Real-world journalism comes with some occupational hazards, but usually death isn’t one of them. In the horror genre, on the other hand, members of the press find themselves in danger every time they get a hot lead on something weird and unexplained. Their tenacity never does them any good; one minute they’ve found the story of their career, the next they’re never heard from again.

Journalists often get in over their heads in horror. Something goes wrong in their investigation, and they end up becoming the story. As these five TV-anthology tales illustrate, digging for the truth can also mean digging your own grave.

Out of the Unknown (1965-1971)
Deathday

Out of the Unknown was one of several BBC anthologies from the ’60s and ’70s. And like others from this era, this show was almost entirely scrubbed from existence. It was common practice to erase series back then, but thankfully some episodes managed to survive and have since found their way back into the public domain, either through DVD or personal archives.

After largely telling sci-fi stories in its first three seasons, the fourth and final installment of Out of the Unknown embraced fantasy and horror. One of the surviving episodes, “Deathday“, is a psychological thriller about a prim and proper newspaper reporter who learns of his spouse’s infidelity. Husband Adam (Robert Lang) is devastated by not only the affair but also the fact that Lydia (Lynn Farleigh) wants to stay married as well as continue her affair with some chap named David.

While she does it calmly, Lydia tears Adam down for not physically satisfying her needs like David can. She blames his safe newspaper job, but the problem clearly runs deeper. She wants someone who, in addition to providing her security, can make her feel unsafe. She wants excitement, and a man as cautious and predictable as Adam isn’t going to give it to her.

Everything changes once Adam kills his wife and blames the crime on The Kitchen Killer from the news. As anticipated, things do not go as planned, and Adam loses his grip on reality. This heady adaptation of Angus Hall‘s novella first hits a nerve and then finally rips it wide open.

Hammer House of Horror (1980)
The Thirteenth Reunion

This delectable episode of the one-season anthology Hammer House of Horror owes itself to EC Comics; the story of “The Thirteenth Reunion” lifts a ghoulish idea from the pages of Tales from the Crypt. The similarities may be coincidental, though. To help preserve the ending of this tasty terror tale for new viewers, the Crypt story in question won’t be named.

In this episode, screenwriter Jeremy Burnham and director Peter Sasdy satirize the bizarre weight-loss trends of the ’80s. Julia Foster plays reporter Ruth, who’s been assigned to cover a controversial “health farm.” As Ruth pretends to be a client, she witnesses the cruel treatments practiced by the on-site staff; patients are publicly ridiculed about their physique. This harsh method doesn’t do Ruth’s friend at the health farm, Ben (Warren Clarke), any good, though. He hasn’t lost any weight, and for some unknown reason, the doctors want him to eat more.

In the meantime, a funeral home employee suspects something weird is going on at his job, and he asks for Ruth’s help after Ben mysteriously dies in a car accident. What she uncovers is indeed juicy, but she might not live long enough to write about it.

“The Thirteenth Reunion” is a gratifying three-course meal with a decadent twist at the end. The writing is less than subtle, and some actors have a tendency to chew the scenery. The more savvy viewers will realize what’s going on long before Ruth ever does.

Tales from the Cryptkeeper (1993-1994, 1999)
All the Gory Details!

The animated spin-off of Tales from the Crypt started off adapting EC Comics stories before shifting to original material. And unlike the original series, this anthology was aimed at younger audiences. This of course means Tales from the Cryptkeeper is devoid of gore and salacious elements. The Cryptkeeper, who is still voiced by John Kassir, is joined by his fellow raconteurs from the pages of classic EC, the Old Witch (Elizabeth Hanna) and the Vaultkeeper (David Hemblen).

In Season Two’s “All the Gory Details!“, writer Erika Strobel and director Laura Shepherd pair senior reporter Harold (Harvey Atkin) with a younger reporter named Sally (Tabitha St. Germain). They’re in search of the mad scientist Dr. Cromwell, who was on the cusp of creating artificial life before the authorities stopped him. Now, Sally and Harold look for the missing Cromwell in a small town.

Sally spends a lot of the episode defending herself to a fuddy-duddy who ridicules her whenever he can. The two reporters are divided by a generational gap, and the older one certainly doesn’t refrain from tossing out a chauvinistic comment here and there. Harold is without question an obnoxious character, but he and Sally play well off each other. It’s almost a pity what happens at the end of the episode.

“All the Gory Details” turns into a Frankenstein-esque story, although the conclusion is unexpected. It would seem like these two disparate personalities would finally find some common ground after their ordeal, but they ultimately diverge on the subject of ethics. And true to life, being stubborn has consequences.

Ghost Stories (1997-1998)
Beware the Muse

Years before it was renamed ABC Family and then finally Freeform, Fox Family Channel aired a supernatural anthology called Ghost Stories in the late ’90s. Given its home, presumably this series would be wholesome and barren of anything too alarming. Anyone who happened to see this show knows it could get pretty dark, though.

Joe Wiecha‘s “Beware the Muse” is one example of how Ghost Stories didn’t always play it safe. Writers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle‘s episode follows a disgraced reporter who’s now stuck working at a sleazy tabloid newspaper after fabricating facts at his last publisher. Now, James Rowe pumps out disposable trash pieces, like how Liberace’s ghost possessed Siegfried and Roy’s tiger. Eventually Rowe hits the jackpot when he starts writing a successful series of articles about the ghost of a long-executed serial killer named Dominick Palmer.

Just when it seems like the main character couldn’t get any worse, Rowe beavers away at whatever shred of decency he has left. Both his past and current lies catch up to him, and he pays the ultimate price for stretching the truth again and again. His lurid writing comes true, and people start to die for real. Kind of like a giant séance, the tabloid’s increased readership is now manifesting Palmer’s ghost.

Sleazy reporters are common in fiction, and like so many of them, the one in “Beware the Muse” is served his own “just desserts” fate. This might not be the most innovative episode in Ghost Stories, but it does a creative job of showing how a lie can become the truth.

Lost Tapes (2008-2010)
Lizard Man

The most unique anthology series in existence has to be Lost Tapes. This hidden gem from Animal Planet uses the popular found-footage technique. And for three seasons, this show highlighted cryptids and other folkloric creatures. Cryptozoology docuseries were, and still are, commonplace, yet none of them are quite like Lost Tapes.

Season Two tackled the famous cryptid of Lee County in the episode “Lizard Man“. The “real” Lizard Man first appeared in this South Carolina area in the late ’80s, and for some time, it was a local sensation. The same cryptid was covered in other paranormal docuseries Destination Truth and Fact or Faked.

In “Lizard Man”, a news reporter tags along with two firefighters as part of a human interest story. Along with a camera operator, the three enter the sewer in search of a missing cat. What they instead find is far from feel-good; they discover the carcasses of other pets. There’s a predator beneath the city, and it’s hankering for bigger prey.

“Lizard Man” quickly evolves into a shaky-cam slasher where the namesake hunts down the news team and firefighters. There is always a sense of urgency in this series, and here the threat level is off the scale. Fans of any sort of first-person horror storytelling are encouraged to give this audacious series a watch.

Series of Frights is a recurring column that mainly focuses on horror in television. Specifically, it takes a closer look at five episodes or stories — each one adhering to an overall theme — from different anthology series or the occasional movie made for TV. With anthologies becoming popular again, especially on television, now is the perfect time to see what this timeless mode of storytelling has to offer.