The Undead Scare

Good morrow, mortals! I thought today I would present ye some “hidden history,” featuring some photo-graphs I salvaged from an inside of a duck inside of chest inside of an oak inside of a cave beneath Lansing.

As ye know, Summersbane aligns with evil, & seeks to increase misery in order to increase his power. When Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy began his investigation into “Un-American Activities” & destroying lives in the name of destroying “Communism,” Summersbane saw opportunity. A villainous epiphany entered his rotten mind—a way to steer McCarthy to his own ends, by concocting an e’en more fake conspiracy.

The Red Scare increased misery, but in a tasteless, penny-ante way. Summersbane prefers elegant, efficient evil; & by disrupting McCarthy’s hearings, he could then feed on McCarthy’s own resultant suffering, which would be all the more potent after a fall from power.

With the plot swirling in his mind, Summersbane began socializing with the foul rat Roy Cohn. Cohn ran in some of the same circles—there is much cross-o’er between lawyers & necromancers—so ‘twas easy to sidle up to his mark. He began filling Cohn’s head with dark rumours of an insidious group attempting to eat America’s very soul: the Necromunists.

It may sound stupid, but hatemongers like Cohn are stupid, so the lie landed smoothly. Cohn brought Summersbane into McCarthy’s office, one dark October night, & Summersbane wove them a terrifying tale of necromantic infiltration—a conspiracy to slay lawmakers, & raise them as zombies, under the total control of the Necromunists!

The necromancer explained that Necromunists, of course, hated freedom, & Capitalism, & life itself. Therefore, ‘twas essential to attack them at all costs, e’en if it meant violating rights, violating the law, & violating life.

The blustering bastards swallowed the story, hook, line, & sinker. McCarthy began accusing other Senators of being undead, & e’en claimed that President Eisenhower may either be half-dead, or in league with dark sorcerers. Summersbane assumed this would end McCarthy’s career, & with it, so too the second Red Scare itself.

Unfortunately, Summersbane underestimated both the stupidity & zealotry of the American government. As he observed the first Undead Scare hearing, looming from a chandelier, he expected McCarthy’s wild accusations would be met with laughter. Instead, a hush fell o’er the crowd, & they began to murmur of the horrors of this Necromunist invasion.

Swiftly, the hearings spun out of control. McCarthy began accusing enemies of undeath; he dragged actors, & secretaries, & factory workers into the chamber, splashing them with holy water to “prove” their “true” zombie nature. ‘Twas at this point, that Summersbane endured a horrific realization: he were not the puppet-master, playing Roy Cohn for a fool, nay.

Just the opposite: Roy Cohn had played Summersbane.

Roy were no mere lawyer, but a demon walking in mortal skin. One who returns to Earth once a century, to wreak panic & pain. One wily enough to know that the lust for anti-Communism—the lust for domination—drove men mad in a way not seen since the Spanish Inquisition. They would believe any lunatic idea, if it meant they could hurt someone with it, e’en one so ludicrous as “Necromunist infiltration.”

His plan perverted, Summersbane vowed to expose Cohn’s true nature, & the entire Necromunist deception. In early June of 1954, Summersbane convened an especial session, & explained the whole situation to the audience. Unfortunately, the broadcast were pre-empted by a special extra-racist episode of Amos ‘n Andy. Only the mortals in the room heard the explanation, & few took it seriously.

He attempted to seize control of a tele-vision station & force them to broadcast his speech, but days later, an exasperated anti-Communist lawyer named Welch decried McCarthy’s crusade as a waste of time which were interrupting the more serious work of destroying Communism in Korea & “Indochina.” McCarthy then fell to censure in the Senate, & his crusade dissolved, superseded by a less-sensational, merely pervasive anti-Communism, fueled by incessant propaganda.

So, in the end, Summersbane’s project proved a failure. Out-witted by a demon older than English, he vowed to avoid the sickening legislative arena. & annoyed by Joseph McCarthy, America vowed to stop electing & elevating violent demagogues. Only one of the two vows is being kept.

But my necromancer friend did, at least, feed McCarthy a liver-eating worm, which slew him in 1957. “Roy Cohn” returned to Hell in 1986, after 15 years of defending & mentoring Donald Trump. Summersbane remains vigilant, watching for “Cohn” & his eventual return. Given that America has started a third “Red Scare,” we both suspect the villain may have returned early…

Thank ye for reading! & we humbly thank that growing clan of mortals who can & do support our works here with coin! GRATIAS!

I shall write ye come Wednesday with news of our next episode! Til then: be safe, be well, & ne’er name names…

Cheers,
Amœnus Franco
Wizard, Writer, Necromunist Sympathizer