Haunt of Fear #4

In "Pipe Down!", a young woman’s marriage to an elderly, pipe-smoking poet grows stiflingly dull—until she meets a new man and conspires to kill her husband in a staged accident. After his death, she adopts a monkey born on the same day, only to find her new life unraveling when her lover, Howard, begins to suspect her of infidelity. As tensions mount, the monkey quietly takes up residence in the old man’s favorite chair, pipe in hand, book of poetry open—watching, waiting.

In "Bedtime Gory!", a woman's quiet evening takes a chilling turn when she surprises her husband with a stretch rack—only to learn the horrifying truth behind his sudden confession about her father’s death and their marriage. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, the story unfolds with a slow-burn dread, where intimacy becomes a trap and trust is the first thing to break.

In "Pot-Shot!", a darkly comic twist on royal excess, a prince convinces his king to pay him in gold equal to his weight—leading him to swallow lead shot to inflate his frame to nearly 500 pounds. As he rides in a speeding carriage toward his new castle, the sudden brake sends the shot erupting from his body in a grotesque, explosive finale.

In "The Black Ferris!" from Haunt of Fear #4, two boys stumble upon a sinister carnival attraction: a ferris wheel that can bend time with each spin. When a man exploits its power to reverse his age and assume a child’s form, he schemes to steal from a kind old woman who’s taken him in—planning to vanish into the future once his crime is done. As the boys race to stop him, they take matters into their own hands, sending the wheel hurtling forward with consequences they never expected.

In "Sucker Bait!", a grieving chemist desperate to stop a vampire that killed his father devises a deadly trap using a radioactive isotope and a Geiger counter, leaving instructions for his brother to track the creature through its stolen blood. But when the brother arrives at the scene, the device begins to click—and the truth about who’s really been feeding on the living begins to unfold.

In "Lover, Come Hack to Me!", a chilling tradition unfolds as a newlywed woman finds herself trapped in a house where history repeats with terrifying precision—each generation marked by a bride who wields an ax on her wedding night. Written by an unknown hand and illustrated by an unknown artist, the story lingers in the shadow of inherited madness, where love and violence are bound by blood and bone.

In "Double-Header!" from Haunt of Fear #4 (1985), a grieving king’s love for his young queen turns to tragedy when jealousy from three court ladies unravels his world. When the queen’s secret affair is exposed, the king, torn between duty and devotion, must punish those he once trusted—yet his heart breaks with every decision. Written by an unknown hand and illustrated by an unknown artist, this chilling tale unfolds with quiet dread, where love and vengeance are bound by a single, unyielding vow.

In "Foul Play!" from Haunt of Fear #4 (1985), a brutal game of baseball takes a horrifying turn when a player’s death at the hands of his rivals becomes the foundation of a twisted, bloody ritual. The story follows the chilling aftermath of a poisoned cleat scandal, as the vengeful team turns their victim’s remains into a macabre playing field—each part used to continue the game in ways that defy reason.

In "Thump Fun!", a man tormented by the imagined sound of a heartbeat in the walls begins to unravel—his obsession mirroring Poe’s infamous tale, but with a chilling twist. When the police investigate, they uncover a buried secret in the cellar, one that reveals a brother’s murder and a heart missing from the corpse.

In "Terror Train," Gloria flees her husband Ralph in a cab, desperate to escape what she fears is his plot to poison her. On the train, paranoia takes hold as she recalls the insurance policies he took out and the suspicious bottle he brought home. When she awakens in her berth, she sees Ralph with a white-coated attendant—leading to a shocking turn that promises a fate far more complex than mere escape.

In "Bloody Sure," a man marries a woman shunned by the townsfolk, who believe she’s a vampire after five husbands mysteriously die. The truth is far more intimate and horrifying: her child suffers from a rare blood disorder, and she’s been secretly giving transfusions to men while they sleep. But when the husband reveals he’s not human—only he’s the one who drains them both—the line between protector and predator blurs.

In "Hyde and Go Shriek!", a desperate chemist plays a dangerous game with a wealthy admirer obsessed with the legend of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, promising to recreate the fabled formula. When he secretly tests it—believing it to be a placebo—he’s horrified to discover the transformation is real, and the monstrous alter ego he unleashes begins to take control.

In "An Off-Color Heir," Laura’s quiet life at her husband’s Louisiana plantation unravels when a hidden door reveals a chilling secret and a blue-bearded husband with a razor—her dreams of artistry now shadowed by a haunting past and a portrait that refuses to stay still.

In "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone!" from Haunt of Fear #4, a desperate doctor gambles on a bizarre experiment, grafting a cat’s nine lives gland into a street-walking derelict to fuel a dangerous stunt career. When the man betrays him for more cash, the doctor quietly savor the irony—his patient’s math is off, and the cat had already used one life, leaving just eight to lose.

In "Corker!", a woman grappling with dark impulses and her skeptical psychologist seek answers from a mysterious swami—only to be drawn into a nightmare where a severed head unleashes a monstrous entity from a long-ago hanging. As the truth unravels, fear takes flight through the subway’s depths, where a final, shocking twist redefines who—or what—is truly in control.

In 19th-century Paris, a grieving man must choose between burying his wife or surrendering her to medical students under a new city ordinance. After delivering her body to the medical college one evening, he uses the payment he receives to feed his children and finally give her a proper burial. But when the students discover the truth—that the corpse they’ve been dissecting belongs to the very Commissioner who enacted the law—their grim work takes a terrifying turn.

In "Wish You Were Here," a couple haunted by debt and regret confronts the eerie consequences of a jade statue’s buried power. When Jo’s desperate wish for money brings her husband’s tragic death, she’s forced to reckon with a chilling warning: some wishes come with a price no one can survive.

In "Chess-Mate," a reclusive chess prodigy known only as Jo lives quietly in a small town, his genius masked by a top hat that hides a disturbing secret—his unmatched skill stems from a Siamese twin head concealed beneath it. When a parade forces him to remove his hat in public, the truth of his unnatural gift comes crashing down, leading to a moment of unbearable revelation.

In this chilling twist on a classic, Snow White’s fateful encounter with the poisoned apple takes a dark turn—her obsession with cleanliness has pushed the seven dwarfs to the edge, turning their humble cottage into a battleground of scrubbed floors and snapped rubber gloves. Written by a master of horror suspense, this six-page tale from *Haunt of Fear #4* (1985) reimagines the fairy tale with a sinister edge, where order becomes obsession and the apple is just the beginning.