For Those Who Came in Late...
Who is the Ghost Who Walks... also known as the Phantom?
Over five hundred years ago, a cabin boy to Admiral Christopher Columbus grew to become an explorer and a mighty sea captain... but unfortunately met his end as he fell prey to pirates, leaving his son alone.
As the lone survivor of the pirate attack, the young man swore to devote his life to the destruction of cruelty and injustice... as the nemesis of pirates everywhere! He was the first to take upon himself the title of the Phantom! His son and his son's sons-generation after generation-succeeded him in the crusade.
Their faces masked, they generally worked alone; living lives of mystery and danger... moving in and out of shadows... stalking... feared by evil-doers everywhere...
Thus generations of Phantoms lived, fought, and died-usually violently-as they followed their oath. Jungle folk, sea folk, and city folk believed him always to be the same man; and so the legend grew-the legend of Kit Walker... the Man-Who-Cannot-Die... the Ghost Who Walks... the Phantom!
Only the pygmies knew that, always, a day would come when their great friend would lie dying. Then, alone, a strong young son would carry his father to the burial crypt of his ancestors where all the Phantoms rested. As the pygmies waited outside, the young man would emerge from the cave, wearing the mask, the costume, and the skull ring of the Phantom upon his strong hand; his carefree days as the Phantom's son over. Then the pygmies would chant their age-old chant, "The Phantom is dead. Long live the Phantom."
This story covers the origin of the First Phantom as told from excerpts in his diaries.