While on vacation in a Caribbean country, Dr. Thirteen is called on by the president, who believes that local practitioners of voodoo are targeting him to scare people into following their religion.
Obeah Man!
Doctor Terrance Thirteen, the famed Ghost-Breaker, is asked to look into the death of the President of Haiti's secretary. Thirteen immediately rules out the supernatural, in regards to the murder. The death of the president's secretary is of benefit to a religious figure, known as the Obeah Man. Seeing that not even the presidential palace is a safe haven from the Obeah Man will drive more of the populace to his side, sowing further dissent in the country. The Obeah Man is headquartered in Gaspard Fortress. His intelligence resources always keep him one step ahead of the president's security forces.
Thirteen asks to be driven to Gaspard Fortress. The president, himself, drives Thirteen. En route to Gaspard Fortress, Thirteen recounts a story involving a similar case. Thirteen had been called to England, by a close friend, to investigate the matter of a curse on Edward Ashley. Arriving at Ashley's home, Thirteen was astonished to see Ashley in a wheelchair. Ashley had discovered a voodoo doll of himself, with pins sticking into it's legs, the night before. Upon waking, Ashley found he could not walk. Ashley recounted a tale of a time when he was stationed in Africa.
A series of mysterious deaths had been attributed to the power of a criminal figure, known as the Ju-Ju Man. Upon closer investigation, Ashley discovered that each of the murdered men had been killed with a poison dart. Ashley stormed the hidden lair of the Ju-Ju Man. During a brief altercation, Ashley was forced to gun down the Ju-Ju Man. With his dying breath, the Ju-Ju Man swore revenge. Ashley wrote his sister about the entire affair, but she died before his letter ever arrived in England. Ashley encountered the ghost of the Ju-Ju Man, who gave him the doll, promising that Ashely would soon die.
Thirteen's investigation turned up a miniature recording device, embedded in the headboard of Ashley's bed. Each night, Ashley was conditioned, by a recording, to believe that his legs were paralyzed, and that soon, he would be dead. The culprit behind the entire scheme was Ashley's nephew, Rodney, who had read Ashley's letter to his mother. Rodney realized he would inherit everything, once Ashley had passed. En route to Gaspard Fortress, Thirteen spies Attila, Mister Square, Spartacus, and Wild Rose. Thirteen orders the president to stop the car.
Thirteen confronts the teenagers, demanding to know where the Phantom Stranger is. Returning to the presidential limousine, Thirteen finds the Phantom Stranger already in the car, with the president. Thirteen furiously rails against the Phantom Stranger, but the president is eager to hear what the Phantom Stranger has to say. Arriving at Gaspard Fortress, the entire group is quickly taken captive by the Obeah Man's warriors, Brought before the Obeah Man, the entire group is sentenced to be sacrificed in his honor. The Phantom Stranger forces Tala to reveal herself.
The Phantom Stranger lunges for the Obeah Man, knocking the Seal Of Solomon from his hands. The evil spirit within the Obeah Man attempts to flee, but the Phantom Stranger captures it, within the Seal Of Soloman. Quickly, the Phantom Stranger hurls the Seal Of Solomon into the sea. Failing, once more, to tempt the Phantom Stranger into joining her, Tala disappears. Thirteen rants at the Phantom Stranger, denouncing his powers as trickery. The Haitian president, however, thanks the Phantom Stranger for freeing his people from the evil of the Obeah Man. The Phantom Stranger fades away. Thirteen vows to expose the Phantom Stranger as a fraud.
From The Secret Files of... Dr. Thirteen
This story was originally published in House Of Mystery #24 (March,1954). A synopsis for this story can be found at the link.
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