The Vault of Horror #3

In "A Bloody Undertaking!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of deception and dread, where mortician Gilbert Podges, newly married to a mysterious young woman, finds his quiet life upended by strange occurrences at his mortuary. As blood vanishes from corpses and whispers of a vampire spread through town, suspicion falls on his new assistant, Charlie Drayne—until the townspeople act with deadly certainty. But with Wilma Podges watching from the shadows, the real horror may only be beginning.

In the frozen silence of a dying town, Pierre swears to Maria he’ll never meet the same fate as Emile—buried beneath the earth, left to worms and time. With winter closing in and money scarce, he doubles his trap lines, then stumbles upon metal vaults meant to preserve the dead. When Maria is found dead at home, Pierre makes a desperate choice: keep her frozen in the ice house until he can afford her final resting place. But as he returns from a successful trapping season, a single, horrifying sight awaits him in the ice house—Maria’s body stripped bare, a lynx’s cruel handiwork.

In "Impressed by a Nightmare!", Emma Dworkin finds her dreams terrifyingly real—each one foreshadowing a disaster that unfolds with chilling precision. As her husband Fred dismisses her growing dread, the line between nightmare and reality begins to blur, leaving her desperate to stop the next vision before it comes true. The Vault-Keeper warns that some dreams aren’t just dreams, but echoes of what’s already written.

In "The Death Wagon!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of greed and retribution, where two shady car dealers, Herman Kitch and Amos Sink, cover up their dodgy vehicles with deceptive fixes—only to face a horrifying reckoning when the victims of their faulty cars rise from the grave. As the pair frantically repair their lot to avoid police scrutiny, they unknowingly summon a vengeful presence that transforms their own bodies into parts of a monstrous, sentient automobile.

In a chilling tale from *The Vault of Horror #3*, a grieving widow arranges a seance to consult her late husband, John Chalmers, about a mysterious fortune tied to a pair of confidence men. As the spirits are summoned and secrets begin to surface, the line between the living and the dead blurs—especially when one of the con artists finds himself face to face with a vengeance he never expected.

In "Kickin' the Gong a Round!" from The Vault of Horror #3 (1982), the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of vengeance and twisted fate. Once a champion boxer, Patty Marko is pulled from his life by the man he’s set to fight—Jake Houseman—only to be forced into a deadly game of threats and fear. With his family in danger and his body broken, Marko’s final act is one of grim retribution, turning the ring into a stage for a horror beyond death.

In "Practical Yolk!", Fredrick Hamilton returns from a Congo hunting trip with his servant B'uuna, eager to marry his fiancée Louise—only to find her gift of an ornate Easter egg unsettlingly out of place. As secrets surface and a chilling chant echoes through the hall, Fred awakens to a nightmare: the egg he’s been given now holds something far more sinister than he ever imagined.

In "Collection Completed!", the eerie calm of the Tillman home shatters as Jonah’s growing obsession with taxidermy takes a dark turn—his collection nearing completion, Anna begins to suspect the true cost of his craft. When her beloved stray cat vanishes, she follows a trail of dread to the basement, only to find the final piece of Jonah’s gruesome artistry. With a quiet fury in her eyes, she picks up a knife, whispering that one more thing is still missing. The next morning, a neighbor discovers Anna cradling her stuffed cat, sitting beside the lifeless form of her husband—his smile frozen in place.

Willow Dree, the elusive actress whose photos always come out empty, finds herself snowbound with fellow star Bradbury Phillips in a remote cabin after a blizzard cuts off all access. As the days pass and the storm rages outside, the isolation begins to twist their already fragile connection. When rescuers finally reach the cabin, they uncover a scene that defies explanation—leaving the Vault-Keeper to wonder just what kind of haunting lies beneath the surface of a perfect, frozen isolation.

In "Graft in Concrete!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of corruption and retribution, where Godfrey Hornsby’s ruthless bid for a road contract leads to a horrifying twist: the city council’s secrets are buried not just in scandal, but in the very pavement they helped build. When the council’s car is found abandoned, its occupants mysteriously embedded in the newly paved road, the truth of their crimes takes a terrifying, literal form.

In "Half-Way Horrible!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of duality and dread, as Zachary Boxer arrives at an apartment to meet a man haunted by a fractured mind. Once a trusted undertaker, Boxer finds himself face to face with a man who claims his own evil half has grown so strong it now rots—literally—inside him, a curse he tried to cure with voodoo, only to find the solution may be far worse than the problem.

In "Hook, Line, and Stinker!", The Old Witch sets the stage for a chilling tale of betrayal and obsession, as Bernice—Stanley’s fiancée—vents her frustration over his endless fishing trips and the mounting trophies he brings home. When she finally follows him one Saturday morning, she uncovers a secret that turns her fury into a deadly plan: Stanley’s next catch won’t be a fish.

Cedric Harrington, a sculptor deeply in love with his model Christine, plans to surprise her with a silver-plated statue as a proposal gift. But when he overhears her and her lover Gary plotting to murder him for his money, his dream begins to crumble. The day Gary comes to the studio seeking Christine, he finds more than he bargained for—though not in the way either of them expected.

In a quiet town where fear lingers like dust, Lionel Byrd drives a brass hearse that no one understands—especially not the children who watch from the roadside. The Crypt-Keeper introduces a tale of deception, duality, and a secret buried not in the ground, but in the very heart of a man who refuses to stay dead.

In "Strictly from Hunger!", the Vault-Keeper warns of a creature born from unchecked desire and unnatural hunger, a being that feeds not on flesh but on the very essence of life itself. Once a man named Pete sought to cheat death with a dark bargain, only to become a living vessel for a tumor that consumes everything in its path—now a grotesque, oozing horror that stalks the edge of the known world. As the men of the town seal away the cave where it emerged, they pray the horror remains buried, forgotten, and never unearthed again.

In "A Grim Fairy Tale!" from The Vault of Horror #3 (1982), a kingdom’s obsession with order spirals into grotesque retribution when the pompous King Siegfried and Queen Gwendolyn, horrified that their beloved white mice are related to the rat population, outlaw rat-killing—just as the townspeople have nearly eradicated the infestation. With the royal couple imprisoned and the castle overrun, the townspeople exact a chilling revenge, forcing the rulers to face the very creatures they once protected. The Old Witch narrates this tale of hubris and poetic justice, where pride meets its monstrous end.

In "Till Death...", the Vault-Keeper warns of a love so deep it defies the grave, as a grieving husband and his devoted servant uncover a dark secret buried beneath sorrow. When Steve’s wife Donna dies, his servant Jebco performs a forbidden voodoo ritual to bring her back—only to unleash a horror that turns reunion into eternal decay.

In "The Chips Are Down!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of greed and retribution, where Sigmund Darby, Averill Henning, and Dilbert Field find themselves entangled in a deadly scheme after landing a secretive government contract to produce 60,000 wooden discs a month. As the partners scheme to betray one another in a rigged poker game, a sinister twist looms—Field’s fate is far from final. When the mill’s foreman discovers Darby and Henning frozen in place, sliced into countless thin layers, the horror isn’t just in the violence, but in the lingering question of what truly rises from the grave.

In a forgotten castle, a lifelong apprentice watches his master ring the royal bell on the Queen’s birthday—only to be denied his own chance, even as years pass in silence. When the moment finally comes, the apprentice’s desperate desire to ring the bell leads to a chilling act of vengeance, and the tolling that follows carries a terrible, muffled echo. The Vault-Keeper invites you to listen—what secrets does the bell truly hold?

In "We Ain't Got No Body!", the Old Witch spins a chilling tale of betrayal and haunting, as the decaying corpse of Henry Bodwin—once a department store owner—confronts his brother Norton, the man who conspired with Charlie and Sidney to murder him for a double-indemnity payout. With the weight of a twisted past rising from the grave, Norton must face the consequences of a crime that left only a torso behind—and a legacy of fear that refuses to stay buried.