Night of The Demon - Plot

Plot

In England, Professor Harrington (Maurice Denham) approaches Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis), the leader of a satanic cult, promising to call off an investigation of the cult if Karswell will call off "what he has started". Karswell says that he will do all that he can. After learning that a parchment given to Harrington has disintegrated, he ushers Harrington out. After Harrington arrives at his home, a demon materialises in the woods and approaches Harrington. Fleeing in his car, Harrington crashes into a telegraph pole, which apparently causes falling power lines to electrocute him.

Dr. John Holden (Dana Andrews) arrives in England to attend a convention where Harrington had intended to expose Karswell's cult. Holden is informed of Harrington's death and that the only link between it and Karswell's cult is an accused murderer, Rand Hobart (Brian Wilde), who has fallen into a catatonic stupor. While Harrington's collaborators consider the possibility of supernatural forces, Holden rejects the idea as superstition.

Following Harrington's notes, Holden visits the British Museum's library to examine books on witchcraft. A book Harrington requests is discovered to be missing. He is approached by Karswell, who offers to show Holden his own copy at his mansion. At Harrington's funeral, Holden meets the dead man's niece, Joanna (Peggy Cummins), who provides him with Harrington's diary. The diary reveals Harrington's increasing fear of Karswell's power. Holden remains sceptical, but goes with Joanna to Karswell's mansion the next day.

There, Holden and Karswell mock one another's beliefs. A very strong windstorm abruptly starts, which Karswell claims to have created with a spell. When Holden continues to mock him, Karswell grows angry and predicts that Holden will die in three days.

At his hotel, Holden and his colleagues discuss Karswell and make plans to further examine Rand Hobart. Harrington's diary mentions the parchment passed to him by Karswell; Holden finds a parchment with runic inscriptions, that Karswell secretly passed to him at the library. Powerful winds come through the window, blowing the parchment from his fingers. It nearly burns in the fireplace before Holden rescues and pockets it.

Holden begins to feel more uneasy after a visit to Hobart's family, who disowned Hobart as "not a true believer". As Holden leaves, the parchment flies from his hand again. Hobart's family become fearful and declare Holden to be "chosen". Holden compares the parchment's runes to ones inscribed on the nearby stone circle at Stonehenge.

Joanna takes Holden to Karswell's mother (Athene Seyler), who has arranged a seance. The medium begins to channel Harrington, who tells them that Karswell has the key to the problem from his book. Holden leaves, dismissive towards both the medium and Mrs. Karswell. That night, Holden breaks into Karswell's mansion to examine the book. He is caught by Karswell, but is permitted to leave. Holden leaves through the woods and finds himself being chased by a living ball of smoke. On escaping from the forest, Holden finds that the phenomenon has vanished. He reports the event to the police but feels embarrassed, believing that he is falling for Karswell's mindgames.

Mrs. Karswell telephones Joanna, imploring her to tell Holden that Rand Hobart knows the secret of the parchment. "All this evil must end, Miss Harrington!", she says, as her son Julian appears and overhears her betrayal. While Holden prepares an experiment to break Hobart's stupor, Karswell kidnaps Joanna to prevent her reaching Holden with the message.

Under hypnosis, Hobart reveals that he was "chosen" to die by having a parchment with a curse passed to him, but avoided death by passing it to another person. When Holden shows Hobart the parchment he received from Karswell, Hobart goes berserk and throws himself from a window to his death.

Informed that Karswell is leaving London by train, Holden, convinced now that he must return the parchment to Karswell to save himself, races to catch it. He finds Karswell with Joanna. Karswell avoids any contact with Holden to guard against the parchment being passed back to him and grows increasingly fearful. When the train stops at the next station, Karswell tries to leave, but Holden manages to sneak the parchment into his coat. As Karswell realises this, the parchment flies from his hands. He chases it down to the tracks, where the parchment burns to ashes. As an oncoming train approaches, a demon appears above it, seizes Karswell, and slashes him, tossing his body onto the tracks. The station crew find his mangled body and believe that he was struck by the train.