Weird Tales, October 1923

The October 1923 issue of Weird Tales has fourteen stories, three features, and five uncredited non-fiction fillers. The features are "The Eyrie," "The Cauldron," and "Weird Crimes." The cover story is the first part of a two-part serial called "The Amazing Adventure of Joe Scranton" by Effie W. Fifield. The cover art was by R.M. Mally and all of the interior illustrations by William F. Heitman. Firsts include the first stories in Weird Tales by Seabury Quinn, H.P. Lovecraft, and Frank Owen, also the first installment of the feature "Weird Crimes" by Quinn.

• "The Amazing Adventure of Joe Scranton," part one of a two-part serial by Effie W. Fifield (1857-1937).

• "Aged Man Kills Wife, Self and 'Other Woman'," uncredited non-fiction filler.

• "World Ice to Wipe Out Continents," uncredited non-fiction filler.

• "The Phantom Farmhouse" by Seabury Quinn (1889-1969). This was Quinn's first story in Weird Tales. He would go on to write more stories and other pieces in Weird Tales than any other author.

• "Sight Without Eyes," uncredited non-fiction filler.

• "Genoese Riviera Damaged by Waterspout," uncredited non-fiction filler.

• "Dagon" by H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). I recently wrote about this story, Lovecraft's first in "The Unique Magazine," and wondered whether William F. Heitman's drawing was the first published illustration of a story by Lovecraft.

• "The Man Who Owned the World" by Frank Owen (1893-1968). This was Frank Owen's first story for Weird Tales. The title is of course in the now familiar form of "The Man Who . . .".

• "Grey Sleep" by Charles Horn (dates unknown).

• "The People of the Comet," part two of a two-part serial by Austin Hall (1880-1933), a native Californian.

• "The Sign from Heaven" by A. Havdal (dates unknown).

• "The Inn of Dread" by Arthur Edwards Chapman (1898-?).

• "The Hairy Monster" by Neil C. Miller (1898-1975) of Sioux City, Iowa.

• "Devil Manor" by E. B. Jordan (dates unknown).

• "The Case of the Golden Lily" by an Irish-Welsh-English author, Francis D. Grierson (1888-1972). Known for his mystery, crime, and detective stories, Grierson wrote in "The Case of the Golden Lily" of his series character Paul Pry.

• "Bluebeard" by Seabury Quinn, the first in a non-fiction series called "Weird Crimes."

• "Weird Snake Dance of Hopis May Be Tabooed," uncredited non-fiction filler.

• "An Adventure in the Fourth Dimension" by Farnsworth Wright (1888-1940). "An Adventure in the Fourth Dimesnion" is an alien invasion story. It appears to have been influenced by Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin Abbott (1884), also by recent developments in Einsteinian physics. Wright's aliens are depicted (see below) as small and with pointed ears, not very much different from the so-called gray aliens of today. That makes me think that gray aliens are really just an iteration of the elves, brownies, and other little people of European folklore. Of course I'm not the first person to think that way. Reprinted in The Moon Terror in 1927.

• "The Pit and the Pendulum" by Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849). This was the second reprint of a story by Poe in Weird Tales.

• "After the Storm" by Sarah Harbine Weaver (1880-1965), a writer of Ohio, New York, and California.

• "The Cauldron," conducted by Preston Langley Hickey (1900-1962) in its last installment in the magazine.

• "The Eyrie."

Weird Tales, October 1923, with a cover story, "The Amazing Adventure of Joe Scranton" by Effie W. Fifield and cover art by R.M. Mally.

Text copyright 2023 Terence E. Hanley