Tonight is the Zombie episode, which may have inspired Holmes' mysterious line "except zombies who are poisoned by salt" in the 1st printing of the Basic rulebook.
Originally shared by Zenopus Archives
Recently discovered that the 1974 TV series Kolchak the Night Stalker series is currently playing every Sunday night at 10 PM on MeTV. Last week the 1st episode of the regular series (which was made after two TV movies) was on. Gygax was a fan and one episode inspired him to include the Rakshasa in D&D. Kolchak is played by the dad from Christmas Story...!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolchak:_The_Night_Stalker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolchak:_The_Night_Stalker
Just got to the part of the episode where Kolchak explains how to defeat the zombie with the salt. After filling the mouth with salt, it must be sewn shut, and then a circle of candles lit around the zombie. Only works on a "dormant" zombie.
ReplyDeleteI watched all of Kolchak a couple years ago. They even had a Rakshasa that could only be killed by a blessed crossbow bolt!
ReplyDeleteLarry Hamilton I'm looking forward to seeing that episode. Here's a post on EnWorld where Gygax said the D&D Rakshasa was inspired by Kolchack: enworld.org - Q&A with Gary Gygax - Page 838
ReplyDeleteThe X Files/Millennium crossover episode played on this also.
ReplyDeletein folklore feeding a zombi salt would cause it to remember it was dead. It would then return to its grave. Accounts varried as to whether it would attempt revenge on its creator first.
ReplyDeleteZach, you win again! That was my favorite Night Stalker episode. Dad and I watched it on my little portable black and white TV.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear, Chris. Though credit should go to Will Douglas and Paul Fini who made the connection in this ODD74 thread back in 2009: odd74.proboards.com - Zombies are Poisoned by Salt! | Original D&D Discussion
ReplyDeleteDon't neglect the pilot movies either, they're great!
ReplyDeleteMark Tygart I do want to see those. I'm not sure if they are part of the syndicated series being shown on MeTV; I may need to track them down elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteThey were released on DVD, but hard to find now. I've seen them both posted on Youtube youtube.com - Kolchak The Night Stalker Movie 1972 and https://youtu.be/QkWl3mM8nU8
ReplyDeleteThanks! Noah Stevens offered to lend me the DVD so that's a possibility too.
ReplyDeleteThe series used to be on Netflix if you missed any...
ReplyDeleteI checked the other night and it doesn't seem to be there anymore.
ReplyDeleteI looked the series is on Netflix DVD and fairly cheap on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Kolchak-Night-Stalker-Darren-McGavin/dp/B01IP2X718/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496755688&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=kolhak
ReplyDeleteIt does not, the movies are above on Youtube.
ReplyDelete