Amazing Stories of Suspense #25

In "The Return of the Gorilla-Man," the title character, once transformed into a beast, makes a desperate bid to reclaim his humanity—only to be hurled into the void when an experimental space capsule explodes around him. Now adrift among the stars, his fate hangs in the balance as the cosmos itself becomes his new, unforgiving prison.

In "The Day Before Doomsday!", a U.S. scientist’s sudden defection to the USSR sets off a chain of events that culminates in a massive strike on American soil. Behind the facade of a protective dome for Soviet leaders lies a secret: the structure is actually a launch pod, designed to evacuate the elite into space.

In the year 2050, a prisoner learns of a time machine’s invention and escapes custody to travel back and eliminate the sole witness to his crime. But when he arrives in the past and tries to attack the man, he finds himself unable to touch anything—his body ghostlike and powerless to alter the timeline.

In "Mister Universe," a self-absorbed man’s victory as Mr. Earth lands him an unexpected invitation to a galactic competition he doesn’t fully understand. Eager to prove his superiority, he accepts without question, stepping into a contest where the other contestants are far more imposing—yet somehow, they let him win. The true cost of that victory, however, is far beyond what he ever imagined.

In "Man on a Tightrope," a young girl forms an unlikely bond with a once-great tightrope walker nearing the end of his career. After a tragic fall ends his final performance, his spirit returns not to haunt, but to heal—offering a second chance to the one person who truly saw him.

In "I Am Not Human!", a humanoid robot flees his creator’s lab, donning a human face and clothes in a desperate bid to live among people. As he witnesses the cruelty and indifference humans show one another, his faith in humanity crumbles—until he strips away his disguise and returns, facing the engineer who made him with a quiet, unsettling question that lingers long after the final page.

In "I Speak of the Haunted House!", two friends wager over the truth of ghostly legends, with one certain the house is empty and the other convinced it’s alive with spirits. When the skeptic claims he saw nothing, the house itself begins to reveal a far more unsettling presence—its very walls and halls seem to remember, and to watch.

In "Escape Into Space," a fugitive believes he’s broken free on a distant world—only to realize too late that his so-called freedom was part of a calculated sentence. Trapped between illusion and reality, he must confront the truth of his confinement, where the line between escape and punishment blurs.