Eerie #3
In "The Case of the Painted Beast!", a chilling tale from Eerie #3 (1951), a man’s lifelong terror of snakes takes a supernatural turn when his past catches up with him. After sharing a cell with a man who claimed to have killed a witch, Hinchley witnesses the witch’s spirit return as a talking snake—only to see her vanish her former cellmate whole. Now, years later, the fear that haunts him may not be imagined. When Hinchley disappears after a nap in a boxcar, his friend discovers a snake with a bloated stomach in the corner, its eyes fixed on the scene. The story, illustrated with eerie precision by Wally Wood—pencils and inks on the cover—delivers a classic horror twist with a haunting, lingering dread.
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Hinchley was in fear of snakes. He explained why to his friend. You see years ago he shared a cell with a man who claimed he killed a witch. Later that night, a talking snake entered the cell. It was the reincarnated witch. She caused the cellmate to shrink and swallowed him whole. Because Hinchley saw this, he was now marked for death by the witch's spirit. This is why he has been deathly afraid in the years since of snakes. The morning after the two men caught a nap in a boxcar, Hinchley was missing! The friend then noticed a snake in the corner of the car with a bloated stomach.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).