The Haunt of Fear #8

Credits:
Cover dated July/August 1951
Cover by Al Feldstein

"Hounded to Death!" - Art by Graham Ingels/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Very Strange Mummy!" - Art by George Roussos/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"Diminishing Returns!" - Art by ???/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines
"The Irony of Death!" - Art by Jack Davis/Story by Al Feldstein & Bill Gaines

"Hounded to Death" - A woman named Ann is married to an older, wealthy man named Edward. Edward owns many hounds, which he starves so they'll be ready to go on a hunt. During the hunt, one of the men, Steve, who has a bad heart, stays behind with Ann and the two quickly embrace. The two carry on an affair behind Edward's back, but one day he comes home earlier than expected. Steve fakes a heart attack, pretending to be dead, and Ann asks Edward to drop him off by the side of the road to avoid scandal. Instead Edward, who knows that Steve is still alive, throws him into the pen with the hounds, who devour him. Steve's partially eaten corpse comes after Edward however, to seek revenge. A good art job by Ingels, featuring one of EC's most common horror tropes, the corpse coming back to take revenge.

"The Very Strange Mummy!" - An expedition led by three Americans takes place in Egypt. The group comes across a tomb up on a cliff. Inside they find a perfectly preserved mummy inside a sarcophogus that they open. That night, one of the Egyptian natives is killed and two puncture marks are found on his neck. One of the archaeologists thinks it is a vampire, which the others don't believe. When the natives hear that the mummy's tomb was opened they all flee. That night one of the archaelogists is the next to die. One of the others heads inside the tomb and translates the hieroglyphics on the wall which reveal that the mummy is a vampire that was sealed up in the tomb. The vampire almost kills her but is forced inside by the dawn. With it asleep, a stake is driven into its heart, killing it. This story combines a couple of horror monsters into a single one, but is otherwise an only average story, that might have fared better with a better artist.

"Diminishing Returns" - A man named Vincent Beardsley is able to convince a wealthy man named Hagen to head to the Jivaro Diamond Fields where they hope to find a number of large diamonds. Beardsley has a secret deal with the Jivaros however whereas he is given a diamond for each head he brings the Jivaros. Hence, when they arrive, the Jivaros soon come upon them and Hagen is taken captive with his head being shrunk by the Jivaros. Beardsley returns to the US and plans to con another man but receives a wrapped package which contains Hagen's shrunken head in it. The head comes alive and is able to kill him by biting him in the neck. This story is the sole one from the new trend for which the artist is unknown. Its only a so-so art effort at best. The story itself is a bit of a rehash of previous stories such as "Jivaro Death" from Two-Fisted Tales #19 and "The Maestro's Hand" from The Crypt of Terror #18.

"The Irony of Death" - An ambitious man named Jeffrey Slag works as a superintendant at an iron and steel works company. He marries the daughter of the owner, then kills the man, making it look like an accident. The man is dumped into a vat of iron which Slag keeps. Slag uses the iron to make various things, including a safe, chairs, a shovel, etc... always gloating at what his former boss has become. Eventually the last remaining ingots of the iron vanish, upsetting Slag immensely. As part of an advertising campaign an exhibit of the uses of iron throughout the centuries is used, including a torture chamber. Slag decides to try it out by standing in an iron maiden. Suddenly the iron maiden closes on him, killing him. It is soon revealed that the missing ingots were used to make the iron maiden. Another average story; a similarly themed one titled "99 44/100% Pure Horror!" would later appear in The Vault of Horror #23", a story also drawn by Davis.