The seven men and six women were dressed in ordinary street clothes; however, there was nothing ordinary about what they were doing.   In the centre of the living room, a magic Cone of Power had been laid out on the floor.   Within the white circle, on a wooden table a beautiful young woman lay naked, while the thirteen men and women danced round her anti-clockwise, chanting a simple eight-line mantra.

For a long while nothing seemed to be happening.   Then, unexpectedly a loud explosion resounded upon the corrugated-iron roof.   The thirteen people looked up startled and were almost blinded as the room was filled with a great burst of yellow light.   Stunned they fell to the floor for a moment, covering their eyes, some moaning in agony.

When at last they dared to look up, they saw great tendrils of smoky white ectoplasm spraying upward from the wooden table, gushing from the mouth, ears, nostrils, nipples, and vulva of the young woman on the table.   Ectoplasm is a vital part of human beings, the link between their physical and astral bodies.   Losing even a small quantity has been known to kill trance mediums.   Yet, as the men and women watched, the young woman gave off seemingly litres of the foamy white matter, which sprayed out of her body orifices and slowly began to form into a solid mass about a metre above where she lay.

As they watched in astonishment, the swirling mass of ectoplasm rapidly began to shape itself into the figure of a beautiful woman.

“Oh my God, it’s Vera!” cried one of the women in the coven.   And indeed the ectoplasmic woman was an exact double of the young woman lying naked on the table.   Or rather a cruel caricature of the woman.   Physically it resembled her, except for a wild, insane look in the fiery eyes and a twisted sneer that spoilt the otherwise sensual mouth.

At first the witch coven was too stunned to react, but finally they began chanting, calling to the White Goddess, Hecate, to return the spirit of their neophyte into her body.

“Return the soul of our beloved sister, Vera Hilliard!” pleaded the High Priest.

Snarling with rage the ectoplasmic woman began to twist and turn furiously, using her own powers to summon up a great wind, which tossed the tall priest about the room like a twig and blew out the ceremonial black candles, scattering them across the living room floor.   The yellow light that had heralded the coming of the evil creature began to build in intensity, forcing the coven to shield their eyes again.