Mysterious Adventures #12

In "The Running Ghost!" from Mysterious Adventures #12 (1953), a man murdered by his business partner and later dissected in an anatomy lab rises again—his scattered body parts moving with vengeful purpose. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, the story unfolds with a chilling blend of horror and desperation, as the dead man’s remains seek retribution in ways that defy the natural order.

David Carlysle's guilty conscience spirals into terror when the puppets of Walter Fox's traveling show seem to come alive with a murderous will of their own. Plagued by visions of the wooden dolls attacking him in the night, David becomes convinced they're seeking revenge—but the truth behind their sinister movements may be far more complicated than supernatural vengeance. As the puppets close in with accusations and a gun in hand, David must confront whether his mind is unraveling or if someone is pulling the strings from the shadows.

A greedy gambler's theft of a sacred ruby idol in Calcutta unleashes a curse more terrible than he imagines—the vultures of the temple will obey his every command, but at a price his conscience may not survive. As Conrad Farrish uses the birds to eliminate his rivals and steal their fortunes, his cruelty toward the one woman he loves sets in motion a reckoning that even he cannot control. Written with letters by typeset, this pulp-era tale explores how far ambition will drive a man before the vultures come home to roost.

In "A Stony Death," a disgraced sculptor named Leonard Caine stumbles upon a terrifying secret in Haiti—a witch doctor’s elixir that turns flesh to stone. After murdering the healer and stealing the potion, Caine returns to the U.S. to revive his career, but his fame comes at a monstrous cost: he must kill to fuel his art. When he collapses and is revived by a simple drink of water from his own studio, the truth of his creation begins to unravel in ways he never expected.