Lure of the Snake Goddess

Back in July, we had ourselvesss a ssslitheringly sssexy sssnake girl fessst of storiesss, and longtime THOIA chum, Brian Barnessss --ok, I'm gonna stop doing that now-- was super bummed to see it end, he even requested more. And it doesn't get much more weird and adventurous than this wild tale about Brian's own relatives, one that starts out in the deepest jungles of India, and takes the action all the way to the big city Broadway stage! This would've made for a fun 1940's RKO creature feature, with its increasing body count, mysterious museum moment, and yes, the Medusa-like monster that'll stop at nothing to achieve her gorgeously gruesome goal! And since we haven't had ourselves a casting call around here in a while, I'm going with Dana Andrews as Dan, Joi Lansing as Pat, and magnificent Mara Corday as Mahrana. From the April 1953 issue of Forbidden Worlds #16.

Love from a Gorgon

From one hairy monstrosity tale of lurid love, and right into another-- and this time it's a surprisingly well written Star Publications tale of truly despicable, driveling oral organs from the beyond! Yeah, you read that right, *gag!* --and you'll read all about it again in a few moments. Also note, Disbrow is using the word "gorgon" here as merely a means to accentuate how ugly this creature is, as there is no actual snake-headed, turner to stone in this story. From the Dec. '52 issue of Startling Terror Tales #13, with another super cool, blacklight poster inspiring cover design by L.B. Cole.

Mask of Medusa

Somehow I never got around to this eerie Pete Morisi tale from the September 1953 issue of Weird Terror #7, the rest of the issue can be found in the THOIA Archives: Turnabout, Evil Ones, and Concrete Coffin, (the last two stories are both by Don Heck, +2 page text story art.) Lots more Morisi in the Archive too, use the search engine and check him out! Another COMPLETE issue posted!

PLUS! Fans of Edward Gorey should head over to AEET for a macabre little Satanic tale of terror! Lose your soul by clicking HERE!

The Creatures of the Mist / Medusa

You can't very well have a Dark Mysteries Fest and not include a story by THOIA friend and favorite Hy Fleishman-- so how about TWO stories from him! First up: "The Creatures of the Mist" from the January 1952 issue of Dark Mysteries #4, this one has a really great, super gruesome ending. And our second Fleishman feature "Medusa" from the November 1952 issue of Dark Mysteries #9 contains this sensuous line: "The sight of Elfreda stroking the thick black coils of the snake filled Jeff with a strange attraction so great that he could feel the sweat break on his upper lip!" You definitely don't want to miss this one!

Ghost of the Gorgon

My 4 year old son watched Clash of the Titans for the first time a few weeks ago and was unnaturally fascinated by the scene with the gorgon. So fascinated in fact was he that he’s been walking around simply saying the word “gorgon” over and over to the point where if I hear it again I’ll surely turn to stone. Which brings me to today’s beautifully illustrated post from John Bell... the flimsy story doesn't really go anywhere but damn it sure looks nice.

From Ghost Comics #10 (1954)No GCD entry exists for this issue

Head of the Medusa

Rudy Palais had a unique style as displayed here in one of his better stories. I mean it, his stuff literally squirms and creeps right across the page... I can remember re-reading one of his stories over and over when I was a kid and it just totally freaked me out everytime. I also think that if there was one guy on the entire planet who should've been illustrating H. P. Lovecraft adaptions full-time it should be Palais!

From the October 1952 issue of Tomb of Terror 5