“A Friendly Exorcise”
By Talmage Powell
From the collection “Alfred Hitchcocks’s Behind the Death
Ball” (1974)
Tagline: That master hustler of horror chalks up a new high
in terror.
This short story begins with an old, sweaty sock caressing a
young wife’s face on its own. In this
tale a young couple, Jim and Judy Thornton move to a new house. They are additions
to the neighborhood and know nothing about their home when, right away, the
haunting begins. Jim doesn’t believe his
wife until his meat bone starts hopping around on his dinner plate and must
grab it and smack it down.
Judy decides this must be the poltergeist of Andy Bickleford
who lived with his parents in the house before Jim and Judy moved in. She feels Andy is harmless because the worst he
ever did was toss Jim’s bone around.
