THE HORRORS OF IT ALL: HAUNTED HORROR #16 / Black Death

Thursday, April 30, 2015

HAUNTED HORROR #16 / Black Death

Haunted Horror #16 is in stores NOW, and beyond that creepy-crawly insect cover awaits today's even creepier, crawlier insect tale to take a bite out of your senses! Originally presented in the November 1953 issue of Fantastic Fears #4, "Black Death" has been referred to by HH friend, Tom Stein as "one of the greatest pre-code horror stories ever told!" I do believe he's correct! *shivers!

And don't forget about our contest-- see the last post for details!

[The Eerie Publications remake of this story, "The Skin-Rippers", was posted to THOIA back in 2011. Read it here! -- Nequam]

11 comments:

Dr. Theda said...: We enjoyed reading this one...
a great day to good Mr. Karswell....; 4/30/2015
J_D_La_Rue_67 said...: SQUERRR! SQUEE!
So, no last minute rescue. No twist ending showing us it was just a nightmare.
They sink, they reach the island, they're eaten alive by the monsters: plain and simple. Just like life, huh?; 4/30/2015
Mr. Cavin said...: Now that's the kind of Horror that really Haunts me! Chilling! I'm sure I've read this one before, but I can't find it in the archives. Must've been that time when I was back in the fifties? Musta been. Happy Walpurgis, Karswell!; 4/30/2015
Grant said...: Even though I only read it once, this story reminds me of "Empire of the Ants" by H.G. Wells. Unlike the Bert I. Gordon movie version (and unlike "Them"), it had oversized ants (about the same size as in this story) instead of gigantic ones.

I was thinking the same thing as Mr. Cavin. I may not be a "Wiccan" or anything very similar, but April 30 is a big date for me.; 4/30/2015
Brian Barnes said...: There's an Eerie reprint of this, and I'll bet it's in the bloody pulp's archive but I've never been able to search that site properly!

I've always liked this one, as many times as I've read it. Why it needs to constantly talk about "hades" and "slime of ages" I don't know -- when "giant ants that crave human flesh" is about all you need to be frightened!

This has a classic ending -- they go down fighting ever inch of the way, and end up, together, as miraculously pinned together skeletons. It's actually relatively happy ending, the best you could hope for.

Artist wasn't sure if he was doing ants or spiders, though :); 4/30/2015
Dr. Theda said...: A very Happy Birthday to You , Mr. Karswell.....!!!!; 4/30/2015
Mestiere said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/01/2015
Dr. Theda said...: We have that issue of Eerie... knew that there was something "familiar" about that story... Cool...; 5/01/2015
Dr. Theda said...: We posted you a short post to Wish you a Happy Birthday (and a "shout-out" on your Great blog, good Mr. Karswell...; 5/01/2015
Grant said...: There's one thing that's SLIGHTLY unusual about the color. I don't know entomology, but black ants make you think of those Carpenter Ants, which are considered pests but seem to be very unaggressive, which would make them a bad choice for horror story ants. On the other hand, they get almost huge, so maybe that was the reason.

Happy birthday (belatedly).; 5/02/2015
Mr. Karswell said...: Thanks for the bday wishes, everyone, and the comments! New post coming right up (apologies for the delay, as I've been very very busy with another project) I'll also have the winning names of our HAUNTED HORROR #16 contest. Stay tombed...; 5/03/2015

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