Haunt of Fear #1

In "The Wall: A Psychological Study," Neal’s growing unease over his wife Clara’s obsessive focus on their cat, Snooky, reaches a breaking point when a tragic accident leaves her dead. Haunted by guilt and the cat’s relentless presence, Neal attempts to bury the truth—literally—by sealing Clara’s body in the cellar. But as paranoia and memory begin to unravel him, the line between guilt and reality starts to blur.

In "House of Horror," three Gamma Delta fraternity pledgees vanish during a hazing ritual at the eerie Palmer Place, leaving their friend Les Wilton to search for them. When he doesn’t return, those who go in after him find him transformed—aged fifty years in an instant, trapped in a moment that defies time.

In "The Mad Magician," a performer whose mastery of both ancient and modern magic drives him to push boundaries, attempts the ultimate illusion: sawing a man in half and reassembling him. But when fate itself seems to take up the trick, the line between performer and prey begins to blur.

In "The Thing in the Swamp!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), two men push deeper into the Okefenokee Swamp despite a warning from an old man who claims the land is cursed. The old man recounts how a failed experiment by two scientists and their daughter unleashed a monstrous, blob-like entity into the swamp—something that devoured the scientist and his daughter, leaving only a haunting legacy. As the men press on, the weight of the old man’s past and the swamp’s secrets begin to close in.

In "Vampire!" from Haunt of Fear #1, Dr. Reed arrives at a secluded home to treat a sick young woman, only to grow convinced that her father is a vampire feeding on her blood—though the truth is far more unsettling. The story unfolds with creeping dread as assumptions unravel, leaving the doctor—and readers—questioning who the real predator might be.

In "The Killer in the Coffin!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), a man desperate to escape suspicion for his wife’s murder stages his own death from the plague—only to find his plan unraveled when his lover, the lovely Faye Booth, falls ill and can't dig him out. With time running out and the coffin closing in, he must confront the consequences of a lie buried too deep.

In 2902 B.C., love and betrayal seal a princess in a tomb, but centuries later, a British Museum expedition uncovers her resting place—where the same ancient ritual could awaken something far older than death. The Mummy's Return! unfolds as past and present collide in a tomb where the dead may not stay buried.

In "Nightmare!", a construction engineer haunted by dreams of being buried alive seeks help from psychiatrist Dr. Froyd, who links the visions to repressed stress. When the man decides to check the concrete moldings on his latest project before vacation, he dozes off—only to wake and realize the pour has begun, his disbelief turning to eerie laughter as he faces the moment he’s been dreading.

In "Television Terror!", Al Hunt, a bold TV personality, brings his live broadcast to the infamous Creedmore House, a place where every past resident—up to and including the original owner—was found dead, hanging from the same beam. With a famed psychic by his side and cameras rolling, he dares the audience to witness the truth behind the house’s deadly reputation—only to find that some horrors are best left unseen.

In "Monster Maker!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), Dr. Ravenscar’s ambitious experiment takes a gruesome turn when a dropped ape brain leads him to a desperate alternative—using his assistant’s mind instead. The assistant, not willing to be a lab specimen, orchestrates a chilling reversal of fate with a single, fateful lure.

In "Horror Beneath the Streets!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), the three GhouLunatics ambush Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein as they wrap up an issue of Modern Love and lock up for the night. Chased through the city’s underbelly by the Old Witch, the duo is cornered in the sewers—where the Crypt Keeper and the Vault Keeper demand a price for their freedom, each forcing one of them to sign a mysterious contract.

In "The Hunchback!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), Roger’s reunion with his old college friend Peter Goglo takes a chilling turn when the townspeople whisper that Peter is a ghoul—his unsettling condition a grotesque secret he can’t escape. As the truth of Peter’s twisted anatomy begins to surface, the line between man and monster blurs in a story that lingers long after the final page.

In "The Tunnel of Terror!", Linda Cross brings her brother Paul on a desperate retreat south of the border to ease his mounting nerves—only to find his unraveling mind leading them into something far darker than they ever expected. Written by a master of suspense and illustrated with chilling precision, this 7-page tale from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985) turns a simple escape into a descent into the unknown.

In "Man From the Grave!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), an artist pushed to the brink of ruin commits a desperate act, only to be haunted by a curse that forces him to paint—long after death has claimed him. The story unfolds with a chilling blend of dread and artistic obsession, where every stroke becomes a step deeper into madness.

In "Horror in the Freak Tent!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), a carnival's knife thrower is blinded in a fit of rage by the freak show owner, sparking a darkly twisted turn of events. The other performers, long silenced and mistreated, take grim revenge by binding their tormentor and using their voices to guide the thrower’s deadly throws.

In "A Tasty Morsel!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), Jo pulls into the End of the Road Inn and soon finds herself trapped in a nightmare that blurs with reality—tied to a slab, her blood drawn in a bowl by an innkeeper who insists he’s not a vampire, but a ghoul, and he’s not pleased with the mistake.

In "Seeds of Death!", a quiet farm hides a deadly secret as a jealous husband’s rage turns violent, burying his rival beneath a field of mysterious flower seeds. When his wife discovers the truth in the sudden bloom of those same flowers, she’s forced to confront the chilling aftermath of his crimes—alone and desperate.

In "A Strange Undertaking..." from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), undertaker Ezra Deepley, wronged by the town's powerful elite, finds grim opportunity when an epidemic claims their lives—turning his quiet trade into a private reckoning. As he prepares each corpse with meticulous care, the line between mourning and vengeance begins to blur.

In "So They Finally Pinned You Down!", a lonely drifter awakens to a hunger he can't name, drawn by a haunting memory of a woman he can't recall. As his body betrays him with bloodthirsty urges, he hunts through shadows, each desperate lead ending in horror—until the town turns on him, sealing his fate before he ever understands his curse.

In "A Grave Gag!!," Jo, a family member known more for his pranks than his presence, pushes his dark humor too far during a funeral—only to find himself trapped in a coffin, screaming as his relatives treat his panic as just another joke. The story unfolds with chilling precision, turning a moment of morbid irony into a suspenseful descent into a living grave.

In "Cheese, That's Horrible!" from Haunt of Fear #1 (1985), the guilt-ridden owner of a cheese factory is haunted by the ghostly glow of his murdered partner’s eyes, trapped in a nightmare where the very cheese he once prized becomes a trap of his own making—hands dangling from a mouse trap, the scent of betrayal thick in the air.