Secrets of the Unknown #21

In "Farley's Other Face," a man who steals a thousand dollars from a reclusive neighbor—whom he’d feigned friendship with—goes to extreme lengths to vanish, altering his appearance and erasing his fingerprints. When he learns the recluse died shortly after the theft and left him the fortune, he’s trapped: the only proof of his identity is now impossible to verify.

In "Flight Number Thirteen!", a routine flight takes a terrifying turn when two criminals seize control of a plane carrying passengers who move and speak with eerie calm. As the aircraft is diverted into a hidden dimension, the hijackers soon realize the air itself is draining their emotions—leaving them vulnerable to the silent, alien world the passengers call home.

In "The Ragged Man," a wealthy businessman’s obsession with wealth leads him down a dangerous path when a sudden spike on his yacht’s geiger counter convinces him he’s discovered a hidden uranium treasure. He liquidates his assets to buy up nearby land, only to find himself stranded and penniless when the truth behind the radiation is revealed.

In "When the Curtain Falls!", a stagehand's envy turns deadly when he replaces a real dagger with a rubber prop during a performance, hoping to eliminate his rival. The actor escapes injury, but the stagehand soon finds himself trapped—his only weapon a prop that proves useless when it matters most.

In "The Terrible Tree!", a desperate farmer gambles everything by sabotaging a massive redwood, hoping to collect insurance after it crashes onto his land. But when the tree’s spirit awakens, its fragments—wooden objects, splinters, even the very roots—begin to hunt him down. Now, with no safe ground left, he finds himself adrift on a boat carved from the tree’s own remains, fleeing a vengeance that refuses to die.

So This is Mars! follows a Martian filmmaker who, in a whimsical twist of interplanetary curiosity, transports a human filmmaker’s elaborate Martian set to the Red Planet—only to discover that human culture, in all its detail, mirrors Martian life in startling ways. The story unfolds with a playful sense of wonder as the two creators confront the unexpected similarities between their worlds.

In "What is Monium?", a man stumbles upon a mysterious metal that defies physics—when split, its halves remain linked across empty space. He turns the discovery into a dazzling magic act, using a hoop that lets objects vanish and reappear on the other side. But when an audience member uncovers his secret, he’s coerced into using the metal for theft. Trapped and desperate, he outwits his captor by sealing him inside a crate rigged with the hoop, sending him straight to justice—leaving the true nature of Monium still unexplained.

In "The Perfectly Frightened Man," a man finds himself caught in a bizarre twist when his wife insists his sudden belief in magical powers is all a prank—until a casual phrase sends him tumbling into a shocking transformation. The story unfolds with quiet dread and a touch of dark humor, as one man’s ordinary life spirals into the uncanny.

In "What on Earth?", a lone man’s radical belief that humanity must surrender to love rather than technology to reach the stars gains unexpected power—when his followers begin vanishing in a surge of warmth, as if carried away by something greater than science. As his message spreads, the line between faith and phenomenon blurs, leaving the world to wonder if love is the true engine of cosmic travel.

In "The Little Green Man," a man's life unravels as a jade Buddha he once admired begins to take hold of him—first in dreams, then in reality, twisting his form until he mirrors the statue’s plump, serene face. When his wife realizes the true source of his transformation, she must act fast to break the curse before he’s lost forever.

In "The Doctor Wears A Mask," a team of sociologists arrives in a seemingly perfect town where harmony reigns—until they uncover the unsettling truth behind its peace. The townspeople’s flawless behavior stems from a shared guilt: they once persecuted a stranger, a being with a mirror face, who was actually an alien. As the investigation deepens, the line between justice and fear begins to blur.