History Literature / TheCorpseOfCharlieRull

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The whole story (excluding the three days in which Charlie's body was immersed in the swamp) takes place over a single day and ends that night.

* NuclearMutant: It is radioactive chemicals which brings Charlie back to what could charitably be called life and makes him inhumanly strong.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The whole story (excluding the three days in which Charlie was immersed in the swamp) takes place over a single day and ends that night.

* NothingIsScarier: Although Brennan describes in pretty grisly detail how Charlie kills and dismembers his human victims, we aren't told what happened to [[spoiler:the horse]]. Only that the sight of it causes Cynthia's mother to faint.

* SuperStrength: Due to the radiation which brought him back to life, Zombie-Charlie is now strong enough not only to rend fully-grown adult humans (and, presumably, horses) to pieces, but also to lift up entire cars.

* SuperStrength: Due to the radiation which brought him back to life, Charlie is strong enough to not only rend fully grown adult humans to pieces, but he can also lift up entire cars.

As with ''[[Literature/Slime1953 Slime]]'', a great audio version read by Edward E. French can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr_gi4KcqS4 here]].

"The Corpse of Charlie Rull" is a short horror story written by Creator/JosephPayneBrennan, first published in his 1959 collection ''The Dark Returners'' but also featured as the second story in 1980's ''Literature/TheShapesOfMidnight''. It tells the short, horrific tale of [[DisposableVagrant homeless]] [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]] victim [[AntagonistTitle Charlie Rull]], whose corpse falls into a swampy pool saturated with radioactive chemicals [[FreakLabAccident unintentionally leaked]] from a laboratory near the dump where he lived. The radiation is absorbed by Charlie and resurrects him as an [[SuperStrength inhumanly strong]] [[NuclearMutant zombie]]. Remembering nothing of his former life, Charlie feels only the pain of the radiation burning through his undead body. Filled with a vicious hatred for all other life, he proceeds to go on a murderous rampage around the nearby town of Newbridge.

[[caption-width-right:260:Image by [[https://www.deviantart.com/gomro/art/From-Brennan-s-story-THE-CORPSE-OF-CHARLIE-RULL-677023702 gomro]] on Platform/DeviantArt]]

[[caption-width-right:260:Image by [[https://www.deviantart.com/ gomro]] on Platform/DeviantArt]]

[[quoteright:231:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/corpse_of_charlie_rull.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:231:Image by [[https://www.deviantart.com/ gomro]]]]

"The Corpse of Charlie Rull" is a 1959 short horror story written by Creator/JosephPayneBrennan, originally published in ''The Dark Returners'' but also featured as the second story in 1980's ''Literature/TheShapesOfMidnight''. It tells the short, horrific tale of [[DisposableVagrant homeless]] [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]] victim [[AntagonistTitle Charlie Rull]], whose corpse falls into a swampy pool saturated with radioactive chemicals [[FreakLabAccident unintentionally leaked]] from a laboratory near the dump where he lived. The radiation resurrects Charlie as an [[SuperStrength inhumanly strong]] [[NuclearMutant zombie]]. Remembering nothing of his former life, Charlie feels only the pain of the radiation burning through his undead body. Filled with a vicious hatred for all other life, he proceeds to go on a murderous rampage through the nearby town of Newbridge.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: The hitchhiker is described as "olive-skinned."

''The Corpse of Charlie Rull'' is a 1959 short horror story written by Creator/JosephPayneBrennan, originally published in ''The Dark Returners'' but also featured as the second story in 1980's in ''Literature/TheShapesOfMidnight''. It tells the short, horrific tale of [[DisposableVagrant homeless]] [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]] victim [[AntagonistTitle Charlie Rull]] who falls into a swampy pool saturated with radioactive chemicals [[FreakLabAccident unintentionally leaked]] from a laboratory near the dump where he lived. The radiation resurrects Charlie as an [[SuperStrength inhumanly strong]] [[NuclearMutant zombie]]. Remembering nothing of his former life, Charlie feels only the pain of the radiation burning through his undead body. Filled with a vicious hatred for all other life, he proceeds to go on a murderous rampage through the nearby town of Newbridge.

* NothingIsScarier: Although Brennan describes in pretty grisly detail how Charlie kills and dismembers his human victims, were aren't told what happened to [[spoiler:the horse]]. Only that the sight of it causes Cynthia's mother to faint.

* {{Fainting}}: Cynthia's mother faints after seeing [[spoiler:what Charlie did to her horse.]] Two reporters covering the cops' battle with Charlie at the end also faint after witnessing [[spoiler:the severed upper body of Charlie continuing to crawl forward even after the sergeant shoots him in half.]]

''The Corpse of Charlie Rull'' is a 1959 short horror story written by Creator/JosephPayneBrennan, originally published in ''The Dark Returners'' but also featured as the second story in 1980's in ''Literature/TheShapesOfMidnight''. It tells the short, horrific tale of [[DisposableVagrant homeless]] [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]] victim [[AntagonistTitle Charlie Rull]] who falls into a swampy pool saturated with radioactive chemicals [[FreakLabAccident unintentionally leaked]] from a laboratory near the dump where he lived. The radiation resurrects Charlie as an [[SuperStrength inhumanly strong]] [[NuclearNasty zombie]]. Remembering nothing of his former life, Charlie feels only the pain of the radiation burning through his undead body. Filled with a vicious hatred for all other life, he proceeds to go on a murderous rampage through the nearby town of Newbridge.

* NuclearNasty: It is radioactive chemicals which brings Charlie back to what could charitably be called life and makes him inhumanly strong.

* KnifeNut: [[spoiler:The SerialKiller hitchhiker who ends up as Charlie's second victim prefers murdering people with a switchblade. He even uses it against Charlie in an effort to defend himself, to no effect.]]

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:After the hitchhiker/SerialKiller, Charlie sights and gives chase to a little girl named Cynthia, however her mother grabs her up and escapes with her. After failing to find either of them, he satisfies himself with killing their horse. Upon seeing what's left of it, Cynthia's mother faints, leaving her daughter unprotected; fortunately for Cynthia, Charlie has by this time wandered away into the woods and forgotten about her.]]

''The Corpse of Charlie Rull'' is a 1959 short horror story written by Creator/JosephPayneBrennan, originally published in ''The Dark Returners'' but also featured as the second story in 1990's in ''Literature/TheShapesOfMidnight''. It tells the short, horrific tale of [[DisposableVagrant homeless]] [[HollywoodHeartAttack heart attack]] victim [[AntagonistTitle Charlie Rull]] who falls into a swampy pool saturated with radioactive chemicals [[FreakLabAccident unintentionally leaked]] from a laboratory near the dump where he lived. The radiation resurrects Charlie as an [[SuperStrength inhumanly strong]] [[NuclearNasty zombie]]. Remembering nothing of his former life, Charlie feels only the pain of the radiation burning through his undead body. Filled with a vicious hatred for all other life, he proceeds to go on a murderous rampage through the nearby town of Newbridge.

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