Strange Tales #65

In "Afraid to Open the Door!" from Strange Tales #65 (1958), a desperate thief takes refuge in a reclusive scientist’s isolated chamber, where two mysterious doors stand between him and escape. With the scientist’s chilling warning echoing—choose wrong, and you’re lost in a shadow realm of unseen horrors—the thief must wait, frozen in suspense, as he watches the doors for any sign of another soul.

In "The Ragged Man," a ruthless businessman’s obsession with wealth leads him to panic when his Geiger counter sounds aboard his yacht—driving him to spend his fortune on barren land he believes hides a uranium treasure. Little does he know, the real source of the radiation was a submerged nuclear submarine, and his frantic gamble leaves him stranded in the wreckage of his own greed.

In "The Terrible Tree!" from Strange Tales #65 (1958), a man's greed leads him to sabotage a massive redwood on his land, hoping to profit from the insurance. When the tree's remnants begin to move against him—objects crafted from its wood hunting him down—he’s forced to flee, only to find himself stranded on a boat built from the very tree he betrayed, adrift at sea.

In "The Perfectly Frightened Man," a man’s life takes a surreal turn when his wife insists his strange experiences are just a prank—but when he blurts out a casual phrase, he literally transforms into a monkey. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, this brief, eerie tale from Strange Tales #65 (1958) plays with belief, language, and the absurd.

In "When the Curtain Falls!" from Strange Tales #65, a jealous stagehand’s scheme to eliminate his rival backfires in a tense, confined moment on stage. With a rubber dagger meant to deceive, he sets a trap that quickly turns against him when the actor survives the staged attack—leaving the stagehand stranded and exposed.