This Magazine Is Haunted #17

Washed-up actor Bruno Thor drinks away his despair after being blacklisted from Hollywood, until a mysterious stranger offers him the perfect comeback vehicle—a macabre film shot in an abandoned studio with an uncannily talented crew of one. As Bruno steps into the eerie set and begins to perform, the line between script and reality grows disturbingly thin, and he discovers his mysterious benefactor has ambitions that go far beyond making movies.

In "A Simple Wish," a gentle alien from deep within the Earth ventures into the world of humans, seeking connection and understanding. Written with quiet dread and empathy, the story follows its desperate attempt to bridge the gap between species—only to be met with fear and violence.

Mike Perry's plan for vengeance against his unfaithful wife and her lover takes a dark turn when poison enters the picture at their jungle camp—but the question of who truly dosed the canteens sets off a chain of consequences that spirals far beyond what anyone intended. This 1954 suspense tale weaves together betrayal, revenge, and a mystery that the jungle itself seems determined to keep.

A thief named Gary Conrad plans the perfect heist—slip into Dimple's Department Store after closing and walk out rich by morning—but his scheme hits a nightmarish snag when he discovers the store's mannequins are far more than lifeless props. As the "night people" come alive and trap him in the building, Conrad faces a horrifying fate that transforms him into something even more sinister than his captors. This 1954 tale of terror turns a routine burglary into a descent into the truly grotesque, where survival itself becomes a curse.

In "You Must Believe Me!", insurance detective Gil Butler pays a visit to client Adam Hemming with grim news: the fraudulent debtor Dan Gore is dead. But when Gore’s ghost suddenly appears, claiming he was summoned by a curse, the two men are left staring into the unknown—caught between truth and terror.

In "The Will to Kill," John Pierce is haunted by recurring dreams of running someone down with his car, a torment that grows heavier as his fiancée pushes him toward a desperate act—killing his boss. As the line between nightmare and reality blurs, his guilt begins to unravel him, leaving him trapped in a spiral he can’t escape.