DC Database
Advertisement

"The Curse of Morby Castle": A man named Lance Cauldan purchases a haunted castle for himself and his new bride. Cauldan experiences financial difficulties and plans to murder his new bride to obtain her wealth. He hires a woman by the name of Mary to make noises throughout the castle to make

House of Secrets #97 is an issue of the series House of Secrets (Volume 1) with a cover date of May, 1972. It was published on February 8, 1972.

Synopsis for "The Curse of Morby Castle"

A man named Lance Cauldan purchases a haunted castle for himself and his new bride. Cauldan experiences financial difficulties and plans to murder his new bride to obtain her wealth. He hires a woman by the name of Mary to make noises throughout the castle to make it appear haunted. The noises scare his new bride and she falls down a flight of stairs in fright. She dies of a broken neck but police investigate and find that her system contains traces of poison. Cauldan becomes the prime suspect and is immediately arrested. He insists that the poisoning must have been done by his accomplice Mary but she is nowhere to be found. Cauldan is hauled away in a police car as a lone figure observes through a window in the castle. It is then revealed that the woman known as Mary is actually the castle ghost who awaits the return of Cauldan once he is executed for his crimes. She looks forward to them haunting the castle together.

Appearing in "The Curse of Morby Castle"

Narrator:

Featured Characters:

  • Lance Cauldan (Single appearance)

Supporting Characters:

  • Jensen (Single appearance)
  • Margaret Barclay (Single appearance; dies)

Antagonists:

  • Mary Morby (Dies in flashback) (As a spirit)

Other Characters:

  • Lord Morby (Flashback only)
  • Inspector (Unnamed) (Single appearance)

Locations:

  • Morby Castle


Synopsis for "Divide and Murder"

A man uses black magic to have his astral form leave his body and strangle his boss. The boss' ghost appears to him and tells him that evidence against him can be found in his safe. The killer assumes his astral form once more to go to the safe and check it, but there is nothing there. He returns to his physical body only to find it in jail. The dead man's ghost appears to him once more and tells him that while his astral form was distracted, he possessed the physical body and made a full confession to the police.

Appearing in "Divide and Murder"

Narrator:

Featured Characters:

  • John Wilburn (Single appearance)

Supporting Characters:

  • Marie (Single appearance)
  • Silas Peabody (Single appearance; dies) (As a spirit)

Locations:

  • An undisclosed city

Synopsis for "The Tomb of Ramfis"

This story is reprinted from House of Mystery #59.

A young scientist named Edson Daniels is accused of forging ancient documents to further his career. Daniels proclaims his innocence and uses and ancient scroll to travel back in time to ancient Egypt to prove his innocence. He finds himself in the presence of King Menkahor who depends on Daniels as a prophet that advises him on military matters. Everyone refers to Daniels as Ramfis and he is the Kings trusted advisor. Unfortunately Menkahor does not like listening to bad news and he threatens Ramifs that if his army is defeated then he will hold the prophet responsible for his loss. This would result in his immediate death. Ramfis knows from history the Menkahor is about to suffer a great military defeat and advises Menkahor not to start a battle. Menkahor chooses to ignore Ramfis and marches on to battle. Ramfis knows that his time is limited so he uses the ancient scroll to transport himself back to 1972. Daniels then realizes that he must have lived in a past life as Ramfis and that is why he was so familiar with ancient Egyptian history.

Appearing in "The Tomb of Ramfis"

Featured Characters:

  • Professor Edson Daniels/Ramfis the Prophet (Single appearance)

Supporting Characters:

  • Dr. Van Tarr (Single appearance)
  • King Menkahor (Single appearance)

Locations:

Items:

  • Scroll of Ramfis

Synopsis for "The Day After Doomsday"

The last man and woman on earth forage for food. They encounter a collection of canned vegetables which the man dislikes, but they have no choice but to eat them to prevent extinction. The woman suddenly becomes excited when she finds a flower growing out of the ground. The couple realizes that this means that they might have a chance at growing corn, wheat and other staples. All of a sudden, a pile of debris from a leftover wall falls on them ending any possibility of them regenerating the earth.

Appearing in "The Day After Doomsday"

Featured Characters:

  • Adam
  • Gertrudes (Dies)

Locations:

Items:

  • Flower

Synopsis for "Dead Man's Diary"

This story is reprinted from House of Mystery #46.

Police obtain the diary of Conrad Crane. They begin to read the strange account of how a wealthy man named JB Dales received letters threatening to poison him. Dales hires Crane to act as a food taster to protect himself. Little does Dales suspect that it was actually Crane that wrote the threatening letters as a scheme to get revenge. Crane relates the story of how Dales had abandoned him and his father on a deserted island as a boy. The father died of starvation but Crane survived and is now bent on making Dales suffer a similar fate. The two men go on a trip to a mountain lodge where they spend time in a cabin. Crane uses explosives to create an Avalanche causing the two men to become stranded in the cabin. That evening Crane eats a piece of food and becomes ill and passes away. Dales is terrified that the food they have has been poisoned and he refuses to eat any of it for fear of suffering a similar fate. Police head to the cabin to rescue Dales but they arrive too late. Dales had starved to death surrounded by food which he thought was poisonous. It is then revealed that Crane had actually died from a fatal heart attack which he was expecting but he wanted to live long enough to enact his revenge.

Appearing in "Dead Man's Diary"

Featured Characters:

  • Conrad Crane (Single appearance; dies)

Supporting Characters:

  • J.B. Dales (Single appearance; dies)

Other Characters:

  • Police Sergeant (Single appearance)
  • Mr. Crane, Conrad's father (Dies in flashback)

Locations:

  • J.B. Dale's home
  • A mountain cabin
  • Police department

Items:

  • Conrad's diary

Synopsis for "Domain of the Damned!"

A man is saved from being sacrificed to the tribe of deformed native's volcano god by the chief's daughter who takes a fancy to him. The chief exiles both of them and tells them that if they return, they will be sacrificed to the volcano god. The girl tells them that they can make a raft and leave the island from the opposite side of the island, but the man rejects her. She begs him to take her with him, but he asks her what would he do with a freak like her? Having nowhere left to go, she returns to her tribe, and they sacrifice her to the volcano god. In order to get to the opposite side of the island, the man must cross the volcano, and it erupts when he does. He manages to get to the beach, board a raft and be picked up sailors, but he has been so hideously burned by the lava that he is unaware he appears even more freakish than the native islanders.

Appearing in "Domain of the Damned!"

Narrator:

Featured Characters:

  • Dan Walker (Single appearance)

Supporting Characters:

  • Deformed native tribe
    • Tribe chief (Single appearance)
    • Mala (Single appearance)
    • Oola (Single appearance; dies)

Locations:

  • A remote jungle island

Vehicles:

  • Raft
  • Ship

Notes



See Also


Links and References

Advertisement