Black Orchid
A midnight meeting, in an old abandoned house, finds the mayor convening with several shady characters. A young district attorney, one Ken Ransom, has infiltrated the group, disguised as a Mr. Canard. Ransom gets the group to admit their culpability in the murder of Ransom's brother, Tom. Using spyware hidden on his person, Ransom records the group's admissions of guilt. Unfortunately, the real Canard shows up, and reveals Ransom's presence among the group. Canard had been held in police custody, but the commissioner himself, Jim Crocker, set Canard free. Ransom is crestfallen to discover that his friend, the commissioner, is crooked. Ransom is subdued before he can escape. Once stripped of all his recording devices, Ransom is bound, gagged, and loaded into the back seat of a car. The group's enforcer, a colorfully clad dandy called Snerff, is tasked with setting up Ransom's "accident". Gladys Vincent, the sole female member of the group, protests being involved in another murder, but her concerns fall on deaf ears. Snerff's car is intercepted by the mysterious Black Orchid. Raising the vehicle above her head, the Black Orchid violently shakes out Snerff, and his two associates, then gently places the car back on the ground. Snerff and his men open fire on the Black Orchid, to no effect. After thrashing the band of murderers, the Black Orchid spirits Ransom away, and returns him to his home.
Despite the mayor's skepticism over Snerff's encounter with the Black Orchid, suspicion regarding her identity falls on the conveniently absent Vincent. While Canard searches the house for Vincent, the mayor sets up a monitor, to spy on Ransom's home, via hidden cameras. Ransom corroborates Snerff's account of his rescue, while his sister, Myra, tends to his injuries. Ransom is introduced to his new maid, Adele, when Myra sends her to fetch hot water for the basin. The unique perfumed scent of the Black Orchid fills the room, and Ransom begins to wonder if Myra, is the Black Orchid. Vincent contacts Ransom, offering to bring his recorded evidence against the group to him. Ransom agrees to meet Vincent at a motel, in one hour. The mayor's video surveillance on Ransom's home is suddenly cut. Vincent is followed out to the motel by Snerff, and his associates, then brutally murdered. When Ransom enters the hotel room, he is ambushed, and knocked unconscious. Snerff pours liquor all over the hotel room, while his men place Ransom's fingerprints on the murder weapon. Before they can leave, Snerff, and his men, are attacked, once more, by the Black Orchid. Snerff reveals that Canard is now in possession of Ransom's evidence against the group. The Black Orchid pays a visit to the mayor, and his partners in crime, and cleans house. Ransom awakes, in the library of his home, holding a black orchid. Within the flower is Ransom's tape recording and film. Ransom all but believes Myra is the Black Orchid, as his sister leads him to Adele's quarters. Inside the maid's room, Myra shows her brother another black orchid, a blonde wig, and a frighteningly perfect mask of "Adele's" face.
The Ghosts On The Glasses
When Desmond Randolph suddenly drops dead of fright, Doctor Terrence Thirteen, the so called Ghost Breaker, is brought in to investigate. Thirteen dismisses the possibility of a supernatural cause of death, but, nonetheless, decides to take the case. That same night, at Randolph's office, the cleaning woman comes across Randolph's glasses. Putting them on, the cleaning lady finds herself transported into a nightmare world of ghastly figures and horrific apparitions. One such spectre closes it's hands around her neck, and strangles her to death. When the body is discovered, Thirteen looks for a link between Randolph and the cleaning woman. Inspecting the glasses, Thirteen discovers a tiny needle protruding from the ear piece. Determining that the needle is coated in a powerful hallucinogenic drug, Thirteen turns his findings over to the local authorities. Pondering the evidence further, Thirteen realizes that the glasses were not Randolph's, but, in actuality, his wife's. Randolph, who planned to murder his wife, accidentally mistook her glasses for his, and, ultimately, was responsible for his own death. Randolph's motivation for murdering his wife is never determined. Mrs. Randolph is left devastated by the revelation, and unable to reconcile Randolph, the would-be murderer, with the Desmond Randolph who had been her husband
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