Ghostly Tales #56
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeGhostly Tales #56 is the second issue of Charlton's long-running horror-anthology title and one of the earliest appearances of both Mr. L. Dedd and Dr. M.T. Graves — two of the most distinctive horror hosts in Silver Age comics — who had debuted together just one issue prior in #55 (May 1966). The issue belongs to a pivotal moment when Charlton was deliberately constructing an interconnected stable of horror-host characters across several anthology titles, a strategy unusual for the era and one that gave their line a coherent supernatural universe years before the concept became fashionable. As part of the wave of Charlton horror books launched in 1966, it represents the publisher's most creatively ambitious period, drawing on talent including Steve Ditko and a roster of writers and artists who would go on to shape mainstream comics.
This is an anthology issue featuring multiple horror and adventure stories. The lead story, "The Night Old Sam Died," involves men confronting supernatural or mysterious forces in a swamp setting, with references to Jesse being dead and warnings about the dangers lurking there. Another featured story concerns a character named Leonard Lund who discovers treasure in an ancient tomb while being pursued by a man named Husfat, who has been imprisoned in the tomb for 4,000 years and claims the treasure as his own, only to have darkness return to the tomb as the workmen seal it shut again. The issue also includes various advertisements and offers typical of 1960s comics, including model rockets, stamp collecting kits, and music lessons.
Two archaeologists unearth the forbidden tomb of Husfat, an ancient Egyptian god, despite warnings from the locals—but when one of them becomes obsessed with stealing the deity's sacred ruby, he discovers that some curses are very much real. As greed overtakes reason, Leonard Lund finds himself trapped in a supernatural battle with forces that have waited four thousand years for their revenge.
Dr. Graves, the ghost fighter, takes his client Mr. Smith on a tour through the supernatural world, explaining the nature of ghosts, poltergeists, wraiths, and other restless spirits while demonstrating each type in unsettling detail. As the evening progresses and the hauntings grow more intense, Mr. Smith's true reason for seeking the consultation becomes chillingly apparent. A clever twist on the expert consultation that turns the tables on one very curious student of the occult.
A gravedigger's evening shift takes a dark turn when a doctor arrives searching for a patient—a man driven mad by grief who's escaped from the hospital and made his way to the cemetery. When they discover the man's wife's grave has been opened, the hunt intensifies, leading to a haunting encounter that reveals the peculiar power of love even in death.
A gypsy con artist named King Dumo and his wife Steena trick a wealthy widow, Mrs. Mullins, out of her house and fortune by promising to summon her dead husband Charles—only to abandon the scheme once the deed is done. When Mrs. Mullins enlists a theatrical friend to stage a supernatural confrontation of her own, the line between illusion and reality begins to blur in ways neither schemer anticipated. A tale of con artistry that spirals into something far stranger than anyone bargained for.
Old Sam's howling at a grave won't stop, and the Ruddle brothers—Hook and Andrum—decide the hound must die for the sake of their sleep. But as the two men hunt the dog through the moonlit swamp, they find themselves haunted by visions of Jesse Tait, the man they're suspected of killing months before, and the night takes a sinister turn neither brother anticipated. What begins as a simple act of vengeance becomes something far darker when the morning brings unexpected discoveries on the mountain.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Ghostly Tales launched in 1966 by inheriting the numbering of Blue Beetle vol. 4, which had itself continued the numbering of Unusual Tales — a cost-saving postal-permit practice typical of Charlton's penny-pinching Derby, Connecticut operation. The title was edited in its early run by Pat Masulli, with regular contributions from Steve Ditko, Rocke Mastroserio, Pat Boyette, and the prolific staff writer Joe Gill. Mr. L. Dedd, the pale, caped, vaguely vampiric host with purplish skin and horns, was conceived as a recurring narrator figure in the EC Comics tradition of wise-cracking horror hosts, though Charlton's version of that device — particularly as rendered by Ditko — was notable for weaving the host character directly into the visual storytelling between panels rather than merely bookending each tale.
Trivia · 7 facts
- The series launched with #55 (May 1966) by taking over the numbering of Blue Beetle vol. 4, which had itself continued from Unusual Tales — a Charlton practice to avoid new postal permits.
- Mr. L. Dedd, the series' horror host (a pale, caped, purplish-skinned figure operating from a haunted house in Connecticut), made his first appearance in the preceding issue, Ghostly Tales #55 (May 1966); #56 is one of his earliest appearances.
- Dr. M.T. Graves, the parapsychologist host who would later anchor his own title The Many Ghosts of Doctor Graves (1967–1982), also debuted in Ghostly Tales #55 in the three-page story 'The Ghost Fighter' by writer-artist Ernie Bache; #56 features his second appearance.
- Mr. L. Dedd's in-universe origin — tracing the character back to a 16th-century alchemist's apprentice transformed into an ectoplasmic immortal — was not published until Charlton Bullseye #2 (1975); in #56 he was still simply an unexplained supernatural host.
- Regular contributors to Ghostly Tales across its run included Steve Ditko, Pat Boyette, Rocke Mastroserio, Wayne Howard, and writer Joe Gill; Ditko's technique of inserting the host character mid-story between panels — rather than only in framing sequences — was a creative distinction noted by comics historians.
- Ghostly Tales ran 115 issues total (1966–1984), edited over its early years by Pat Masulli and later for over twelve years by George Wildman; the title became primarily a reprint book from issue #127 (January 1978) onward.
- The Mr. L. Dedd character was later renamed I.M. Dedd in some appearances; both names are attested in the published record.
Cast · 2 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Secrets of the Unknown #77 (1967), Secrets of the Unknown #177 (1978), Charlton Classics #9 (1981), Secrets of the Unknown #214 (1983), Dr. Graves #74 (1985), Gwandanaland Comics #2292 (2019)
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