Vault of Horror #15

In "Horror House!", Henry Davidson escapes city life and writer’s block by buying Millford Manor, a secluded estate rumored to be haunted. But when his friends—Jean, Ted, and Roger—arrive unannounced, their playful prank turns the house into a nightmare he can’t escape. The Vault-Keeper warns that some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried.

In the heart of the Okefenokee Swamp, two travelers heed a warning from a desperate man who claims the waters hide a creature born from forbidden science. They press on, drawn by curiosity, only to confront the living result of a failed experiment—something that grew from a discarded beaker of matter, now a ravenous force fed by the swamp’s dark secrets. The story chillingly unfolds through the tale of Professor Carl Ward, his daughter Marie, and Robert Colby, whose ambition awakened something ancient and hungry.

In the eerie atmosphere of a forgotten cemetery, the town’s undertaker, Fred Coombes, leads the Vault-Keeper’s Club in a chilling initiation ritual. Warren Lake is tasked with exhuming a recently buried member, only to return with a report of empty bones and a growing unease. When the club returns to the grave, they find the corpse is not new—but decades old—sparking suspicion and accusations. As tensions rise, the club’s long-buried secrets begin to surface, and a sudden explosion reveals the truth beneath the soil.

In the dusty shadow of a roadside carnival, a man known only as Sam—once called "Zobo, the Living Corpse"—is buried alive for profit, his shallow breaths a macabre performance. When his lover Rita betrays him for another man, Paul, she tricks Sam into a final burial, planning to leave him trapped beneath the earth for good. But as secrets dig their way to the surface, Sam’s quiet patience may hold a far deadlier surprise than she ever imagined.