A letter addressed to Uncle Lewis tips Jack off to the possible whereabouts of a cursed antique mulcher. The item is traced to the estate of a wealthy family, where there have been a few disappearances…and the previous owner/operator of the mulcher was eventually sent to a mental institution. Jack and Ryan have to go it alone this time, as Mickey’s life is turned upside-down by the arrival of her suspicious fiancee, who refuses to believer her when she tells him what Curious Goods does. The mulcher’s former owner discovered that, by putting a human being into it, the machine will crank out not mulch, but money, equivalent to the victim’s worth to society. The mulcher’s current owner, having set up shop at the estate, is perfectly positioned to soak up some very literal blood money unless he can be stopped.
written by Robert Hedden
directed by Allan King
music by Fred Mollin
Cast: John D. LeMay (Ryan Dallion), Wendy Robey (Mickey Foster), Chris Wiggins (Jack Marshak), Rico Colantoni (Adrian), Barclay Hope (Lloyd), Jack Mather (Smitty), Ian White (Charles), Kay Tremblay (Amanda), Tom Hauff (Harley O’Conner), Rita Tuckett (Mrs. O’Conner), George Buza (O’Conner’s Neighbor), Domenic Cuzzocrea (Vagrant)
Notes: Guest star Barclay Hope previously played Lloyd in the series’ premiere episode, whose haunted doll also puts in an appearance in the vault of cursed items, two rare callbacks.
Barclay Hope also played the recurring character of Col. Pendergast in later seasons of Stargate SG-1, but much earlier in his career, while working in the U.K., he also guest starred in the pivotal Doctor Who story The Tenth Planet, the final adventure for the first Doctor.
LogBook entry by Earl Green