The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror #2

In "Sink-Hole!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of deception and desire, where a lonely woman’s mail-order marriage unravels into a deadly secret. After marrying Aldous Barstow, she turns to Rick Hudson, the new health inspector, only to find her plans shattered when she learns he’s married and leaving town. As she returns to the well where she buried her husband, Shirley Barstow’s desperate thirst leads to a shocking revelation—her fate is far from what she imagined.

Dr. Harold Johnstone, once a celebrated physician, faces ruin after a car accident costs him his hand—end of career, or so he thinks. Inspired by a medical journal, he devises a gruesome plan to replace it, targeting a drunk he encounters on a lonely road, with consequences that spiral far beyond his calculations.

Ken Anders visits a strange costume shop on a whim, where the unsettling owner hands him a mask and outfit meant to reveal his true self—a rotting corpse. Heartbroken when his fiancée refuses to attend the party with him, he dons the disguise and meets a woman dressed as a vampire at the event. Drawn to her, he follows her into the garden, only to uncover her monstrous identity. As the night turns dark and dangerous, he makes a desperate choice—then sees something in the pond’s reflection that leaves him frozen in horror.

In a town where obesity is the norm, a mysterious doctor named Perdo arrives offering a miracle cure: a weight-loss capsule that works too well. Four people take it, slim down instantly, then die in gruesome, starvation-like deaths. Six months later, Perdo returns in disguise, only to flee into the mausoleum of one of his victims—where he confronts a monstrous tapeworm that may have been behind the deaths all along.

In "Southern Hospitality!", a decaying Southern estate becomes a stage for secrets and sudden violence when a greedy gigolo, Abner Scanlon, marries into a wealthy family only to find their fortune a lie. As his schemes unravel and the household’s dark history surfaces, a scream from the attic reveals a deadly truth—someone has paid the ultimate price for the family’s legacy.

In "The Jellyfish!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of corporate greed and twisted retribution. Charles Norton, a ruthless business partner, dismisses his brother Howard’s moral objections to diluting life-saving insulin, mocking him as a "spineless jellyfish"—a label that will come back to haunt him when Howard, released from prison, returns with a vengeance.

In "Daddy Lost His Head!", Martin Blackson’s simmering resentment toward his stepdaughter Kathy takes a chilling turn when she receives a strange man-shaped candy doll from the reclusive Mrs. Thaumaturge. As Martin’s paranoia grows and a gruesome accident leaves him missing a hand, Kathy’s innocent bite of the doll triggers a terrifying chain of events that blurs the line between punishment and possession. The story unfolds with quiet dread, weaving family tension and eerie folklore into a suspenseful tale that lingers long after the final page.

In "Reunion!", a haunting tale from The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror #2, Lillian Ansley clings to a desperate promise made years before—meeting her lover Roger Kane by the lake every five years, even after his death in a train wreck. When she returns three years later, the water’s edge holds a chilling surprise: Roger’s decaying body, waiting for her as if time itself had betrayed them both.

In "About Face!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of vengeance and transformation: once a celebrated lion tamer, Lydia Armstrong now hides behind a veil after a traumatic attack by a black panther. When her chauffeur, Steve, betrays her, Lydia turns to witchcraft—not for peace, but for retribution. What begins as a quiet quest for justice spirals into a haunting reversal of fate, where beauty and horror are not what they seem.

In "The Reluctant Vampire!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of a vampire named Mr. Drink, who moonlights as a night watchman at a blood donor center—using his position to quietly sate his thirst while keeping the records clean. When a missing ledger threatens to expose his secret, and a sudden mandate demands twice the blood supply, Drink faces a grim choice: either abandon his gruesome routine or escalate his killings to keep the center running. The story unfolds with a slow-burning dread, as the line between duty and depravity blurs under the weight of a single, blood-soaked ledger.

In "Grandma's Ghost!!," little Peggy is haunted not by the past, but by the living—her aunt and uncle, who plot to kill her to claim her grandmother’s inheritance. After her grandmother’s sudden death, Peggy begins to see her spirit, offering cryptic warnings that seem to save her life when her aunt and uncle try to do away with her. As the family’s secrets unravel, Peggy finds unlikely protection in the gardner, who may be more than just a quiet man with a kind eye. The line between memory and menace blurs when the dead speak—and the living start to believe.

In the grim halls of Croydon Insane Asylum, the Old Witch introduces a chilling tale of vengeance, where Dr. Blackpool’s cruel experiments on his patients go unnoticed—until the very ones he torments decide to turn the tables. As Blackpool revels in his control, the patients quietly plot, and one fateful night, their fury erupts in a shocking reversal of power.

In a haunting tale from The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror #2, a once-celebrated knife-throwing act in Hungary takes a deadly turn when Harry, the performer, awakens to find his wife Olga unresponsive—only to learn she’s a vampire. As their act evolves into a macabre performance in the U.S., Harry’s final performance becomes a shocking revelation, culminating in a moment of grim defiance on stage. The Vault-Keeper invites readers to witness a story where love, death, and deception intertwine in a single, unforgettable act.

In "That's a 'Croc'!", the Old Witch introduces a chilling tale of obsession and betrayal set at a local zoo, where "Crazy" Coogan, the zoo-keeper with a dangerous fondness for crocodiles, begins to question whether his charges truly appreciate their meat. When a young boy’s innocent remark unsettles him, Coogan’s behavior grows increasingly erratic—culminating in a gruesome act that sets off a chain of events no one sees coming. As a missing man’s family searches for answers and a stolen ring surfaces in a bar, the truth begins to surface in the most unexpected places.

In "Child's Play," the Vault-Keeper spins a chilling tale of domestic dread as Milton Collins, a man whose cruelty toward his wife Emma escalates with each passing day, faces a reckoning he never saw coming. When a group of boys, moved by pity for Emma, try to comfort her with candy, they’re met with tragedy—only to later confront the terrifying aftermath of her death. As the night deepens, a ghostly voice from the shadows calls out, forcing Milton to face the consequences of his actions in a moment that defies both life and reason.

In "Trapped!", a desperate man named Marty flees a haunted stretch of the Smoky Mountains after a chilling encounter with a dying hobo on a moving train. Seeking refuge in a remote farmhouse, he kills its elderly inhabitant and tries to escape—only to be ensnared by a mysterious, relentless fly and the cursed earth itself. The Crypt-Keeper warns: some traps are not made of wood or wire, but of fate.

In "Fountains of Youth!", a young woman named Eileen Martin answers a mysterious ad seeking a traveling companion for the enigmatic Madam DuBois, much to her brother Kenneth’s unease. As the pair set sail on a luxurious cruise, Eileen’s sudden and unexplained death sends Kenneth on a chilling investigation that uncovers a horrifying truth: Madam DuBois is no ordinary traveler, but a creature feeding on youth to prolong her own life—leaving behind only fading victims in her wake.

In the frozen silence of the Arctic, two geologists, Gerald Dawson and Herbert Campbell, uncover a chilling secret buried in the ice—what they believe is the corpse of Frankenstein’s monster. As their Eskimo guide, Lomo, warns of a creature that drives men mad, the men bring the frozen figure back to their shack, only to realize too late that some things should never be awakened. When the ice begins to crack and the past comes roaring back, the line between science and nightmare blurs. The Old Witch introduces this icy tale of hubris and horror, where curiosity becomes a death sentence.

In "Gone...Fishing!", the Crypt-Keeper spins a tale of obsession and dread as Maxwell Larkin, a man whose passion for fishing borders on the fanatical, reels in something far more sinister than a catch. When his friend Steven, repulsed by the sport, abandons him on the shore, a single candy bar left behind sets off a chain of horrifying events that pull Max into the depths—literally.

When Betty Marsh’s dog Jerry is hit by a car, wealthy Roger Cartwright takes him in and returns him with unexpected kindness. Grateful for the company, Betty invites Roger back, and their friendship deepens—until the day he vanishes, leaving only Jerry to return alone, day after day, carrying something no one expected.

In "A Stitch in Time!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of defiance in a brutal 19th-century sweatshop, where the relentless Mr. Lasch rules with an iron fist, forcing women to toil in dangerous conditions for pennies. When the workers’ suffering reaches a breaking point, a quiet rebellion begins—one thread at a time—turning the very tools of their oppression into instruments of retribution.

In this chilling tale from The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror #2, the Crypt-Keeper introduces a story of greed, murder, and a horrifying twist of fate. Ernie Mattson, the slick new manager of the Hudson Soap Company, thought he’d escaped justice after disposing of his predecessor, Benny Anderson, in the factory’s rendering vat—only to find that even soap can carry a soul’s vengeance.

In a remote tropical plantation, former boss Emil Duval lies dead as 'Red' Buckley, now a fugitive, flees with the help of the silent native Kulu. As they journey downriver toward Banggai, Buckley’s greed blinds him to the truth—Kulu’s true destination is a village where a different kind of reckoning awaits. The tension builds with every stroke of the paddle, and the final destination holds a prize no man should claim.

In "Staired... in Horror!", the Old Witch introduces a chilling tale of deception and dread, where Irma Leechman, a widow with a dangerous past, begins a new life with Robert Hornsby—only to be haunted by the ghosts of her previous crimes. As their marriage unravels and the past rises from the shadows, the spiral staircase at Robert’s estate becomes a grim symbol of her mounting guilt and the inescapable fate she once inflicted on others.