The Dead Man’s Tale: A Rivalry Beyond the Grave

Death should have ended Richard Devaney’s rivalry with Louis Winston. Instead, it gives Richard a terrifying new way to continue it. Trapped outside the physical world but still consumed by jealousy, he watches Louis return to Velma, the woman they both love. Then Richard discovers something extraordinary: under the right conditions, he can reach into Louis’s mind.

What begins with subtle suggestions grows steadily more dangerous. Richard learns to influence Louis’s thoughts, guide his hand, speak through him, and eventually experience the physical world through another man’s body. Louis fears he is losing his sanity while Velma watches the husband she loves become frighteningly unpredictable. Richard sees something else entirely—an opportunity to cross the barrier death placed between himself and the woman he refuses to surrender.

The Dead Man’s Tale appeared in the historic first issue of Weird Tales in March 1923. Hawkins presented the story as a purported psychic document connected with automatic writing, giving his supernatural tale the flavor of a mysterious account that might somehow be genuine.

Willard E. Hawkins was born in Fairplay, Colorado, in 1887 and became an editor, author, and public speaker. The Dead Man’s Tale marked his first known publication of speculative fiction. His later work included Power for Zenovia, Look to the Stars, Scratch One Asteroid, and the satirical Castaways of Plenty. He continued publishing fiction into the early 1950s.

Hawkins also founded The Author & Journalist in Denver in 1916 and edited it for more than two decades. The magazine became a working trade publication for professional and aspiring writers and ultimately survived until 1969.

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Lydbog: 4. oktober 2026