Haeckel's Tale - Recap

Over a century ago, young widower Edward Ralston seeks out a cottage in the woods. The owner, Miz Carnation, invites him in and he asks for her help as a necromancer. She says that she was once a necromancer but no more. He wants her to raise his dead wife for him but she warns that it is dangerous for her... and for him. She tells a story as a cautionary tale.

Ernst Haeckel was a medical student obsessed with bringing life to the dead using science. His medical teacher, Dr. Hauser, disagrees, asserting that only God can give life. Haeckel is intrigued by the stories of a Victor Frankenstein of Germany but Hauser dismisses them. Haeckel invites his teacher and other students to his laboratory where he tries to restore a young girl to life but only succeeds in setting her corpse on fire. A scornful Hauser leaves and later, bodysnatcher Chester arrives with another body. Haeckel disposes of the body and isn't interested in buying a new corpse since his experiments seem doomed to failure. Chester suggests that he talk to a Dr. Montesquino, a necromancer who Chester saw in the park offering to raise the dead. Haeckel is skeptical but Chester insists that he saw Montesquino raise the dead with his own eyes.

Haeckel goes to the park the next day where Montesquino is addressing a crowd and selling his services. Each person he resurrects costs him a year of his life so he expects to be paid well. Haeckel is clearly skeptical and Montesquino calls him forward to examine a dead dog in a basket. Montesquino then closes the basket and chants over it, seemingly bringing the dog back to life. It snarls and bites and Montesquino is forced to shoot it. One couple, impressed, want him to raise his daughter but can't afford his price.

Afterward, Haeckel approaches Montesquino at his camp and points out that the necromancer faked the entire thing with ventriloquism and a puppet. Montesquino doesn't care and takes Haeckel's whiskey but tells the medical student to leave him alone.

Later, Haeckel receives a letter from his dying father in Windsor and journeys to see him. Along the way he stops beneath a tree to eat, only to discover a corpse hung from the branch above him. That night he is forced to take shelter from a storm and finds himself in a mauseoleum at a necropolis. An elderly man interrupts him and introduces himself as Walter Wolfram. He offers Haeckel food and shelter for the life and the medical student accepts. They go to Wolfram's cabin where the old man introduces Haeckel to his beautiful young wife Elise. They eat and Elise seems attracted to Haeckel. Wolfram, drinking heavily, doesn't seem concerned and starts frankly discussing Haeckel's sexual interests. Haeckel, upset, pleads fatigue and goes to the guest room. Elise prepares the bed but keeps looking out the window into the storm. Haeckel talks to her briefly and they almost kiss, but Elise then hastily leaves. Haeckel dozes off but later awakens to see Elise at the window, looking toward the necropolis and stroking herself. When she sees Haeckel, she stops.

He dozes off again but wakes up and sees Montesquino at the door talking to Wolfram. After dozing some more, Haeckel then sees Elise breast-feeding the baby while Wolfram continues to drink. Finally the baby dozes off and Elise runs out into the storm, saying she can't take it any more. Haeckel gets up and talks to Wolfram, who warns him to stay in the cabin. Wolfram breaks down crying and says that he knows Haeckel is attracted to Elise but doesn't care. He warns Haeckel that no man can satisfy his wife, and the child isn't his but that of Elise's dead first husband. Wolfram denies any nobility in taking her in, but admits that he's spent all of his money paying Montesquino to make Elise happy. Haeckel dismisses the necromancer as a fake but Wolfram says that Montesquino's powers are real. Elise's seeming moan of agony echoes out of the woods and Haeckel goes to help her, forcing Wolfram to go along.

As they go through the woods, Haeckel finds a dying dog: the dog from Montesquino's show. The medical student tries to put it out of its misery with a rock... but it refuses to die. He beats it repeatedly but Wolfram warns that since it is dead, Haeckel can't kill it again. They continue to the necropolis and Haeckel takes Wolfram's musket and breaks the lock then goes inside. He finds Montesquino smoking a pipe and forces the necromancer ahead of him toward the source of the moans. They find a tombstone... and Elise atop it, making love to her reanimated dead husband. Other corpses, similarly resurrected, are watching and then start to participate. Haeckel tells Montesquino to stop them but the necromancer warns he can't. Wolfram staggers up and tries to get Elise to leave, but two of the corpses attack and kill him, ripping out his intestines and one eye. Haeckel tries to help him and Montesquino tries to run, and the medical student shoots him then runs to him and demands to know how to stop the corpses. The dying Montesquino says that they will only return to their graves when the sun comes up, then shoves Haeckel away to where the student hits his head on a tomb and drops unconscious.

The next morning, Haeckel wakes up to discover the corpses have returned to their graves... for the time being. He goes back to Wolfram's cabin and finds Elise alive and well, and breast-feeding her baby again. She shows Haeckel her son: it has its real father's looks and is a zombie baby. She offers it to Haeckel... and it rips open his throat. That night, all of the corpses come out of their coffins and form a line to enjoy Elise... who is making love to the now-resurrected Haeckel, as the animated corpses of Montesquino and Wolfram look on.

Miz Carnation finishes her story and says that Ralston should be careful of using necromancy to reunite with true love. A disgusted Ralston backs away and says that he loves his dead wife's spirit. Miz Carnation says she can only resurrect the body, not the spirit. Ralston hears the cry of a baby from the next room and wonders how Miz Carnation knows all the details of the story. As he looks in horror, Elise's husband, Wolfram, and Haeckel stagger in. Miz Carnation gets the baby--a zombie child--and it's clear that she is a now-elderly Elise. As Ralston flees in horror, Elise tells the corpses to wait until she's done with the baby and then they can have her.

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