Saturday, March 22, 2008

The City of the Dead

I mentioned in a previous comment section that because of time / space constraints after this month I was no longer going to have two story posts on Saturdays. Well, I lied… I’m going back to one post per Saturdays starting TODAY. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, but I believe today’s single post is worth the price of two anyway. Quality over quantity.

From the April 1953 issue of This Magazine is Haunted #10






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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great opening splash panel. Very convenient that the words above the entrance to the City of the Dead were written in English.

Anonymous said...

GREAT STORY! I NOTICE THIS ONE COMES FROM THE SAME ISSUE AS YESTERDAYS POST. ARE YOU GOING TO BE PUTTING UP THE ENTIRE ISSUE?

Dane said...

I have to say that I empathize one hundred percent with the photographer trying to get in for some sensational pictures. Poor guy.

Mr. Karswell said...

>>ARE YOU GOING TO BE PUTTING UP THE ENTIRE ISSUE?

Probably not... the other stories in this issue are a little ho-hum.

Also, here's a link to a picture of The Tower of Silence (there's no vultures flying around overhead so it must be a slow day for death)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a0/Tower_of_silence.jpg/800px-Tower_of_silence.jpg

Anonymous said...

so this story is based on a real place?

Anonymous said...

Yes, The Towers of Silence are tall, cylindrycal stone structures where the bodies of the dead are laid out according to Zoroastrian funerary practices. To avoid contaminating the purity of the earth, human bodies must be left to the vultures and the sun until only bones remain. The bones are then stored within the tower.

Mr. Karswell said...

Here's a picture of a similar temple with vultures:
http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh101804-story04-fig03.gif

Anonymous said...

Brrrr.that's everything a pre-code story should be.i saw the twist(he drank too much and really killed himself)coming a mile away,but the ending,with him being locked away from the netherworld,that really is tragic.and as much as i like bad puns,im glad Dr. Death didn't ruin the somber mood with a wisecrack.

The Vicar of VHS said...

Ooh, very Lovecraftian--I'm thinking of the story "The Stranger" by HPL (at least I think that was the title...). Cool stuff.