Out of the Shadows #7

In "Hades Highway," a desperate road worker named Carter commits a brutal murder and tries to bury the body with a steamroller, only to be tormented by a tar-covered ghost that won’t let him forget. As guilt takes hold and his mind unravels, Carter’s descent into madness deepens with each new act of violence. The story unfolds with a creeping dread, building toward a final reckoning that brings both punishment and an eerie release.

In old London, a poor man named Hal Burton takes a cloak from a corpse to keep his son warm through the harsh winter—but the dead don't take kindly to being robbed. When the hanged man returns in the night to reclaim what's his, Hal discovers that some debts exact a price far worse than cold.

When author Marion G. Starkey begins researching the Salem witchcraft trials for her book, a sudden and violent storm strikes—toppling trees onto her house with eerie timing. As she completes her work, lightning bolts rain down from the sky, mysteriously sparing her home while destroying everything around it. Is there something supernatural watching over her project, or merely coincidence?

Professor Artemus Carr ventures into the jungles of Trinidad with his wife Beth and fellow scientists in pursuit of a legendary carnivorous orchid, but his obsession with the specimens blinds him to the darker forces at work—and the dangerous secrets his companions are keeping. When the professor finally obtains one of the mysterious plants, the line between scientific ambition and moral consequence begins to blur in ways no one could have anticipated.

In "The Fangs of Fate!" from *Out of the Shadows #7* (1953), Dr. Kissack’s quiet life on his snake farm unravels when a confrontation with a threatening neighbor takes a deadly turn. As his monstrous python grows stronger on an unnatural diet, the creature’s rampage through town becomes a nightmare of fangs and fear—until the reckoning arrives.

In "General Moulton and the Devil," a desperate man makes a fateful deal with the dark forces, trading his future for sudden wealth. As greed clouds his judgment, the price of his ambition begins to rise—until the devil demands what he's always wanted: the man's soul.

In "The Ugliest Man in the World," actor Ron Carney is pushed to his limits when a mysterious stranger leads him into the twisted world of "The Ugly Ones," where beauty is a weapon and deformity a curse. After a grueling film shoot, Ron finds himself trapped in a face he can't remove—no matter how hard he tries to return to normal.