History Literature / NineHorrorsAndADream

* NoPronunciationGuide: Ernest Maax's last name in "The Calamander Chest." Is it "Mah-x" or "May-ax" (like in ''Film/TheBeastmaster'')? Creator/VincentPrice went with the former in his reading of the story here: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQzRFOXrXIE]]

* BalefulPolymorph: [[spoiler:In "Canavan's Back Yard," Canavan is transformed into a dog as part of Goodie Larkins' ancient {{Curse}} upon the land. Larkins was also accused of having transformed a child into a dog.]]

* AndIMustScream: Frank in "Levitation." [[spoiler:After succuessfully hypnotizing him and commanding him to "Rise!", the Hypnotist dies of a fatal heart attack onstage. Frank just continues rising up in his somnambulant, likely to die upon hitting the upper atmosphere.]] It's also possible that [[spoiler:Maax]] was still alive in "The Calamander Chest" [[spoiler:when the mover and his assistant dump the cursed chest into the quarry on his own orders [[AccidentalMurder without looking inside it first]].]]

* RantInducingSlight: The Hypnotist in "Levitation" sure doesn't like having popcorn balls thrown at him by ornery farmhands.

* PaperThinDisguise: The [[spoiler:possibly inhuman]] killer's big raincoat in "On the Elevator." If not for the hotel's night clerk being too absorbed in reading a book, he probably wouldn't have made it past the front desk. RealityEnsues insofar as the disguise only works from a distance. Those who actually get a good look at him [[spoiler:quickly realize he might not even be human, such as the woman from Room 311, who is DrivenToMadness, and Traverson, who becomes his victim.]]

Edward E. French adapted "Slime" in audio book form in three parts ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cZLTVgp25Y here]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDS800uqD1E here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2DZ-on2gCs here]])), while Creator/VincentPrice did the same for "The Calamander Chest" in two parts ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQzRFOXrXIE here]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teyREViR8HQ here]]).

** "On the Elevator": A man in a black raincoat commits a grisly murder in the Atlas Hotel's elevator. [[spoiler:Although we learn the identity of the victim, we do not learn who the killer was, or even whether he was human. A woman who gets a good look at him insists he has no face, and a the authorities can't even agree on how the victim was killed; one expert suggests the wounds were caused by claws or sharp fingernails, while others insist a knife or other sharp weapon was used. All that is found of the murderer is his coat, which, it turns out, is old, having been submerged in the ocean for a long time. It ''is'' mentioned that the storm dredged up an ancient shipwreck, and the night clerk suggests "something dead" came up out of the sea and killed Traverson, but this is merely speculation on his part. "On the Elevator" ''really'' banks on the "NothingIsScarier" trope.]]

Long of print, it was republished by Dover on June 17th, 2019.

Stores:

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* EvilSmellsBad: "Slime."

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Several characters in "Slime." The police are skeptical at first, but eventually they ''do'' start listening, especially after [[spoiler:one of their own officers, Luke Matson]] ends up on the slime's menu.

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Several characters in "Slime." The police are skeptical at first, but eventually they ''do'' start listening, especially after one of their own officers ends up on the slime's menu.

* WitchHunt: [[spoiler:As part of the backstory for "Canavan's Back Yard".]]

** "The Calamander Chest": The two men hired by Maax to dispose of the chest. They're just called "the mover" and "his assistant" or "the assistant mover," respectively.

* MostWritersAreWriters: The main characters in "The Green Parrot" and "I'm Murdering Mr. Massington" are writers.

** Brennan also describes in great detail all the various goodies eaten by the people attending Morgan's Wonder Carnival in "Levitation." Popcorn balls, candy apples, taffy, pink lemonade, the works. One of the popcorn balls even [[ChekhovsGun figures]] [[ChekovsGun into the plot]].

* AcquitedTooLate: The missing homeless man Henry in "Slime." Pegged by Underbeck as the murderer of Farmer Barnaby and Jason Bukmeist, he is eventually acquitted after one of Underbeck's own men survives an encounter with the blob to tell the truth, forcing Underbeck to admit that Henry, "far from being the murderer, was just one more victim."