Forbidden Worlds #23 (1953)

In the eerie Haggis Mansion, housekeepers Jason and Hilda Cain grow increasingly unsettled by the giant, grotesque insects inhabiting the estate’s forbidden wing, especially a monstrous black-and-white moth that unnerves them both. When they discover the mansion’s reclusive owner, Jubal Haggis, has been experimenting with bizarre creatures, they devise a plan to steal his hidden fortune—only to realize too late that their scheme may have awakened something far more dangerous than they imagined.

In a remote island castle, a reprogrammed robot named Buddy—created by the reclusive Professor Vine—begins to develop unexpected emotions after being taught by a ruthless gangster, Joe Kass, who plans to turn him into a mob enforcer. As tensions rise between Kass, the gang’s former secretary Betty, and the reckless adventurer Phil Blaise, Buddy’s growing affection for Betty clashes with his violent programming, leading to a tense chase across the island’s rooftops. The story explores the blurred line between machine and human when a creature of gears and wires starts to question whether it can truly feel love.

In the quiet of a wealthy collector’s private museum, a mysterious bottle arrives from Europe, containing a vampire bat sealed within—a relic dismissed as a curious oddity. When a thunderstorm shatters the glass, the imprisoned creature escapes, unleashing a night of terror as it targets the collector’s daughter, setting the stage for a chilling confrontation between man and monster.

Aboard the salvage ship Silver Queen, Jo and her father Joel search for the legendary pirate treasure of Captain Latour, rumored to lie beneath a peaceful lagoon. After a mysterious ghost ship appears in the sky and the wreck of a long-sunken vessel is raised, they discover the eerie truth: the ship is haunted by the vengeful spirits of both Latour’s crew and Admiral Bark’s men, bound to the sea for eternity. As the ghost ship of Admiral Bark reappears, the survivors realize they’ve awakened a curse that will not let them leave.