The Howling Man story
A man lost in a storm finds a monastery where the monks claim a howling prisoner is the Devil himself. Directed by: Douglas Heyes. Story by: Charles Beaumont.
10 total · 2 choice · 3 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| the Devil | choice | Ellington had spent decades pursuing Satan after having inadvertently freed the Prince of Darkness from his captivity in a far flung hermitage. |
| trust in a potential foe | choice | Central to the story was the practical dilemma of whether to believe mad-sounding allegations that an imprisoned man was Lucifer himself. |
| evil can come in the guise of good | major | The Devil tricked Ellington into releasing him from his imprisonment in a monastery by appearing to be an ordinary man. |
| quasi-religious cult | major | It seemed to Ellington that Brother Jerome was the leader of an insane religious cult until it became apparent that Brother Jerome and his fellow monks were behaving quite reasonably, given that they had Satan imprisoned in their hermitage. |
| what if I was at the mercy of a mad person | major | Ellington believed the Brother Jerome and the other monks to be religious nut jobs until the very end of his stay with them. |
| human vs. captivity | minor | Brother Jerome and his followers imprisoned The Howling Man against his will. |
| nuclear weapons | minor | Ellington mentioned the development of nuclear weapons in passing. |
| the desire for vengeance | minor | The Howling Man alleged that Brother Jerome had beaten him with a staff to avenge a transgression. |
| World War I | minor | Brother Jerome spoke in passing of the trials and tribulations that people had gone through in the First World War. |
| World War II | minor | Ellington mentioned that he was pursuing the Devil while the Second World War was going on. |