Vault of Horror #39
"Deadly Beloved!" in Vault of Horror #39 (1954) delivers a chilling twist on performance and deception, set in the eerie atmosphere of a carnival. A seemingly unassuming clown, Grendat, orchestrates a murder in plain sight, only to meet a grim fate during his own act—his final moments haunted by a single, mocking word from the crowd. Johnny Craig’s striking cover art, both pencils and inks, captures the story’s macabre tone, while the typeset lettering and spot illustrations by unknown hands add to the vintage EC horror aesthetic.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Edward's car overheats and is forced to stop and seek out help. He spots a stately mansion in the bayou, and enters, finding it burnt out inside. A lass named Eloise welcomes him and begins telling him of the home's history, and said her entire family had died in the fire, then shows him around. Edward encounters several near-fatal accidents while on this journey, then comes under her spell and discovers that she wants him dead in order to join her, since she was already dead. He flees the home, but the longing becomes too great and he heads back to the mansion, where she awaits him!
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).