Comic Title: Star Spangled Comics #122
Publisher: DC (National Comics Publications, Inc.)
Address: 480 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY
Cover Date: November 1951
Approx. On Sale Date: September 14, 1951 Copyright Date September 12, 1951
Source: Library of Congress, Periodicals 1951
Until 1958 DC did not report actual on sale dates to the copyright office
The publication dates listed in LoC records are NOT release dates.

Frequency: Monthly
Cover Price: $0.10
Page Count: 32
Editor: Jack Schiff

Title: "I Talked with the Dead"
Pages: 8

Feature(s):
Doctor 13 (of Earth-1)

Artist: Leonard Starr

Reprinted In:
Showcase #80 (1969)
Showcase Presents Phantom Stranger Vol. 1 TPB (2006)

Feature Character(s)

• Doctor Thirteen (Terry Thirteen; origin and first appearance; next appearance in Star Spangled Comics #123)

Supporting Character(s)

• Marie Leeds (Terry's fiancee; see Comment below; first appearance; next appearance in Star Spangled Comics #123)

Other Character(s)

• Terry's father (in flashback to Terry's childhood; no further appearances)
• Terry's former nanny (in flashback to Terry's childhood; no further appearances)
• Members of the press (no further appearances)

Comments:
Dr. Thirteen is also known as the Ghost-Breaker. Based on the origin given in this story, he is 29 years old.

This story takes place on New Year's Eve.

Marie's last name is not given in this story and is rarely used throughout the series. The first time her last name is used is in Star Spangled Comics #123 which gives her last name as Lamont. Star Spangled Comics #126 and Star Spangled Comics #129 both give her last name as Leeds. Years later, in Showcase #80 it will be revealed that Marie and Terry married. She then takes his last name, becoming Marie Thirteen. Because it was used in multiple stories, it shall be assumed that Marie's maiden is Leeds and the use of the name Lamont was simply an error.

Synopsis:
When Terry Thirteen was a teenager, he learned that many of his ancestors fell victim to persecution for supernatural reasons. However, his father explains to him that the supernatural is not real. The family was not really cursed, they were just ahead of their time in the field of science. Terry and his father make a pact to help prove that the supernatural is not real.

Following the death of his father in a car accident, Terry opens up a shop to publicly debunk the supernatural. Over the years he has exposed many frauds and solved mysteries using science. Now, five years after his father's death he enters his father's home to uphold the terms of the pact.

At the stroke of midnight, Terry asks five questions that only he and his father knew the answers to. Terry hears a disembodied voice answer the questions correctly. Terry is surprised, but does not believe his father is speaking from beyond the grave. He soon finds a recording device which played back the answers. It was recorded before his father's death and planted in the house by Terry's fiancee Marie as a test. Dr. Thirteen passes the test which serves to confirm his disbelief in the supernatural.