Tales of the Unexpected #10

In the waning days of a struggling circus, a mysterious new act arrives—claiming to be from Mars. Though they play up the spectacle with theatrical flair, their oddities feel too real to be mere tricks. As the audience marvels, the performers’ true mission begins to unfold: they’re not just performers, but real Martians, using the circus as a stage to track down a dangerous criminal hiding among Earth’s own.

In "The Phantom Mariner," a young man named Bruce Blake finds himself drawn into a chilling mystery after witnessing three ship captains meet identical, unexplained fates at sea. As he pieces together the eerie pattern—marked by a single name in the water and the captains’ shared initials—he begins to suspect the supernatural is at play, and that the legend of Davy Jones might be more real than he ever believed.

In "The Duplicate Man," Orry Conn uses a mysterious duplicating machine to escape blame for a murder—only to discover that his fate is inextricably tied to the duplicate he created. As the duplicate faces execution, Orry begins to feel the consequences of his crime in ways he never expected.

Emmet Mason is haunted by the curse tied to a lamp he’s guarded for a decade—its flame a lifeline against a fate he still can’t shake. When fire destroys the lamp and reveals a hidden blue ruby, the truth seems clear: the legend was a ruse to hide a stolen gem. But Emmet isn’t so sure, and as old suspicions stir, even his wife Alice and his friend Mr. Hawkins begin to question what really happened. The past isn’t done with him yet.