Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #25

In "The Pattern," Eddie faces a life-altering choice when Mr. Xerces offers him a chance to escape his world for a new existence in another dimension—only to hesitate at the final moment, a decision that echoes through the years. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, this haunting 1961 tale lingers on the weight of what might have been.

When Illinois homeowner Jerry O'Toole spots his garden hose mysteriously burrowing into the ground, his stubborn determination to uncover the truth leads him to dig deeper—literally—abandoning his job and his wife's patience to excavate a shaft in pursuit of answers. As the hose continues its inexplicable descent and strange disappearances pile up, O'Toole descends into the hole himself with only a rope connecting him to the world above, determined to learn where it all leads. What he discovers in those depths changes everything he thought he knew about asking questions better left alone.

Dr. Dimon, an eccentric professor famous for his outrageous pranks, unveils his latest creation at a party—a genuine time travel machine—and decides to test it by retrieving a visitor from 5,000 years in the future. When a remarkably intelligent woman from the year 6960 arrives, she's a far cry from the prehistoric Neanderthal who nearly wrecked his previous gathering, and she persuades him to throw another party to show off her advanced civilization to his guests. What could possibly go wrong when you're casually plucking people across millennia?

Guy Weedon was born into wealth and privilege, but his strange appearance and peculiar gifts—brilliant in mathematics and science, helpless at everything else—have made him a lifelong outcast among humans and animals alike. Desperate to understand his alienation, he retreats to the desert, where an unexpected encounter reveals the truth about his origins. As his real family arrives to claim him, Guy discovers he's finally found where he truly belongs.