The Hanging Stranger

by Philip K. Dick

At five o'clock Ed Loyce washed up, tossed on his hat and coat, got his car out and headed across town toward his TV sales store. He was tired. His back and shoulders ached from digging dirt out of the basement and wheeling it into the back yard. But for a forty-year-old man he had done okay. Janet could get a new vase with the money he had saved; and he liked the idea of repairing the foundations himself.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, Horror, Classics, Audiobook, Fantasy

17 pages, ebook

First published December 1, 1953

About the author

Philip Kindred Dick was a prolific American science fiction author whose work has had a lasting impact on literature, cinema, and popular culture. Known for his imaginative narratives and profound philosophical themes, Dick explored the nature of reality, the boundaries of human identity, and the impact of technology and authoritarianism on society. His stories often blurred the line between the real and the artificial, challenging readers to question their perceptions and beliefs.
Raised in California, Dick began writing professionally in the early 1950s, publishing short stories in various science fiction magazines. He quickly developed a distinctive voice within the genre, marked by a fusion of science fiction concepts with deep existential and psychological inquiry. Over his career, he authored 44 novels and more than 100 short stories, many of which have become classics in the field.
Recurring themes in Dick's work include alternate realities, simulations, corporate and government control, mental illness, and the nature of consciousness. His protagonists are frequently everyday individuals—often paranoid, uncertain, or troubled—caught in surreal and often dangerous circumstances that force them to question their environment and themselves. Works such as Ubik, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, and A Scanner Darkly reflect his fascination with perception and altered states of consciousness, often drawing from his own experiences with mental health struggles and drug use.
One of Dick’s most influential novels is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which served as the basis for Ridley Scott’s iconic film Blade Runner. The novel deals with the distinction between humans and artificial beings and asks profound questions about empathy, identity, and what it means to be alive. Other adaptations of his work include Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and The Man in the High Castle, each reflecting key elements of his storytelling—uncertain realities, oppressive systems, and the search for truth. These adaptations have introduced his complex ideas to audiences well beyond the traditional readership of science fiction.
In the 1970s, Dick underwent a series of visionary and mystical experiences that had a significant influence on his later writings. He described receiving profound knowledge from an external, possibly divine, source and documented these events extensively in what became known as The Exegesis, a massive and often fragmented journal. These experiences inspired his later novels, most notably the VALIS trilogy, which mixes autobiography, theology, and metaphysics in a narrative that defies conventional structure and genre boundaries.
Throughout his life, Dick faced financial instability, health issues, and periods of personal turmoil, yet he remained a dedicated and relentless writer. Despite limited commercial success during his lifetime, his reputation grew steadily, and he came to be regarded as one of the most original voices in speculative fiction. His work has been celebrated for its ability to fuse philosophical depth with gripping storytelling and has influenced not only science fiction writers but also philosophers, filmmakers, and futurists.
Dick’s legacy continues to thrive in both literary and cinematic spheres. The themes he explored remain urgently relevant in the modern world, particularly as technology increasingly intersects with human identity and governance. The Philip K. Dick Award, named in his honor, is presented annually to distinguished works of science fiction published in paperback original form in the United States. His writings have also inspired television series, academic studies, and countless homages across media.
Through his vivid imagination and unflinching inquiry into the nature of existence, Philip K. Dick redefined what science fiction could achieve. His work continues to challenge and inspire, offering timeless insights into the human condition a

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my new favorite things to do it to go find random science fiction short stories from the 50s and 60s on the Project Gutenberg website. I'm not even a huge science fiction fan, but there's just something about the short stories from that particular era that I love. They're not always great writing, but they just have a certain je ne sais quoi that makes them worth a quick read.

“The Hanging Stranger” by Philip K. Dick is one of these Project Gutenberg finds and it definitely didn't disappoint. Ed Loyce heads to work one day and finds a body hanging from a lamp post in the middle of town. That's concerning enough as is, but why does no one else seem to care? What follows is a creepy, atmospheric, and fast-paced journey into what must be insanity, except that Ed isn't actually insane. Or is he?

There's not a lot to this story and the details are far from fleshed out, but it's a captivating read just the same. Philip K. Dick really knew how to write a suspenseful tale, and Ed's paranoia is almost palpable. I did not see the ending coming at all, and I think I kind of loved it.

3.68 stars, rounded up.

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

You just can't beat PKD for atmospheric horror. I can't say I liked the story...I wasn't entirely sold on the 1950s-ness of it, Emerson and Philco TVs and Loyce driving his Packard are references anyone more than five years younger than I am isn't likely to follow...but listen to it and be transported (haw) to a paranoid, mentally ill man's nightmare of reality.

PKD's obsession? fascination? with the religious worldview is clearly on display here. The carefully constructed puzzle is one we've encountered so many times at this point in the 21st century that it's not remotely surprising. It's a delicious iteration of the survivor-of-the-invasion story because it's so low-tech, so unconcerned with whys and hows. Loyce does awful, unspeakable things with his clarity, and is punished for them; somehow he's got time in his headlong rush to Save The World to think through the implications of what he's seen in the context of the Old Testament; and thus is PKD's hand tipped. He's giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the Status Quo. Harry Harrison bought this story for the December 1953 edition of Science Fiction Adventures, so it was written sometime in the heat of the Second Red Scare. That atmosphere of paranoia, that sense of the world as you knew it disappearing from under your feet, is one that resonates strongly (on both sides of the great cultural rift) today. The religious underpinning of Loyce's revelation/break with reality is eerily prefiguring the pink beam experience PKD had in 1974, and the subsequent strangeness of his denunciation of various figures as moles for the Warsaw Pact powers.

All in all, a good listening experience, a satisfactory early-PKD read, and a TV episode loosely inspired by the story will round out one's experience of how a tormented mind's solidly crafted crumbling structure can enlighten the more fortunate, less troubled, sheeple of the world.

PS I think any SF fans should consider subscribing to SciFi Hub on YouTube for free audiobooks of SF stories. I'm not much of an ear-reader, but this guy's narration actually gives me a sense of what y'all like about audiobooks.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The Hanging Stranger”—one of the Philip K. Dick stories chosen for the Amazon series Electric Dreams—is a haunting political allegory about desensitization and social control. It is also scary classic sci-fi thriller, a paranoid repast spiced up a few generous shakes of insect fear. First published in Science Fiction Adventure (December 1953), it still carries a powerful impact today.

Ed Loyce, returning to his TV repair shop after working all morning in his basement, is shocked to discover the body of an unknown man hanging from a lamp post in the square. What scares him even more is that his fellow citizens don’t think this is a big deal. Soon Loyce uncovers the disturbing truth: the people in town have been replaced by insects that are extraordinarily adept at mimicry.

The story is exciting, with a few twists and turns, and concludes and a surprising—and inevitable—conclusion. You suspect, as I did, that this story may an imitation of Jack Finney’s novel The Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but Body Snatchers came two years later, in 1955.

[Bionic Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Hanging Stranger is a short story by Philip K. Dick, which was written in 1953. It is the fourth story in the collection “Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams”, compiled in 2017, after the television series of the same name. The Hanging Stranger was adapted for filming by Dee Rees, and the episode was called ”Kill All Others”.

This a story which is typical of its time, and is imbued with the paranoia which swept America about alien invasions. It features mob mentality, xenophobia and persecution. I particularly enjoyed the description of the amorphous insect-like creatures which reminded me so of the ones deep in our minds in “Quatermass and the Pit”. I also enjoyed the circular nature of the story, which provides a satisfying ending.

The story begins as Ed Loyce is going to his place of work, a television repair store. Previously he had spent all day repairing the foundations of his house. When he enters the town of Pikesville, he sees something strange in the distance, hanging from a lamppost. On closer inspection he finds to his horror that it is a dead body. Ed Loyce is naturally very shocked by this, and cannot understand why nobody else he points it out to, thinks anything is unusual about it.

In his shop, Don Fergusson insists that there must be a good reason for it being there. Maybe it is some sort of public service announcement. Jack Potter, who is from outside town, doesn’t see anything wrong with it being there either:

“‘There’s a body hanging from the lamppost,’ Loyce said. ‘I’m going to call the cops.’

‘They must know about it,’ Potter said. ‘Or otherwise it wouldn’t be there.’”

Margaret Henderson from the Jewellery shop comes over, concerned about him. Even Ed Loyce himself begins to attempt to reconcile things in his mind. Surely the body must have been put there deliberately, otherwise the authorities would have reacted by now. Everyone Ed Loyce points the body out to, reacts in a subtly similar way, perceiving him as an outsider. A crowd gathers as Ed Loyce becomes more and more flustered by the inexplicable attitude everyone has. He begins urging the crowd to do something about the body, and eventually the police arrive to break up the gathering.

Ed Loyce is taken off in a police car, and mentions the fact that he had been working underground all the previous day. He is told that this settles the matter, because he missed the explanation for the hanging body. Naturally this does not satisfy Ed Loyce, who remains suspicious. He is also not sure about the men he talked to, as they were not the local police whom he knew. He begins to dissemble in order to get away, using the sort of language he suspects will get the police on his side, while he thinks:

“I thought something had happened. You know, something like that Ku Klux Klan. Some kind of violence. Communists or Fascists taking over … I’m glad to know it’s on the level.”

Perhaps he is either deliberately or unconsciously beginning to accept this new status quo, where bodies hanging from lampposts are nothing to be concerned about. As long as it is “on the level”, it doesn’t matter how outrageous it is; most people will accept it. But as soon as he can, when the car slows down for traffic lights, he escapes from these “police”; also a crowd of others, who seem to be following him through the hardware store, and on, where:

“Above the City Hall was a patch of darkness, a cone of gloom denser than the surrounding night. A prism of black that spread out and was lost into the sky.”

Ed Loyce is feeling an undefined malevolent force. It encompasses both the public, and also the twin symbols of authority of the police station and City Hall. He begins to see a solid dark vortex with a dense swarm of things coming out of it. These creatures coming from the dark vortex are aliens, with insect-like wings.

Philip K. Dick has described these aliens most effectively, as the people still retain an impression of their own human shape, but also are shrouded in a ghostly alien insect-like flickering. He hears a buzzing, and sees some of them crawling crab-fashion“ into City Hall.

As the story proceeds, we learn that although to all appearances the people of Pikeville are going on with their daily lives, they all seem to have had their consciousness taken over by the invading alien insects. On a bus, Ed Loyce watches the actions of the other passengers:

“Dulled, tired faces. People going home from work. Quite ordinary faces. None of them paid any attention to him. All sat quietly, sunk down in their seats, jiggling with the motions of the bus.

The man sitting next to him unfolded a newspaper. He began to read the sports section, his lips moving. An ordinary man. Blue suit. Tie. A businessman, or a salesman. On his way home to his wife and family.

Ordinary people. The kind that rode the bus every evening … Going home—with their minds dead. Controlled, filmed over with the mask of an alien being that had appeared and taken possession of them, their town, their lives.”

Ed Loyce is beginning to sense his isolation, and to feel hunted: persecuted. One man observes him carefully with alert eyes while pretending to read a book. When an old man gets on the bus, and deliberately sits across from him, there is “a look rich with meaning”. Ed Loyce scrambles to escape through the emergency escape door. The man with the book follows and confronts him, but Ed Loyce beats him to a bloody pulp and escapes.

He is desperate to get to his house, to see his wife Jane, and their twins, Jim and Tommy. Ed tries to explain the situation to Janet, insisting that they leave town immediately. However, to his horror, an alien creature with the vague appearance of Jimmy attacks him. Ed Loyce manages to kill it with a kitchen knife, but afterwards begins to sense an alien presence in his own mind. He needs to escape, far away from everyone.

Ed Loyce crawls almost ten miles to avoid being seen. His clothing is in shreds; he is dirty and injured, but he manages to get out of Pikesville. He tries to tell a gas station attendant what has happened in the town:

“They followed me most of the way. I could hear them buzzing. Buzzing and flitting around behind me.”

He asks to be taken to Oak Grove, to see the Commissioner. He tells the story, and is relieved when the Commissioner says he believes him. We though are wary, when the Commissioner says:

“So you got away. You were down in your cellar instead of at work. A freak chance. One in a million.”

The alarm bells may ring for us, but not apparently for Ed Loyce, who tells the Commissioner his theory of what is going on.

He has worked out that the alien insect creatures have invaded the town, working first from the highest levels of authority, and that whatever—or whoever—it is, is spreading:

“About them. Who they are. They take over one area at a time. Starting at the top—the highest level of authority. Working down from there in a widening circle. When they’re firmly in control they go on to the next town. They spread, slowly, very gradually. I think it’s been going on for a long time.”

What is actually being played out in Pikesville is an ancient conflict, dating at least back to Biblical times. He talks of the Old Testament stories, and of a painting he had seen as a child:

“Beelzebub was represented as—a giant fly.”.

But he still did not know why the body was hanging from the lamppost. The Commissioner suggests that it was “Bait”, to make Ed Loyce stand out. Anyone inside, or underground when the brainwashing took place, was left unaffected. They are the ones at whom the gruesome body hanging from the lamppost is aimed. The Commissioner smiles coldly and says that it will all make sense soon. As Ed Loyce is taken away by policemen, he glimpses a platform outside, with a telegraph pole and a rope. It is obvious what his destiny is to be.

The story has the perfect neatly ironic ending. An ordinary man, the vice-president the Oak Grove Merchant’s Bank, leaves work at the end of the day. The man, Clarence Mason has spent all day working in the vault. Now he is horrified to see that there is a body hanging from a telephone pole. And even more perplexed to find that he seems to be the only one who notices it.

Given the time this was written, The Hanging Stranger is a thinly veiled political allegory. The word “Stranger” indicates that the body is that of an outsider, an Other. When Philip K. Dick was writing this, lynchings were still common in the United States, and because such mob behaviour was accepted by many, there will have been a kind of acceptance or indifference displayed, which parallels the indifference in this story.

When outrageous horrors are just a normal part of life, most people seem to accept that this is reasonable within the system. As the people of Pikesville point out to him, Ed Loyce must be either drunk or sick to suggest otherwise. There does not seem to be any explanation of what is going on. However, we do learn that the aliens have taken over the leadership of the town, before they take over the people of the town with one fell swoop. When Ed Loyce notices the creatures flying into the City Hall building this is an obvious metaphor for the political reading of the story. Only a few people avoided having their consciousness controlled, and they were exposed through their obvious bewilderment about the changes taking place. Otherwise the people who have been taken over are not perceptibly any different from those going through their everyday lives, in a consumer society.

The message of this allegorical story is a chilling one. The fear this story encourages us to feel, is not necessarily of alien creatures. They are symbolic, to reveal that no matter how total the alien invasion is, the economy and status quo carry on much the same way. We lose our self-determinism, but apparently very little would change about how we interact with each other, and go about our daily lives. Ed Loyce represents Everyman. In a sense we are all oblivious to our surroundings and the goals of those in higher authority. Ed begins to discover this when he sees the creatures flying into the government building taking complete control. The hanging “stranger” is a strong symbol too.

There is a more specific interpretation possible, that the aliens here are deliberate symbols of communism, which fits with the political hysteria of 1950s USA. Someone with different political opinions, would not appear to be any different, based on their environment. Such “moles” could be planted in a deliberate attempt to create fear and mass hysteria. Then it would be easy to encourage the desire for conformity, under a controlled order, above all else. Ed Loyce’s natural human curiosity helps him reevaluate the situation, but eventually he would succumb like everyone else.

The conflict shows when Ed Loyce found the hanging man, and nobody else seemed to be bothered by it. As a result, he was forced to think differently about the town he lived in and the people that surrounded him, not only because of their surprising negligence but also because of their inexplicable demeanour towards him.

The TV adaptation takes the idea, but has different characters and a specific target. It simplifies the story, giving it a more direct focus. The setting is near-future, and video advertising is everywhere. North America is a single nation with a single presidential candidate. Again we have an ordinary man as the protagonist, Philbert Noyce, who works on a production line.

During the presidential candidate’s speech one night, Philbert hears her utter the words “Kill All Others” whilst the same words flash on the screen. Few others have seen or heard the message, but many are affected by it. Philbert Noyce find himself in a nightmarish world of the collective unconscious, with himself as the only “rational” person left. Only one of his co-workers believes what he says about the message and the political system. By the end, Philbert Noyce is driven onto an advert where a hanging victim has been left, lambasting the government’s callousness, and declares that everyone is an “Other”.

Dee Rees says that she adapted this story:

“during the throes of the 2016 presidential campaign. There was blind, chanting jingoism … there were many debates about ‘literalism’ versus hyperbole. This is not really happening, they said. What you are seeing is not what you are really seeing … what you are hearing is not what is really meant. We didn’t see it.”

From the modern perspective we sense that this story is derivative: a predictable, unoriginal idea describing a society in which paranoia is at its most obvious. But we are mistaken. We have the benefit of hindsight, and this early story by Philip K. Dick was one of the first to exploit this idea. An English reader immediately thinks of Quatermass, but this most similar story, Nigel Kneale’s terrifying “Quatermass and the Pit” was not developed until 5 years later, in 1958. Even John Wyndham’s similarly paranoid Science Fiction novel, “The Chrysalids” is slightly later in 1955, and Jack Finney’s novel “The Invasion of the Body Snatchers” came three years later in 1956.

The Hanging Stranger is a story which can be re-interpreted and applied to many cultures at many times, particularly lending itself to a political stance. But I have to say that I prefer the original story to the dramatisation. Perhaps this is because I am not an American, but I do feel it has a wider remit, more breadth, and the benefit of different levels of interpretations, rather than any director’s fixed pointer.

Perhaps there will always be a body hanging in the square, but what it represents fluctuates.

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hanging Stranger, first published in 1953, when author Philip K. Dick was only 25 years old reveals the younger writer to be interested in horror as much as his later dominated genre of science fiction.

A reader wonders what may have come if this story had become more popular and the young writer persuaded to follow the paths of H.P. Lovecraft and Richard Matheson rather than becoming a pioneer in the science fiction field.

Still, this early work demonstrates his ability to convey an eerie sense of unorthodoxy and hints at an early idea of mental illness, both elements that would become ubiquitous in his later works.

[mark monday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paranoia will destroy ya even if you're right about what you're being paranoid over. Like say the mutilated stranger hanging from a lamppost in the middle of the town square that apparently bothers no one. This short story distills all that made Dick a fascinating and exciting author in the early part of his career: weird, barely described science fictional elements, normal people acting crazy, sudden violence, a herky-jerky prose style that is a good match for the frantic pace, and of course an over the top paranoid narrative in which the paranoia is all too justified.

Read for free here:
https://americanliterature.com/author...

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another short story by PKD, this one a bit longer than the other and not taking place in space.

This story is about a man emerging from a cellar where he worked all day long to find a man hanging from a street lamp in his town. The truly unsettling thing about this is that nobody seems to notice or, when it's pointed out by the MC, to care!

The narrator of the first audio version I listened to was absolutely atrocious. Think worst TV commercial ever with no emotion in the vocalization. It's why I changed to the other (I was lucky enough to find out that the narrator who had done the previous short story so impeccably well had also narrated a version of this story).

As seems to be typical PKD, it's all about setting a certain scene before a nice twist or culmination of the horror one felt rising throughout the story. This was exactly the same: creepy and foreboding. The ending was a bit more predictable than in the other story I just read but it was still a very nice set-up and should make the reader's skin crawl.

[[ J o ] · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm running out of ways to say Dick writes superbly well and I'm really enjoying his work as I progress through it.

Just to be different, I'll talk about the stuff I didn't like so much. I wish it hadn't been about aliens. It feels like a slight cop-out, but I think I'm right in saying this is a very early story. It's a little Lovecraftian in this sense, with the added mental-state side to it, but I want to enjoy Dick for being Dick, not for being a bit Lovecraftian.

The characters were a bit meh, but that tends to happen with most short stories. It's such a good story though, if you look behind the general tropes of what makes a good story and what makes you enjoy a good story.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very early PKD horror/SF.

A creepy ghost story with tie-ins to psychopomps and police. :) It really showcases his early knowledge of religions even though it's just a scare/scare. :) Very short story, but quite pleasurable. :)

[Tristram Shandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not Just Hanging Around

What would you do if you discovered, on your way to work, the body of a stranger dangling from a post in the middle of a park? Ed Loyce, owner of a small TV shop, does not think twice but raises hue and cry but the thing that is even more bewildering than the pendular corpse on public display is the fact that no one else but he seems to care. In fact, his assistant is even indignant at having been called out of the shop when he was talking to a customer just for looking at a hanging stranger. Eventually, Loyce is taken away by the police, but he manages to pull off an escape and while he is hiding, he takes in some unsettling details that make him come to the conclusion that his hometown is being invaded by insect people replacing the original inhabitants. On his flight out of town, Loyce soon finds himself faced with the uncomfortable question of whom he can still trust.

A few days ago, I happened to re-watch one of my favourite films, Philip Kaufman’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, which is based on the earlier movie by Don Siegel, which, in turn, is an adaptation of a Jack Finney novel published in 1955, some two years after the short story The Hanging Stranger by PKD. Some days later, I came across this very story, and found a lot that seemed familiar to me. Critics have spent quite some time and paper arguing whether Finney’s novel could be read as a political allegory on McCarthyism or as a warning against communism, and it is quite interesting that, exactly as in the case of the western classic “High Noon”, both interpretations have a lot speaking in their favour since both McCarthy and the Soviets had a tendency to create mass hysteria and general fear in order to install an atmosphere of conformism. When Don Siegel was asked about the sub-text of his movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, he said, playing down the anti-McCarthy reading of the film, “I felt that this was a very important story. I think that the world is populated by pods and I wanted to show them. I think so many people have no feeling about cultural things, no feeling of pain, of sorrow…”

I find that the same line of attack might be read into the short story by PKD, where the author portrays a society in which everybody goes through life minding their own business and trusting that whatever is done in public is condoned by the government and therefore should not be questioned. Just take this little quotation:

”’There’s a body hanging from the lamppost,’ Loyce said. ‘I’m going to call the cops.’

‘They must know about it,’ Potter said. ‘Or otherwise it wouldn’t be there.’”

By the same logic, which displays an inveterate trust in the state and its organs, one need never ever call the cops when seeing something strange or outrageous because if they didn’t know about it, it would not be there.

Even Loyce himself is not immune against the temptation of submitting to the belief that whatever the government does is legitimized through the fact that it is done by the government, a belief that is rooted in man’s desire to mind his own business and to confine himself to his own immediate range of everyday duties and comforts – in short, a belief rooted in intellectual and emotional sloth. Loyce reacts with infinite relief to the policemen’s ensuring him that the presence of the hanging stranger is “on the level”, i.e. that neither Communists nor fascists have taken over nor that the Ku Klux Klan – we must bear in mind that at the time Dick wrote this story, lynchings were still a grim reality in some states of the U.S. – is responsible for it. In other words, as soon as Loyce is told that the man was hanged and publicly displayed on decree of the government, it all falls into place for him and, however outrageous a fact it may be in itself, he need no longer care nor worry. We need not turn up our noses at Loyce because all too often, we are doing it ourselves, in order to comfortably fall back into our day-to-day lives.

What kind of life this usually is becomes clear in a passage that describes to us the passenger on a bus:

”He studied the people around him. Dulled, tired faces. People going home from work. Quite ordinary faces. None of them paid any attention to him. All sat quietly, sunk down in their seats, jiggling with the motion of the bus. The man sitting next to him unfolded a newspaper. He began to read the sports section, his lips moving. An ordinary man. Blue suit. Tie. A businessman, or a salesman. On his way home to his wife and family. Across the aisle a young woman, perhaps twenty. Dark eyes and hair, a package on her lap. Nylons and heels. Red coat and white Angora sweater. Gazing absently ahead of her. A high school boy in jeans and black jacket. A great triple-chinned woman with an immense shopping bag loaded with packages and parcels. Her thick face dim with weariness. Ordinary people. The kind that rode the bus every evening. Going home to their families. To dinner.”

It’s all work, then dinner, and maybe a little play. And that’s what makes it so hard to tell the difference between alien insect people and the inhabitants of modern capitalist consumer society.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Hanging Stranger is a short story by Philip K. Dick originally published in December 1953 in the magazine Science Fiction Adventures. It was adapted by Dee Rees into the episode "Kill All Others" or "K.A.O." for the 2017 television series, Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams. Another one of many things I've never heard of. At least it isn't as short as some of his other short stories so it has a tiny, tiny chance that I may remember it. Tiny. I love the plot given on Wikipedia:

The protagonist Ed Loyce, is a store owner who is disturbed when he sees a stranger hanging from a lamppost, but finds that other people consider the apparent lynching unremarkable.

What more do you need to say than that? Below that is the TV series plot which begins:

The television adaptation differs from the short story in having a more political focus.

It says more than that, but all you have to say is the word political and I quit reading. Once again I had this story figured out from almost the first page, we start with Ed Loyce getting into his car and heading to his TV sales store. I wonder if there still are TV sales stores. We're told he is tired, that his back and shoulders ached from digging dirt out of the basement and wheeling it into the back yard. But he's proud of all the money he saved by repairing the foundations himself, now his wife can get a new vase with the money. See, I already know what happened, he killed his wife and kids and buried them in the basement. That's the only thing that makes sense, no one goes around digging out their own basement. So, now he gets to his store and sees a dark bundle hanging from a lamppost. It's a body.

Here's the part where they only person who cares that a body is there is Ed Loyce. Everyone else just walks on past. One man tells him there has to be a reason it is there and keeps going. I thought about this for awhile:

Jack Potter from the shoe shop joined them. "What's up, boys?"

"There's a body hanging from the lamppost," Loyce said. "I'm going to call the cops."

"They must know about it," Potter said. "Or otherwise it wouldn't be there."

Then there is this:

Men and women, passing by the park. A few glanced up curiously at the dark bundle - and then went on. Nobody stopped. Nobody paid any attention.

"I'm going nuts," Loyce whispered.

No kidding. That's what I said from the first page. And the police do show up, and he doesn't believe they're cops and runs away. He hits a man over the head with a rock killing him for no particular reason, I guess he figures the man is out to get him, who knows, before too long I'll probably see the poor guy hanging from a lamppost. Loyce is that crazy, really, he is, I'm always right. Read the story and find out, and happy reading.

[Rushain Sovis · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I started this story, I felt an alien presence in the twist right away. Because this is from Philip K. Dick. Most of his storylines flow in illusory environments that brilliantly created by him. This short story was published in 1953 by the young Dick and I found a Lovecraftian touch on it. And the story was used for few television adaptations. The story has a weird start and Dick ends the story beautifully, keeping that fresh queer among his readers.

[Verba Non Res · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este cuento comienza como una fantasía kafkiana, a mitad de camino se transforma en una historia de ciencia ficción, y finalmente en un thriller psicológico que no termina de negar su pertenencia a las otras dos categorías. En lo personal, me gustaría quedarme con la primera de todas: el protagonista se encuentra con un hombre ahorcado en la plaza, y se horroriza, y descubre que nadie más comparte ese horror.

“Por algo estará ahí”, le dicen, “no debe estar muerto en serio”, “no digas nada”. Una excelente metáfora de lo que nos suele ocurrir al enfrentarnos a nuestros muchos horrores cotidianos: o los negamos, o no indagamos mucho, o concluimos que así son las cosas, y nada puede hacerse. Mientras tanto, quien insiste en señalar el horror es tildado de extremista o simplemente de estúpido.

Sí; en este nivel es donde el cuento más me satisface, pero si me quedara solo con él estaría obviando que lo propio de la literatura de Dick son la realidades inestables. Sus cuentos rechazan las interpretaciones cerradas y la asignación a géneros determinados. Idéntica progresión “kafka-scifi-psicologismo”, por ejemplo, me parece identificar en “Exhibit Piece”, otro de los relatos de Electric Dreams.

La adaptación televisiva de este cuento, rebautizada como “Kill All Others”, sigue apenas algunos lineamientos del original, e insiste con bastante éxito en la lectura política-kafkiana, lamentablemente compatible con la era Trump (también le veo algo de otro cuento de PKD, “Faith of our Fathers”). Es uno de los episodios más logrados de la serie.

“The Hanging Stranger” es el cuento #4 de Electric Dreams
Anterior: “The Impossible Planet”
Siguiente: “Sales Pitch”

[Tim Pendry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A paranoid demonic horror fantasy (1953), presented as science fiction, from perhaps the most paranoid of writers in a paranoid era that brought us works such as Jack Finney's The Body Snatchers (1954) and Ray Bradbury's 'The Crowd' (publ. 1955 but written as early as 1943).

These works are usually associated with a Cold War fear of takeover by Communist alien forces but the stories may owe just as much to the cold anonymity of the American city and feelings of anomie amongst internal migrants moving into new territory without the infrastructure of religion.

Certainly the underlying 'political messaging' is as likely to be a liberal fear of populism and fascism as a conservative fear of communism or socialism. But the question at the heart of these stories is really epistemological - what the hell is going on really in the minds of others?

This is the deep distrust that drives America from below, why it is obsessed with justice and rules and why settled rural communities think so differently from urban ones with their self-creating transient tribes of unspoken internal pecking orders, competition, fakery and conformities.

This is not one of Dick's better stories though it hangs together (excuse the pun) well enough. The reasonable excuse is that he had only really started writing two years before and was still only 24 so give it a chance. Certainly it shows that he could write well from the very beginning.

[Alex Bright · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

PKD does paranoia very well.

[Min · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story encapsulates the era so nicely. It picks at the edges of the false narrative of the perfect post-war America. The veneer of optimism almost but not quite obfuscating the deep red paranoia and suspicion. The Other is here, and they must be purged. Something worth noting is that when Dick was writing this, lynchings were still common in the United States and were likely presented with the same indifference. And this story points the way towards The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits.

[K. Anna Kraft · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've arranged my thoughts on this story into a haiku:

"Mere hysteria,
One might think sprung from fancy,
But nope! Nope, nope, nope."

[Marc D. ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 estrellas.

¡Tremendo final!

[Markus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess this has been my Halloween read

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paranoid '50s sci-fi story reminiscent of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. So I wonder if the Jack Finney book influenced this PKD story, or the other way around, or if it was just something in the air at the time. Also a similar psychology as Shirley Jackson's The Lottery. This isn't quite at that level but it's good stuff.

[Nik Kane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dick must've been reading a lot of Kafka when he wrote this one.

[Madelynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novella but I listened to the audiobook. I was quite surprised at how steadily paced the story was, given that it’s only 15 pages/34 mins audiobook.
If you like Sci Fi then check out this novella.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ed Loyce has been working in his basement - he decides to take a break from the subterranean work and walks to town and checks in with his repair shop. On his way there, he sees a horrific scene: a dead body hanging from a light post in the town center. He is confused, scared, and angry - why is this here? How did this happen? Why do people walk by with no care?

Ed soon realizes that this dead body in the plaza is the least of his concerns...

Great short story - like a Twilight Zone episode - originally published in 1953 in Science Fiction Adventures, and reproduced in many of the PKD compendiums.

It was great! Solid 4.5 stars.

[Bettie]

ILLUSTRATED BY SMITH



Opening: Five o'clock Ed Loyce washed up, tossed on his hat and coat, got his car out and headed across town toward his TV sales store. He was tired. His back and shoulders ached from digging dirt out of the basement and wheeling it into the back yard. But for a forty-year-old man he had done okay. Janet could get a new vase with the money he had saved; and he liked the idea of repairing the foundations himself!

[Booktastically Amazing · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, first of all, what the heck happened-

Second, HOW the heck happened-

And third, WHAT AND HOW AND WHY THE HECK THAT HAPPENED.

[izzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"His back and shoulders ached from digging dirt out of the basement and wheeling it into the back yard" SO gave me the idea that he was digging a grave.

my only complaint is that biblical explanations aren't necessary for comprehension of the story. readers can draw religious connections on their own, thanks? the plot/conflict isn't a foreign enough concept to require this?

that said, the repetition between the first few and last few paragraphs of the story is well done. i definitely felt uneasy as i read this, and there's some good foreshadowing throughout.

okay wait i do have another complaint: the main character, ed loyce, is entirely unmemorable and exactly the same as every other damn average male protagonist in horror, with his chevy and his boring, helpless wife, janet. it makes me feel disconnected and apathetic toward the characters, so i don't care whether or not they survive. but this is one that comes up heavily in stephen king's night shift so i'll hold off a bit for now ;)

WAIT one more complaint: WHY in the WORLD did he decide to CRAWL TEN MILES??? thats absolutely INSANE eddie boy. there's no FLIPPING WAY he was able to CRAWL that far and that fast. AND he says, "They followed me most of the way. I could hear them buzzing. Buzzing and flitting around behind me" SO THEY OBVIOUSLY KNOW WHERE YOU ARE, SO THERE'S NO POINT IN TRYING TO HIDE??? JUST GET UP AND RUN AT THIS POINT????

because it's probably not clear, i did enjoy reading this story. i'm being extremely nitpicky, but i don't think these tiny issues detract from it enough to bring it down from four stars. i also don't know how to explain what i liked about it :)

[Phillip Marsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrifying. Excellent.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure I fully understood the ending. Will keep thinking about it.

[Twyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Response- I really enjoyed this short story because if flowed very well. It also did a good job of keeping the plot very clear and you could understand what was going on. The only thing that I disliked was towards the end, it completely switched perspectives and it got confusing.

Plot Summary- Loyce was working in his cellar all day. When he goes to town he finds a man who has been hung in the town square. Loyce is horribly upset, but no one else even recognizes that anything is wrong. Loyce goes up to the bank and sees these huge moth/man aliens coming down and inhabiting the townspeople. Loyce goes and tries to warn his wife and sons, but one of his sons has already been taken. Loyce then stabs his own son to kill the moth alien. He goes to a nearby town and warns the commissioner. The commissioner then goes to help him and explains that the man hanging in the square must have been a test to see who was being controlled by the aliens or who was missed. As the story is closing, another man goes outside, sees a man hanging in the square.

Recommendation- I recommend this to people who enjoy fantasy and grim stories. I do not recommend this story to someone who dislikes the dystopian genre. I feel that either girls or boys would like this because the gender perspective does not change the mood of the story. I recommend the reader being 13 or older because there is some gruesome content.

Characterization- In the beginning of the story, Loyce was very surprised and confused on why no one else was getting upset about the dead body. After he found out that aliens were taking over everyone, he became very frightened and aggressive. At the end of the story, he is very aggressive and skeptical of everyone.