Home > Pulp Fiction> Weird Menace
The October, 1933 issue of Dime Mystery Magazine kicked off a new era in the pulps where terror, horror, torture, murder, and other bizare and sadistic means were meant to strike fear in all but the most courageous of readers.
The Weird Menace phase, also referred to as the Horror Pulps or Shudder Pulps, lasted the better part of the 1930's. But their peak period was primarily 1934 through 1937. These stories often followed a well defined formula.
Usually, some horrible, devilish, and to some degree, supernatural being was threatening the well being of all, but in most cases caused a great deal of torture and sadistic attacks on women. The pulp covers usually captured the essence of the torture and showed girls in various stages of torture and nudity.
Our hero, usually after his girlfriend has been taken hostage, must now confront the evil villian. After saving the day, our hero then explains how the devilish villian is only human and was using the latest in high-tech science to scare the victims so that he may gain in worldly possesions.
In some respects, this genre spilled over into the hero pulps like the Spider and G-8 and His Battle Aces for certain aspects of this type of story.
But the weird menace phase as featured in such magazines as Dime Mystery, Terror Tales, and Horror Stories was a unique era where the stories were meant to keep you on the edge of your seat with a mixture of page turning action plus the suspense and fear of the unknown.
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Pulp Fiction Magazine: Terror Tales Beginning in September, 1934 the pulp magazine Terror Tales created and defined the shudder pulp genre. Each issue contained one full length terror tale and several chilling short stories. Authors included Hugh B. Cave, Arthur J. Burks, Paul Ernst, E. Hoffman Price and many more. |
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Dr Yen Sin The criminal mastermind Dr Yen Sin terroizes the nation in this short run pulp series from 1936. Michael Traile, the Man Who Never Sleeps, battles the unimaginable evil and devilish tortures. |
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The Scorpion A holocaust of satanic murder-madness ... an entire city overcome by maniacal purple-eyed killers... and only the honest little old Dr. Skull has the wherewithal to foil this relentless madness. |
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The Octopus From the bowels of the City, hideously deformed monsters emerged; hungry for the food of human life, and the purple glow of ultraviolet sustenance. They had once been men and women, now they were mutant followers of the maniacal atrocities of . . . . the Octopus! |
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The Secret Six The Secret Six is a crime fighting team published by Popular Publications in this short lived series that only lasted four issues. King, on death row as an innocent man, is busted out of prison and begins to lead his team towards proving his innocence and fighting crime. |
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Classic Weird Menace Shudder Pulp Replicas from 1935. |
More Weird Menace and Shudder Pulp Fiction
Product Format: Electronic PDF File
| Shudder 3-Pack | by Talmage Powell |
| Weird Menace 3-Pack | by Hugh B. Cave |
Product Format: Magazine
| High Adventure 73: Secret Agent X- Ambassador of Doom | by Brant House |
| Reprint: Ghost Stories June 1931 | by Pulp Classics |
| Reprint: Mysterious Wu Fang: Case of the Suicide Tomb | by Robert J. Hogan |
| Reprint: Sinister Stories: February 1940 | by Sinister Stories |
| Strange Tales (new issue) #8 |
Product Format: Paperback
| Secret 6: The Complete Adventures | by Robert J. Hogan |
| Secret Agent X: Legion of the Living Dead | by Brant House |
Product Format: Pulp Replica
| Eerie Mysteries: City of Stone Corpses: Aug 1938 | by Eerie Mysteries |
| Eerie Stories: Soul Searcher's Lair: Aug 1937 | by Eerie Stories |
| Mystery Tales Dec. 1939 | |
| Replica: Horror Stories January, 1935 | by Horror Stories |
| Replica: Horror Stories July, 1935 | by Horror Stories |
| Replica: Mysterious Wu Fang: Case of the Six Coffins | by Robert J. Hogan |
| Replica: Strange Tales #1, September 1931 | by Girasol |
| Replica: Strange Tales January 1932 | by Girasol |
| Replica: Strange Tales January 1933 | by Girasol |
| Replica: Strange Tales March 1932 | by Girasol |
| Replica: Strange Tales November, 1931 | by Girasol |
| Uncanny Tales: April May 1939 | by Uncanny Tales |