SOURCE: Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son (2005) by Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson

DESCRIPTION: "When she turned to survey the drawing room, she at once saw the source of the sound. Like a five-legged crab on some strange blind mission, a severed hand crawled across the antique Persian carpet." (Dean Koontz's Frankenstein: Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz and Kevin J. Anderson)

NOTES: Karloff is a special project cooked up by Victor Helios (Frankenstein) to study psychic talents. Only a head and a hand, the psychic abilities of Karloff send the hand scurrying about Helios's mansion. Karloff dies when he lures Erika Helios into the secret lab and convinces her to unplug his life-giving equipment.

HISTORY: Koontz acknowledges where the name comes from in the story. There is also a less than subtle nod to W. F. Harvey's The Beast With Five Fingers and the Addams Family. Karloff's severed head harkens back to many horror films, most recently Reanimator.

Peter Lorre in The Beast With Five Fingers