Doctor Occult

**Doctor Occult** is an American detective in Earth-Two who investigates the supernatural and protects the innocent from various threats of that sort. He has been assisted at times by Rose Psychic and the police officer Vin Ellsworth. Following an investigation into a milk-poisoning scheme in 1938, Doctor Occult's fate is unknown.

## Biography

### The Vampire Master

In late 1935, Doctor Occult happened upon a vampire attacking a man in an alley named Sander Amster. The vampire fled, and Occult helped the man home, offering him his card. Amster called him the next morning, and Occult found that Sander's wife lay in bed, alive but with distinctive vampire fang marks in her neck. Occult had Mrs. Amster put in a private sanitarium under strict guard, and had Rose Psychic lay in her bed as bait for the vampire's eventual return. The vampire indeed intruded on the Amster bedroom, but Occult's magic symbol and silver bullets had seemingly no effect, and the vampire instead vanished without warning. That night, the vampire—calling himself the Vampire Master—attempted to extort a weekly payment of $100,000 from the city or he would unleash a horde of vampires on the streets. His demands were naturally not met, and he made good on his threat. Later, Doctor Occult learned from Amster that his wife had disappeared from the sanitarium. He also received word from the police that the Vampire Master had specifically demanded to meet him alone and unarmed at a specified location or he'd destroy the city outright. Doctor Occult went there at midnight and awaited his rendezvous with the Vampire Master.

Instead, he was met by Mrs. Amster, who said that she had escaped from the sanitarium. He took her home, where she was spontaneously filled with hate and attempted to stab her husband with a knife. Doctor Occult restrained her, and she fainted—he rightly deduced that she had been hypnotized by the Vampire Master. When she recovered, she explained that he had indeed taken her from the sanitarium, and she led Mr. Amster and Doctor Occult to his hideout, a seemingly deserted building. Shortly after entering, the three of them were trapped by falling iron bars triggered by the onlooking Vampire Master. The Vampire Master truly wasn't a vampire at all, but a mad scientist who had perfected a "thought materializer" that could create semi-illusory subjects (such as the horde of vampires). Sander Amster recognized him as Bart Moore, a former suitor of his wife's. The Master had a duplicate of Mrs. Amster, obsessively objectifying her until he could "have" the real woman for his own. With her now in his grasp, he went to press a button to destroy the duplicate, but she retaliated, fatally stabbing him in the back. As he fell to his death, he deactivated the duplicate and activated his hideout's self-destruct sequence, but Doctor Occult and the Amsters were able to escape safely. With the Vampire Master defeated, the Amsters were able to return to their peaceful home life.

Soon after, Doctor Occult learned of a series of bizarre murders in which victims were tortured and murdered, but had nothing stolen, and a note was left by their body reading "Methuselah." Occult discovered that the victims each had had relatives who'd lived to be very old, and deduced that the psychotic killer was trying to absorb the energies therein for himself. He set up a trap with a willing participant from a local newspaper, successfully baiting the killer and incapacitating him for police capture.

### The Cult of the Wolf

Late one night, just five minutes before midnight, a man approached Doctor Occult's home requesting to see the detective, but Occult's butler Jenkins shooed him away. Shortly after, Occult was stirred from his bed by a howling wolf, which he recognized to be a werewolf. Stepping outside, he stopped the wolf from attacking a passerby, and used his mystic symbol to subdue it. He chained the wolf up in his basement lab and sat with it until dawn, at which point it transformed back into a man. The man pleaded for help, and Doctor Occult explained that someone was responsible for magically influencing him into being a werewolf. The man, Mr. Westley, took Occult to his boarding house, where the detective discovered that the reflection of the owner, Mrs. Daniels, was that of a wolf. Sensing danger, Daniels turned hostile, and the other boarders followed suit. Daniels's men, dressed in ceremonial "cult of the wolf" garb, tied Occult down on a table, where Daniels intended to inject him with a substance that would make him a werewolf. However, Westley saved Occult by shooting and killing Daniels with a silver bullet that he had been keeping in case he wanted to use it on himself. With Daniels dead, the boarders were freed from her influence.

### The misanthropic Koth

Doctor Occult soon encountered a colossal, ghostlike figure towering over the city. Though he was prepared to fight it, he found that it was simply his friend Zator getting his attention. Zator informed him that the mystical council known as the Seven wished to see him, and they sent their spirit forms to visit the Seven in India. On their way, they were attacked by various ethereal creatures commanded by the villainous Koth. Koth offered the two an opportunity to ally with him against the Seven, but they refused. As Koth's creatures continued to attack, Occult and Zator were surrounded by the materializing Seven. With the combined mental power of the nine allies, they caused Koth to vanish in a burst of flame. Later, the Seven informed Occult that Koth was "an inhuman creature" bent on destroying mankind, and to be properly defeated would require a mystical belt from an Egyptian tomb. The Seven equipped Doctor Occult with a special cape and sword, and he and Zator made their way to Egypt.

The two were quickly attacked by a large man upon entering the tomb in question, but Doctor Occult defeated him with his magical sword, which automatically defended against and parried the enemy's attacks. It turned out that Koth had been using this tomb as a base of operations, utterly unaware of the presence of the belt and its ability to defeat him. Occult and Zator fought through Koth's forces, and Doctor Occult retrieved the belt. He found that it granted him the ability of flight, as well as to turn his enemies to stone on contact. Koth escaped the tomb, and Occult and Zator returned to the Seven. Occult asked why Koth had a vendetta against the human race, and the Seven explained that he and his fellow alien people had emerged from a crashed spaceship "eons ago," and were attacked by primordial man. Only Koth survived, and he has since devoted himself to avenging his people. As Koth assembled his army for his final assault on humanity, Doctor Occult and his allies assembled, and Occult used the magic belt to create a phantom army that fought ferociously against Koth's. In the end, the combined might of Occult, his belt, Zator, and the Seven was enough to defeat Koth once and for all.

### The Lord of Life

Doctor Occult was soon asked by a hospital to examine a man who had been muttering strange things: "Life, life, the price, I can't, I can't." The man had been picked up off of the streets, dying. Occult offered to take the man under his personal watch, as he suspected sinister dealings at hand. After examining him for some time, Occult went to sleep that night. As he slept, the man rose awake, visited by a strange ghostly face appearing in the window. Seemingly overcome by the entity's influence, the man went to Occult's bedroom and prepared to stab him. But the man resisted the urge at the last minute, yelling and waking Occult from his sleep. The man fell over and died, yelling something about the "ray of life." The next evening, Rose Psychic insisted on taking Occult to a nightclub, fearing that he was overworked. Though they enjoyed themselves for a time, Occult found a man who was sitting dead in his chair with an unsettling smirk on his face. Occult contacted a doctor, who inspected the man and found that he had bizarrely been dead for over a month, despite showing no signs of decay.

Occult and Rose sat with the body as it was driven to the hospital, but a sniper and shot and killed the driver. The ambulance crashed, and by the time Occult and Rose recovered, the body had disappeared. The two went their separate ways, and as Occult returned home, he was accosted by Nita Crane, a woman whom Occult knew personally and who had been dead for a year. She warned him that he was in grave danger, and urged him to flee. Occult contacted the police, and with a pair of officers went to Crane's gravesite and found her coffin to be empty. Returning home, Occult urgently phoned Rose, but fell unconscious and soon died. A funeral was held in his honor and he was buried, but he was soon exhumed by a mad scientist known as the Lord of Life, who had made a habit of resurrecting dead people to make him do his bidding. He did the same to Doctor Occult, and informed him that the revival would only last a month unless he followed the Lord's orders, in which case he would renew his life. Occult begrudgingly agreed to these terms. He was soon met once again by Nita Crane, who revealed that she was one of the Lord's unfortunate minions. She told him of a mission the Lord had assigned them, to steal a priceless relic from a museum. Though they began to follow through with it, Occult spotted Rose at the museum, and she spotted him, causing him to run off with Nita in tow without the relic. Back at the Lord's base, one of his other minions punished Occult with a series of whippings. Occult passed out and was brought to rest on an operating table, but woke up in time to overhear the Lord and one of his lieutenants discussing the true nature of his scheme: his subjects hadn't been dead at all, but had simply been put into a deep, dormant coma by a special drug ahead of time, making them seem dead for all intents and purposes. Some of his underlings were grateful to him for having brought them back from the dead, but knowledge of the Lord's deception allowed Occult to take the initiative and jump the defenseless Lord and hand him off to the other minions. They beat the Lord of Life to death, and Occult provided them with the antidote to the Lord's coma-inducing drug.

### The portrait killer

The Doc soon learned of a series of murders in which the victims had the initials "H.D." carved into their foreheads. They had each died under exceptionally bizarre circumstances: the first by stabbing while alone in his private airplane; the second died at his office desk of an apparent drowning; and the third died of a heart attack, despite his heart displaying no damage whatsoever. Each of them had also been judges at a recent art exhibit. Occult and the police captain questioned the last remaining judge, but in the midst of their interrogation he began to complain that he was being strangled by a wolf. He fell over and died, his throat torn open and "H.D." carved into his forehead. Occult had the police print in the newspaper that he was also a judge in an attempt to draw out the killer. That night, Occult's home was burgled, but only for a photo of himself. He looked through the names of some of the artists at the exhibit, and found one named Henri Duval. Occult traveled to Duval's residence, but was ambushed and tied up by the evil artist. Duval explained that he had a voodoo-like ability to paint a target's death and cause it to occur, even by the most implausible means. He demonstrated on Occult himself by painting him with a growing fire around him. The police arrived in time to save Occult, having closely watched and tailed him after he'd put himself in considerable danger following the newspaper report. Duval killed himself rather than be captured, using a painted dagger to stab his self-portrait to death.

### Further cases

For his next case, Occult heard of a manufacturer named Richard Manners who had disappeared from his locked bedroom, leaving only a lifelike bronze miniature of himself in his bed. Occult recalled that years ago a scientist had sued Manners for allegedly stealing his invention, but Manners won the case. Occult and the police captain followed this lead to the scientist's lab, where he instantly confessed and explained that he had altered the molecular makeup of Manners's body to turn him into a bronze figure. He attempted to do the same to the investigators, but Occult used his mystic symbol to reflect the beam and turn the scientist to bronze instead. One night, Doctor Occult was visited by a strange apparition who summoned him to an address. Arriving at the designated location, he spoke to a supernatural scientist who had accidentally sent his assistant into the ethereal world during an experiment. He pleaded with Occult to rescue him. Occult grabbed a knife off of the man's counter, and the two combined their wills to send Occult into the astral plane. Suddenly, a menacing vision of the man appeared to Occult, and declared that he was now his prisoner for eternity as revenge for Occult having imprisoned his brother years prior. However, the villain realized that Occult had taken his knife, hidden in the handle of which was an important formula. He followed Occult into the plane, but in his haste to grab the knife away was eaten by a ravenous tentacled beast of the ether. Doctor Occult escaped back to the material plane. Then, after examining a man found on the street babbling strangely, Doctor Occult tracked down and defeated a cult of snake-god worshipers who were cruelly whipping and beating their initiates.

Occult and Vin Ellsworth also discovered a dead body showing the mark of a vampire. After the body had been buried, it rose again as a vampire. On Occult's suggestion, he and Ellsworth watched over the grave, and were prepared to kill the vampire—and the one who had transformed it in the first place—when the time came. Doctor Occult soon witnessed the execution by electric chair for convicted strangler Ed Murphy. Just prior to his death, Murphy vowed that he would return and kill all of the press spectators on hand. Over the next few days, several of the spectators were found dead of strangulation. Occult believed that Murphy's hatred for them was so strong that his spirit was bound to the material plane until he was complete. That night, Occult was attacked in his bed by Murphy's apparition, but his mystic symbol repelled the spirit, banishing it from the material world. Occult and Ellsworth then investigated supposed medium Madame Zora, sitting in on a seance of hers in which she was possessed by an evil spirit. Occult created an optical illusion to frighten the spirit away, and it fled Zora's form. Zora fainted, and she would awaken with no memory of what had taken place. Occult told Ellsworth to have someone watch her to assure she tampered no further with the spiritual world.

Occult and Ellsworth next received word of a mine in which "dead men" were working. They traveled to the mine and after briefly speaking with the owner, were attacked and restrained by his zombie underlings. Occult recognized that the owner was Haitian, and speculated that he was using black voodoo magic. The owner took them deep into the mine and explained that he wasn't actually mining for anything, but digging tunnels across the underground to prepare for their imminent invasion of the surface. He prepared to turn Occult and Ellsworth into two more zombies with a special hypodermic solution, but Occult used a rare and dangerous power to cause a collapse, killing the owner and thereby causing the zombie workers to collapse. Occult and Ellsworth escaped the mine in the nick of time. Doctor Occult developed a device that could essentially detect malicious thought patterns, and would point him to their source. While showing his invention to Rose Psychic, it gave off a signal. Occult sent his and her astral forms to the location, where they discovered a gang's plot to poison a local dairy's milk supply in retaliation for not coming up with tribute money. The two made haste for the dairy in question, but what they found there remains unknown—Doctor Occult remained unheard from for years to come.

## Notes

1. ↑ The Vampire Master's true name is a matter of conjecture due to a lack of clear scans of the original material.
2. ↑ This issue uses the erroneous name "Dr. Mystic."

## References

1. ↑ *New Fun Comics* #6m: "Doctor Occult, the Ghost Detective." (October 1935) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
2. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #7l: "Doctor Occult, the Ghost Detective." (January 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
3. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #8y: "Doctor Occult." (February 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
4. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #9ac: "Doctor Occult." (March-April 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
5. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #10p: "Doc Occult." (May 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
6. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #11l: "Dr. Occult, the Mystic Detective." (July 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
7. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #12n: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (August 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
8. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #13r: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (September 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
9. ↑ *The Comics Magazine* #1b: "Dr. Mystic, the Occult Detective." (May 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art). Centaur Publications.
10. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #14r: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (October 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
11. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #15q: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (November 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
12. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #16d: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (December 1936) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
13. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #17e: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (January 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
14. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #18p: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (February 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
15. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #19d: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (March 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
16. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #20e: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (May 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
17. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #21r: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (June 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
18. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #22t: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (July 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
19. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #23t: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (August 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
20. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #24r: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (September 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
21. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #25b: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (October 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
22. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #26i: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (November 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
23. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #27b: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (December 1937) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
24. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #28b: "Vampire Venom." (January 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
25. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #29b: "The Spectral Killer." (February 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
26. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #30b: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (March-April 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
27. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #31b: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective vs. the Master of Corpses." (May 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).
28. ↑ *More Fun Comics* #32b: "Dr. Occult, the Ghost Detective." (June 1938) Siegel, Jerry (w), Shuster, Joe (art).