Strange Suspense Stories #42

An arrogant drifter named Pierre Duval discovers he possesses the uncanny power of levitation in 1900s Paris, and uses his newfound ability to transform himself from a despised vagrant into a celebrated entertainer known as Pierre the Magnificent. As his ambition grows and he performs increasingly dangerous feats of mind-powered telekinesis, Pierre's callous disregard for others—and his obsession with surpassing all rival magicians—sets him on a collision course with forces beyond his control. This tale of a man consumed by pride explores what happens when extraordinary power falls into the hands of someone with an extraordinary lack of conscience.

On the morning of February 8, 1855, the citizens of South Devon, England awoke to find mysterious hoof-like tracks crisscrossing the snow—perfectly straight lines, impossibly precise, stretching over a hundred miles in a single night. Scientists were baffled by prints that showed no displaced snow, climbed walls and rooftops, and spanned bodies of water, unable to explain how any known animal could have made such tracks with such mechanical precision. This bizarre historical mystery, reported by the London Times, remains unsolved to this day.

TV host Teddy Taylor scouts an eccentric inventor in the park who claims to have built a machine that does absolutely nothing—and invites him onto his late-night show for the sake of novelty. When the mysterious guest reveals the machine's true purpose during the broadcast, both Taylor and his audience get far more than they bargained for, leaving everyone to wonder what they've just witnessed.

Daniel Dunglas Home, a Scottish medium whose extraordinary psychic abilities amazed the most skeptical observers of his time, demonstrated feats that defied explanation—holding live coals in his bare hands, floating unsupported in the air, and moving heavy objects through sheer force of will. Even the era's most famous stage magician couldn't dismiss Home's powers as mere trickery, and he counted among his supporters some of the most distinguished minds of the 19th century. Yet throughout his remarkable life, Home never accepted payment for his demonstrations and remained unable—or unwilling—to explain the source of his gifts.

When an unprecedented series of earthquakes begins shaking New York State—a region that should be geologically stable—Dr. Amos Lomar, a so-called earthquake expert, quietly begins purchasing frightened residents' properties at rock-bottom prices. But a geology professor and a determined visitor grow suspicious when they discover Lomar's lab is built on specially engineered cones and uncover his sinister secret: he's been artificially generating the tremors all along to engineer a wholesale shakedown of the area.