Creepy Worlds #176

Jeff London, a dedicated lens designer, becomes obsessed with completing a revolutionary camera lens after inheriting the mysterious notes of the missing filmmaker Arthur Winterling. As he investigates Winterling’s past and uncovers a strange, time-piercing lens, Jeff discovers it can reveal scenes from the past—leading him to witness long-lost film sets and unsettling glimpses of history.

Explorer Eric Masterson ventures into the forbidden Maremba District of Africa, driven by his obsession with the legendary 19th-century explorer Flora Dunning, whose fate remains unknown. As he pushes deeper into the jungle, he encounters animals attacking with eerie military precision—tagged with symbols of a horned ape deity worshipped by the locals—leading him to question whether the wilderness itself is being controlled by an unseen force.

In "The Old Man of the Sea!" from Creepy Worlds #176 (1978), a desperate Marius Dodd seeks counsel from the charlatan Cosmo Filch, weighed down by a mysterious affliction he believes stems from stealing a sacred diamond from the sea god Ekali. As Filch convinces Dodd that his suffering is merely guilt, the man surrenders the gem—only to find himself suddenly and horrifyingly burdened by the same unseen weight.

Greg Chalmers, newly crowned Mr. Universe, becomes increasingly arrogant after his victory, straining his relationship with his fiancée, Doris Blake. After a sudden, inexplicable disappearance, he awakens on a distant planet, facing a galactic tribunal that demands he defend his title against challengers from across the solar system.

Captain Ennato Entis, a spacefaring alien from the dying planet Karonia, claims he was sent to Earth to gather intelligence for a potential invasion, disguised as a human named Henry Jones. After being captured at the Pentagon and deemed delusional, he insists his story is true, describing a civilization on the brink of extinction and Earth as a possible new home. Now confined to a psychiatric facility, he faces skepticism from the doctor who must decide whether his claims are madness—or the beginning of a cosmic threat.

Three geologists—Anson, Henning, and Jarvis—spend a long day prospecting in a remote canyon, where they soon fall asleep and wake in terror after all three dream of a vanished 1850 wagon train and a man named Blenko. Their shared visions lead them to investigate further, uncovering human bones and the remains of the lost train, confirming the canyon’s dark history. The story ends with the chilling realization that they’ve slept in one of the most haunted places in the West.