Category: Kolchak The Night Stalker

A number of physically fit individuals (an Air Force pilot, a football player, a Green Beret, a policeman) are turning up dead. Among the similarities is the fact that their hearts have been cut out with a dull knife, they were overcome without a struggle, and that each victim is found on higher and higher flights of stairs. Kolchak arrives at the site of one murder, and witnesses a strange feathered figure making his escape. The feathers are from parrots found in the Southern hemisphere. Carl comes to believe that the murders are being committed by an Aztec cult devoted to resurrecting an ancient mummified warrior over a period of ten 52-year cycles. The mummy claims the hearts of the first four victims, but the fifth must be a willing sacrifice, a “Perfect Victim.” The willing sacrifice is Pepe, a box boy who has been given a year to have anything he wants to before being killed. Kolchak must convince Pepe that he should break his side of the bargain before the ninth cycle is completed.

written by Arthur Rowe
directed by Don McDougall
music by Gil Mille

Guest Cast: Erik Estrada (Pepe Torres), Pippa Scott (Tillie Jones), Victor Campos (Professor Jamie Rodriguez), Sorrell Booke (Mr. Eddy), Mickey Gilbert (The Mummy)

Notes: Available compiled with Demon In Lace as Demon And The Mummy. Actor Ramon Bieri plays Captain Webster in this episode, despite having appeared as Captain Baker in Bad Medicine.

LogBook entry by Steve Crowe

A ward boss and a financier are among the individuals who are being killed off with medieval weaponry. There seems no obvious connection, but Kolchak’s investigations take him to the Hydecker Museum, a repository of medieval armor and weapons. The curator is upset with the fact that the Hydecker is being converted into a disco. Later, when speaking with the woman in charge of handling the redecoration, Carl witnesses her being killed by a figure in a suit of black armor that he saw at the museum. When the curator is cleared of the murders, Kolchak suspects that the armor is haunted, and committing the murders. A background check reveals that the armor belonged to the Marquis de Mettancourt, a misogynist who swore with his dying breath that his final resting place would never be the site of gaiety and laughter. The armor has now come to life to fulfill the oath. Kolchak must use the same blessed battle axe that was used to kill de Mettancourt to stop the armor before it kills again.

written by Paul Magistretti, Michael Kozoll & David Chase
directed by Vincent McEveety
music by Gil Mille

Guest Cast: John Dehner (Captain Vernon Rausch), Hans Conreid (Mendel Boggs), Leiux Dressler (Minervo Musso), Shug Fisher (Pop Stenvold)

Notes: Among the best episodes, with excellent performances from everyone, particularly John Dehner.

LogBook entry by Steve Crowe

A series of unidentified elderly bodies are turning up around Chicago, dying of natural causes. Only Kolchak believes that they may be connected to the disappearances of a series of young swingers. He finds out that the disappearances had one thing in common – each was a member of an exclusive dating service run by a mysterious Helen. A taxi driver and former Greek professor identifies Helen from a photo as Helen of Troy, whose face launched a thousand ships. She is able to maintain her youthfulness by sacrificing to the gods the youth of physically perfect victims. Each of the victims is given a special ring as part of their membership, which marks them as a sacrifice to the gods. Carl accidentally dons one of the rings, and must confront Helen in her modern-day Greek shrine before she ages him to death as well.

written by Rudolph Borchert
directed by Don McDougall
music by Gil Mille

Guest Cast: Kathy Lee Crosby (Helen), Kaz Kazantarkis (Demosthenes), Dwayne Hickman (Sgt. Orkin), Kathleen Freeman (Bella Sarkof)

Notes: Primarily a comedy episode, there is very little overt horror and even more scenes played for laughs than usual.

LogBook entry by Steve Crowe

A scientist’s discovery of a node containing strange blue nodules triggers a series of grisly deaths at an underground archival facility. Each victim is badly mauled, and the autopsy report indicates that they were bitten by some large animal. Sneaking into the facility, Kolchak discovers that the staff are leery of strange occurrences, and the military has taken in security. He himself witnesses a strange two-legged lizard creature and narrowly escapes. He is evicted from the facility, but does some research to discover that the lizards are phototropic (afraid of light). Realizing that the nodules are in fact eggs, Carl sneaks back in to the facility. The “sentry” has killed more people in its search, and Kolchak must return the eggs by risking his own life.

written by L. Ford Neale & John Huff
directed by Seymour Robbie
music by Gil Mille

Guest Cast: Tom Bosley (Jack Flaherty), Albert Paulsen (Dr. James Verhyden), Kathy Brown (Lt. Irene Lamont), John Hoyt (Dr. Lamar Beckwith), Frank Campanella (Ted Chapman), Frank Marth (Colonel Brody)

Notes: This episode bears a very strong resemblance to the Star Trek episode Devil In The Dark. Kathy Brown is Darren McGavin’s wife. Other than Simon Oakland as Vincenzo, no other regular cast member is present in this episode.

LogBook entry by Steve Crowe