Iskalde Grøss #4/1990

In "Den som ler sist ...", a man whose humor borders on the grotesque recounts a prank that turned deadly—his cruel joke involving horse meat and old clothes at a trainyard left a child dead. Now, years later, the doctor whose son perished seeks twisted retribution, trapping the man in a nightmarish act of vengeance. The story unfolds with chilling precision, blending dark comedy and dread in a tale where laughter has a terrible price.

In the frozen silence of a northern town, Pierre mourns the death of Maria and vows never to meet the same fate—left to rot in the earth. With winter closing in and money scarce, he pushes his trapping to the limit, only to face a crushing cost when he learns the price of a metal vault to preserve her body. After a season of hardship, he finally secures the vault and a funeral service, returning home with hope. But as he opens the ice house to claim Maria, he is struck dumb by a horrifying sight: her body stripped bare, the work of a lynx.

In "Som man reder!", two men aboard a cargo ship pass the time by building a cruel trap in a barrel, turning a simple game of survival into a grim spectacle as rats battle for a floating platform. As the ship begins to sink, their dark amusement takes on a chilling new meaning—revealing a disturbing truth about who the real rats are.

In "Noen handelsreisendes død!", a stranded salesman finds himself trapped in the eerie home of an old couple whose hospitality takes a chilling turn. As they calmly show him their working appliances—each one tested on a previous salesman—he realizes too late that his own fate may be the next test. With a meat cutter waiting in the car, and the old woman holding a shotgun, he pleads for mercy, but the couple’s quiet determination suggests the worst is only beginning.

In the storm-lashed silence of a remote facility, Hartley, the new head master, begins to unravel as he witnesses the horrifying ritual of the inmates’ nightly punishment—bodies dragged from coffins and desecrated by the very people meant to be imprisoned. As he learns the gruesome truth behind the guards’ control, his fear turns inward, and the line between nightmare and reality blurs when he’s seized in the dead of night, locked in a coffin, and carried to the cemetery. Waking back in his bed, staring at the skylight, he clings to the hope it was all a dream—until a face appears above him and dirt rains down.

In "Det er tanken som teller," Jennifer returns home with a quiet joy, eager to share her latest triumph with her paralyzed husband, Edwin. Her words carry a chilling warmth as she recounts how she’s brought comfort to others—through their final moments. When detectives arrive to investigate Edwin’s sudden death, they find a woman at peace, convinced she’s given him the greatest gift of all.

In "I en tynn tråd!", a once-famed puppeteer named Tony, now frail and broken by illness, faces the unraveling of his life and love. When his wife Nora reveals she married him only for his wealth, their final moments together take a chilling turn—leaving behind a macabre scene where her body is found reassembled with strings, tied to the very puppets he once brought to life.

In "Operasjon vennskap!", a seemingly devoted husband begins an unsettling experiment to preserve the intellect of his friend—by surgically removing 75% of his mind and keeping it alive in a jar, while quietly transferring the remaining 25% to his wife, who remains blissfully unaware of the transformation. The story unfolds with chilling precision, exploring the blurred line between loyalty and possession in a tale that’s equal parts psychological suspense and quiet horror.