The Thrill Book, Vol. 1, No. 4

# "Down the Coast of Shadows" by Perley Poore Sheehan

This mysterious serial installment concerns the night watchman Swan Swensen's eerie encounter in the Wycherly Building, a fortress-like Manhattan financial establishment protected by a labyrinthine design against assassination attempts. When alarm signals alert Swan to an intruder navigating the darkened corridors after midnight, he discovers the visitor is his employer, Jacob Wycherly himself—yet the man exhibits unsettling qualities. Wycherly speaks with unusual gentleness, displays impossible knowledge of Swan's presence in pitch darkness, and mysteriously references his dead brother Joseph before vanishing mid-conversation, leaving only cryptic words about a "Coast of Shadows" where souls voyage before departing life. Swan hears movement resuming in Wycherly's office, suggesting supernatural complexity beneath the narrative's surface. The tale blends detective mystery with ghostly intimations.