“According to ancient legends, The Living Ghost is an age-old apparition… the personification of black evil itself! Back in the beginning of the world, when Satan, the fallen angel, was driven into banishment… Malevo, his Chief Lieutenant… basically more evil than even his master… was condemned to wander the world in human shape forever, striking terror into the hearts of mortals! And men know him as… The Living Ghost!” The Living Ghost opens the story by causing a passenger train to crash into a freight train, killing dozens of people. D.A. investigator Tony Brand and Daily Bugle reporter Gail Leslie team up to find the killer. Leslie finds herself in the clutches of The Living Ghost. The ghost wants to make Leslie his queen. Tony consults Dr. Vandyke at the Institute for Psychic Research. Dr. Vandyke relates the legend of The Living Ghost. Vandyke gives Tony a holy relic, a petrified olive branch that can turn a ghost mortal. Tony uses the branch, and with Leslie’s help, they manage to capture the Living Ghost. The Living Ghost is condemned to death in the electric chair, but disappears before the switch can be thrown. The Living Ghost returns to kidnap Gail Leslie, in a new bid to make her his queen. Brand consults with Dr. VanDyke again, who suggests The Dark Phantom may be of aid. The Living Ghost and the Phantom hate each other. Professor Mavelli assists Brand in contacting the minions of The Dark Phantom, who whisk Tony away to the Phantom’s Tibetan retreat. The Dark Phantom agrees to fight The Living Ghost, and is triumphant. He then turns on Gail and Tony, but Tony has a relic given to him by VanDyke to destroy the phantom. Powers: The Living Ghost can raise the dead, has prodigious strength, and can fly. He can turn incorporeal at will, and can become approximately 20-feet-tall. Notes: The Living Ghost has a hated enemy who he’s fought over the centuries, the Dark Phantom. The Dark Phantom matches the Living Ghost in power.
Creators/Key Contributors Frank Belknap Long, Fred Guardineer
First Appearance Adventures into the Unknown #1 (Fall 1948)
First Publisher ○
Appearance List Adventures into the Unknown #1-2
Sample Read Adventures Into the Unknown [DCM] [CB+]
Description “According to ancient legends, The Living Ghost is an age-old apparition… the personification of black evil itself! Back in the beginning of the world, when Satan, the fallen angel, was driven into banishment… Malevo, his Chief Lieutenant… basically more evil than even his master… was condemned to wander the world in human shape forever, striking terror into the hearts of mortals! And men know him as… The Living Ghost!” The Living Ghost opens the story by causing a passenger train to crash into a freight train, killing dozens of people. D.A. investigator Tony Brand and Daily Bugle reporter Gail Leslie team up to find the killer. Leslie finds herself in the clutches of The Living Ghost. The ghost wants to make Leslie his queen. Tony consults Dr. Vandyke at the Institute for Psychic Research. Dr. Vandyke relates the legend of The Living Ghost. Vandyke gives Tony a holy relic, a petrified olive branch that can turn a ghost mortal. Tony uses the branch, and with Leslie’s help, they manage to capture the Living Ghost. The Living Ghost is condemned to death in the electric chair, but disappears before the switch can be thrown. The Living Ghost returns to kidnap Gail Leslie, in a new bid to make her his queen. Brand consults with Dr. VanDyke again, who suggests The Dark Phantom may be of aid. The Living Ghost and the Phantom hate each other. Professor Mavelli assists Brand in contacting the minions of The Dark Phantom, who whisk Tony away to the Phantom’s Tibetan retreat. The Dark Phantom agrees to fight The Living Ghost, and is triumphant. He then turns on Gail and Tony, but Tony has a relic given to him by VanDyke to destroy the phantom. Powers: The Living Ghost can raise the dead, has prodigious strength, and can fly. He can turn incorporeal at will, and can become approximately 20-feet-tall. Notes: The Living Ghost has a hated enemy who he’s fought over the centuries, the Dark Phantom. The Dark Phantom matches the Living Ghost in power.
