtled out of
version ofamulets, charms ortalismans, little pieces the darkness at my head.
Tobin's Spirit Guide
I quickly ducked, and whateverit was flew past It was empty save for one thing in the middle of the
me and into the sunlight. I heard an unpleasant dusty floor: a rose-coloredstone carving ofa scarab
thud, and when I looked back I saw Shrewsbury beetie! How could the tomb robbers fail to make off
lvins unconsciousin the sand. The boy guide ran off with a treasure such as this? Simple-the scarab
ttwird the city in the distance, crying out prayers in was some five feet long and three feet wide.
his native tongue. I scrambled to my friend's side. Shrewsbury set down his lamp and walked over to it,
The flying objecthad struck Shrewsbury squarely in and the thing came up nearly to his waist. He bent
the face,ind a thin trickle of blood now lined his to push it, to try to move it in any way, but he was
"fobin, the thing must weigh a ton,"
forehead. His eyelids flickered, and I realized that unsuccessful.
"If
he was only stunned. I searched for the object that he finally said. we could set this on the mummy's 1.1
had flown out at us. There it was-some kind of body, ofcourse it would give us no problem-if,d:,:r
stone.I scrambledoverto it, and Shrewsbury crawled crush the thing into dust!" , t.''
My new fiend Shrewsbury and I sp,ent many
on his belly to seewhat had struck him. It was stone
all right, but only becomeso by the ravages of !im-e, y"u", in "u"h other's companythereafter. I never-did
:t,OncJit had been light and sugary and no doubt ieportbackforwork as alowlyclerk-now that I had
sticky and sweet. We could make out the hardened found my true calling. And Shrewsbury likewise
{ crust and the petrified frlling. needednb prompting to continue along the path his
8.,.** . "A custard pie," Shrewsbury muttered, wiping life had taken. Since both of us were men of inde-
bloodfromhis face and murmuringwords to himself pendent means with a desire to make our marks on
"A no-account custard pie!" ihe world, we formed a team and resolved to spend
that I dare not repeat.
"A trap that was never sprung," I said. 'A prlcti- our lives researching and, if necessary' combating
cal joke waiting all these centuries to be played." the denizens of the spirit world who had made their
"You're sure way onto this mortal coil.
My intrepid friend sprang to his feet.
that what's in this tomb will get the bugger?" And we further resolved, each in his own mind,
"All we have to do is place the scarab on his body, never to give up the ghost, as it were-never agaq
and then he will give us no problem." to admitlo failure in a quest as we had been forced
"Then let's get on with it, mate." to do at the end of the Ahagotsu Affair. Shrewsbury
We strode into the secret passagewith renewed never mentioned this incident again, but I have a
determination. The way was dark and treacherous, feeling he never forgot about it, either. He shared the
a narrow, winding corridor with surprises at every remorse that I feel because we were never able to
turn. Around one corner we found a strangely pleas- stop the mummy of Ahagotsu-never able to save
ant garden full of bright flowers. The sight wal so Brilish humor from the fate which it has met today.
"They
uneipected that we stopped in our tracks.
can't be real," Shrewsbury said, and he was right. Ahagotsu
When he bent to examine one, it shot a brief stream clown pharaoh of Egypt
of dark dust into his face. He stood, unable to grin
His jokes might have been funny once (and
but unableto getfullyirate. That dust, ofcourse,had
only once), but Ahagotsu doesn't know how
been ink before the passageof time had dried it up.
unfunny he is-and his victim had better not
After tribulations too numerous to mention,
break the news to him. He lives (in a manner of
Shrewsbury and I finally reached alarge room filled
speaking) to causelaughter. He canpoltergeist
with stone furniture. Tomb robbers had of course
anything ever thrown by the Three Stooges,
long ago removed any valuables from the room, but
and when he wants some tips on delivery and
the open, empty casethat had onceheld the mummy
timing he might sumftlon peslsin the forms of
Ahagotsu told us that we had at last found the room
the world's most awful burlesque comedians.
we sought. Shrewsbury sank down into one of the
oversized stone chairs. The chair made a rude bath- Brains 6 Embarrassing Pranks I
room sound, and a cloud of dust blew out from
Muscles 5 Throw Things
beneath my friend's rump.
"So, Tobin," he growled. 'Where is this scarab Accurately
amulet, eh?"Frustrated, I shookmy head. We moved Moves Break Dance
along the far wall, tapping lightly' I found a loose Interview
Cool
bricli and pressed,and the whole wall gave way. We
stepped back and avoided the cascadeof petrifred Power Poltergeist (G)
pies and cakes that fell down, breaking into tiny Summon Pests
pieces of rock on the floor. The wall slid completely
iside, and we saw the room that it had hidden' We Goal: Make People Laugh
had found what we were looking for! Tags: Physical, intelligent; ragged clothing,
Shrewsbury lifted the kerosene lamp high above shambling gait, red rubber nose, squirting
his head, so that its light shone on the entire room' corsage,whoopeecushion... you get the idea
-----------
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Enbilulu
The ancient Sumerians never failed to appreciate The lVine Seller's Possession
the wonderful location their gods chose for them. One day in Baghdad, a man named Seeko
The fertile land around the rivers Tigris and Eu- Fanta cameupon a wine dealer kneeling before
phrates made a better territory than the mountains his stall, running his fingers through a large
to the north or the desert to the west. For the boon of puddle and humming softly to himself all the
living where the weather was pleasant and crops while. Everyone else avoided the man, think-
grew lush and healthy, the people of Sumer gave ing that he was balmy or besotted. Fanta, a
thanks to the creator-deity Enki and one of Enki's kind and curious man, approached the mer-
chief assistants, Enbilulu. chant and conversedwith him.
' Also known as the'canal inspector," Enbilulu's He tried to getthe man to stopbyholdinghis
chief responsibility was the proper functioning of arms, but the merchant broke free and went
f thetworivers.Today,thelandaroundtheTigrisand back to his task. Then Fanta thought about
-',tilbe Euphrates is still fertile, thousands of years
" 'clnce what the man said in his speechand hit upon
i the Sumerians passed into history. the idea of giving him praise for his work, so as
,,. But when the Sumerian civilization declined,
to humor him. As Fanta described it in his
Enbilulu was deprived of the homage his worship- journal, "I thanked and praised the man for a
, pers had heaped upon him. The spirit was not heard short time, but he kept on wallowing in the
from, or very much thought about, for more than 40 puddle. I was about to give up on this approach,
centuries. becauseI did not want to be carried away to the
But the construction of dams, the excavation of asylum, too, when suddenly he lifted his head
farm ponds and reservoirs, the very march ofprog- and thanked me for my kindness. In the next
ress-these stirred the water-stirrer at last. momenthis eyesseemedto clear,andhe grinned
Enbilulu does his work nowadays by possessing sheepishly, apologizedfor the disturbance, and
the bodiesofhuman beings-and these people,when backed into his tent." The man was the talk of
encountered and questioned, are not in the least the neighborhood for weeks afterward, but his
reticent about who they are and what they are here business prospered as never before. Everyone
to do. The basic speech, pieced together from ac- who heard about the incident decided that his
counts related to us by several witnesses to these wine must be very fine wine indeed.
possessions,runs something like this:
"I am Enbilulu, who makes the water flow and
thereby brings fertility and life. Water that doesnot
move becomesstagnant and putrid, just as a person
too long in one place stagnates and falls under the Enbilulu
sway of the evil deity Kachpo Tato. People are water wheel
responsible for themselves, but only I, Enbilulu, Alter Enbilulu possessesa person, he puts
have the duty ofseeing that water does not pool or that person to work. Some tasks are more
i. puddle. Now I have work to do. You will be so diffi cult than others ; it's really easy to run from
gratefuI when you seehow good I am!" house to house turning on every faucet, but it's
Enbilulu's work consists of locating the nearest pretty tough to dig a hole in the dam that's
source of standing water and setting that water in keeping Lake Whatchamacallit from gushing
motion somehow. He continues this activity for as down into Happy Valley subdivision-and
long as possible-until the puddle evaporates,until pretty dumb, if that's where your house is.
, the well runs dry, until the person being possessed Enbilulu only likes water when it's moving.
falls unconscious from exhaustion. If the victim is A glass ofwater sitting still on a table, or water
physically restrained, preventing him from doing trapped inside a pipe, is a bad thing. Rivers,
Enbilulu's work, the spirit simply leaves the body wide-open faucets, and fountains are good
and goes offin search of another helper. things. Waterfalls are just terrific.
Another way to causeEnbilulu to abandon a pos-
:, sessedbody is to give him the praise he so desper- Brains 2 Find Water
ately seeks.A simple "thank you" will not suffice- Cool Soak Up Praise
he is not that desperate-but if he is lavished with
compliments for a minute or two, he pauses in his Power Possess
work and says something like, 'You are wise to Ecto-
appreciate Enbilulu. Will you be my disciple and presence4
take over my work here?" If the supplicant answers
yes, Enbilulu departs the body he is occupying. GoaL Cause a Stir
Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; dripping fau-
cet, playing in puddles, leaky hose
,.<i
Tobin's SPirit Guide
Nebo
looking person what he knew about being a serious
I am able to trace this spirit back to its origin-for *"it"tifi"t lefore my lips could form the words I had
th; il;I" ;"*o" tfttt I myself havc been visited bv It seemedto me that I was onlv
i;;d;;;;.tttpo"'
i.;b";ef ttuu" le"n aule to establish one vital fact but when I next looked up' the
heretofore ;I;;; i"tll"""ita,
about this supernatural entity that has *"iaia was gone.
figure
"-N;;';undiscerned.
been *1"t"ow if what I had just experiencedwas
sphere of influence in the pantheon of it had been a tangible manifestation'
parti-cularly . d;;;;;;;if
u".iu"t nssyria was communication' g"iid;,ia"d that the answer to that questiol was -'
tt"it. been described in some scholarly
;;t"g. "scribe of the gods-'"He was quite i;;;;"-fi. wt "tttudttappened wa-sthatth" fl1P9
*o"t t"ut the of desire within me had been ignited' Itwas
on [naf,
popular among ttte Assyrians, to the^e"tent that he to begin actively working toward
alm-ostas manv followers as his a"V tftut t resolved
;;il;;ilJoa"sted to pursrie that goal.no matter how'
l"ittg u writer,
fr '
;;;h;;ffitdok, ot" of the prime creators in the
Asswian and Babylonian cultures' -
-*i[
il now clear io -e, however, that Nebo never
*;;t"d-lh;
;ffi4;;;persists
jou ttl" father foisted upon him' and to
in tryingto giveit awav'I{e-r9I
io"glt loof.. If ihe work I am composing
i"f"1"" ""a inspire readers after I
tltrr "-iti"""", ihett t-attd you, Esteemed
have Nebo
" -i"lft"
will to thank'
have
continues
passed
Reader-
."ka*i*% :-&i^
Tobin's Spirit Guide
She began to prepare manuscripts of all sorts, tage and discovers someonedressed in a tunic and
keeping up her trade as a seamstressonly enough to sandals, drawing arcane symbols on a clay tablet
afford her the barest ofnecessities. She offered her with a sharp stick, then he will finally have found
writings to anyone who would receive her. She someonewho can replace him as Assyria's writer.
started with owners of book publishing companies,
newspapers,and literary journals. In every caseshe Nebo
was turned away, at first politely and later not so indescribably sirnple
politely. As time went on, she becamemore and more
dejected and panicky, fearing the day when Nebo After he materializes, Nebo exercises his
would comeback to "check on her progress" and she other special ability by asking his age-old
would have no progress to report. question.Proyect cornpulsionis a sophisticated,
specializedversion of control rnind, lasting for I...
,
Finally, somethinginside her snapped.Shethrew
away her pen and ink, changed her residence, and long after Nebo has gone away and concerned
with only one thing: making the affected per-
. _adopteda false name in hopes that Nebo would not
'l'find her. Unless death has mercifully taken her to a son want to be "a serious writer." Ifyou answer
,{
better life by now, we assumethat she is still hiding no to his question, Nebo simply disappears.
in fear and misery. But if you misunderstand the question (which
lb&,, I feel most sympathetic toward this woman, and invariably happens to anyone who hasn't read
* I am terribly full of regret becauseI cannot Iocate her thisbook) and answeryes,thenthe compulsion
again now, almost 10 years since she told me her kicks in.
story. If I could, I would tell her that she has no need Power Materialize
to fear Nebo'sreturn. In the hundreds of casesI have Project Compulsion
examined-including my own-Nebo has never
appeared to the same person more than once,and I Ecto-
believe I have at last puzzledout this odd behavior. presence9
In all of his visitations, Nebo is describedas worried Goah Finding His Replacement
or disturbed of countenance. His primary motiva-
tion is nol to encourageauthors, but to find someone Tags: Ectoplasmic, mindless; vietim keeps
who can take his place! pencil behind ear, notebookin pocket, writes
If Nebo ever looks down from his unearthlv van- to pen pals who have never heard of him
Siliman
"Laugh,
and the world laughs with you," writes selves joining in with a merrJi chuckle even if the
poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox. A century before she conversation is not their own-when they hear laugh-
penned that line, Friedrich von Schiller observed ter, they cannot help but laugh themselves.
that "The joke loses everything when the joker On the other extreme, some few individuals of
laughs hirnself." Those two bits of philosophy- grim mien frnd mirth beneath their dignity in even
opposed as bits of philosophy often are-illustrate the most informal situations. It is this indifferent
the range of mortal reaction to the irrepressible responsethat seemsto goad the spirit into inducing
sprite known as Siliman. laughter without care for the consequences-and
The spirit is,believedto have originated in India, results in those infrequent sorry tales we have
possibly as the result of the Black Hole of Calcutta recorded in Siliman's name.
tragedy. Records indicate that one of those that Siliman was not easily discouraged (a trait, it
perished on the night ofJune 20th, 1756 was Johan- must be noted, that is shared by every would-be
nes Siljermann, ajovial Dutch merchant. The survi- humorist this writer knows of), but even the spirit's
vors tell that Siljermann tried, even to the last, to irrepressibility had its limits, and the Indian conti-
cheer his fellow prisoners in their cramped, subter- nent cannot have been the most comfortable place
ranean cell, telling puns and riddles and repeating for a spirit of mirth and humor.
bawdy rhyrnes. It is virtually certain that Siliman left India in
The similarity of moniker and the description of April of 1875, bound for Portsmouth aboard the
this brave man's personality leads me to conjecture H.M.S. Vawdeuil. Siliman must have been greatly
that it is his spirit that travels the ether, trying to gratifred at the reception it got aboard theVawdeuil,
bring good cheer and laughter to the darkest mo- notwithstanding the fact that the crew comprised a
ments of mankind. captive audience. Buoyed by its newfound success,
Certainly, not all men and women respond to the spirit went merrily on its way and found the
laughter in the same way. Many folk frnd them- Western world to be truly a land of opportunity.
Tobin's Spirit Guide
{ffi
Tobin's Spirit Guid,e
Nasnas
Tales of this monster-spirit originated in the An Encounter urith Nasnas
exotic land ofHadhramaut, at the extreme end ofthe A well-to-do matron was intermpted by
Arabian peninsula. Thoseofus in the Western world Nasnas while getting dressedfor an evening at
1' ,i , were forewarned of its existence by an esteemed the theatre. She hadjust picked up one ofa pair
countryman of mine, Edward William Lane, who of enormously valuable earrings. When she
devoted much of his life to the study of Oriental saw the spirit, she screamedand fainted dead
legends and spirit phenomena. away. In doing so, she must have dropped the
In tlre first volume of The Arabian Nights' Enter- earring on the floor or otherwise caused it to be
tainments, Lane gives a description of the creature separated from its companion, which was still
which is at the same time straightforward and in her jewelry box amid many other baubles.
;*r;:subtly terri&ing. It is, he says, tralf a human being; When she regained consciousnessafberwhat
must have been only a minute or so, she was
relieved to see that the Nasnas had vanished.
But her shock at what she had seen was noth-
ing compared to the emotional trauma she
- utter more than a single syllable. Perhaps this is suffered when she discovered that the earring
because it has only half a mouth; however, the she had been holding had mysteriously disap-
theory I have developed postulates that what it says peared. The woman did not go to the police-
is directly related to the purpose it is trying to who would believe a story of a one-armed, one-
achieve through its visitations. legged jewel thiefl-but did come forth in re-
I submit that at one time, the creature had a sponseto one ofmy many advertisements solic-
whole body, a whole head, a full face, and that iting tales of unexplained occurrences.
through some supernatural calamity it was cleaved
in two. Nasnas is, technically, the name the entity
went by before it was divided and turned into a
monstrosity. Now it prowls (more properly, hops Nasnas
hither and yon) through the world of men, cryrng haffiearted hobbling goblin
over and over again, "I.[as! Nas! Nas!" Nasnas is not evil-it just wants to keep
The poor creature, you see, is searching for its together things that belongtogether. The spirit
other half. By itself, it is Nas. Only when it finds the is easy to overcome,becauseall the victim has
otherNas will itbe reunited as Nasnas and then be to do is yell at it and tell it to go away (poor
able to return in peaceto the realm whence it came. Nasnas has no Cool whatsoever), but this isn't
(For the sake of conformity with prior usage-and in
always easy because it looks so awfully ter-
recognition ofthe fact that this theory is, afber all,
rible. However, Nasnas may not be easy to
only a theory-I will continue to use the full name in
notice, becauseit doesn't always materialize-
reference to the half-creature which is described
so be careful not to leave unmatched socks
herein.)
lying around, and hurry up and finish the other
Where its other half is, and whether the monster half of that pizza before something else does.
can rejoin into a whole creature after finding it, are
Nasnas usu ally only d.ematerializes things that
questions we cannot answer. It would be goodfor us
are small enough or light enough to be held in
mortals, and for Nasnas itself, if there were some
its one hand. It is more difficult, but not impos-
way of putting the creature out of its misery, but we
sible, for Nasnas tn d.em.aterialize something
have neither the technology nor the methodology to
by simply touching it.
attempt such a'task.
Inside its half-brain, Nasnas seemsto have some Brains 2 Matchmaking
sort of warped empathy for objects that have suf-
fered a fate similar to its own-things that have Cool Tingle Spine
beencut in half, or oneofa pair ofitems fhat has been Power Dematerialize Object
separated from its mate. If Nasnas spies such an Materialize
object during one of its visitations, the creature Terrorize
touchesor snatchesup the thing, apparently intend-
ing to take it along and seaich for the object's
Ecto-
presence6
missing half as well as the rest of its own body. The
affectedobjectdisappears,never to be seenagain... Goal: Make Halves Whole (especially itself)
at least, not in this world. Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; found wher-
ever one thing (out oftwo) has been used up
or lost---one Twinkie, one contact lens, the
first game of a doubleheader
,,,-,a*r#iY***'rrt* -*
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Humbaba
At some point in mankind's unrecorded past, the entity whose attention he had unwittingly at-
somenamelessindividual discoveredthat woodcould tracted.
be used as a building material. This revelation As the sound of the tree falling to earth began to
changedthe course of civilization; neverrnore would reverberate through the forest, it was drowned out
"Who has entered my forest and
man have to content himself with huddling in caves by an angry voice:
or piling up stonesto form the walls of an enclosure' cut down one of my trees?"
Wood was easier to carry than stone, easier to work The voice belonged, of course, to Humbaba. His
with, and could be found in gteat abundance in body,manlike in general form, was as tall as most of .'i
places where natural stone shelters were not avail- the trees in the forest he oversaw. But at the same,,:;
able. time, it was the body of more than a man and lessi
. But, the world being what it is, very seldom does than a man. He had the paws of a lion at the ends of l
'a goodthing occur without a negative aspect.To this his arms, the claws of a vulture in place of human
, man continues to harvest trees and use the feet, the horns of a wild bull atop his head, and S
6mber for the good of society-to make houses, snake's head at the end of a massive tail that pro'
'' truded from his lower back. All the other parts of hia .:. ,:,.;
ships, packing crates, match sticks. And to this day,
every time a tree is cut down, the offender risks body were covered with thick, horny scales, making
incurring the terrible wrath of Humbaba. him both invulnerable and immensely powerful.
This spirit was first named and described in the The poemdoesnotrelatewhatbecame ofEnkidu, at
great Gilgamesh Epic composedin ancient Assynat least not in any parts of the epic that have been
The Epic stands today as probably the oldest, and discoveredand translated to date. But we do know,
one of the longest, poems ever written. It treats of from subsequent sightings of Humbaba, that the
many subjects, but here we are concernedwith one giant is not especially fast or nimble, and when he
small section,wherein is describedthe awakening of attacks he muit do so in a very careful, deliberata4.,"'
Humbaba, the great giant who guarded the moun- fashion soas not to knock down or damageany trees'
tain cedars. The spirit first appeared before a pow- Thus it is quite possible that Enkidu himself man-
erful man named Enkidu, who strode into the virgin aged to escape the giant's wrath and share his
forest and, with one swing of his massive axe, felled eiperience with the scribes who set down the text of
a majestic cedar. As big and strong as Enkidu was, the Gilgamesh Epic.
he was as a babe compared to the form and power of It is apparent that when Humbaba becameaware
Humbaba
big on conseruation
Humbaba doesn't seem to care about pro-
tecting dead wood-but be careful about cut-
ting a tree that only looks dead; after all, one
can't exactly take its pulse. The only way to be
sure is to take a chunk out ofit, and by then it
might be too late.
Humbaba usually only cares about trees,
but on a slow day he might decide to cruise
suburbia looking for hedge trimmers.
Brains 6. Originality
Cool Accept Good Excuse
Power t2 Dematerialize Object
Materialize
Murphy (G)
Poltergeist (G)
Terrorize
Ecto-
presence18
Goal: Protect TYees
Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; when materi-
alized, horned giant, vulture's feet, vicious
temper
Tobin's Spirit Guid.e
Shamash
The Babylonian sun-deity Shamash was revered of a photographic darkroom and destroys images
for centuries. He brought the light every morning- made on frlm. Shamash is the unseen force that
the light without which there could have been no life ' causeslamps and lanterns to be lit in a room that is
He was not an evil-minded spirit when he was first unoccupied.Shamashis the wave ofheatthat sweeps
called upon to do his work, but even spirits have over a person for no apparent reason, causing him or
theirflaws. In Shamash'scase,his biggestflawwas her to feel faint or ill. Shamash is the gust of warmth
a self-importance as huge as the sky he was credited that inexplicably causesan icebox to fail, so that the
with illuminating. food kept inside it spoils and rots.
If the truth be told-and it certainly was not told Ifyou have ever witnessed or heard ofa strange
to the people ofthat long-gone culture-all Shamash and unfortunate occurrence concerning light or
.,...;,'..,dida[ day was lounge (probably in some sort of
nr
or hnth chances are good
both, the ehances sood that Shamash
somethinp to do with it. Shamash
something
assumption that he was responsible for the visually, Exceptas someforrr of pure light-i so*
of the sun across the sky-which was glow,
slow.
- a sharp whatever suits
sharp beam,or whatever his purpos€.:
suits his purpos€.l,.:
probably all for the best, becausethe Babylonians of He cannot be detained by any rnethod or device::,
f ZOOg.C. were neither intellectually or psychologi- known to us, forhe moveswith the speedoflight. He r :r,,
cally ready for the realization that it was the sun may stay in one location for quite some time, such a€ ".r
thai stayed in one place and the earth that did the when he appears in the night sky as a floating ball
moving. oflight and allows himselfto be viewedby dozensor
It was for the preservation and strengthening of hundreds of bewildered onlookers. Or he may leave
his own self-image that he did not protest when the someone'spresenceas quickly as he arrived, stayrng
Babylonians also deemed him responsible for the only long enough to terriff his victim with a sudden
healing ofdisease, the dispensing ofjustice, and the buist of light oi a wave of heat that first causesth9-u...
' ,
protection of the downtrodden and underprivileged. person to ferspire uncontrollably and then, with it,ff
It seemed to make the people happy to think that passing, to curl up in a ball and shiver with cold.
there was one spirit who could do so many good tr,ttv Shamash is one of the most elusive, versatile,
things-and Shamash, basking in the glow of all this and devious spirits that has ever haunted our world!
unwarranted adulation, had quite a pleasant exis-
tence for many centuries. Shamash
Then, as must happen to every civilization made sun worshipee
up of mortals, the ancient Babylonian culture de-
Sharnash's frrst two special abilities are
clined and was supplanted. When it passedfrom the
pretty self-explanatory. It's Very Little trouble
scene,Shamash too fell into decline. But he did not
for him to appear as a floating sphere of light,
disappear; he simply bided his time in his celestial
A Good Amount of difficulty to create a huge
lounging spot, waiting for the day when another
glowing area on the horizon in the middle of the
group of peoplewould single him out for praise' That
plan began to unravel in the mid-sixteenth century, night ("Gladys, doesthis mean that Borington
hai just been nuked?"),and More diffi cult Than
when Nicholaus Copernicus had the brilliance (and
You Can Imagine to light up the entire night
the audacity, from Shamash's point of view) to pro-
posethatthe celestialbodies were configured differ- sky.
He uses lrris poltergeisl ability to turn on
ently from what men had believed since the dawn of
light switches, turn up thermostats, and ma-
civilization. It took sometime, but eventually people
nipulate other devicesthat create light orheat'
around the world, scholars and common folk alike,
came to see that the sun, not the earth, was the Brains 3 Conceal Presence
center of the solar system.
Shamash was furious when he realized that never Cool Self Importance
again would he ascend to a position of prominence. Power Make Heat
Sohe decidedto cometo earth and manifest himself Make Light
in a way that would force people to pay attention to Poltergeist (L)
him whether they wanted to or not.
Ecto-
Becausehe was originally and primarily associ- presence 11
ated with the sun, Shamash made light and heat his
areasofspecialty. Becausehe is annoyedwith modern Goal: Heat and Light
people for accepting the truth of the Copernican Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; unexpected
iheory, he is determined to make a nuisance of sourcesoflight, like night baseballat Wrigley
himself in as many ways as he can imagine. Sha- Field
mash is the sliver of light that slips under the door
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Rabisu
"demons"as
The ancient Mesopotamiansblamed forget where the line separating them is drawn. The
the cause of anything bad, uncomfortable or unfor- spirit of Rabisu is here to remind us-and to him,
tunate-accidents, toothaches, quarrels between there is no such thing as a gentle reminder.
friends. Every demon had a specialty, but with few
exceptions the demons were not given names. Rabisu
One of those exceptions was Rabisu, who was the conscientiousspirit
most likely singled out for identifrcation because,at
one time or another, he visits everyone. Even leading an exemplarylife cannot keep
This spirit appears before a person who has a man or woman safe from a visit by Rabisu-
committed some transgression or indiscretion. in fact, tryrng to be perfect can get a victim in
V Rabisu takes a visual form that brings to mind what a lot of trouble, guilt-wise, becauseanything he
does that's just the teeniest bit wrong could
, the. p.:Ts.ol h1s {o.ne, sometimes augmenting. and attractthe spirit's attention. Who decideswhat's
F ri;,i:.pqrbellishing that image with soundsand illusions,
right and what's wrong?Rabisudoes,ofcourse*
i,,-' i" eo that the victim knows exactly why the visitation
' is occurring. In all but the most hard-hearted of and there's nothing that says he has to make
F
, persons, the effect is to leave the viewer overcome exactlv the same decision twice.
with anguish and guilt. He or she may deduce, Brains 4 Pass Judgment
b*-
correctly, that the way to get rid of Rabisu is to
,.i somehow negate or offset the act that caused its Cool Deviousness
visit. In modern parlance, this phenomenonis known Power Control Mind
as easing a guilty conscience. Make Illusion
On rare occasions Rabisu inadvertently does a
good deed, say, in causing a robber or a murderer to Ecto-
confesshis crime. But in the vast majority of cases presence5
Rabisu's deedsare farmore sinisterthanthose ofthe GoaL Send Everyone on a Guilt Trip
people it visits.
Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; reminder of
All sane peopleknow the difference between right
past sins
and wrong, although we sometimes conveniently
Tales of Rabisu
A student who neglected to prepare his lesson about yet another "friend." Lo and behold, the
for class told his professor he could not study image of that person suddenly appeared before
becauseofa headache"that felt as though it were her view, as though the object of her gossiping had
splitting my skull in twain." That night Rabisu been listening to everything she said.
crept into his mind silently while he was asleep. The woman was shaken to the core. She ex-
Its form was that of the student himself-with his cusedherselfand wenthome to ponderthe mean-
skull split open from the crown to the bridge of his ing of what had happened to her-and from that
nose.The vision was soterrifringthatthe student time onward, she spoke her true feelings in front
leapt out of bed and rushed to the professor's of every person.Human nature being what it is, in
home in the middle of the night to confesshis lie. a very short time she lost all her friends.
In so doing, he compoundedhis offense by inter- One especially pitiful case involved a preco-
rupting the professor's liaison with an adminis- cious babe about three years of age who took
trative lady friend; the professor had him ex- innocent delight in pulling on the ears and tail of
pelled from school on the spot. the family dog. The animal was docile and quite
A woman spokevery kindly ofher peersin their forgrving, no matter how much pain the boy in-
presence, but to a third party she was quick to flicted upon it. The young boy's mother tried and
point out the faults and flaws in the person's tried to discipline him away from these actions,
character.Onedaythe woman was gossipingwhen but the lad persisted.
shewas suddenly struckspeechless.There, stand- One day, the boy's shrills of delight turned to
ingbehind the person to whom she was speaking, shrieks of terror. His mother found him in the
was the person she was talking about! corner with his hands over red, pinchedJooking
The image vanished as quickly as it had ap- ears. The child's garbled story accusedthe sleep-
peared, but the woman was sufliciently unsettled ing dog of great maliciousness-and to this day,
that she changed the subject and began talking that child has never touched a dog again.
Tobin's Spirit Guide
..-efiffffTrtL*-{ri#;
Tobin's Spirit Guidc
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ft€atBnitaiN
a- - -- -- ,:i;
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West€RNEuqe
I
t England
t *"1?l'
tf 3;*";'1""u
(=*=T"'
Germany
B
eaders ofthis section who are subjectsofthe folk-the sort who haue no pretensions, no need to
Crown can sdue themseluesa bit of time by falsely impress the listener. And the subjectsof these
skipping ouer the following two paragraphs. storiesfollow oft-repeated themes-themes that are
For othzrs, a little explanation is in order. heard in places hundreds of miles apart and remoued
;'. It is all too easy, scientific objectiuity notwith- fromone anotherby years, if notd.ecades.Thegeneral
standing, for a researcherinto spirits to assumethat conclusionsthat one logically draws from thesefacts
the legends associated with his natiue country are are likewise twofold: One,the storiesare as real as the
somehow rnore rational, rnoreplausible, and at the sackclothfrom which a farmer's wife makesher dress
same tim,emore interesting than the stori,eshanded and as true as the plain countenances-uncmbel-
down am.ongthepeopleof othnr cultures or countries. lished by wigs, cosrnetics,and other trappings--of ;
If onz is not careful this prejudice, no matter how thepeoplewho tell thern.And two, the spirits are uery
- - strongly it is suppressed,ce,ncreepinto the tone of a
ge' actiue in this part of the world. They hop frorn person
:': 1jouflr,al entry as surely and insidiously as the spirits
-^.- - ;
-" iffi&.;+*i"ryg o
Tobins Spirit Guid.e
Grateful Ghosts
As will be apparent to the student who reads this A Favor Returned
work, and perhaps delves into some of the books
We relate here the story of a coachman in
written by my esteemedcolleagues,not all denizens
northern England. In the distant past, he had
of the spirit world are evil-minded. In fact, some of
rescueda woman from the side of the road, and
them, which we refer to here collectively as the
seen her safely to the nearest village free of
Grateful Ghosts, have nothing but the best of inten-
charge. The woman was most appreciative,
tions toward the humans with whom they consort.
and hoped they would stay in contact. When
Unfortunately for them and for us, it can be quite
the coachman tried to look her up on his next
diffrcult to tell when a spirit is tryrng to be helpful, I
trip, he was shocked to discover that she had
so a lot oftheir efforts go unappreciated. t
died of a brief but virulent illness.
We have never heard tell of a Grateful Ghost that t
He quickly got over his grief(for, after all, he '1
- explained itself, or even spoke for the purpose of hardly knew the woman) and soon forgot her.
.*;eassuring the beneficiary ofits good deed; appar-
" i tently, these spirits are content to let their actions
Then one tlay he was hired in Durham. Four .if
men needed to get to York by eight o'clock that .t
speak for themselves. The problem, from our mortal
point of view, is that their actions can be very evening, andtheypromisedafee of 10 times his ,l
*t normal rate if he could accommodatethem. He
difficult to decipher. t
knew he would need to drive the horses hard,
If a ghost appears before a person in a posture a
but he acceptedthe fare.
that seems threatening, is it trying to put terror in f"
Sevenmiles south of Durham the coachran
his heart---or is it tryrng to warn him that if he
into avastexpanse ofdense fog, and the driver
proceedsalong his path, he will come to trouble? p
had to slow the horses to a trot. The wind was
None of this is meant to suggest that one should e
driving the fog in their direction, so that the
try to attach an honorable motive to anything a ti
coachmight well go all the way to York without
spirit might de-but neither should one assume that T
ever breaking free ofit. The prospect of the
every ghost, specter,wraith, or unseen force is set on g
eight o'clock deadline seemedbleak indeed.
scaring, embarrassing, or hurbing one. o
Suddenly a ghostly figure appeared on the
Cl
seat beside the driver and grabbed the reins
Grateful Ghosts
from him. It was the woman he had helped
they airn to please years earlier! She snapped the reins, and the II
Each of these spirits can read rninds (to horses broke into a gallop. tl
figure out how a victim needshelp, if that isn't A normal driver, even the best one,could not e:
obvious), andrnaterialize lf necessary(so they have sustained such a speed through the fog b,
without incurring a terrible mishap. But, as ir
can useMus clesor Moues).Each Gratefirl Ghost
the coachmanquickly realized, this was no or- w
has specifrc talents related to the way it gives
help. The victim may not want a ghost's help. dinary driver next to him. The fog did indeed
persist all the way to York, but she guided the in
Okay, fine. All he has to do is make aBrainsrcll
fo
that's lowerthanthe ghost'sroll forthe Traitor coachunerringly, and brought the passengers
hr
talent it's using-thereby proving he doesn't to their destination with minutes to spare.
CI
know a good thing when he seesit (or doesn't The driver was petrified, and if the coach-
man was afraid, we can only imagine what the
hr
seeit, as the casemay be). The ghost won't get
AI
angry or feel bad, but word doeshave a way of passengersmust have beenthinking. But when
getting around the spirit world, and no Grate-
st
all was said and done, the four men were
th
ful Ghost will ever again try to do a good deed extremely thankful, and they spokewell of him
W(
for that person. to potential customers every chance they got.
w(
The coachman was not about to admit that
Brains 6'r' at
it was not he who had done the driving.
"They'dte thought me a fool," he said, "and sh
Cool 2* 8u
even if they believed me, it'd've been bad for
Power 4 Materialize rit
business. So I kep' me mouth shut." And at
Read Mind somelater time, before he related his story, he
8U
(fe
Ecto- put the frnal piece of the puzzle into place. The
an
presence woman had returned to repay him for his tic
* uariable service to her. She accomplishedsomething he 3el
never could have done by himself... even if her an
Goak Helpfulness methods were rather unorthodox. erl
Tags: Ectoplasmic,intelligent; silent, perhaps
incomprehensiblehelp
r* . .-tftrll +rq
Tobin's Spirit Guid.e
Pantry Spirit
ghostly gobbler
The Pantry Spirit isn't very brainy-which
is why it can be outsmarted pretty easily-but
it often does have enough good sense to eat
from each ofthe basic food groups: the crunchy
group (raw potatoes,stale marshmallows), the
gooey group (molasses, peanut butter), the
chewy group (beefjerky, salt water taft), and
the chuggable group (anything liquid).
----€
ts-/ Brains 2 Eat Balanced Diet
Cool Crave Attention
Power 4 Dematerialize Food
Poltergeist (L)
Ecto-
presence 8
Goal: Gluttony To The Max
Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; sticky finger-
prints, trail of crumbs
34-
.
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Foundation Sacrifrce
This kind of spirit is found throughout the civi- The foreman accostedHans one night and invited
Iized world, because the practice that spawns it is him to help with an important part of the job.
"Stand here," the foreman said, indicating the
not unique to any geographic area or culture. How-
ever, nowhere has the presenceofsuch a spirit had unfinished corner. o'Weneed you to tell us whether
more effect on people's lives-and deaths-than in the stonesare fitting together tightly on your side of
the village of Klosters in extreme eastern Switzer- the wall. If you see any light coming through be-
land. tween stones,tap on the wall and tell us. Otherwise,
In the mid-frfteenth century, Hans Upp was the stay quiet."
village idiot of Klosters. An inoffensive sort, as most Those instructions may have been almost too
idiots are, Hans had no family and no real friends, complicated for Hans to comprehend. Nonetheless,
he was considered expendable when the time he did stand where he was told. The wall went up
for an... expenditure. quickly; the three men working on it cerbainlywanted
,The village fathers authorized construction of a to get this unsavory task over with as soon as they
ffiffio* governmenthall-the fourth suchbuilding that could. The stone blocks, each weighing as much as a
ffit= the village was forcedto erectin 10years.The ear- man, were lowered into position and snugged up
lier three had all fallen apart within months after against their neighbors.
they were frnished, for sundry defrcienciesin their When the wall was ashigh ashis chin, Hans spoke
construction. for the first time.
One ofthe couneil members, a well-traveled man "Dark," he said-meaning, of course, that the
who had settled in the village after the erection and workmen had done a perfect job fitting the stones.
destruction of buildings two and three, advancedan No light... and no air... could penetrate between
idea that rapidly won acceptance.In addition to all them. The frnal row ofblocks was laid: now the wall
the physical safeguards they could build into this was barely higher than Hans's head, and it was time
new project, he suggested that they needed some for the denouement. The hoist ropes were slipped
spiritual insurance. around an enorrnous slab that would serve as a one-
In his journeys to exotic lands such as Bulgaria piece ceiling for the tomb.
and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the man had seen many Before he saw the slab, Hans raised his artns over
majestic structures that had stood for longer than his head and grunted. To the anonymous workman
any ofthe town residents couldremember.He learned who witnessed the gesture (and from whosejournal
that, grisly though it sounded, the townspeople the details of this account are taken), Hans was
firmly believed the reason the buildings remained clearly asking to be lifted out of the hole.
strong was that, to appeasethe Earth for building Then the slab was moved into place above him,
such a large and unnatural structure, a human and the two workers on the ropes played them out
being had been interred in each one during its slowly, lowering the stone. Hans looked up and,
; construction-a live human being! according to the eyewitness to his frnal moments, a
The village leaders, desperate that some malady look of awareness-of recognition-came over his
-',, should
not befall their latest attempt to housethem- face for perhaps the frrst time in years.
selvesin splendor, agreed that they had nothing to Poor Hans gave up. He dropped his arms and
,,, lose. Hans Upp's designation as the sacrificial lamb lowered his gaze,looking directly into the eyesofthe
'i ' was the result
of a logical, if cruel, line of reasoning. workmanwho would be responsible for making sure
the slab was properly positioned when it finally
,:: a sadistic way) the villagers would miss him. The came to rest.
perfect sacrifice. IfHans spokeanyfinal words or soundsin thelast
Ofcourse,the councilmenresolved,the deedwould instant before he was entombed,they were drowned
have to be kept secret from all except a few ofthe out by the crash of stone on stone when the guide-
workers (who would be paid handsomely for execut_ ropes were slipped away and the slab was allowed to
ing the task... and the man). Not everyone in the fall the last inch or two into place.
village would agree that Hans had to die this way. A few secondsafter the tomb was completed, the
Ground was broken for the new structure. Hans rapping began.Hans was knocking against the wall,
visited the site every day, fascinated by the excava- looking for attention or pity or both. But he would get
tion work for as tong as'his attentioi span would neither. The workers stayed for another four hours,
allow. Stone blocks were hauled from the quarry, unable to ignore the plaintive, muffled rapping but
and the foundation was laid-save for one corner, equally unable-and unwilling-to undo what they
which had been set aside for Hans's tomb. But how had done. The tapping grew fainter and less fre*
could the workers induce Hans to stand in that quent. Then it stopped, and poor Hans must have
corner while they built stone walls all around him? expired soon after.
Tobins Spirit Guide
%
Power Control Mind
inclined, physiologically or psychologically(or both), Materialize
to take Hudkin's revelations for truth, and thus over
the centuries the spirit has developedan affinity for Ecto-
those of the female gender. presence7
This affinity, obviously, is not without its draw- Goal: Warn About the Future
backs.Many women, in return for making public the
revelations that Hudkin has granted them, for trying Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; Kindly, hollow
to help others by telling what they know, have been voice,dire news
regarded as witches. Others, in more recent times,
have been politely but disdainfully scorned-be- sFamiliar in thosedays meant friend,ly, or acting as if one knows
cause, after all, they are "only women.' the person one is addressing quite well, almost as if he were
If you are visited by Hudkin and you do not want family.
Tobins Spirit Guidc
,.,:::,.
,,:.,
M
Tobins Spirit Guid.e
w
had not come to any physical harm-at least, not of
the sort that one man can deliver upon another. The
case remains offrcially unsolved-but one might
suppose that if the investigating constable ever
finds himself 20 feet in the airwith no visible means
Y
a tumble would be suffrcient to cause him a fatal
seizure.
Why was George victimized and not the others?
First, it is not uncommon for the Restless People to
perpetrate their pranks in front of witnesses; they
i;
i,::.',:
,
ieem to take a perverse pride in doing what they do,
and no doubt they have themselves quite a chuckle
at the thought of how both the witnesses and the
has an enorlnous ego and thinks he is the
craftiest, quickest, or most fun-loving elf of all.
victim will explain what happened. Hearkening These little folk are especially interested in
back to what was said earlier about the arrow-heads keeping people from wandering aimlessly
(and forgetting for the moment my reservations through forests, making everyonestay indoors
about that theory), it is conceivablethat Georgewas on Fridays, and penalizing anyone who's wear-
singled out becauseofhis surname-which might be- ing green (except on St. Patrick's Day and the
good reason for caution if your name is Archer or if lait day ofschool, when one can wear anything
you are a man called Marks. The frnal point that one wants). Not everything the elves do is
bears upon this last question is a fact that does not related to one of these things; one of them
appear in the official record, but which came out might visit a victim in a restaurant, pick up his
during our interview with one of the witnesses. On or her plate ofspaghetti, and toss it in the face
the fa[eful day, GeorgeBowmanwas proudlydecked ofthe reallybigguy atthe nexttable, justto see
out in a new jacket-of bright green-while every- how goodthe victim is at diplomacy orhowfast
one else in the party was attired in outer garments he can run.
of more subdued tones. Make of all that what you Brains 7* Make Mischief 10
will, Dear Reader. You are free to draw your own
conclusions,and you need not be swayed by any Muscles 2* Shoot Invisible Arrows 5
judgments that you find herein. But if you elect to Moves 6* Avoid Capture
consider George Bowman's death a matter of mere
coincidence,then please do not bother asking me to Cool 7x Hold Temper 10
go for a walk in the woods with you. Power 4* Invisibility
Make Illusion
The Restless People Poltergeist (G)
masters of mischief * uariable
The numbers below are our best guessabout
Goal: Fun At Your ExPense
what an averagemember of the RestlessPeople
"average" Tags: Physical, intelligent; small stature,
is like-but don't dare talk about
when they can hear, becauseevery oneofthem limber, full of practical jokes
*ftf . e*rtilfiFiru
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Ddonus
This spirit is one of the most insidious of all that
The Legend of Dujonus roam our world. It preys on one of man's basic
weaknesses-the need to compare favorably with
A long time ago, so it is told, there came to one's peers-and amplifies this minor frailty into a
the city of Amsterdam a man who called him- character flaw that ruins families, makes enemies
self Jacob Dujonus. He purchased a modest out offriends, and is responsiblefor a new phrase in
home and quickly established himself as a our language:conspicuousconsumption.
popular member of the neighborhood. Dujonus (only one of thousands of names the
He took much pride in the appearanceof his spirit has used)can appearas a single person,in the
property: hedges always trimmed, flagstones
company of a spouse,or even as an average family.
always swept, fresh paint and fresh mortar It movesinto a peaceful neighborhoodin the middle
continually applied whenever the old began to of the economic spectrum, makes friends, and then
: fade or crack. All of his effort did not go unno- proceedsto drive its neighbors crazy with envy and
i ticed, ofcourse, and homeownersin the vicirrity
frustration-buyrng this, refurbishing that. It does
felt behoovedto follow his lead in keeping their not act haughty or ostentatious, does not draw
own tracts better maintained (so that their attention to itself other than by the fact of what it
dwellings would not look run-down by com- does,what it buys, what it rides in, or what it wears.
parison with his).
Other people seethe kind of life it lives, and they
Then Jacob started to improve his property
decide that's the life they wish to live as well. Just
and expand his possessions.He built an en- when the victim thinks he'swon the game (or at least
tranceway outside his front door, so that visi- managed a tie), Dujonus changes the rules. And
tors would not stand in the rain while waiting instead ofgetting irritated at the "person" causing
for him to answer the door. He had larger
his frustration, the unfortunate imitator redoubles
windows installed. so that the interior of his 'his
efforts to keep up appearances.
home was well illuminated even on cloudy It is possibleto resist Dujonus, but only by strong
days. He camehome one day in a fancy carriage force of will over a long period oftime. Ifthe tempted
-the first person in the neighborhood to own
ever look at his house or his motorcar and think, for
any vehicle other than a small cart or a ram- just an instant, that they would like to have onejust
shackle wagon.
as nice, then they have lost. Sooner or later, they
His neighbors did not take this lying down.
attempt to do something or buy something that is
In some houses, wives badgered their hus-
beyond their ability to perform or afford, and that is
bands for entranceways and larger windows;
their frrst step down the path to ruin.
in others, husbands convincedtheir wives that
instead of food and clothing, what they really
needed was a new carriage just like Jacob's. Drlionus
ii In one way or another, every other house- the trend setter
h'. holder in the neighborhood tried to duplicate
someor all ofwhatJacob was doing. No matter
Dujonus has the ability to control mind,
but--man's nature being what it is-hardly
; whatJacob did, his neighbors tried to emulate
,F.' ever needsto use it. Usually he can accomplish
him, and as soon as they succeeded Jacob his goal by making illusions (snazzy clothes,
would go one step further. Families began fancy car, electric grapefruit slicer) of things
livingbeyond their means in orderto present a that make him better than his victim. and then
good appearance, and one by one they fell into that unfortunate's natural tendency to want
bankruptcy and were forced to move to less the same stufftakes over from there.
expensive housing.
A year after Jacob moved into the neighbor- Brains I False Friendliness L2
hood, his was the only house out ofdozens that Muscles 3 Handvman 6
still remained occupied; all the others were
vacant and in various stages ofdisrepair. The Moves 4 CockyStrut 7
day after his last neighbor moved away, Jacob Cool LZ Self-Confidence 15
rode off in his carriage and never returned.
Only after it was too late did the homeowners Power Control Mind
realize the futility of trying to keep up with Creature Feature (G)
Dujonus. To this day, throughout the civilized Make Illusion
world, peopleare still learning this lessonthe
hard wav. Goal: Create Envy
Tags: Physical, intelligent; average, ordinary
joe-with the most
"
Tobins Spirit Guide
Mari-Yvonne
Her full name was Mari-Yvonne Helary. Her eyes bulging, mouth open, tongue stuck out and
lifelong occupation, her one true love, was making distended. Theylooked as iftheyhadbeen strangled,
linen. She never ventured from her little seacoast but both bodies were unmarked. The Rojous were
cottage in southwestern France except to take her buriedhastily and without ceremony;no one needed
hnenlo market and buy what meager provisions she to be told that the cause of their deaths was quite
needed-including more fl ax fiber for spinning. When probably not natural.
she had enough thread, she took it to the village and Their possessionswere put up for auction, as was
had it woven into cloth. Then she reclaimed the the custom in the area, but no one bought anything.
woven material and frnished it. Even had man and wife died under less sinister-:.r
Flwen
What distinguished it from the work of other seeming circumstances, no one cared to bid on -the 1
enormous stack of linen found in a chest at the footrl
of the bed-because all of it was stained, frayed, andl'
full of worm-holes. ";,;.4
As so often happens with those who are robbed, r sl i
swindled, or otherwise treated unfairly aft,er their,, ...
death, the spirit ofMari-Yvonne rose from the glave "''
and will in atl litelitrood never be satisfied so that it
Many of the woman who tried and failed to emu- cangoto its final rest. As is alsotypical of suchcases,
late Mari-Yvonne's linen said (never to her, of course) the Jpirit's purpose is a gross perversion of what the
that Mari-Yvonne's skill was equaled only by her person
- stood for during her life.
obsessiveness;that although she seemed to prefer When the spirit of Mari-Yvonne shows itself-a
living alone, she also deserved that kind of life, very infrequent occurrence-it appearsjqthe iqage
becauseshe was not a normal woman. of an emaiiated corpse with tatters of dirty *ttit6
She became ill but continued to work, trimming cloth dangling from its body and extremities. Froct
andd finishinq
finishing flre
the most recent
recent batch of cloth she had its finger- it spews forth a jet of sticky, repglqlve-
brought
brouEht back from the weaver. When a neighbor
weaver. neigl smelling stuffof a putrid green or brown or yellow
discovered her three-days-dead corpse, all of the color. The stuffcan be cleaned with some difficulty
cloth she had in her possession had been neatly from skin and hair, but any garment or piece of cloth
pressed, folded, and stacked in her cupboard. that it touchesis irreparably soiled sothat it must be
The neighbor, Lenan Rojou, found Mari-Yvonne's discarded or burned.
body in bed. She had a rather kindly attitude toward Mari-Yvonne the woman was interested in noth-
the old woman and was accordingly quite upset to ing so much as whiteness and cleanliness; Mari-
find that Mari-Yvonne breathed no more. But her Yvonne the spirit is obsessedwith spreading frlth
sorrow was washed away by the flood of shock when and stench wherever it goes.
she opened the cupboard doors.
She rushed home to tell her husband, Goneri, Mari-Yvonne
what she had found. Her mention of Mari-Yvonne's spiritual spinner
death was made almost in passing-the linen was
Sometimes,instead of spewingslirtze,Mari-
more important, and she implored her husband to
Yvonne uses her poltergeist ability to accom-
come and carry it away for her.
plish the same objective: pulling a glob of
Goneri agreed to do so, but insisted that they
ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise out of a
leave enough to make a shroud for Mari-Yvonne's
hamburger and depositing it in her victim's
body. Lenan saw the merit in this (or so she said at
lap; grabbing a gob ofgrease from the engine
the time) and agreedto sew the shroud while Goneri
compartment of the car and smearing it on the
carted the remainder of the linen back to their
driver's seat.
cottage. When Goneri returned, he found his wife
fondling the swathe of linen he had left behind. Brains 5 Perfectionism
"Why use this beautiful piece of cloth to wrap
"Will Mari-Yvonne Cool Revenge
around a dead body?" she said.
not sleep just as well in a shroud made of her last Power Poltergeist (L)
bedclothes?"That was all it took for Goneri to be Slime
persuadedout ofhis earlier opinion.
Ecto-
SoMari-Yvonnewas laidto restin a shroud made presence 6
of her own linen-but linen that was wrinkled,
soiled and had the scent ofdeath about it' Goal: Soiled Cloth
Two weeks after Mari-Yvonne's body was buried, Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; corpsein dirty
Lenan and Goneri were found dead in their bed' tatters
Each of their faces was frozen in a mask of horror-
tlegeagle
The name is an innocuous one, but the spirit who not horribly frightened by his presence, then it is
Dossessesit is one of the most terrible, vengeful, quite possible that person will be struck dead on the
ihoroughly evil apparitions this world has ever spot. We make this inference because,in all of our
known. interviews and research, we have yet to encounter a
John Tregeagle was a corrupt magistrate in single person who claimed to have seen Tregeagle
Cornwall who, as near as we can determine, had no and not to have been utterly horrified. Thus, either
friends and desired none. He spent his life frghting such an event has never happened(unlikely, consid-
and revenging himself on his enemies, of which he ering the wide range of behavior and mentality
had many. His lust for vengeancewas sostrong that, among members of the human race), or when it has
according to quite reliable accounts, several years happened, the victim has not survived to tell about
Tregeagle'sdeath, the man's ghost appearedto it.
ifu against one of his old enemies at the court of Sometimes,for no reasonotherthanpure malevo-
in (a municipality in the county of Cornwall). lence, Tregeagle simply reaches out from the spirit
i Here occurred the mistake that loosedthe malig- world and takes a life on a whim. All of us are
t spirit of John Tregeagle upon the world-for familiar with stories of sudden, unexplainable
not only did the eourt permit the ghost to testifr, but deaths-the man in perfect health who keels over in
it turned out that the defendant was convictedon the the middle ofhis morning constitutional; the woman,
strength of Tregeagle's avowals, where otherwise likewise free of illness or infirmity, who closesher
the man would have been set free. Whether the court eyes to go to sleep one night and never wakes up
believed Tregeagle's testimony out of terror or be- again.
causeofthe substance ofthe words is unknown and I submit, with all due respect to the members of
ultimately immaterial. The important thing is that the medical community, that there is one cause of
F fregeagle was given credibility, and with credibility
came power.
death they will never be able to foreseeor identify, at nr
least not through their brand of scholarship. And
"-.
TYegeagle'sghost roams the world on a quest for that is death brought about by the wantonly evil act
vengeance.In particular, he has an insatiable hatred of a spirit-Tlegeagle or someother one that shares
for the descendants of the enemies he accumulated his disregard for earthly life.
duringhis life, but in general he doesnot hesitate to
wreak havoc and misery upon any individual so
luckless as to attract his attention.
Churchmen have exorcised Tregeagle on several
occasions,but rather than succeedingin banishing
him permanently from the material world, they
have only managed to stifle him temporarily by
chaining him to the completion of some never-end-
ing task. He has been compelled to empty a bottom-
less pool using a leaky bucket; to sweep the sands
from the British Channel into the Atlantic Ocean,
while they were continually being brought back to
their origin by the prevailing cunent; to catch a ray
oflight in a glassjar and keep it there for 24 hours.
On every occasionwhen he has been kept occupied
thusly, he has eventually succeededin breaking his
bondsaft,eryears oftoil-and then he is free to hiunt
again, even more vicious and vindictive than he had
beenbefore.
When Tregeagle makes himself visible, he ap-
pears as a skeletal, thoroughly evil-looking man
dressedonly in the shroud his body wore when it was
buried. When he manifests himself in this fashion,
he speaks to his victim and identifies himself by
lame. Anyone who doesnot give him the respect and
deferencehe demands-who doesnot let out ablood-
curdling shriek, drop into a faint, or run pell-mell in
the oppositedirection-may in all likelihood not live
tong enough to regret his or her indiscretion.
If someonehe visits professesto be, or actually is,
Tobins Spirit Guidc
Tregeagle 11
Brains I Persuasion
bad to the bone
Muscles 1 Death Grip
If Tregeagle picks on a victim with a lot of
CooI andfailstoterrorize him, the spirit might Moves Sneak Up From
set ansry enough to use his death grip talent" Behind
ildatchlhe vi ctim'sMusclesagainst Tregeagle's 10 Egotism 13
Cool
talent; ifTregeagle beats the victim ond rolls a
Ghost, the poor guy is a goner. The safest way Power Dematerialize Self
to keep Tregeagle from doing its dirty work on Terrorize (G)
a persbn is for the victim to pretend he's terri-
fied even when he's not. Tregeagle is so egotis- Goak Spread Terror and Death
tical that it almost always believes those who Tags: Physical, intelligent; skeleton wrapped
act really scared. in shroud, booming voice
,,.,ag&E f.*.";**r;.rFil+,-
Tobin's Spirit Gui.d.e
:
o
A
*
1
t t\
r
I very glib--when they open their mouths, dumb
things come out-and even a very stupid or
.,- Editot's Note very drunk pedestrian might not be fooled.
The years since Tobin conducted his re- Once a Spectral Voyager talks or forces
r search have seen an explosion in the number someoneinto his vehicle, he then tries topos-
e and variety of vehicles for hire. While some sessthat person. If the attempt succeeds,the
:l spectral voyagers still appear in clriving capes spirit occupies the body ofthat person until he
A and handsom cabs, it is not uncommon to hear or she managesto kidnap someother poor soul.
tales of phantom taxis, motor boats, or even Ifit fails, the passenger is dropped offa long
charter planes, depending upon one's location way from where he wanted to go.
and the availability of transportation. It would
e be no surprise to discover a spectral voyager Brains 6'r' Identiff Pigeon
v plyrng a Venetian Gondola or a rickshaw in Muscles l* Pull In Victim
t- Hong Kong.
Moves 4* Driving Dexterity
e
Cool 5t< Smooth Talker
h Ihe Spectral Voyager Creature Feature (G)
o
Power 5{'
dcstination: obliuion DematerializeSelf
o Possess
These spirits are all over the place, and
almost any is likely to differ somewhat from * variable
the average stats given below. Somedon't have
the Brains to spot an easy victim, and waste a Goak Kidnapping
lot gettingignored orturned down. (Then again, Tags: Physical, intelligent; dressescompletely
they have a lot of time to waste.) Others aren't in black, offers rides
Tobins Spirit Guide
W
Smithts Encounter 'shrewsbury Smith and His Amazing Adven-
"In London, I stayed overlong at the home of a
friend one evening-don't even ask, Tobin-and tures'-has a nice ring to it, eh?...Well, soit might
when I emerged, the night was dark and starry be a short book, but it'd be a good one!
"All right then, back to it. I'm more than half-
under a new moon. I could not find a cab in short
order, but the air was clear and the temperature way hom-ewhen a carriage turns the corner a few
not unpleasant, soI resolvedto walk the two miles lruidr in front of me. Everything about it was
or so to mY aPartment. Llack-a deep black that showed u,peven against
"Whenbne is not accustomed to traveling on the night. I gave way, having developeda nimble
foot, as I freely admit I am not, it canbe-refreshing shufffng sidestepjust -in for this purpose, and I kept
the coaJh visible the corner of my eye as I
to see the streets from a viewpoint of narrower
.: scope.I was not nervous' but still my eyes darted continued to walk in the opposite directio-n'
#t
",r;t.?
i.q to and fro-left, right, over my shoulder-for the
Durooseof taking in the details of my surround-
- --- ^f r^l-:--J- +U^ ,l^+-;1. ^f -., orrrnrrnt{-
all, could the vehicle have traveled a circuitous ful to remain polite but detached. A part of me
route covering several blocks, with me all the screamedout to be gone,to put as much distance
while moving away from it, and then once again between myselfand this mysterious coachmanas
happen to be directly in my path? As quickly as my my feet would allow. But a larger part ofme vowed
mind phrased the question at the time, another to seethis through. The man-ifthat was what he
part of my brain dismissed it and refused to was-did not seem inclined to force me physi-
struggle for an answer. Now I know that it had cally, and I felt that I could withstand any other
made that journey by means not available to form of persuasion he might bring to bear.
"For the first time, the driver moved something
normal horse-drawn coaches.It had... what's the
word?... materialized-Thank you, Tobin-in a other than his head. He took the reins in his right
spot so as to be able to encounter me again. hand and swept the left in the direction of the door
'The coachreached the intersection after I had of the coach. 'Transport to your destination,' he
passed through it by fifty paces or so, and the said,'free of charge.'
"For the blink of an eye, I considered taking
steady clopping of the horse's hooves turned to
follow along the path I had taken. I kept walking, him up on the offer, though I had less than half a
determined to be as oblivious to the coachman as mile to go. All things considered,particularly the
he had been to me, although I did make the events of the last frve minutes or so, I had had
prudent concessionof angling my path towards quite enough of the pedestrian way of life. But
'Thank you,
the side ofthe street. then reason surfaced, and prevailed.
"In the next two minutes I learned something 'I
no,'I said. haven't far to go.'
"I waited for what seemedan eternity for the
about myself that I had never had occasion to
discover before. I knew, without being able to driver to offer a response that would spell the end
attach a reason to the feeling, that I was in grave of this odd episode.In reality, it must have been
danger. And through the peril, despite it, I stayed only a secondortwo.'Soyou say,'the manreplied'
calm andcomposed,possessedofnoweapons save Then he teased the reins, and the horse set offat
my rationality. And my rationality told me that to a walk. I remained standing, watching, until the
panic and run would do me more ill than good- coachturned at the next cross-street and, within
if not physical harm, then the worse hurt of secondsthereafter, the sounds ofits hooves and
always knowing that I had been presented with rims against the pavement wds no longer audible.
"It took me a while to get to sleep that night, but
my moment oftruth... and I had run away from it,
trembling and whimpering as a child does when when I awoke the incident had passed from my
he escapesfrom the neighborhood bully-boy. mind-or so I thought. In the next evening's
"The coachcame closer, and the closer it came, newspaper I was alarmed, but not completely
the slower it moved. It took enormous force of will surprised, to read that two personshad seemingly
for me to keep my pace steady, my eyesforward. disappeared right offthe streets of London the
As the coachdrew alongsideme, I turned my head previous night. A man was last seen staggering
toward it and continued to walk. So much for out the door ofhis favorite pub, but never reached
being oblivious-but then again, the driver had his home six blocks away. A woman dashed from
obviously noticed me, soit was only polite to recip- her apartment, late for work, and failed to report
rocate. Perhaps he needs directions, I thought to for duty as a barmaid at a nearby tavern. Both
myself. Still mindful of my manners, I stopped- incidents took place in the same neighborhood
at precisely the instant that the front wheels of through which I had walked.
"Being a conscientious citizen, I contacted the
the coach drew even with my progress.
"Emboldened, with an attitude that verged on police to tell them about the mysterious coach-
devil-may-care, I turned further towards the man. Theywere polite and attentive, but as far as
driver, gave a slight bow, and asked with all due I know never drew a connectionbetweenthe man
'Can't be a crime
civility, 'May I be of service?' in black and the disappearances.
"The driver was still facing forward as I said without a body,'a lieutenant told me-a rather
'If,s a big city,'
that, but then, as ifon cue, he turned his head simplistic point of view, I thought.
down and to his left toward me, and, from the he feltbehooved to add.'People are pickin'up and
visage still shrouded by collar and hat, a voice leavin' all the time; we ean't be keepin'track o'
issued forth: tlay,'he said, in a tone that seemed them as doesn't want to be found.'
"I nodded,thanked the of;frcerfor his time, and
somehow expressionlessand considerate at the
same time. 'But I may serve, if it please.' took my leave. To this day I've never seen the
"I thought I knew what was coming, but I black coach again-but then, I've not made a
replied nonetheless.'In what way?'I asked, care- habit of strolling the streets after dark, either."
Tobins Spirit Guidc
The Sexton
This is a spirit that believes (to paraphrase The The Sexton
Bard) that all the world's a grave, and the ultimate just filling in
purpose of any personis tofill ahole-withhis orher The Sexton first tries topossessa victim, and
own body. if that doesn't work he uses terrorize to make
If a person digs a hole in the ground for any the victim freeze in his tracks-so that the
reason, such action attracts the notice ofThe Sexton
&
spirit can use his shouel bash to knock the
if the spirit is in the vicinity. The spirit wants the target into the hole. Speed shoueling allows
hole fiIled in, but the entity is not without patience; The Sexton to move the dirt piled up around a
it can wait a day or two until appearing in physical hole back into that hole faster than you can say
form before the person who did the digging.
'..,::.:.., "antiexcavationism" 10 times.
;.; The Sexton manifests itself as a frail man dressed
f
i',." i
. in a black suit, with a shock of snow-white hair atop
,its head. It beckons to the digger, entrances the
ircrson, and compelshim or her to follow The Sexton
to the grave site, whereupon the spirit materializes
Brains
Muscles 4
Moves
2 Identifr Digger
Shovel Bash
Speed Shoveling
L -*n.
a shovel, knocks the offender into the hole, and fills Cool Patience
tit, the excavation with dirt.
Power Dematerialize Object
Dematerialize Self
Possess
The Farmet's Solution Terrorize
There is oneway to foil The Sexton, a method
that was accidentally stumbled upon by a soli- Goak Leave No Hole Unfilled
tary farmer. One ofhis three cowstook sick and Tags: Physical, intelligent; frail body, old fash-
appeared to be on the verge ofdeath. Thinking ioned black suit, white hair
ahead, he dug a shallow grave and meant to
bury the animal as soonas it expired sothat the
corpse would not infect the other cows. He
realized that not all the dirt he had excavated
would fit back into the hole when the cow was
put within. So, proud ofhimself for his ingenu-
ity, he took away a volume of earth roughly
equal to that ofthe body ofthe cow and used it
to re-cover the floor ofhis cabin.
A day went by, then two, then a week, and
still the cow survived-not only survived, but
seemedto recover.
The next day he was visited by some pil-
grims, who were quite upset to discover what
"Know ye not of
was obviously an open grave.
The Sexton?"they asked.The farmer shook his
head in confusion.After the pilgrims explained
to him about the spirit, the farmer told them
the story of the cow that didn't die.
And thus it becameknown that if a grave is
dug, but a significant amount of the looseearth
is promptly taken away from the site, The
Sexton can be thereby thwarted. The spirit is
left with a dilemma: in order to fill the pre-
existing hole,The Sextonwould be forcedto dig
somefresh earth of its own-and then that new
hole, by virtue of its own stricture, would need
to be filled by the body of The Sexton. Since a
spirit cannot harm itself (a universal charac-
teristic only humans seemto violate), the hole
remains a hole, and The Sexton is obliged to
find another venue for its dirtv deed.
'..tta-t"'l'i l* -
.
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Nuckelavee
distance is the size ofits head-three feet in diame-
ter, perched atop a massive set of shoulders. The
An Addendum head rocks from side to side on the shoulders, as
by the Author's Friend though it is not attached to them but is rolling back
Smith here-Shrewsbury Smith, that is... at and forbh between the clavicles.
your service. And I do indeed have a great As the thing approaches closer, an observant
service to perform with regard to the monster viewer may see that the horse-body has flippers
known as Nuckelavee. instead of hooves-an anatomical grotesquery that
When my colleague Tobin entrusted me to doesnot seem to prevent the creature from moving
deliver the finished manuscript of this book overland with goodspeed-and extremely long arms.
, safely to the publisher, he had no doubt that I The features of its face are gruesome to behold: a
',,
would perform the task unfailingly. What he single red eye in the middle of the forehead, and a
r:could not have known is the fact which I now giant, gaping, slavering mouth that easily opens to
lr relate to you-and to him, when he browses accommodatethe head of a normal man.
this entry at sometime subsequent to printing And then comes the most spine-chilling revela-
and binding: I have added some words of my tion of all: the man-body of Nuckelavee has no skin!
own to what he set down about this monster. The outer surface ofthe head, torso, and arms is raw
I am convincedthat I have discovereda way red flesh, resembling nothing somuch as freshly cut
to thwart Nuckelavee, and I cannot in good beefin a slaughterhouse. Blood ofa darker red color
consciencelet Tobin's essayon this creature be (some say it is black) can be seen pulsing through
printed before amending it with the following translucent yellow veins and arteries, and grayish-
paragraph. white sinew is visible in the placeswhere it occursin '
Nuckelavee can be satisfied by Siving it human anatomy. Even if Nuckelavee wete"only" at'.l$
skin. It doesn't have to be your own skin, man in all other respects,this absenceof epidermis
although in a pinch this will suffice. You can alone would make the creature a horriffing sight.
give it the peelings of a potato, the rind of a The flipper-feet of the horse-body can move si-
lemon, a shoe or a leather jacket-any sort of Iently if Nuckelavee sodesires,enabling the thing to
skin will do. The monster doesn't care to wear surprise an intended victim. It rarely approaches
the skin, only to keep it from being worn by from behind, however, apparently preferring to bring
someoneor something else. I imagine that the tenor upon its quarry gradually.
creature thinks that if it has to go through Ifthe victim is shockedenough orbrave enough or
eternity without skin, then all other things stupid enoughto stand his ground while Nuckelavee
should be skinless as well. closes to arm's length, the monster unleashes an
There-now I've done it, for better or worse. attack that no one can withstand: its breath.
Tobin may never forgive me for going behind The odor that it can expel from its mouth at will
his back, especially as I have taken advantage gives new meaning to the word "noxious." Even the
of the opportunity he unwittingly afforded me most insensitive nose is assailed by the smell, and
to set down a theory (although I consider it virtually any person turns and flees rather than
more than that) with which he vehemently continue to subject himselfto the stench. It has often
disagrees. Ifit turns out that I am right, and been likened to the smell of a decayingcorpse,while
the information I have just imparted saves others (who probably had not been exposedto that
only one person from the horror ofNuckelavee, particular smell) describe it simply as the odor of
then the loss of my friendship with John will something rotten or dead.
have been a small price to pay. Nuckelavee's purpose seemsto be to extract ter-
ror from its victim, as though it somehowthrives on
emanations of horror. (My colleague Shrewsbury
A textual description ofthis spirit's appearance Smith has a different theory concerning what Nuck-
cannot possibly do it justice. As we were told by elavee is after, but, with all due respect to him, the
many of the eyewitnesseswith whom we spoke,the idea is so preposterousthat I cannot bring myself to
only way to really know what Nuckelavee looks like even mention it.) If the victim turns and runs-and
is to encounter the thing-and in the next breath, this is almost impossible not to do-Nuckelavee
they tell us the knowledge is not worth what it takes chaseshim. its mouth twisted into a semblanceof a
to find it out. The spirit always appears at night, and smile. The pursuit continues until the victim passes
seems at first sight to be a man-shape astride a out from exhaustion (an unconsciousperson cannot
horse.Someviewers insist that the man's body and be terrified), acquires serious (or even mortal!) in-
the horse'sare somehowwelded together.The most jury during flight, or flees across a body of fresh
striking aspect of the man-shape as seen from a water that Nuckelavee cannot circumvent.
This last point is a very interesting aspect of holding a hose or a squirt gun, and he's quick
Nuckelavee'Jnature. For a reason that we are still enough and lucky enough to shoot a stream of
tryrng to ascertain, the monster cannot abide fresh watei right into its face.Maybe a blast of fresh-
water and does anything to keep from coming into watermouthwashisjust what this spirit needs.
contact with it. Brains 3 Horsemanship
Nuckelavee Muscles 4 Lung Power
looks bad, srnells worse Moves Tailgate Target
Nuckelavee is so afraid of water that it's Cool 13 Fear of Water
practically impossible for it not to notice, and
do anything to avoid, even the smallest trickle, Power Dematerialize Self
puddle, or spray. Sunbathers don't have to Incredibly Bad Breath
"skin," since Nuck- Terrorize
wony about losing their ,,; ' ...L::.
breath. A victim might be able to do the world Tags: Physical, intelligent; baaaad breath, no
a big favor if he runs acrossNuckelavee while skin, swelled head
Samhain
centuries the spirit has preferred to perform its wo*,r i
Samhain is a powerful and thoroughly malevo-
lent spirit, rumored to be the purest manifestation of invisibly, sometimes acting through agents that it
the evils associated with All Hallow's Eve, or Hal- possessesor compels to do its bidding.
loween in the United States. The spirit of legend is
a goblin lord of incredible po\Mer,able and quite Samhain
willing to wreak havoc and spread misery on a truly trickery is no treat
horrific scaleduring the few hours eachyear when it
With its talent of anticipation, it is almost
manifests itself in our earthly realm.
always in the right place at the right time (from
It is widely agreed that Samhain can only appear
its point of view), and its victim cannot out-
from sunset onAll Hallow's Eve, October 31st on the
guess it or avoid it. Samhain is very cunning,
modern calendar, to sunrise on All Hallow's Day,
wtrictr means that (in its ectoplasmic form) it
November lst. No records we know of ever reported
nearly always succeedsin making the victim
an encounter with the goblin at any other time' For
think that someone or something else is re-
this, at least, we can be thankful.
sponsiblefor the vandalism, trickery, or crimi-
Folklore from the early Middle Ages suggestthat
nal activity that the goblin instigates.
Samhain may have had an existence as a Celtic
god-and before that, a similar entity appears in Brains 8 11
pictographs dating as far back as ancient Phoenicia.
Cool Cunning
Both Celtic and Phoenician spirits were known to
cause mischief and grief in their night abroad, and Power t0 Control Mind
both were held at bay by fire. Flight
In Celtic times the custom became that a family Materialize
left sweets on the porch for the goblin and its follow- Possess
ers to appeasetheir appetites. Then the frightened Teleport
folk removed a safe distance and huddled'round a Terrorize
bonfire all the night through, stoking the flames so
Ecto-
that the spirits could not approach' presence t7
From these traditions have grown the practices of
dressing youngsters up in costume and taking them Weakness: Power reduced one point every
"Trick or
begging from door to door. The traditional round by bright light
Treat?" stems from the very real possibility that Goal: Horror on Halloween
Samhain might choosethe latter if the sweetsnot be
sweet enough. Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; pumpkin head,
No verifred sightings of Samhain have been re- bad attitude
corded since 1412, indicating that for the last five
Tobin's Spirit Guide
,I)eath's Messengers
Grimrn's Household Tales is a delightful and long as someoneknows what signs to look for. One
interesting book, full of tales that run the gamut other fact is irrefutable: no matter how many times
. from fanciful to frightening, from frivolous to fac- its messengers are repelled or ignored, Death can
tual. One of the most frightening stories in the only be postponed. It can never be prevented'
volume, and one which is also arguably taken from In practically every culture in which the entity is
fact, concerns the spiritual phenomena known col- personified, Death is portrayed-quite correctly, it
,.lectively as Death's Messengers. would seem-as impartial and uncaring. It can, and
Medical sciencesupporbsthe study offolklore and does, take infants as well as octogenarians. It can
antiquities on this signifrcant point: Death most strike down a healthy person with shocking sudden-
.often does not comeunannounced or unforeseen, so ness.or it can take someonewho has lain ill and abed
for years, someonefor whom death might actually be
a blessing.
And therein lies the key to understanding how
iRetold From Grimm Death's Messengers chooseto conduct themselves.
In addition to the physical maladies they cause
One day, so the tale goes,Death was bested directly, the messengers savor every opp-ortunity
in a battle with a mighty giant and left weak- they can get to torment a victim with fear and
ened and suffering by the side ofthe road. A anxiety. Their most favorite targets are those people
young man passedby the spot soon afterward
who know them for what they are, the people who
and restored Death to full vigor with a draught are sure that a stabbing pain or an episode of
from his flask. delirium is a sign that Death is on its way. In fact,
Death, being as grateful as Death can be,
Death maynot chooseto take aperson soafflictedfor
revealed its identity to the man and made him many months or years-but in the meantime , Death's ,,,
a promise: "I spare no one, and can make no Messengerswill have a sadisticallyjolly time tortur-
'
exception with thee; but that thou mayst see ing that person over and over again. A sliver of
that I am grateful, I promise thee that I will not anxiety and apprehension becomesa crack, then a
fall on thee unexpectedly, but will send my crevice, then a chasm as the messenger makes
messengersto thee before I take thee away." repeatedvisits and its poor victim becomesmore and
The man expectednothing for his help, and
more morose, pessimistic, and withdrawn.
so was quite happy to receive this boon. He The messengers are Pain, Dizziness, Delirium,
went away and lived the rest ofhis life knowing Discomfort, Numbness, and Torpor. They may visit
that he never neededto fear that an illness or
a victim singly or in any combination, except that
injury would be fatal, so long as Death's Mes-
Pain and Torpor do not usually consort together,
sengersdid not appear beforehim. He grew old
becauseone tends to offset the effect ofthe other-
and suffered many bouts of sicknessand other
but when they do visit at the same time, the cumu-
maladies, but recovered and was looking for-
lative effect can be more torturous than the most
ward to an even longer life.
vicious punishment that one man can inflict upon
Then one day Death tapped him on the
another: imagine, if you can, feeling excruciating
shoulder and told him that his time had come. pain while being unconscious and helpless to do
The man was confused and felt betrayed. He
anything to alleviate it.
argued that he should not die, becauseDeath
The messengersare usually invisible' Delirium is
had not kept its promise.
"Have I not sent one messengerto thee after never visible, but its presenceservesas a catalyst for
any or all of the other messengers to show them-
another?" Death replied. "Did not fever come
selvesifthey sodesire. It attacks the sensorymecha-
and smite thee, and shake thee, and cast thee
nisms and the brain directly, causing the victim to
down? Has dizziness not bewildered thy head?
see or hear or smell things that don't really exist-
Has not gout twitched thee in all thy limbs? Did
except in his mind.
not thine ears sing? Did not toothache bite into Pain takes whatever visual form most closely
thy cheeks?Was it not dark before thine eyes?
correspondsto the kind ofhurt the victim is suffer-
And besides all that, has not my own brother ing: a ball of flame for a burning sensation, a bloody
Sleep reminded thee every night of me? Didst dagger or knife for a stabbing pain, a body being
thou not lie by night as if thou wert already
crushed by an enorlnous weight to simulate a dull
dead?"
and persistent ache.
To all of that, the man was speechless-not Dizziness is an amorphous form that swirls and
that any protests would have made a differ- pulses sickeningly, making the viewer disoriented
ence. He acceptedhis fate, and Death led him
and nauseous.
away.
Discomfort may appear as large weights tied to
the victim's wrists. If the subject is instead afllicted
.,;;,:
....
," ....*ryfflffr"t w-
Tobins Spirit Guide
SpiRits of
f t F f
rlir L
EasrteR
ERN
op€
Serbia
Georgia
Poland
Russia
Hungary
r4-wryryry
The Fool
If someonehas not said it before,then let me: A The Legend of the Fool
fool who knows nothing is not as much a fool as one A man toiled long and hard and becamedis-
who cannot make proper use of his knowledge. gruntled because, for all his effort, he never
The ethereal entity who best exemplifres the iose out ofpoverty. One day he decidedto seek
truth of that adage is called, aptly enough, The out God to lodge a complaint and ask a favor, so
Fool-capital letters intentional, becausethis spirit that his life might imProve'
is truly one of a kind. On the way he met a hungry wolf, who be-
The most oft-repeated tale describing this spirit seechedhim to carly a complaint to God. The
comesfrom the old Kingdom ofArmenia. What could wolf had searched day and night for food and
have been a wonderful successstory turns out to be found nothing; rvhat was the creature to do?
the opposite...becausethe hero is an utter Then he came across a beautiful maid, who
also had a complaint. She was young and fair
rlt is the spirit of that man, or a spirit with nearly and rich, but still unhappy' Would God help
;icalqualities, that haunts our world to this day. her to be happy?
as was the man in the story, he is a helpful and Finally he ihanced upon a tree, dried up and
:kind
'benefrt
individual, willing to go out of his way for the dying evLn though it stood on the bank of a
of others. He alone could do much to better river. The tree asked the man to inquire of God
the reputation of all ethereal entities". if only he how long it must suffer, and the man promised
weren't such a Fool. that he would relaY the comPlaint'
If he appears, it is in the guise of a person his When the man found God beneath the ledge
victim has never seenbefore. He introduces himself of a cliff, he got a wonderful and warm recep-
and does his best to befriend the victim, as long as tion. God listened patiently to the man's com-
"I give you the Gift of
that person is receptive to him. Ifhis target is hostile plaint and then said,
or even standoffish, he politely excuseshimself and Luck. Go frnd it and enjoy it always."
goes
- away, and the victim never seeshim again.__ The man was quite grateful, but he did not
He (or she, ifthe spirit takes female form) is really rush offuntil he had recited the complaints of
quite a personable sort, easy to be attracted to on a the wolf, the maiden, and the tree. God gave
platonic level. If the victim allows The Fool to strike answers to all three, and the man resolved to
up a conversation, he sooneror later makes mention pass on what he had been told.
ofagteat secretthathe knows and is willingto share On his way back home, he passed the tree
with a good person such as his companion. and explained it could not thrive becausea pot
A great many folk, especially the innately skepti- -"Digwas buried beneath it, choking
of gold its roots.
"You will be
cal ones, shy away at this point, either becausethey it up, then," said the tree.
suspecttheir newfound friend is leading up to some rich, and I will be able to drink."
kind of swindle or becausethey are wondering if he "Oh, no," said the man. "God has given me
is escapedfrom somenearby hospital for the insane' the Gift of Luck, and I must hurry home to
Neither is the case.The Fool is kind-hearted and search for it."
as sane as you or I, but The Fool is incredibly stupid. When he met the beautiful maid again, he
He knows a multitude of amazing facts about the assuredher that God said she would soonmeet
world we live in, has some astounding powers, and a kind man who would make her haPPY.
is willing to share his knowledge-but he invariably 'You are such a man," she said. "Stay as my
expresseshimselfin a way that makes his assertions companion." But the man gave her the answer
seem like lies or impossibilities. he hid given the tree, and hastened on.
Our research on this spirit was as enjoyable as it The wolfwas waiting for him, by now nearly
was interesting. It did not involve poring through 'TVhere have you been all this time?"
starved.
dusty books, tiptoeing down dark corridors, or sit- The man explained about being delayed by
ting alone all night in the middle of a graveyard. the beautiful maid and the tree, and related the
What it did involve was frequenting taverns and responsesto their complaints. Then the wolf
other gathering places in all the venues we have asked what God had to saYto it.
visitedl takinglo the patrons (often with the aid of "God said you would stay hungry until you
interpreters), and asking them to share-in return met a foolistr man whom you could eat," said
for a drink or two-any weird experiences they "Then will your hunger be satisfied'"
the man.
might have had with friendly strangers who seemed' The wolf thought for a second about"Where every-
shall we say, unbalanced. thing the man had told it. Then it said,
Of course,we were flim-flammed more often than will I ever meet a man more foolish than you?"
i- we were told the truth (some folk will say anything And then it ate uP the fool.
!r'to get their mugs filled), but it was fairly easyto sort
,
Tobin's Spirit Guidc
rlii
llff'
Tobin'sSpirit Guide
Gozer in England
Hawthorne Bent, another fanatical Gozer human form, the demon KeSrmaster took the
worshipper, founded the Alnwick Schoolin 1871. horse's body.-It was the possessedClydesdale,
The-ruins of Alnwick can still be seen rising then, that burst through the doors ofthe assembly
from the English moors today. Their most strik- room and demandedin avoicehoarsefrom centu-
"Where is the Gatekeeper?"
ing feature ii the odd, pyramid-like shape of the ries of silence,
roof of one of the buildings. One also notices the It searched the room with fiery eyes' No one
strange stone arch that is the entrance to the spokeuntil youngAlan Childress, a sixth-former
ruined school grounds. On one side of the arch r*id to have done the best impression of the
crouches a large stone statue of a deformed dog. schoolmaster, hit on an idea. In a near-perfect
The other side of the arch is empty, making for a imitation of i{awthorne Bent, young Childress
"Here I am-I am the Gatekeeper'"
curiously unbalanced structure. answered,
The school was a front for a Gozerian cult' The demon-horse spun its head around, per-
Statements which the poor students made to haps looking for the sourceof that adult-sounding
"Are you the Gatekeeper?" it rasped me-
investigating ofEcers,as recorded in county cogrt voile.
records. indicate that Bent trained each of his chanically at the stunned Bent.
"No, ni," Bent stammered. "Zuul is. If you wait
chargesin the sinister practices of Gozerworship.
Finally,in 1878,Bentwasready. He assembled 'natientlv. please, we will summon him'"
the students in the building with the oddly shaped But Vinsclortho remained fixated on the voice
'\oware the Gatekeeper! I am the
roof, and he began the ritual of summoning. he had heard.
Until this m-oment in history, it was thought Keymaster!" the horse bugled as it leapt towards
oncethe ritual was begun, destruction must surely Bent. The schoolmaster ran screamrng.
follow. The courageof a schoolboyandthe stupid- Neither Bent nor the horse was ever seen
ity of the minion Vinsclortho would prove that again, but several Border farmers reported see-
long-held belief wrong. irig the running figure of a man pursued by a
Eent's arcane ritual woke Vinsclortho first. holse with strange, glowing eyes. Bent never
The boys'accounts becomeconfusedhere; events completed the summoning ritual, Vinsclortho
are difficult to reconstruct. Vinsclortho must have neu"r met with Zuul, and becauseof the ingenu-
galloped past an old plow-horse that the school itv and courageofyoung Mr. Childress, Gozer the
keptbn the grounds, and rather than possessa dzerian walnot allowed to walk the Earth'
--=-_-.- -.-.-
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Baba Yaga
Tales of witches abound in practically every cul- the hut and rotate it so as to face any direction she
ture extant on this planet; the word, and what it desires.The sectionsofthe hut are held together by
means in general, should not be unfamiliar. In dismembered human hands. In place of a latch on
q.. Western civilization, the term brings to mind a the door is a mouthful of sharp teeth, such that
typical and almost universal image: a horribly ugly anyone who tries to enter the hut without Baba
cione who dressesin black, rides acrossthe sky, and Ya"ga'sconsent will have his hand severed at the
(when she is not tormenting mortals) spendsmuch wri"st.The inside of her hut is as large or as small as
of her time stirring the odious and probably poison- she choosesto make it, regardless of what it looks
like from the outside. "
ous contents of her kettle' waiting '
Baba Yaga doesnot remain inside her hut 1
Without meaning to give short shrift to these evil
;- and fairly powerful spirits, we must now advise the for people io .o-u to her, altho-ugh she can compel
'1,
reader that he will find no more about so-called "o-"ottu to do so if she desires. She enjoys traveling
-..."ordinarywitches" in these pages.What we purport through the surrounding area-looking for victims,
' o. toti"ti*"s just taking perverse pleasure in show*
to do here is describefft.ewitch of all witches, the one
who embodies all the worst qualities of every witch ing herself and frightening someoneto d-eath(per-
and at the same time is unique unto herself. hips titerally). When she travels overland, she does
That witch is the terrible Baba Yaga, who for so'by sitting inside a giant iron kettle that makes
centuries has made life miserable for people in the awful clanging and booming noises as it bumps
gteat land of Russia. During all but the last few along. Whei slie wants to fly, she sits in a mortar and
years of this time, Russia has chosento remain more ptop""l. herself through th9 ail wi!!r a pestle' There
or less isolated from the Western world-a situation """-" to be no limit to the kinds of impossible tasks
with which Westerners, by and large, were more she can accomplish if she puts her mind to it; -she
than happy to live. Now, sincethe Great War and the appears to be bound by none of the physical or
events ioincidental with it that have occurred in .ruiural laws that dictate what we mortals can and
that country, Russia is more and more showing signs cannot do. One of her favorite bits of cruelty is to
of becoming interested in exerting influence upon, recruit or kidnap someoneto help her tend to chores
around the hut. She gives commands such as "Wet
and being influenced by, the other countries ofthe "Take this
world. As an unfortunate byproduct ofthis process' the firewood before you ignite it" and
sieve and fetch water for my bath." The poor pris-
it is entirely possible that Baba Yaga too will seefit
to venture forth and exert her influence on innocent oner, of course, is unable to do these things-,where-
Europeans who have never heard ofher before. upon Baba Yaga (depending on-her mood) either
This passage,then, is first and foremost a warn- flies into a rage or caikles merrily and proceedsto
ing. As ofthis writing, we have no proof that she has demonstrate that-for her-it is quite easy to set
invaded our culture or is about to do so.But we dare frre to drenched wood or carry water in a sieve'
not assumethat such a thing will not happen. Where For all of her power, Baba Yaga has three weak-
BabaYagais concerned,itis besttotake no chances. nessesthat prevent her from being more of a force in
Baba Yaga, known in some Russian tales as old the world than she actually is. First, she is unable to
Bony-Shanls, appears as an impossibly emaciated, enter or travel on the surface ofa naturally occur-
unt[inkably ugly old woman. Imagine the ugliest ring body ofwater, and soit is possibleto escapefrom
person you have ever seen, and then imagle some- heiby diving into a lake or leaping across a stream' :
one who makes that person look like Venus or Se'cond,rn-oreoften than not she prefers to take a
Adonis, and you will have approached an idea of prisoner rather than killing a victim outright-so
what Baba Yaga looks like. ihat, from the prisoner's point of view, while there is
The witch, also known as The Devourer, has iron life there is hope.As attested to by the large number
teeth set inside a mouth that can, if shedesires,open of Baba Yaga stories in Russian literature' many
wide enoughto ingest half a human being in onebite ' peoplehave encounteredthe Devourer and survived
(She mishtbe capible ofswallowing a personwhole, to tell about it.
but apparently prefers the pleasure ofsav,oring her Third, she is extremely dull-witted and can be
meal by chomping on portions instead of eating a outsmarted rather easily. For instance, she would
not notice if the firewood had been dampened with
person all at once.)She is said to have a specialtaste "help-ers"
lamp oil instead of water; and if one ofhgr
for young children.
She lives in a small thatched hut that would be did succeedin carrying water in a sieve,it would not
unimpressive in itself, were it not forthe trappings- occur to her to examine the sieve and discover that
that adorn it. Around the hut is a fence made of the outside ofit had been coated with grease' In this
human bones; the fencepoststhemselves are skele- respect she is almost a comical character, becausein
;:, tons. The hut rests on a pair of enormous chicken *ul"V tales her potential for stupidity seems to
,: feet that can, upon Baba Yaga's command, elevate exceedeven her Penchant for evil.
'itil
, *gry\ffiru
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Baba Yaga
Editot's Note the worst witch of all
We may never know whether Prof. Tobin The list ofspecial abilities below coversmost
compiled any hard information on Baba Yaga. of what Baba Yaga can or will do, but she's
What we do know is that Baba Yaga is (to use actually even more versatile. If she wants to do
the terms very loosely) alive and well. Some- something magical or ghostly that's not on this
how she got acrossthe Atlantic and set up shop list, she can do it with a Power of 5. This
in the United States. She's apparently just as versatility is in line with her goal, which is to do
dumb as ever, but she's also pretty adaptable. anything she wants to do any time she wants to
Instead ofbopping around in a kettle, she do it. She will get her own way, one way or
drives a Maserati. Instead ofbeing an ugly old another, and she doesn't care who she ruins or
lady, she'sa blonde with a body that won't quit. rips off in the process. A lot of people in the
Her hut is now a town house on Park Avenue. world have this same goal-but there's only
't:: She can still get anything she wants, only one Baba Yaga. Fortunately.
*.::.
r,,now she doesit differently. Instead of combing Brains 3 Beauty Secrets
the countryside for a victim, all she has to do is
*Y,*:, sashay into a singles bar. Instead of taking
peopleapart physically, shebreaksthem down
Muscles Monstrous Mouth
11
Moves Drive Vehicle
in otherways. ("I've always wanted a diamond
necklace exactly like that one. You can afford Cool 18 Stay Dry 2L
it, can't you? For me...?")She still forces people Power 15 Control Mind
to perform difficult or impossible tasks, only Creature Feature (G)
now they don't have anything to do with fire- Make Illusion
wood or sieves. ("Sweetheart, that man over Materialize
there is looking at me funny. No matter how big Murphy
he is, I'm sure you aren't going to let him get Poltergeist
away with that.") If you suspect that you're in
the presence ofold Bony-Shanks herself, you Goah Instant Gratifi cation
want to know for sure, and you feel like living Tags: Physical, intelligent; whatever gets the
dangerously, try inviting her to take an ocean job done
cruise with you, or to go to a pool party, or to
spend a day at the beach. She might just
decline and suggest something different--but
if she thinks you're on to her, then you've got
Trouble with a capital T.
E '"""r*'t*tffr.
-?4ry*.*
Eshmahkie
Charles Caleb Colton, nearly a century ago,wrote
"Imitation is the sincerest flattery'" From that
that
remark alone, we may infer two things about Mr.
Colton: one, that he had never been to Russia; and
two, that he had never been visited by an Esh-
mahkie. The Eshmahkie imitates, but certainly does
not flatter. It annoys, it embarrasses, it torments'
Earliest reports of this spirit entity come mostly
from Russiarlore-which is not surprising in light
ofthe character ofthose people' They do not laugh
.. often; they certainly do not laugh at themselves.
This makes the Russian an ideal target for an Esh-
Massachusetts
Connecticut
New Hampshire
New York
Rhode Island
Tobin's Spirit Guide
o begin this section of the book, a confession: Englandl was making plans-in my headfor areturn
Whin I begancompiling information to go be' utlt. tn fact, I hope-to go back shortly-aft'er this
tween theie coueri, I did not intend for any of iinuscript is cornpleted,and this time l.will rnake
my way farther we it. I haue heard astonishing thing s
the pages to be taken up with splriQ of American
irt[tn. t sctreduleda brief trip to the former colonies, aiout"th.e city of Detroit, where it is said that they
purposeof confirm.inga suspicionof iurn out *oior"orc the way our bakersproduce hot
ioitn" etcpress
'mine, crossbuns. Surely sornekind of supernatural entity
in
thit someof the spirits who fi'rst enxerged
Britain and on the Continenthad somehow made m.ustbe at work there!
I can hard'ly wait to uisit Chicago and conduct
their way acrossthe Atlantic.
Whei I amiued in the Ilnited States and began sorne on-site iesearch into the cause of that city's
making my usual inquiries, I was gratified to dis- Ereat fire. How can o,nyonesupposethat a cow ulas
-responsible
*!: ":,:ut,
ihat my suspicion
;-,,couer for all that destruction?
I aiso
_l,Yr^f!:?^:"",Y
that in therelatiuelybrief time Uy itinerary will certainly also in-clu.de New Or'
iirprisn, fiund more than casually interested in
ias beenpart of the ciuilized world, leoni, because-I arn
'bmel*"rica
-thit
the original cause ofthe unearthly-cacoph-
spirit-typesunique to that culture had mani- iiploring
bir"t. Yn"-t follows are.descriptionsof iin "oltZd' io"".Vhi" stvle of music----andI use the
'iiiii
fustedih"* teim loosely---+ould not hauebeencreatedby a human
tn"t I found' to be the most intriguing, and^
about which' I could garner a decentamount of ieing, or it leastnot by one who was in control of his
information during my all-too'brief sojourn&cross faculties.
'
the sea. itt indced, we haue much Ieft to learn about
I was obliged.to leaue the United Statesto fulfill Aierica. Let what follows, then, serueas a sarnpling
other commiirnents that could not bepostponed,but to whet your appetite, with the prospect of a rnain
euen as I boarded the ship for the uoyage back to courseYet to come.
Captain Lightfoot
No professional or habitual criminal ever goesto sting of the lash. However, unbeknownst to him
the grave feeling as though his life's work has been ;;lii th" end of his trial, a statute had just recently
accolmplished.There is always one more bank to be lu"" """.t"d which made highway robbery a capital
robbed-.onemore victim to be assaultedor swindled" ' ""i-". The court, eager to make an example ofthe
always one deed that goesundone, for lack of time or first criminal convictld under the new law-and an
opportunity-but certainly nevgr for lack of desire' itrf.rnoot one at that!-decreed that the execution
Inihis respect, the infamous highwayman known as should take place with all due speed'
--b"ptti"
Captain Lightfoot is no different from his unsavory l,lghtfoot, no longe-rsbUght ofheart or of
fooi, did whaia man faced with certain death might
cohorts. But there is one aspectof Captain Lightfoot
that sets him apart from all the villains who have l" "i p".t"a to do: he tried to escape-and, remarka-
jail
come before and since: tfy,-ii"-u"t"ally succeededin getling free of the
Captain Lightfoot, whose given name was Mi- before
"-ih;;;;6ubeing recaPtured.
chael'Martin, was the first person in the United *ut the last criminal act of Michael
States sentenced to death for the crime of highway tVtartint -o"tul life. Thereafter he was chained to
robbery. ifr" lt"t of his cell until the day appointed for the
he
As ii turns out, Martin (and the world at large) .."tyi"g ""t ofhis sentence.Reports indicate that
.ii-b"ithe steps of the scaffold calmly,^almost
would have been better off had he not emigrated
across the Atlantic in 1819 to avoid capture by *"""tt"ty... as if he knew that Captain T'ightfoot was
authorities in Scotland. He continued to make his destined
*ii; to live on after Michael Martil"thewas gone'-
tp*i tat esthe sameform that Captain"
"utty nineteenth-century garb
did in life: a *u" i"
butrto
G;i"g t;""ches, high bo6ts,waistco^at,cloak'
i.." l8"""i"gl u*t"i?"ltmall and fast gelding' I-Ie
il""o*"""itibl" in rto"i oit "ictim, counting on the
the
shockvalue ofni" "rritle" "pp"uttt'"u to frighten He
person into handing-ot"t *ft"t he demands' if it
jewelry' even
acceptsmoney but d";;ly pt"i;rs
is ofthe cheapestsor+ comply-
guilty. If the victim is not"cowedand' instead,of Light-
ie1,,
- Captain
l:,1" Michael Martin probably expected to serve a ins, to calls fo" tt " t".'r""r, J""ttiqtg'
broadlv' riit?1"*"*rttch uniil then had
sentence at a work farm, and certainly to feel the foot smiles
Tobin's Spirit Guide
=S
_<r--
_l
.'ifrF*
been an insubstantial image, fully materializes- For reasons that should be obvious, I would be most
becausehe must be solid so that he can be captured' ot"as"a to read the record of such an incident, and
To keep up the pretense, he leads-pursuers on a ivould happily and fervently apologi-zeto the officer
merry chaselmerry for him, at least) before slowing to whom my above remarks were offensive'
and ailowing himieHto be caught. Now comesthe
part of the game that the Captain enjoys the most' Captain Lightfoot
ile is invariably taken to the nearestjail,there to be phantomfelon
incarceratea uirtit legal proceedingscan be started' The Captain is pretty good at gettin-g out of
And in the first instant when he is lefb alone, unno- tieht spoti because ofhislong jump andescape
ticed by guards, he becomesinsubstantial a-gain- and
is out of the place' altist ialents, and he'll try to break out using
walks itrlrough the walls until he those skills before he uses his special abilifto
All of theivailable information on this aspect of dernaterialize. He enjoysbefuddling policemen
Captain Lightfoot's behavior comesfrom others who and prison guards, buLhe doesn'twant to make
weie imprisoned at the same time and thus wit- it too easyTor himself; after all, eve-na spirit
nessed ttis e".ap". The public-not to mention the needs some kind of challenge in his life'
police-put no slock in their assertions, but we who
Leheve in and research spiritual phenomena can ill Brains 3 Criminal Law
afford to leave any stone unturned. The police, of Muscles 3 Long Jump
course,have no better explanation. We must assume
that when they can get away with it, they sidestep Moves EscapeArtist
"Jolve" the problem by simply
the question ind Cool False Remorse
eradicating from their records any mention of the
arrest. Ader all, if there was no criminal to begin Power Materialize
with, then there can have been no escape. Dematerialize
If any law enforcement offrcial sees fit to take Ecto-
issue with this bit of reasoning on my part, I would presence 8
defy him to produce evidence from his precinct or
any other that a highwayman w?s in fact aPpr-q- Goal: Break Out of Jail
hended and subsequently escapedfrom a locked cell' Tags: 19th century clothes, pistol;jaunty air
'."t;,;* ..,..,;.,,*;s**lfh;
Tobin's Spirit Guidc
lfF
Calvin and Hobbes
phi- A Cautionary Tale
John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes were both
foJopft""t of a grand purpose' Calvin was dedicated The companyhad conceivedof a game which
i" iri"*i"utin! the way to God's perfection for us *"d" lighiof tire Puritan period in New Eng-
-o*.f. steepJd in sin.-Hobbes theorized that man i;;4.'ifi" pttyt"g pieceswbre apparitions and
"poor, nasty' of
wa" r,tl"d ly fris passions in a life r"p"".; irt?, "bj";C to be made head witch
garying' ---ihecirclea.
one's
U*titft and short.t They both repldiated
b;lrt" as the devil's woik and Hobbes as a medium frrst authors hired to producethe enter-
r-tri"i"g i" make the immaterial material' Now
both tainment were soundly defeated by a mysteri-
-UntilUJ.o-e active in an entirely
1""" new field' ous ennuis, and the secondlaid low by a-senous
very recently, the board game.hasbeen an iff""-". e itanuscript finally in hand, -clerksin
,odooiiottul-and moial tool, quite in line
with the the company were stymie{.by-a lack of art-
work--duringthe night, within the lockeddoors
.fr'ro*""'ftt"tsqal.s.,BYl,1",lpjl1f^*::yl:lfl:
i"iected the dangerous concept-offun of the offrcetJi*ugu-t drawn the day before all
,u""
th;il;i;.k and trade, ..td cal"itt and Hobbes i"i"J l" ltank sf,eets of paper! One of the
to be their downfall' ptittt"tt, a god-fearing soul, refused to put-
ilem.lut"t-ined staring out of
;il; il;t;s-s when he-saw eves
his
- inkpots.
Calvin and Hobbes A- ti;" delays mounted, rumors of the
"o*J"tty;" di""6lotiott became rife and the
entertainment exorcists beseigedby similar products from
-ut:f."f*."
Most likely to strike corporate offices,9alvin other game publishers. Adverbisements were
and Hobbes irave been knbwn to tackle Friday .ornpo!"a, uiging the loyal publicru not to give
night poker hells, too. Their most common up hope.
-'Aitst,
atfack'is tn murphy projects into oblivion- the pieceswere produced,ready to be
mis-shuffling or-crimping cards in a-deck, ""."t"ff"h wiitrin the re-iecured walls of
the
frinstance--or tn make illusions that change ;h";. B"l "s the workers opened the cartons of
the components or costs of the game-' If their ca"is and tokens and boxesto house the game'
,ri"ti-t p""sist in fixing the damag-e,t'hey'Ilde- ift""l"""a instead they held cartons of reli-
rnateriilize objects so that not only is a game "i"rl.- o"-phlets, brown beans, and ladies'
broken, it's incomplete. ;;i"g";iN";ly overset, the company was last
Brains 7 Philosophy 10 tt"ut"a to U" tti"irrg . pa"son with training in the
rites of exorcism.
Cool 9 Fire and Brimstone L2
Power Dematerialize Object
Make Illusion
Murphy
Murphy A"i,ct"ofwitchesisknownasacoven,but'th.ecotnpanywished'
;;;;;s";:";;;;iensiue detail about the Dark Arts' lest som'epoor
Goal: Prevent Gaming child be led astray in his irnaglntng*
sPronounced.on-WEE,andrneaningbored'om'It'sFrench'tres
Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; no sense of
chic (tray SHEEK).
humor
Voodoo Loas
This is the only entry in this book that owes its sufficient amount of dancing, singing, and feasting
existence to happenstance rather than research, (whieh somehowprepares them for the loa spirits to
and this is the only spirit type discussedherein that occupy), then the loas emerge from the ether and
I freely admit is deserving of much more attention possessthe worshipers, including but not limited to
than I am able to give it. the bocors who preside over the ceremonies.
By way ofexplanation rather than apology,I offer It is easyto tell when someonehas beenpossessed
this short story ofhow I encountered the powerful by a loa, and very difficult for someonenot possessed
and mysterious spirits known as voodooloas. to do an effective imitation. He who is possessed ;,:.
I was within hours of leaving the United States, abruptly drops into an ecstatic trance, becomes '
, on my way back to England, arranging to have my rather sedate, and begins to make pronouncements '
j,
baggageloaded aboard my ship. Suddenly, out ofthe and give advice. Depending on the type of loa who
crowd of people on the docks in New York City occupieshis body, the medium gives out either good;
- '.. .;gmergedone ofthe most remarkableJookingwomen news or ominous tidings. :'::,:
-Thave
E" ever seen-not beautiful, not even attractive, Good loas somehow have the ability to predict,
but nevertheless a person at whom I could not avoid when fortuitous events will happen, or to manipu-
- staring open-mouthed. late the frbers of reality so as to make those good
u"Yp, Instead of being offended (as most women would things occur. Evil loas have the converse ability;
be), she smiled and approached me. they can curse a person (or make him think he is
'You nevah seen woman like me befo', eh, mon?" cursed, which usually has the same effect), can
she asked. I had to admit, with a mute shake of my cause terror in those who view or listen to the
head, that I had not. She was stocky but carried afllicted worshiper, and (so it is said by my very
herself well, with skin as black as the inside ofa coal convincing source)can actually make the dead rise "l
bin and the most... colorful... clothing of anyone on up from their graves to torment the living. t; 'l
the docks. (I would call it garish, except that on her, AII in all, the loas remind me of nothing so much"?"
the chaotic splashesof red, yellow, green, and violet as the little girl of fairy tale and fable: when she was
seemed somehow fitting.) On her head she wore a good, she was very, very good-and when she was
"Mama" (the only name she
scarf, tied tightly around what must have been a bad, she was horrid.
very close-croppedhairdo. I have seen turbans and would give me for herself) said that there is no way
headdressesbefore, but never anything so distinc- to control which kind of loa will possessyou, but ::
tive as this simple,large skullcap. apparently (judging from the number of people who
We fell into a conversation; she apparently had she says participate in these rituals) the benefits of
time to spare, as did L When she found out my being visited by a good one far outweigh the risk of
profession, a few sentencesinto the exchange, she being set upon by one ofthe other sort.
cackled and quivered with glee-and then got an
even greater laugh out of the way she startled me Voodoo Loas
with that outburst. She was from the island nation good news and bad news
of Haiti, an obscure country not far from where
Columbus landed when he thought he had discov- Loas tend topossessthebodies ofpeople who
ered America. A fruit vendor by trade, she was also think like they do. Bad loas cansun'Lrnon pests
a practitioner of the religious ritual known as voo- of whatever variety they are associatedwith-
doo-so she was elated to frnd in me a researcher storms, snakes, and zombies are all popular.
into spirit phenomena. Good loas have the ability to unmurphy-
"I got some spirits for you, mon,o she said. "You making things go right instead of causing them
know voodoo?"I admitted that I had no more than a to break or be ruined.
passing acquaintance. 'uThen I tell you about the Brains 3 Select Host
loas," she said. "Mebbe you come to my country
sometime,an'I show you what you been missin'." Cool Convince
Loas form part ofthe foundation ofthe culture of Power Possess
voodoo ritual. They are spirits of power and influ- Summon Pests
ence divided into two camps. Good spirits assist *Unmurphy
their followers with good harvests, bountiful fami-
lies, and full lives. Evil spirits help voodoo bocors Ecto-
(sorcerers)control lives, fighten the populace,raise presence5
the dead, and even kill. * Applies only to good loas
Loas usually manifest themselves during and
immediately after the performance of a voodoorit- GoaL Varies
ual. When the participants have gone through a Tags: Ectoplasmic, intelligent; varies
"!'t*'.et4
. - . :
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Flighty Lucre
.FlightyLucre preys uponpeople who are carrying Flighty Lucre
colns or p_apermoney, causing
them emoarrassment
and.possiblyruination-by "U"8""Ji"g coin collector
in rheinstant *ith the money
before
tt" "i"ti_ ii';futcdffiffi?
overin payrnentfor goodso"."*i-ii. fliShtl Lucre is pretty goodat figuring out
the spirit canusethat talent to relieve
The spirit seemstJenjoy perpetriiing liltj.:!9
' at times this prank
when the victim i, f";;;; i:_"liT":l::-.tEo1sh.mo1"ytor.""pr,i;i;","
tryrng to make a frivolous
il;A;
spendthrift,
or trying to Hffgjlt g_r=ffordwrr
special
aiil ;;il;".;"i""!r,r.
abi-litv
;r#; u t" ##iiJ:
impressotherswith-how-;fl;;;H;'is.
It doesnot
!!9,ini1t's
riatizethe-caih;
then,irit ie*ei'i
ul,v-
*\*
Tobin's Spirit Guide
Chumboro House
Haunted houses are more or less a standard Apparently becausethey are afraid to loose all of
phenomenon in the realm of paranormal events and ttre ipirlt residents upon the surrounding country-
objects, and for the most part we have studiously side,ihese people have made no attempt to tear the
avoided filling the pages of this work rvith accounts house down or drive the ghostly beings away'
of structures in which certain spirits reside. It has been speculated, quite reasonably, that
The exception to this rule is the following passage Chumboro House is home to a variety of hauntings
concerning Chumboro House (sometimesthe Chum- becauseof the number of African and Chinese arti-
boro Mansion), located in the unassuming rural facts that Captain Dickenhart collectedwithin it. At
village of Chumboro near the quiet and proper city least someof those relics have a connection with the
of Prbvidence, Rhode Island. This house is a good spirit world, or may actually belong to-denizens of
:€xample of how an edifice can be occupied by a tire ether-who appear periodically to be sure that
varietyof spirits, veryfew ofwhichhave a direct con- their possessionJ are being well cared for.- It is
aoction to the house itself. entireiy possible the ghosts of Miss Danforth and
*u original owner of the house was Captain
'.'.i:: Captain Dickenhart himself also frequent the place.
'Wilhab
Dickenhart, who had the place constructed if Chumboro House is still standing when you
in the 1840s6.The man amassed a considerable read about it here, and ifyou live close enough to
fortune running his merchant ship in the commerce make a journey to the place, I suggest that it would
of rum, molasses, and the slave trade. After slave be a wonderful spot at which to begin your own
trading was abolished, he turned to the China tea invocfioqfion into the
investigation inf.o mm
supernatural. Seldom in
the suoernatural. myy
trade and became one of the first Americans to research have I found a location where so many
establish offrcesin Hong Kong. different entities can be found at the same time.
Captain Dickenhart retired from the seain about
1852 and took up permanent residencein his house,
which he had furnished with many African and Editor's Note
Chinese souvenirs of his travels.
The captain never married nor kept a diary. Chumboro House is standing yet today,
However, from letters of his friends we have discov- apparently unchanged from what it was like in
ered that the captain's fiancee, a Miss Eudoria tfie early 20th century' Ownership of the place
passedio Charles Deveredux's heirs, who con-
Danforth, died of fever thought to have been con-
tracted on the widow's walk at Chumboro House iinued to rent it to unsuspecting or foolhardy
while the captain was away on his last voyage. families until 1957, when the current owner
gave the property to the Captain's Boulevard
We know now, thanks to modern science,thatthe
night air is not infested with evil humors that take Preservation Association.
malicious delight in infecting those hardy souls who It took three years to refurbish the house
Ieave their windows unshuttered. In those back- and grounds, and during that time an exten-
wards times.... Even so, records of the day express sive Jearch was conducted for the artifacts that
"borrowed" from the house by renters
much surprise at Miss Danforth's early demise, for hadbeen
she was not known to be a sickly maiden. over the decades.
The house was first reported to be haunted in the The house remained a regular stop for tour-
1860s, according to letters written by guests ofthe ists until 1979, when the current resident
captain. The visitors wrote of chilling mists and caretaker, Mr. Jonas Heller, died of a heart
moving lights in rooms no candle warmed. Captain attack-induced, so they say, by the spirits of
Dickenhart himself disappeared mysteriously in the house.Apparently the house becamequite
1869. His estate was eventually purchased, intact, a party place, inhabited by several or even
by his lawyer, Charles Devereaux, who lived there dozensof spirits at once'
for ten years before declaring that
"The house is Finally ihe Association decided, after Mr'
driving me quite mad; I cannot live there any longer." Heller's death, that the house was unsafe even
As of this writing, the place has had a long string for tour groups who were taken through in the
of short-term residents (lessors,all of them, sinceno daytime. It is closedtoday, and the only people
one dare buy the dwelling) for nearly forty years. It ailbwed admission are legitimate researchers.
has quite a sordid reputation among residents ofthe Dr. Spengler did someinvestigation at Chum-
area, who steadfastly claim that strange sights and Uorowhili he was an undergrad and the house
sounds come from the house. was still open for tours, but his notes are
packed away in cardboard file boxes, and Jan-
6Thedncuments for the purehase ofthe houseshow that thc captain ine hasn't dug them out yet. He says they
weren't especially interesting, anJrway.
' paid a modestprice for the extensiuegrounds ort which hc built.
This fact piques my curiosity, but I had not enough time to
l'.. investigate further into the matter'
Tobin's Spirit Guide
I
I varies by entity. Some spirits seem to gain one step
t Similarity Index
Degree of Proximity/
Similarity
Ectopresence
Multiplier
o.r th" Similarity Index'for every 10 meters, while
others grow from Some to A Good Amount in a
distance of miles. While we suspectthat the more
1 Power anentity has, the wider its range of influence'
Very Little
we have not confirmed any correlation, and recom-
is
Some 2 mend other para.rormoloiists be wary. Caution
our watch-word; we suggest you make it yours'.
A Good Amount 3
For the nuts'and biitt of paranormal elimina-
are
Lots 4 tions, we would like to point oui that entities who ro
I Whole Lots 5 within reach of their goals may be too powertut
defeat using strictly cinventional means' Removal
nc
/ More Than You Can Imagine 6 o" f'ti " a"" ""2 of the goai ;ay knock bac! tn e. !o11 17
trapprng'
sencelevel ofthe spirifsufficiently to allow
Tobin's Spirit Guid.e
INDecof
Spinits, Spoolc aNOSpect€Rs
we at GBI Research have thoughtfrrlly indexed the extensive variety
of Old Tom the Pirate T69 r,.i
phantasms found in our various publications here for yo"" .orrrrurrience.
Ttre Package, The ANIlCIi'l
abbreviations before the- page numbers refer to the title of the p"-[ii."tio"
i" Pain T5r
. which-the refe_rence
,.,,.,.,: !s founl, as follows:N{ = Ap;IGCiis- Norrl GBrr = Pantry Spirit, The T33,3t&,:2
I-I:TlXyuenture,GH = 15s6Do_stbusiis-Hanio*n,th; bisbook Postghost
, ?::!b::!::'
boxedsetofGftostbusters AI.Il"trtj.
,*x,,oyt!g Internationar,""aoiro""r"li=,iootn's3iii Fberodactyl, The GBII?6
, {'Yduide. Rabisu
ii. .. TVI
Really Old Guys GH9'
Ahagotsu T14-18 Ghostly Pirates AN14 Rebecca Geist GII106
Baba Yaga T67,62 Ghostzilla GH104 Reconstituted Man, The GH99
** Baldama GHl15 Glinda the Good GBII35 Rei, Priest of Uert-Hekeu
Baealt Raven GII69
GBII36 Glutton Ghost, The GHg1 Restless People,The T39,40
Benjy Franklin AN25 Gourmet, The T2g,2g Robin Goodfellow T37,38
Benu Bird, The T13 Gozer the Gozerian T59,60 Samhain T50 ,.-"t
Boggart, The T33,34 Gozerian Cult, fire ':
T59,60 Scarecrow, The GBII36
Bony Shanks mL,62 Gratefirl Ghosts T32 Scottish Spook GH91 .,
Buda Pest, The T55,56
Bulldozer
Caligorant
Calvin and Hobbes
GHg9
T13
T67
Great Lincoln's Ghost
Green Slime
Guardians of the
Canopic Jars, The
GBTI12
AIYz8
Sebek
Selkis
Sensitive One, The
dw,
T28
T8,g Serving Wenches AIY85
Captain Lightfoot T65,66 Hans Upp T35,36 Sexton, The T48
Cheers AN6 Harry Lupus GIIg8 Shaggy Beast, The T52,53
Chocorua, The Curse of T74 Hatshepsut T7 Shamash T26
Chumboro House T73 HeadleseHunter, The T67,69 Siliman T2L,22
Count Suave GH98 Hippogdff, The GBII38,39 Slimer
Cowardly Lion, The GHg1
GBU39 Hudkin T37,39 Spartacus Kane GH1O1
Dancer AN6,7 Humbaba T24,25 Spectral Voyager, The T44-47
Dead Letters AN11 Hypocrite, The T2g,2g Sphinx T10,11
Death's Messengers T51.,52 Imps AN27 Sprites T39,40
Delirium T'L,52 Isis T8,9 Spud, The GHg1
Demon Rum GBII13 Ka TL2 Starlet OTIarra AtrI24
Destructor, The T59,60 Kathleen GIr100 Stay-Puft Marshmallow
Devourer, The T6L,62 King's Guards, The AN35 Man, The GII9O
Discomfort T'L,52 Lawn Mower GHlOO Suits of Armor GIIg1
Dizziness T51,52 Librarian Ghost, The GHg1 Tarquin Kane GH1O1
Dujonus T4l Lilith AN7 The Ghosts of Plots Past.
Elves T39,40 Lonibabian Masses
Enbilulu
ANs Present and Yet To Come GH96
T19 Mari-Yvonne T42 Three Fastidious
Eshmahkie T63 Merry
Fairies
AN6 Men, The 129,29
T39,40 Mertseger the Silence-Lover T6 Thu-thu GH92
Fawns T39,40 Minions
Feast
GHg1 Time Patrol GHg7
AN5 Mink Coat, The GBII25 Tin Woodsman, The GBII38
Fireman Bob AN24 Mix-up-pixlian the Torpor T51,52
Flighty Lucre T72 Unpronounceable GHg7 Traveller, The T59,60
Fool, The T57,59 Mutant Cockroach
Foundation Sacrifice
GBtt24 Tregeagle T43,44
T35,36 Nasnas T23 Uncle Ferg GH92
Four-Eyed Cat, The T31 Nathaniel Geist
Frog-Riders of the
GH105 Vigo the Carpathian GBU4O
Nebberagaan AN85 Vinsclortho T59,60
ApoKERMIS AIYS-7 Nebo
Gate Crashers
T20 VoodooLoas T70
A][24 Neith T8.9 Were-Whiskey GBII13
Gate Demons AN34 Neo-Realistic Oak, The GBIIdS Zombies GH114
Geist Family, The GH105 Nephthys
Gertrude Geist
Tg,g Zuul T59,60
GII105 Noises from Nowhere T71,72
Ghost of [Jlysses S. Nuckelavee
Grant, The
T49,50
GBIIl3 Numbness T'L,52
Fi*w Y{}U can rerae*. tke u*ry tal*n t}:at
t,itiI]nt*elthe lVestern?{*r"rlir+ph*reI'fhanks
r* l,h*clet*r:niarati*n. cr:r:v"age an*lincreC-
:hte
'I't rlnselfishnes* *fltla* xf#f ;i{,flf,fupsf-' , ,.,
r nttti*vr#i, t,|zis,rll^bla,{.f*rg*t4*n
uxt *:r't; f rc.i:e
rir**t**ql in the s*tst-#*ldx srf'L*:****'ralt 1:n*
beenr*pninNrd;lnd is **ce,rfirrrea hclst-
'l\tl^titt':;
spltrer!Aclifiva}l:ahlcr*.fbr+:nc# aid.
Npiri".Guide rtc'tnitc*itc*, sigh{.ings**d
sif r:.:ti*ersrr* n**r3;,'evrrv *Infinfn*.
Tcbirrirt*lutles;recurateca*cjh!*tm,"i*:s itnd
r$;{ol:gifi} sssp.y$ on the t}"?tlaro *f spirit
*rs<:{tzz:rzoi*.y,ffi*i;t*r sliIi, h* f,*lls,'r*r:.',, '
hcw t* €nc#l"d *gainsf, ward cdY-*vet"l
vanquish {t u'
*v *t $.t,dt n $ cl' ghetsttry
a ppanitl*nr". *r: rf a6:eci,raihu:rsctrs.
ftrowsr it".s*stl3,it, rrtash it l:y vcrur
i:h*na' t'*r cen*r"g* tlt-v u"e{*z'*w:e tY*u.
trln*,a Wrr*T* t"lalli, hrri"ffOl{T {.uck
T':{sirt'* ftpt"t:il {.}ui#.e t*riri*r yr"rurh*d
-vfir.l ncvc:'kl'otw rvh*1 *!te ffiuj/ ft)s
l'riding u;,rder tfu*r*I
I S B N 0-& /ql-b-c5-t-u
ilililil
illll
87t