Ghostly Tales #78

Charlton's Ghostly Tales from the Haunted House #78 (February 1970) splits its cover into two unsettling vignettes: on the left, a glowing spectral figure commands a young woman forward with a hypnotic "Come — you must obey!" as a horrified man shouts for her to stop, while on the right a terrified man fires his gun at a pale, ghostly creature and desperately tries to flee. The cover teasers promise two tales of supernatural dread — "Guardian of the Valley," in which geologist Ted Hanlon's search for radium leads to something far stranger, and a second story where a compelling voice lures its victim from a forbidden cave. Cover art by Steve Ditko and Fred Himes, who also wrote and drew the interior — a fine snapshot of early-1970s Charlton horror at its eerie, atmospheric best.