Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour #1

In "Eternal Hour!", a lonely, small-statured boy named Terwit retreats to a clock tower after years of mockery, leaving the clock frozen at midnight. Decades later, the grown men who once tormented him return to the tower—only to vanish without a trace, their terrified screams echoing into silence.

Jo, a quiet presence beside Stanley’s relentless pursuit of the perfect wave, watches as he ventures into the moonlit surf with a single-minded hunger. When he finally finds the wave he’s dreamed of, the ocean itself seems to shift in ways that defy reason—leaving both him and the reader to wonder just what kind of perfection comes at a price.

In "The Turn of the Wheel!", Klaus the Cruel finds his cruel reign disrupted when the villagers steal his prized torture wheel. As the days pass, the wheel seems to turn against him, bringing a series of unsettling misfortunes that challenge his grip on power.

In "Treasure Hunt," Max leads an archaeologist deep into the jungle, drawn by the promise of a long-lost treasure. When the dig uncovers something real, Max’s intentions shift—what was once a quest for discovery becomes a dangerous claim of possession.

In the scorched ruins of a forgotten city, two soldiers clash in a final, desperate battle—only to fall dead beside one another. A third man, silent and weary, stumbles upon their bodies, staring at the wreckage with a quiet dread, haunted by the question of what could have driven them to kill each other in such a hollow, meaningless war. The story, titled *null*, lingers in the silence between violence, where the weight of loss speaks louder than any answer.

In "Double Edge," a boy’s life is upended when his mother discards his cherished talisman, a relic of unknown power, among his childhood belongings. Years later, he embarks on a desperate quest to reclaim it, drawn into a shadowed world where magic and memory blur, and the line between protector and predator grows dangerously thin.

Abner Pringle, a Revolutionary-era rider caught in a sudden blow to the head, finds himself hurtling through time and landing in the middle of a modern city’s rush hour. Now stranded in the present, he must navigate a world he doesn’t recognize while still carrying the urgent mission that brought him here.

In "Never Kill a Witch!", Harry and Stella risk everything to steal from Old Lady Crafton, hoping to secure their future together—only to discover that some secrets are best left buried. Written by an unnamed author and illustrated by an unnamed artist, this chilling eight-page tale from Showcase Presents: The Witching Hour #1 (2011) turns a desperate act of love into a haunting lesson in consequence.

In "Fingers of Fear!", Albert Tisdale finds himself haunted by the faces of his murdered expedition companions—etched onto his own fingers, whispering vengeance from the skin he can't escape. Written by a master of creeping dread and illustrated with chilling precision, this unsettling tale turns guilt into a grotesque, inescapable possession.

In "The Second Life of Simon Steele," a vengeful ghost returns after 150 years, driven by a centuries-old grudge against the descendant of the man who once thwarted him. Written by an unnamed author and illustrated by an unnamed artist, the story unfolds with a haunting blend of supernatural tension and personal reckoning.

In "The Face Behind the Mask," Jay Hamilton finds himself drawn to Zoe Ann, a mysterious actress whose face is always hidden beneath bandages. She claims to be centuries old and dependent on a magical potion to maintain her youth—until the supply runs out, leading Jay and his father on a strange journey to track down the sorcerer who sells it. The story unfolds with a quiet suspense, blending the uncanny with a touch of deception, as secrets slowly peel back beneath the surface.

In "The Four Threads of Doom," four convicts flee death row only to be brought back by forces beyond their control—fate itself, woven by the ancient Fates. As the threads tighten, their desperate bid for freedom unravels into a chilling reckoning.