H-h-help! I-I'm, Abel -- caretaker of the House of Secrets -- and I'm still not sure w-what the heck happened. I was trying to get the bugs out of the l-latest issue -- and I guess they didn't like being evicted! They have taken up residence in my r-room, instead. 
- — Abel
House of Secrets #98 is an issue of the series House of Secrets (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 1972. It was published on April 6, 1972.
Synopsis for "Help!"
intro sequence
Appearing in "Help!"
Featured Characters:
- Abel (Host)
Locations:
Synopsis for "Born Losers"
An old scientist discovers a man in the alley named Rapp Rankin that has been beat up by thugs. He drags him back to his laboratory where he finds that the Rapp is a former boxer with failed dreams of becoming a champion. The scientist then reveals that he has been working on a formula that would transfer the proportionate strength of an ant to a human body. He injects Rapp with the formula which causes him to want fresh air. He stumbles out into the street where he runs into a foul-mouthed thug named Joey. The two men exchange insults and begin fighting. Rapp is surprised that he can take a powerful punch that doesn't even phase him. He then makes short work of Joey with his boxing skills. Rapp comes into contact with his old boxing manager Max, and he resumes his old boxing career with fabulous results. Rapp is enjoying his success but one night he starts to get edgy before his next fight. The old scientist shows up at the arena demanding to speak to Rapp, but he is stopped by security. The old scientists insists that he must give Rapp an antidote to prevent a horrible transformation caused by the injection he had given him the year before. The old scientist is prevented from seeing the champ and is turned away. Max then enters the champs dressing room right before his next match and he is horrified to see a giant ant lurking on the floor. Security is called and the giant ant is shot dead. They search for Rapp but find that he has disappeared. The manager surmises that Rapp had cracked under pressure just like a lot of losers in the world.
Appearing in "Born Losers"
Narrator:
Featured Characters:
- Professor (Single appearance; dies)
- Rapp Rakin (Single appearance; dies)
Supporting Characters:
- Max (Single appearance)
Antagonists:
- Marty (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Joey (Single appearance)
- Barney (Single appearance)
Locations:
- An undisclosed city
Items:
- Strength Serum
Synopsis for "The Secret Hero of Center City"
This story is reprinted from House of Mystery #120.
Massive cave-ins start to occur in a small town called Center City. The cave-ins are a result of abandoned mines that had been dug underneath the city over the years. Authorities are considering evacuating the public when an old man named John Neel steps forward with an invention that can stop the disasters. He produces a molecular gun that has the ability to fill the mines with an invisible solid material that will stabilize the collapses. They then receive word that the Williams Building is on the verge of collapsing with a number of people trapped on the roof. The Neel then uses his molecular gun to create a bridge between the roof of the building and an adjacent building allowing the people to walk across. The town cheers as they honor their new hero but they are suddenly shocked by the appearance of aliens from another world. The aliens had been searching for Neel who is actually an alien himself. They remove his disguise and Neel reveals that the aliens are assassins that are bent on taking over control of their native world, Uranus. The people realize that by using the molecular gun to help them, Neel has given himself away. They decide to help Neel by hiding him but the Aliens threaten to level the city if they do not produce their intended prey. The earthlings then use the molecular gun to create a shield to protect themselves from the alien attackers. Neel then reveals that he must return the aliens back to their home planet using a spaceship that had been disguised as a laboratory.
Appearing in "The Secret Hero of Center City"
Featured Characters:
- John Neel, an alien (Single appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Police Chief Blake (Single appearance)
Antagonists:
- Rooz, an alien assassin (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Center City
Items:
- Molecular Gun
Vehicles:
- Flying Saucer spaceship
Synopsis for "The Night Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore!"
A businessman named Silas Horn desperately attempts to catch a train but is told there is no train arriving until the next morning. He then sees a train pulling up to the station and he runs to catch it. He sits down satisfied that he is leaving town when the conductor comes by asking for his ticket. Horn reveals that he has no ticket but will gladly pay cash for his passage. The conductor mysteriously remarks that no one has ever paid cash. Horn is adamant that he will use cash to stay on the train and the conductor leaves him alone. Horn thinks back to the murder he had committed earlier. His business partner Banner had discovered that Horn had been embezzling from the company. He threatens to call the police but Horn clubs him on the head with a blunt object and kills him. He leaves the body in the office and decides to leave town on the train before the murder is discovered. Horn then notices that all of the passengers on the train appear to be in a trance. He walks up and down the aisle and shockingly sees his business partner Banner sitting in one of the chairs. Horn runs to the next car where he finds the conductor in skeletal form. The conductor reveals that Horn is on the train of death and welcomes him aboard.
Appearing in "The Night Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore!"
Narrator:
Featured Characters:
- Silas Horn (Single appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Eliot Banner (Dies in flashback) (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Conductor (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Pilotville
Vehicles:
- Train of Death
Synopsis for "The Fatal Superstition"
This story is reprinted from House of Mystery #35.
Two men drive into a small town named Johah where they encounter a sign informing them that black cats, mirrors, ladders and Umbrellas are not allowed. A police officer informs them that he must confiscate any of these items before they are allowed to travel into the city. The two men, Burt and Huggins proceed to go into town where they stop at a diner and talk to a waitress. She informs them that the town was once owned by a man named Cyrus Pringle who refused to let people settle there unless they followed his superstitious laws. The laws continued to be enforced even after Pringle's death. The traveler named Burt then reveals that he intends to murder his business partner Huggins. The superstitious nature of the town might provide him with a way to hide the murder if he can create the right scenario. Burt then decides to invent a superstition of his own to assist him with the murder. He reveals that Polka Dot handkerchiefs are bad luck because they were used by members of the Polka Dot gang in the West 72 years ago. Their signature handkerchiefs were strapped together by law enforcement to hang them when they were captured. The towns people are adamant that they have never heard of such a superstition especially since it is not notated in any of their lawbooks. Burt and Huggins then offer to wear the handkerchiefs around town to see if they are jinxed. Later in the hotel, Burt murders his partner by making it appear that the polka dot handkerchief he was wearing got caught in a nearby electric fan and he was strangled to death. The townspeople are convinced and a local store gathers its stock of polka dot handkerchiefs to dispose of them out of town. Burt Roman leaves town at the same time content that he has gotten away with the crime. As he drives behind the store delivery truck, the handkerchiefs fly out of the bed of the truck and land on his car windshield blocking his view. Burt then crashes into a tree where he is automatically killed. The townspeople are amazed at how the handkerchiefs seemed to suddenly come alive to plummet Burt to his fate.
Appearing in "The Fatal Superstition"
Featured Characters:
- Burt Roman (Single appearance; dies)
Supporting Characters:
- Ed Huggins (Single appearance; dies)
- The sheriff (Single appearance)
Other Characters:
- Ben (Single appearance)
- Jeb (Single appearance)
- Sam Johnson (Single appearance)
Locations:
- Jonah
Items:
- Polka-dot kerchief
Synopsis for "Happy Birthday, Herman!"
A man named Herman decides to murder his wife Martha by poisoning her drink. Martha drinks the poisoned glass and begins to feel faint as she realizes that her husband was serious about his intentions to murder her. It is revealed that Herman had been planning the murder for quite some time. He had invented a rumor that his wife had been seeing another man and that he was afraid that she would run off and leave him. He had also been planning a trip to Mexico that he was supposed to take with his wife. He buries Martha's body in the basement of their cellar and makes it look like he and his wife left for Mexico together by fashioning a dummy to sit next to him in the car. Herman travels to Mexico where he enjoys himself for a month before returning home. When he arrives back at his house, he is shocked to see the police waiting for him there. He is arrested for his wife's murder as they carry her dead body out of the house. Herman confesses to the murder but asks the police how they found her body in the cellar. As it turns out his wife had planned a surprise birthday gift for her husband before she was murdered. She had contracted a company to dig up the cellar floor and construct a thousand bottle wine rack to please her husband's affinity. The body had presumably been discovered during the job. In the end it is revealed that Martha loved her husband very much.
Appearing in "Happy Birthday, Herman!"
Narrator:
Featured Characters:
- Herman Cooper (Single appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- Martha Cooper (Single appearance; dies)
Locations:
Notes
- Stories & features that are reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Secrets Vol. 1:
- Abel's Introduction
- Born Losers
- Also reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #17.
- Abel's Fables, by Sergio Aragonés.
- The Night Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore!
- Happy Birthday, Herman!
See Also