THE MYSTERIES OF MYRA (1916). Surviving Clips. Tinted.

THE MYSTERIES OF MYRA is a 1916 American silent film serial with episodes directed by Leopold and Theodore Wharton and starring Jean Sothern and Howard Estabrook. It has over-riding themes of the occult and horror. The film was produced in Ithaca, New York by the Whartons and distributed by Pathé Exchange. Much of the film is lost with three episodes known to be extant. The SERIAL SQUADRON has saved as much as it could and has enhanced it with many other elements, even publishing a novelization. I have included the video clips of these efforts. Under a separate upload, I have also included plot outlines culled from the US Copyright office.

PLOT:
The MYSTERIES OF MYRA was the first movie to treat spiritualism and the paranormal as scientific possibilities. It included a black-robed devil-cult, and depict automatic writing, seances, astral body projection and possession, and the first film to feature a "paranormal investigator," "Dr. Payson Alden."

Myra Maynard, is plagued by a wide variety of metaphysical assaults by the corrupt Black Order, a secret organization which uses magic, curses and any supernatural means possible to achieve its ends.

Thus, Myra Maynard’s family is cursed by the devil-worshipping Black Order and she is marked for death by black magic on the eve of her eighteenth birthday. Dr. Payson Alden, the movies’ first psychic detective, uses science to try and defeat the cult’s evil spells, and is assisted by his friend Haji, a Hindu mystic. During the course of the 15 episodes of the serial, the clairvoyant Myra is assaulted by, among other supernatural menaces, astral demons, vampires, a fire elemental, even a “thought monster” brought to life by the malicious will of fifteen men, Levitation, crystal balls, automatic writing, mediums, witchcraft, a golden idol come to life, and many more bizarre elements which made movie history also figure into the story to make this a truly fascinating series that you will not want to miss. (mysteriesofmyra.com)

CAST:
Jean Sothern as Myra Maynard
Howard Estabrook as Dr. Payson Alden
Allan Murnane as Arthur Varney
M. W. Rale as Master of the Black Order
Shino Mori as Professor Haji
Bessie Wharton as Mrs. Maynard
Elsie Baker as The Vampire Woman
Leroy Baker as Willis, The Maynards' Butler

CHAPTERS:
The Dagger of Dreams
The Poisoned Flower
The Mystic Mirrors
The Wheel of Spirit
The Fumes of Fear
The Hypnotic Clue
The Mystery Mind
The Nether World
Invisible Destroyer
Levitation
The Fire-Elemental
Elixir of Youth
Witchcraft
Suspended Animation
The Thought Monster