| Issue | #32 |
| Published | August-September 1953 |
| Cover Price | 0.10 USD |
| Pages | 36 |
| Editing | Al Feldstein; William M. Gaines (managing editor) |
| Notes | Cover title from 2nd story, from which the cover is based. This cover was censored as being much too gory for readers, as it featured a meat cleaver stuck in the ghoul's head. The Gemstone reprinting displays the actual cover. |
| Characters | The Vault-Keeper (inset); The Old Witch (inset); The Crypt-Keeper (inset) |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | Johnny Craig (signed) |
| Inks | Johnny Craig (signed) |
| Notes | Cover title from 2nd story, from which the cover is based. This cover was censored as being much too gory for readers, as it featured a meat cleaver stuck in the ghoul's head. The Gemstone reprinting displays the actual cover. |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #21 (October 1997) |
| Synopsis | EC House ad for Mad Comics. |
| Pencils | Jack Davis (signed) |
| Inks | Jack Davis (signed) |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 |
| Characters | The Vault-Keeper (host) |
| Synopsis | Her mind was whirling as three horrid creatures hovered over her, asking her her name, and she ran to escape, plunging through a window, landing and running for her life to a building. There she fell through a door to the floor, where a beast grabbed her by the hair and dropped her in boiling water, then placed her in ice, laughing all the while....before she passed out. When she awoke, she was strapped to a table and an old hag with a long needle began to stab her until a man told her to leave. He caressed her and then pushed her into an electric chair and threw the switch, sending massive volts through her. When she awoke, she was in a small room that kept shrinking....then suddenly she was released. She was taken to a room full of people who asked her what had happened to her and she explained, thinking she was going insane. But the men told her everything had been in her mind and that she was an inmate in an insane asylum......she began to quiver and, as they began to ask her her name, she suddenly remembered that THEY were the ones trying to persecute her! |
| Genre | horror |
| Script | Johnny Craig |
| Pencils | Johnny Craig (signed) |
| Inks | Johnny Craig (signed) |
| Colors | Marie Severin |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #21 (October 1997); In Tales From the Crypt (Ballantine Books, 1964 series) #U2106 |
| Characters | The Crypt-Keeper (host); Alex Melton; Stanley |
| Synopsis | As Stanley bent over the boiling pot of stew in the camp, Alex Melton crept up behind him with a meat cleaver and let him have it in the head! But Stanley just crouched, staring at the man who had just killed him before falling over. Now Alex left camp, knowing the rich mine was all his, and went back to his car, dumped all of his belongings into the river, certain to convince anyone coming upon Stanley's body back at camp thinking he'd been killed by a maniac. He slipped back into his apartment, unseen, and gazed out the window to see Stanley standing outside with the cleaver in his head.....he screamed, then the visage disappeared. A neighbor asked him if he was OK, and he said so and to bring him breakfast....then headed into his bedroom to dress in his pajamas, and only to see Stanley again. Refusing to look, he answered a knock at the door and breakfast arrived.....with Stanley standing behind his friend! Setting the meal down, the friend left....but everywhere Alex looked, his former law partner was still there. Unable to stand it any longer, Alex reached into a kitchen drawer and pulled out an icepick and jabbed it into both his eyes. His friend came in after hearing the screams and found Alex and took him to the doctor. Surgery was done, and when the bandages were removed later, Alex bluringly looked up to see the figure of someone bending over him....a figure with something gleaming on his head. Alex figured it was Stanley again and ran to the window and jumped out to his death. The doctor looked out the window....and all he could say was that the man must be mad! |
| Genre | horror |
| Script | Al Feldstein |
| Pencils | Jack Davis (signed) |
| Inks | Jack Davis (signed) |
| Colors | Marie Severin |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #21 (October 1997) |
| Characters | Brewster; Crawford |
| Synopsis | With the plane in the air, Brewster emerged from hiding in the back of the plane, wrench in hand, and crept to the cockpit, where he hit Crawford over the head. As the plane spiraled out of control, Brewster ran to the emergency door and jumped out, waiting to pull the ripcord of his parachute until the last second possible so that no one would see him. As he came down, he watched the plane crash into a grove of trees, splintering the ends, and burn. But a sudden shift in the wind brought Brewster closer and closer to the splintered branch limbs until he jammed into them which stopped his descent. In agony, he noted that the limbs had torn open his stomach, and as he lay dying, his body writhing on the end of a branch, he felt like some insect squirming on a needle in a science lab! |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | ? (spot illo) |
| Inks | ? (spot illo) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | This text story is found on the inner part of the two pages, with EC house ads to either side. One was for Weird Fantasy #20 [with an Al Feldstein cover], and the other side featured, with covers, the Complete Old & New Testament editions from the Picture Stories From the Bible series, Picture Stories From Science #2 and Picture Stories From World History #2. |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 |
| Synopsis | In this issue's letter column, VK prints letters from Mrs. Monroe ASdams, Terry Black, Ronnie Audet, PFC Hank Wawrzyniak, Ray Parrinello, Dennis Taplin, Robert Travieso, Martin Fishman, David McGill and Richard L. Bruch before pushing readers to buy subsciptions to EC mags. |
| Letters | typeset |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4 |
| Characters | The Vault-Keeper (host); Irwin; Bert |
| Synopsis | Irwin slammed out of his house and ran next door to his neighbor Bert's home to return some tools he'd borrowed, and invited him to come over and see what he made. He said he'd be over the next day, but when he saw Irwin's sad demeanor, he said he'd go when the rain let up. As they sat talking, the conversation turned to Irwin's wife Hannah, and Irwin told the sad story of how they fell in love and how Hannah loved expensive chocolates so much. She got fatter as he had to do without vital necessities, and he just couldn't take it anymore. Irwin admitted to killing her and asked Bert to come over to his house. As they walked in, Bert gasped in horror as he spotted a giant, hand-made chocolate box, marked with different types of candy, and pieces of Hannah in each part! |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | George Evans (signed) |
| Inks | George Evans (signed) |
| Colors | Marie Severin |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #21 (October 1997) |
| Characters | The Old Witch (host); Jasper Milliken; Niles Fairchild |
| Synopsis | Jasper crept away to his cottage on the Fairchild Estate and counted up the money he had been saving, a total of $4970, and knew as soon as Mr. Fairchild paid him the last $30 he owed him, he'd be set. Unfortunately, Niles Fairchild was bankrupt, and desperately needed $5000 to get him out of the trouble he was in. As he walked his estate, he looked in old Jasper's window and saw the money, and entered demanding that the caretaker loan him the funds. But Jasper refused, saying he was saving it for his funeral. Later, Niles came back w/his partner, Tom, and killed old Jasper and buried him in the servant's plot. That evening, Niles had a visitor....the corpse of Jasper, who killed him....Tom was arrested for the crime, unable to prove his innocence. As Fairchild lay in state that night, the corpse of Jasper returned and took the body out to the servant's plot and threw it in, then got into the coffin of Niles Fairchild and closed the lid. He finally got the type of funeral he wanted and felt he deserved! |
| Genre | horror |
| Pencils | Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed) |
| Inks | Graham Ingels [as Ghastly] (signed) |
| Colors | Marie Severin |
| Reprinted | in Vault of Horror, The (Russ Cochran, 1982 series) #4; in Vault of Horror (Gemstone, 1994 series) #21 (October 1997) |