| Issue | #24 |
| Published | April-May 1952 |
| Cover Price | 0.10 USD |
| Pages | 36 |
| Editing | Al Feldstein; William M. Gaines (Managing Editor) |
| Notes | The cover title was taken from the first story in this issue, from which the cover was based. |
| Characters | The Vault-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Crypt-Keeper (inset) |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | Johnny Craig (signed) |
| Inks | Johnny Craig (signed) |
| Notes | The cover title was taken from the first story in this issue, from which the cover was based. |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #3; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #13 (October 1995) |
| Characters | Johnny Craig |
| Synopsis | Biography of artist Johnny Craig with a B/W photo of him. |
| Genre | bio |
| Pencils | (photo) |
| Inks | (photo) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Characters | The Vault-Keeper (host); Gilbert Podges; Wilma |
| Synopsis | Gilbert headed for his car after arriving by train, but noticed a young woman [Wilma] coming out of the shadows and asking for a ride. As they rode along, Podges mentioned that he had considered retiring, but had just lost his assistant and couldn't. Arriving at her destination, she gave Gilbert a seductive kiss....a kiss that led to a marriage proposal and their marriage a few days later. Unfortunately, bussiness at Gilbert's funeral home kept him too busy to go on a honeymoon, but Wilma seemed to understand....that and his excessively long hours at work. The next day, a Mr. Charlie Drayne applied for the position Gilbert was seeking to fill, and he was hired. Strangely, all of the blood Drayne took from the corpses during embalming disappeared....about the same time news headlines were screaming about a vampire killing. Soon after, the funeral business slowed down, and Charlie Drayne was going crazy hoping people would start dying. This bothered Gilbert, but Wilma told him it wasn't anything to worry about....but the newspapers continued to report vampire killings. The townspeople figure Drayne is the vampire and come after him and kill him. Later that evening, as Gilbert came back to his funeral home quite dejected and saw Wilma leaning over one of the bodies. Suddenly, she turned, fangs bared, and jumped at Gilbert! |
| Genre | horror |
| Script | Johnny Craig |
| Pencils | Johnny Craig (signed) |
| Inks | Johnny Craig (signed) |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #3; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #13 (October 1995) |
| Characters | The Old Witch (host); Pierre; Maria |
| Synopsis | People were starting to leave the town cemetery after the burial of Emile, and Pierre swore to Maria that he'd never be buried like that....his body being left to the worms and crawling things. With winter coming on and in need of money, Pierre set out more trap lines than ever before, a concern to Maria. Before he left to cover them, Pierre looked over the materials he'd just received on metal vaults. Three days later, after returning home, he found Maria dead on the floor, and went into town to check out those metal vaults, and discovered they cost $300......a year's worth of trapping for Pierre! Sitting at home dejected, with Maria's body near him, Pierre decides to put her in the ice house for preservation until he can raise the needed funds. Trapping that winter proved financially sound and Pierre went to town and ordered the vault and a funeral service for Maria, then happily headed home. As he entered the ice house to get her body, he froze in horror as he saw a lynx, which had stripped Maria's body of its flesh! |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed) |
| Inks | Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed) |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #3; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #13 (October 1995) |
| Characters | Manley |
| Synopsis | At the local drug store, Manley had just discovered that he had mislaid the ten Chloralex tablets ordered by the Animal Research Center.....pills that could instantly kill a human being.....were missing! Then he thought of the messenger he had just dispatched to Mrs. Lester's with a prescription.....could he have sent the Chloralex tablets to her in error? He had to get that box back, so he called Mrs. Lester on the phone....but three times it came back busy. He darted out the door, heading for her house, and when he rang her bell, she answered. He asked her if her prescription had arrived, and she said it had. Manley told her that box had been delivered in error and it must have it back immediately for another patient who's need was more urgent, and he assured her that her prescription would arrive within 30 minutes. Taking the box from her, he left quite relieved, to his drug store. All this had been too much and he reached into his vest and took out an aspirin from the case and popped it into his mouth....and felt it dissolve on his tongue. The next instant, he leaped to his feet with a severe burning sensation in his throat and he then a strangling sensation....and sprawled across the prescription table....dead. Just within reach of his hand was the box he had taken the pill from.....clearly marked "Hold for Animal Research Center!" |
| Genre | horror |
| Script | William M. Gaines |
| Pencils | ? (spot illo) |
| Inks | ? (spot illo) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | This text story was printed on the inner halves of the two pages, with EC house ads to either side. One promoted Shock SuspenStoriess #2 [with a Wally Wood cover], while the other promoted the Complete Old & New Testament books from the Picture Stories From the Bible series, Picture Stories From World History #2 and Picture Stories From Science #2 [all with covers]. |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #3 |
| Characters | The Vault-Keeper (cameo) |
| Synopsis | VK first relates reader voting on last issue's stories, then mentions that Wally Wood will be the next featured EC Artist of the Issue in Two-Fisted Tales #27. Then letters from 10 soldiers stationed in Korea, Ted Dahlman, Jack Hargett, William Richard, Jack Maxfield and Virginia Noulin were printed. Finally, there was the usual plug for the photos of the three GhouLunatics for 25 cents. |
| Pencils | Johnny Craig (spot illo) |
| Inks | Johnny Craig (spot illo) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #3 |
| Characters | The Vault-Keeper (host); Fred & Emma Dworkin |
| Synopsis | As Fred poured himself a cup of coffee, Emma told him that she'd had a nightmare about cutting her finger, and she couldn't stand the sight of the blood. He told her to forget it, but, sure enough, after he left, she cut her finger....just like in the dream. That night, she dreamed her little girl tripped and fell....and she did the next day. The next night she dreamed their son had an auto accident and that happened as well. Fred said that it was all coincidence....but when she dreamed next that her husband fell into the rollers of the giant printing presses at work, she sprang out of bed to stop him from going to work, only to discover he was already gone. In a panic, she ran down to his work site and rushed into where the presses were, and saw Fred atop the gigantic machine. When he heard her, he turned, slipped and fell into the printing press rollers! |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | Joe Orlando (signed) |
| Inks | Joe Orlando (signed) |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #3; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #13 (October 1995) |
| Characters | The Crypt-Keeper (host); Herman Kitch; Amos Sink |
| Synopsis | Herman surveyed the beat-up car and told the man he wouldn't buy it, but when the man said he HAD to sell it, the price offered was a low $400. Once the deal was made, Herman, and his partner Amos Sink, took the car inside, rolled back the odometer, packed the transmission with sawdust and poured grease into the radiator....all to mask the auto's problems. Similar alterations were also done to other cars on their lot that they had purchased for a song. One day, an assortment of patrons came in and purchased these junkers, and all were involved in accidents....and the deaths of innocent people. Herman and Amos were visited soon after by a Police inspector, who threatened to get a warrant to examine all of the cars on their lot. To avert this, the pair spent nights fixing up every car on the lot....unaware that the dead, rotting corpses of their "victims" were moving in on them. The next morning, when the inspector returned with his warrant, the only car he found on the lot was an auto with the heads of Amos & Herman where the headlights should be, their eyeballs became parking lights, their hands became door handles, then ashen-white skin had become seat covers, and their other body parts elsewhere in the vehicle. This was truly a Kitch and Sink car! |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | Jack Davis |
| Inks | Jack Davis |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #3; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #13 (October 1995) |