"Night of the Caretaker's Dog" is the first story in Haunted Mansion #3. It was written by Chris Reilly and Steve Ahiquist, and illustrated by Crab Scrambley.
Synopsis[]
Boney, the Caretaker's skinny dog, wanders through the graveyard one night, sniffing the air. He digs up the grave of Topper McGurk ("Who fell in a Mixer at Work") and pulls out a leg bone and foot, which disturbs Topper's ghost. He tries to shoo the dog away, but Boney simply flings the foot away and trots off with McGurk's leg.
A frustrated McGurk is met with sympathy by fellow ghost Ethyl White ("Impaled by a Kite"), who complains about the quality of care they've been receiving lately and how the dog also dug up her grave the night prior and stole her skeletal arm. McGurk mentions how the dog won't mind any of them, and Ethyl explains that he only ever seems to listen to his master, the Caretaker, and that the man is probably sleeping off some drink at the moment. McGurk goes yelling for the Caretaker while the Executioner and the Beheaded Knight look on with disdain.
McGurk sticks his head through the window of the Caretaker's bedroom and find him asleep, while hornblower of the Phantom Five plays off-key music right beside him. The hornblower says the Caretaker was complaining about the noise the ghosts made, and took to wearing corks in his ears to drown out the sound. Foiled there, McGurk heads back across the graveyard. The Executioner warns in passing that it will be sunrise soon and that he should be tucked in. The Knight and Executioner engage in some odd banter involving the Knight knowing how to speak French.
Ethyl tells McGurk that the dog wandered off. Finding a set of pawprints, the two ghosts eventually track Boney to a spot in the graveyard, where he drops the bones he stole to five puppies. A nearby tombstone dedicated to "Mrs. Dog" seems to confirm that the pups are orphans, and McGurk and Ethyl decide they can spare a bone or two for their sake.
Trivia[]
- The Beheaded Knight says an odd phrase in French to the Executioner, which translates roughly to "Like a dog in a game of bowling!"
- Mrs. Dog is likely intended to be the Ghost Dog, as both it and the Caretaker's Dog are the same breed and the issue, which also features the Mummy's origin story, recreates the full attraction vignette in its cover art.