Saturday, September 15, 2018

If I Should Die--

When you've read through enough of these pre code horror stories, you'll come to the predictable realization that if a character at any point in the story reveals what they are most afraid of, then 9 times out of 10 they will most likely die in that exact same manner. If being embalmed and buried alive is one of those fears, the odds change to 10 out of 10. And let's toss in millions of piranha worms just to make things even more hauntingly thrilling. From the November 1954 issue of Haunted Thrills #18.









14 comments:

Brian Barnes said...

I never expected Tony Stark to go out this way!

I love this blog, I love all the entertainment you put up for us, and I love this tale but boy is it one strange problem after another. From the bizarre figure in the coffin at the beginning, to the completely baffling ending (if medical error was a mistake worth otherworldly vengeance I don't think we'd have a hospital left!) to the wacky pacing and finally completely convenient timing of events.

WOW.

I love reading each and every one of these but this one ... wow!

Mr. Cavin said...

Excellent. I totally dig the writing here (especially the the fact that all the side characters, even the ones Cravens dreams up during his nightmare, are pretty realistically fleshed-out. I also think the color design in this one was pretty brilliant. Cool stuff.

Mr. Cavin said...

P.S., I especially love Henry's jammies.

Mestiere said...
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バーンズ エリック said...

Sorry, but I live in Japan and lived in South Korea and have never seen a 24-hour clock.

I'm sure Canadians and Mexicans will love being implicitly dismissed as unimportant, too.

But, yeah, the American rabid hatred of the much easier metric system is pretty hilarious.

Mestiere said...
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Mestiere said...
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Mr. Karswell said...

Let’s keep the comments on topic here, ok? Comic books and horror— thanks

Mestiere said...
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JMR777 said...

Back to the comic, Poe's "The Premature Burial" comes to mind while reading this story, though in Poe's tale the victim escapes such a horrible fate.

The idea of being conscious while deceased and buried has been touched on by other horror tales, it is one of those unconscious fears that still haunt mankind.

JBM said...

Hi Mr. K., That ending was out of the blue as are these poli-comments.
Thank you for posting!

Glowworm said...

That last panel is frickin' hilarious to me! I knew this one was going to end with the reveal that nothing was actually wrong with Henry physically--but that last bit where Henry's ghost just starts flat up murdering the doctor just feels like a 360 head spin of his personality. He didn't really seem like the vengeful type--even beforehand. He understandingly wanted to live longer--but the ending comes out more comical than it was intended to be.

Guy Callaway said...

I like that the ghost is wearing Henry's awesome jammie-jams.
The splash is an EC cover swipe (TFTC #28).

Todd said...

Henry murdered his doctor because he was an American imperialist!

I am curious, though, how a ghost tears somebody's throat out.