The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror #4

In "Split Personality!", the Vault-Keeper warns of a man who thought he could outwit two sisters with a twisted scheme—pretending to be twins to marry them both. But when his deception unravels, the Blair sisters take a very literal approach to divorce: they split him down the middle, ensuring each keeps half her husband.

In a chilling tale from The Vault of Horror #4, crime reporter Danny Hughes scoffs at police bafflement over a series of gruesome murders—each victim bearing doughnut-shaped wounds, drained of blood, and smelling of sea brine. When his secretary Pat is killed in the same manner, Danny’s mockery turns to dread as he recalls a strange figure near her home, leading him to an aquarium where he confronts a monstrous, blood-sucking octopus.

In "Practical Choke!", three pre-med students push the limits of dark humor with a series of gruesome pranks using real cadaver parts—only to find their joke spirals into something far more sinister. When the body parts go missing and a chilling discovery is made, the students face a terrifying reckoning in a refrigerated unit where the line between science and horror blurs. The Vault-Keeper, Bill Gaines, and Al Feldstein watch from the shadows as the joke takes a deadly turn.

In "Notes to You!", four men find themselves ensnared by cryptic, deadly letters that unravel their lives—one by one. As Judson Slack, Horton Cox, Averill Minton, and Bert Fields piece together the chilling connections, they uncover a web of deceit tied to a vanished ink and a man long thought innocent. When the truth surfaces, the survivors turn the tables with their own silent, venomous messages.

A broken artist, haunted by his own despair, finds twisted inspiration in the wreckage of others’ tragedies—each accident a canvas, each death a brushstroke. When his fiancée is injured in a crash, he descends into a desperate spiral, seeking one final masterpiece to save her, unaware of the terrible cost. The Vault Keeper warns: some art is too dangerous to create.

In "A Peach of a Plot!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of betrayal and buried secrets, where a seemingly innocent peach tree hides a gruesome truth. Lieutenant Dolan, investigating a suspicious disappearance, confronts Michael Lane after a shocking discovery in the garden—where a tree grown from a swallowed peach pit bears fruit that's anything but sweet. As the tension mounts between the two men, the weight of a past crime begins to bear fruit in the most unexpected way.

In "The Lake," a grown man returns to the beach where he once played with his childhood friend Tally, now a ghost of memory and sorrow. Years after her drowning, the lifeguard reveals the truth in a chilling encounter, forcing him to confront the unfinished past he thought he’d buried. As he rebuilds the sandcastle that was never completed, the weight of what was lost settles in the quiet between waves.

In "One Good Turn...", the chilling host The Old Witch sets the stage for a tale of quiet menace as Jennifer, a woman whose kindness masks a dark purpose, reveals her unsettling method of helping others—by ending their suffering, one by one. When two detectives arrive to investigate the death of her husband Edwin, they find a home where every act of compassion leads to a final, silent goodbye.

In "Whirlpool," a woman trapped in a nightmarish sequence of torment—boiling water, freezing ice, electric shocks, and a shrinking room—begins to question her sanity. As three asylum employees calmly insist the horrors were all in her mind, her memories stir, and the truth begins to unravel. The Vault-Keeper warns: when the mind breaks, who’s really mad?

In "Out of His Head!", the Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of guilt and madness, where a lawyer’s murder of his former partner spirals into a haunting he can’t escape. Tormented by the image of his dead law partner at every turn, Alex Melton takes desperate measures—blinding himself in a bid to silence the visions—only to face a final, horrifying revelation when the bandages come off.

In a chilling tale from *The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror #4*, the Vault-Keeper introduces a story of obsession and decay, where a man’s twisted love for his wife manifests in a horrifyingly literal way. Irwin confesses to his neighbor Bert how his wife Hannah’s insatiable craving for chocolate led to her downfall, and as the two approach Irwin’s home, the true horror of his devotion becomes unmistakable—hidden within a monstrous, handcrafted chocolate box, each piece a grim reminder of her fate.

In "Funereal Disease!", a grieving gardener named Jasper Milliken finds himself caught between a desperate debt and a long-denied funeral for his parents. When his employer, the bankrupt Niles Fairchild, and Fairchild’s accountant Tom Kelton murder Jasper to steal his savings, the dead man’s final wish takes a chillingly literal turn—his corpse exacts a gruesome revenge, reclaiming what was taken and fulfilling a funeral no one thought possible.

In "Together They Lie!", the Vault-Keeper recounts a chilling tale of deception and twisted fate: Agnes Wheatley, a woman with a sharp tongue and sharper schemes, conspires with her boss Mr. Horton’s attorney, Alex Fairchild, to manipulate Horton into changing his will—only to watch in horror as their hoax spirals into something far more sinister. When Horton’s corpse crashes into their celebration, the line between betrayal and retribution blurs, leaving Agnes and Alex entombed in a final, ironic twist beneath the very grave they’d conspired to ruin.

In a town where curiosity about death runs deep, a group of children’s innocent questions about punishment take a chilling turn when their fascination with the electric chair leads to a grim discovery. As they carry a coffin down the street, a mother’s frantic cry shatters the silence—her son is missing, accused of stealing a doll and refusing to return it. The townsfolk freeze in horror, realizing too late that the children have just buried something far more sinister than a prop.

In "A Slight Case of Murder!", the Vault-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of suspicion and twisted truth, where Doc Sam Swanson investigates a series of gruesome murders in a remote town. With the newspaper editor Phil Ingram and Sheriff Moulton, a man whose calm demeanor hides a terrifying secret, the investigation leads to an abandoned mansion and a horrifying revelation about Amelia Bates’s deformed child—whose fate may be far more sinister than anyone imagined.

In "Strung Along!", the Old Witch recounts the chilling tale of Tony Zargono, a once-famous puppeteer whose life unraveled when illness forced him into retirement. After marrying Nora, the love of his life, he discovered her true motives—and in his final moments, she betrayed him. When his body was found the next day, it was beside hers, her limbs reassembled with strings tied to the hands of his marionettes, as if the puppets had claimed their final performance.

In "Star Light, Star Bright!", the Vault-Keeper recounts a chilling tale of Hartley Quimb, a new headmaster at a remote facility where the inmates' behavior is kept in check by a disturbing ritual. As rain pours down, Hartley witnesses the guards using a corpse in a way that shocks him—only to learn the previous headmaster was murdered for trying to stop it. That night, after a tense dinner with the inmates, Hartley retreats to his room, only to be seized and locked in a coffin, dragged to a cemetery, and left to die—only to wake up back in bed, convinced it was all a nightmare. But when an inmate’s face suddenly looms over him and dirt rains down, he realizes the horror may not be over.

John and Frank, a pair of con artists running a travel scam, thought they’d hit the jackpot with a solo client’s suburban home—until they broke into a hidden cellar and unleashed a nightmare of zombies, vampires, werewolves, and mummies. As they fled through a labyrinth of horrors, their sanity unraveled, unaware that their final escape led straight into the waiting arms of the Crypt-Keeper, the true master of this macabre domain.

In "Smoke Wrings," Hubert Tillings pitches a bold new ad concept to Lorna Jackson, only to be betrayed when she steals his idea and silences him when he demands his due. Soon after, the very billboard he helped create begins to haunt Lorna—its glowing image watching, waiting, as if the smoke it exhales has a mind of its own.

In "Where There's a Will...", the Old Witch introduces a chilling tale of greed and irony, where Dr. James Crotty and lawyer Millard Walker conspire with the relatives of the dying Harold Farber to test their true nature. With a twisted twist of fate, Farber stages his own death to eavesdrop on their cruel words—only to surprise them all with a final, devastating act of justice.

In a chilling tale from The EC Archives: The Vault of Horror #4, a woman returns from a brutal act only to face a nightmare of her own making—her daughter’s innocent question about Santa Claus echoes through the house as danger knocks at the door. With her husband’s body hidden and the radio warning of a killer in a Santa suit, she scrambles to secure every exit, only to find her child missing—then realize the horrifying truth of who has just come inside.

In "Tombs-Day!", Professor Burton and journalist Melody Allen brave the Pyramid of Khafra, haunted by the vanished expedition that came before them. As they descend into the ancient tomb, the walls themselves seem to close in—first with a deadly trap, then with the chilling weight of a legend that may be all too real. When they finally uncover the truth behind the sphinx’s myth, the past doesn’t stay buried for long.

In "Beauty Rest," Helen Curtis and Joyce Noble share a room under eerie circumstances, their lives entangled in a twisted game of beauty and deception. When Joyce prepares for a macabre contest—Miss Corpse of 1954—Helen drugs her roommate, takes her place, and wins the title, only to learn too late that the prize demands a corpse, not a pretender. The Vault-Keeper’s chilling narration sets the stage for a tale where vanity and ambition meet a fate far more literal than expected.

In "Shoe-Button Eyes!", a young blind boy named Billy experiences his first Christmas with sight—just as his mother’s final days begin. Tormented by his stepfather Jed, who mocks his "shoe-button" eyes like his beloved teddy bear, Billy’s world unravels when his mother falls ill and his stepfather’s cruelty reaches its peak. As the boy’s vision returns in the afterlife, the truth behind his mother’s last act of love begins to unfold.