When James Dallas Egbert III was reported missing from his college dorm in 1979, one of America’s most flamboyant private detectives was summoned to solve the case. “Dallas” faced the same problems as many teenagers, but P.I. William Dear stoked fears that he might have fallen under the evil spell of a mysterious and sinister game: Dungeons & Dragons…
I’ll return with brand new episodes of Cautionary Tales on January 10th. In the meantime, Merry Christmas from the Cautionary Tales team.
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Further reading
David Ewalt’s Of Dice and Men is a fun and accessible history of Dungeons & Dragons. Jon Peterson’s Playing at the World is a more scholarly and hugely detailed treatment of the same material. Both contain useful accounts of Dallas Egbert’s disappearance.
Another important source – including for most of the dialogue in this episode – is William Dear’s vivid description of the case, The Dungeon Master.
Contemporary media reports were useful. “Tunnels are Searched for Missing Student” (New York Times, 8 Sep 1979), “A Brilliant Student’s Troubled Life and Early Death” (New York Times, 25 Aug 1980), and Carla Hall’s “Into the Dragon’s Lair” (Washington Post 28 Nov 1984).
The American Hysteria Podcast “Satanic Panic: Part One” offers another account of the case.
