Uncanny Tales #16

In "Queen of Uranus," Gwendolyn Purdy—dismissed by her students and scolded by Principal James T. Cannon—finds her quiet life upended when her tektite collection begins to glow, summoning an alien emissary named Kryptos. Though Kryptos insists Earth women are unappealing, he’s compelled to bring Gwendolyn to Uranus as his queen, prompting her to reconsider her image in a way she never expected. When Cannon later asks her to a dance, Gwendolyn must navigate a moment that feels as strange and sudden as the invitation from another world.

In a hidden cellar beneath 1956 Budapest, a desperate group plans rebellion, yearning for a leader like the legendary Louis Kossuth. When a wounded protestor falls before a tank, a mysterious man named Franz steps forward—leading daring raids, exposing spies, and vanishing without a trace. As the revolution burns, the truth dawns: Franz bears the face of a man long thought dead, and the past is returning in the most unexpected way.

In "The Man Who Went Too Far!", scientist Martin pushes the limits of discovery with a cosmic magnet meant to study distant phenomena—only to unleash something far stranger than he imagined. When his partner objects to capturing the ghostly space being, a reckless act sends the device spiraling, drawing a similarly dense, otherworldly entity up from deep within the Earth’s core.

In a quiet village shadowed by ancient woods, a mysterious stranger named Martin J. Colby takes up residence in a secluded cottage, where he conjures otherworldly creatures through alchemy—offering glimpses of wonders beyond imagination. As curiosity turns to fear, the townsfolk, led by George, Charlie, and Tom, uncover his true identity and drive him out, leaving behind only whispers of what they saw.

In 1944, a captured American soldier, Bill Sanders, finds himself tormented by a German sergeant during a brutal winter in a POW camp. After carving a wooden doll for his daughter, he attempts a desperate escape—only to hear a voice from the doll guiding him through the snow. Years later, he witnesses the same sergeant performing as a ventriloquist, and the truth of that night’s haunting whisper begins to unfold.