When James Dallas Egbert III was reported lacking from his faculty dorm in 1979, one in every of America’s most flamboyant personal detectives was summoned to resolve the case. “Dallas” confronted the identical issues as many youngsters, however P.I. William Expensive stoked fears that he may need fallen underneath the evil spell of a mysterious and sinister recreation: Dungeons & Dragons…
I’ll return with model new episodes of Cautionary Tales on January tenth. Within the meantime, Merry Christmas from the Cautionary Tales workforce.
Additional studying
David Ewalt’s Of Cube and Males is a enjoyable and accessible historical past of Dungeons & Dragons. Jon Peterson’s Enjoying on the World is a extra scholarly and vastly detailed therapy of the identical materials. Each comprise helpful accounts of Dallas Egbert’s disappearance.
One other vital supply – together with for a lot of the dialogue on this episode – is William Expensive’s vivid description of the case, The Dungeon Grasp.
Modern media experiences have been helpful. “Tunnels are Looked for Lacking Pupil” (New York Occasions, 8 Sep 1979), “A Sensible Pupil’s Troubled Life and Early Dying” (New York Occasions, 25 Aug 1980), and Carla Corridor’s “Into the Dragon’s Lair” (Washington Put up 28 Nov 1984).
The American Hysteria Podcast “Satanic Panic: Half One” provides one other account of the case.