Haunt of Fear #2

In "Pipe Down!", Andrew’s quiet life is shattered when his wife, Lila, and her lover, Howie, conspire to stage his death as suicide. After their scheme unfolds, the couple buys a monkey on a whim—only to find their own secrets unraveling in ways neither expected. The story closes on a chilling note, with the monkey seated in a chair, calmly smoking a pipe and reading poetry.

In "Bedtime Gory!", Milton’s cold ambition and cruelty finally catch up to him when his wife Lorna, long silenced by fear, takes control in the most visceral way possible. After years of manipulation and abuse, he wakes to find himself bound to the bedposts—literally stretched to the limit—while Lorna quietly fulfills her promise to make him a "big man." The story’s chilling twist unfolds with quiet dread, turning a moment of supposed power into a grotesque reckoning.

In "Pot-Shot!", a reckless aristocrat named Amboy recklessly speeds his carriage through the village, indifferent to the chaos he causes—until his father cuts him off, leaving him to fend for himself with only a castle and a weight in gold. Determined to boost his allowance, Amboy begins swallowing lead shot, unaware of the deadly consequences that await when his high-speed ride forces a sudden stop.

In "The Black Ferris!" from Haunt of Fear #2 (1991), two boys at an orphanage grow suspicious when the new kid seems too old for his size—until they uncover his secret: he’s an adult who uses a cursed carnival Ferris wheel to shrink himself, and he’s planning to steal from the orphanage’s kind caretaker. When they try to warn her, she doesn’t believe them, and the boys must stop him on the wheel before he escapes—only to find that time on the ride has a terrible cost.

In "The Exile!", a visionary scientist's radical theory about inherited criminality leads the empire to banish its offenders to a distant world, erasing their memories and isolating them from advanced technology. There, far from the empire's watchful eye, the exiles begin to rebuild—free to shape their own future, unaware they’re laying the foundation for a new world.

In "The Expert!", Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein enlist a seemingly knowledgeable consultant to help craft a story about a Mars landing—only to realize, too late, that their expert knows far too much about the Red Planet. The twist lands with a quiet, chilling punch, turning a routine collaboration into something far stranger.

In a playful twist from *Haunt of Fear* #2, Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein craft a cheeky ad for a Martian vacation resort—round trip for just $200—after a real advertiser pulls out. Later, a delighted reader drops by to thank them, saying the ad helped him meet his new wife… who just happens to be from Mars. Aaaaahhhhh!!!

In "Close Call!", Annette—a driven scientist buried in her work at an atomic testing lab—finds herself alone in a world that’s suddenly silent after a catastrophic explosion in the bomb shelter. When a phone rings out of nowhere, her relief at hearing a voice is quickly tinged with quiet dread as the caller, mistaken and polite, hangs up after asking her name. The story, written by an unnamed author and illustrated by an unnamed interior artist, lingers in the eerie space between connection and isolation, where a single ring holds more weight than any explosion.

In "Mad Journey!" from Haunt of Fear #2 (1991), a lone survivor of a crashed Venus-bound mission finds himself imprisoned in a strange asylum on the red planet—only to discover that every other inmate insists they’re from Earth, just like him. The story unfolds as the last scientist, struggling to make sense of his new reality, begins to question whether he’s truly the only one who’s lost.