SOURCE: "The Rag Thing" by David Grinnell (Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1951)

DESCRIPTION: "He pressed the butt into something wet like a used handkerchief, there was a hiss, something coiled and whipped about his wrist; Gorman gasped and drew his hand back fast. Before Gorman could shriek, it had whipped itself from his hand and fastened over his face, over the warm, heat-radiating skin and the glowing flame of the cigarette..." ("The Rag Thing" by David Grinnell)

NOTES: The right combination of moisture and heat along the heat register brings the soiled rag to life. Its need for heat drives it to suffocate living things.

HISTORY: David Grinnell is actually Donald A. Wolheim.

---