Strange Suspense Stories #39

Scientists John and Mary capture the first living creature from Mars, but their attempts to study the alien specimen take an unexpected turn when they discover its shocking method of reproduction. As the Martian population multiplies at an alarming rate, the researchers must act fast to prevent an extraterrestrial invasion before it's too late.

A malevolent genie imprisoned for centuries in a glass bottle beneath an ancient buried city senses freedom at last as archaeologists dig ever closer to its tomb—until an unexpected turn of events sends the precious artifact spiraling toward a fate the evil being never anticipated. Written with the eerie atmosphere and twist-ending punch that made Strange Suspense Stories a 1958 favorite, "Glow of Woe" turns a centuries-old curse into something far more complicated than simple vengeance.

A scientist builds Orgo, a mechanical servant of flawless precision, to help with his secret work—developing a devastating firebomb small enough to fit in a matchbox. When a laboratory accident leaves the scientist injured, Orgo rushes to deliver him to safety, but the android's single-minded efficiency and inhuman strength create chaos on the open road. What begins as the perfect assistant becomes something far more dangerous when human authorities encounter the machine in action.

Peter Ralston, a scientific mastermind on the run from police, activates his homemade time machine to escape two years into the future—but when he returns to retrieve supplies for another jump, he finds the authorities waiting and his contraption dismantled. As Ralston's carefully laid plans unravel, he discovers that outsmarting the law requires more than just beating time itself.

When stage magician Charles Greer and his wife Ida rent a house on the hill that the townspeople whisper is haunted, they dismiss the warnings—until strange lights begin appearing around the property and chaos erupts inside. As the sheriff investigates the wrecked house and the vanished couple, a chilling truth emerges about the Greers and their experiments in black magic.