Jacquelyn G. wrote in a few weeks back looking for a crying ghost story she remembered reading as a kid. It concerns a woman eaten by wolves and returning as a sad spirit, haunting her evil husband who allowed it to happen! The only other thing Jacquelyn could remember was that this tale appeared in a 70's "mystery" comic. Well, I do believe I've materialized this requested spook show, and yes, though it did appear reprinted in the September 1975 issue of Western's Mystery Comics Digest #25, it actually originated in the Sept. 1971 issue of Ripley's Believe it or Not! #28 --believe it or not!
5 comments:
Did Count Ugo really have to go immediately outside in his night gown after the ghost of his long dead wife? Not that it would have mattered, he’d have perished the same way.
Interesting that this tale lets the Count's girlfriend off scot free. She was, even if not a co-conspirator, at least fully on board post facto with Ugo's murder scheme.
Out of curiosity I looked up Schloss Moritzburg, or Moritzburg Castle, and it does indeed exist in Saxony (believe it or not) but I didn't find any information on it being haunted. That of course doesn't mean it lacks spectral entities, only that no stories of hauntings are mentioned online.
I can't recall if I had this comic or if I had seen this online, either way it is still an impressive tale of a ghostly revenge.
Alright, fine, I'll believe it!
While reading this and looking at the poor torn up Elsa, I was wondering about the comics code and discovered something I never thought about -- Gold Key -- who did the Ripley's comics -- never displayed the comic code and instead just glided by on their reputation for mostly doing kids and cartoon comics.
Poor Ugo, most wolf packs have 5 to 8 members but this guy runs into at least 12 at once! That's a great panel, the count on the left, the line of wolves with the phantom floating over them.
Fun vengeful ghost tale and I like the concept that Elsa really did make the count crack -- I mean she floated through his wall, floated out the window, and flew over the grounds. Even I'd kind of think this is either the best scooby-doo gag ever or I'm dealing with a real ghost!
Huge gestural, almost calligraphic, dry-brushed ink marks supported by technical pen: The inking scheme on this one was very much en vogue by the early eighties, so I'm interested to see it here, fully fledged, from the very early seventies. It might not have been particularly cutting edge in '71, I'm no expert in these things, but it definitely stands out--especially on the horses in the splash, the first ghost panel on page two, and the hand in that second-to-last frame of the story.
Speaking of the story, I really like the denouement. Usually we are given to imagine that spectral retribution solves some central moral equation, and once the story is over, all the elements are balanced and at rest. But here we have a ghost that achieves her vengeful goals (at least against husbands; she's neutral on mistresses and actively still feeding that murderous wildlife), and yet she's still stuck in her ghostly lament. So Vengeance puts me in mind of Samuel Blas' Revenge (known far and wide as the first episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and to us here at THOIA under the title Honeymoon Horror, seen posted here). One imagines that she will go on tempting the men of the Schloss Moritzburg into the hungry woods forever.
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