Beware #10

A prisoner condemned to death by the Spanish Inquisition awakens in a pitch-black dungeon, where he discovers a bottomless pit, a descending pendulum blade, and relentless traps designed to break both body and spirit. Adapted from Edgar Allan Poe's masterpiece of terror, this 1952 tale in *Beware* #10 pits a man's wits and will to survive against the nightmare machinery of medieval torture.

Denny Dane, the world's greatest ventriloquist, finds himself caught in a supernatural nightmare after a bitter confrontation with Hugo the magician over the affections of Tina—a clash that leaves the vengeful Hugo resorting to dark magic to exact his revenge. As Hugo's evil incantations begin to possess Denny's dummy Hector, animating it with murderous intent, Denny must distinguish between nightmares and horrifying reality while racing to protect those he loves. The stakes escalate when the possessed dummy sets its sights on Tina, forcing a terrifying confrontation that will change everything.

In the desolate Roaring Gulch cabin of Fenley Doane, a mysterious stranger arrives on a brutal winter night, and Doane confesses a dark secret: two years ago, he killed a thief named Ah Lee and desecrated his body as punishment, nailing the dead man's queue to a cabin beam to prevent his return. As the night deepens and the wind howls, the line between guilt and supernatural vengeance begins to blur when the trapdoor beneath the floor creaks open. What unfolds is a twisted reckoning where Doane's paranoia, the stranger's true nature, and forces beyond mortal understanding collide in a finale that leaves only questions—and a corpse wearing burial clothes from a grave five years cold.

A voodoo doll smuggled from the jungle becomes a weapon in the criminal underworld when Joe Gunn uses it against his boss, Stony McLoyd, lacing it with the racket king's own hair and nail clippings to inflict mysterious pain. As McLoyd hunts down his treacherous assistant and seizes the doll, he discovers a grim truth: whatever happens to the toy now happens to him, setting off a desperate race against fate itself.