The Unexpected #152 is an issue of the series The Unexpected (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1973. It was published on August 15, 1973.
Synopsis for "Death Wears Many Faces!"
Harry Drummond invents a serum that allows the consumer to avoid death. The serum remains untested and Drummond is in search of a volunteer. The scientist is warned by a colleague that he is flirting with death itself but Drummond seems unconcerned. One night he meets a lovely woman by the name of Angela Todd. The couple begins to date and they fall in love. Angela is soon involved in a terrible accident and finds herself fighting to stay alive. Drummond rushes to her side and administers his untested serum. She survives the accident and goes on to survive several other ordeals where he lives but others die. His colleague continues to warn him that he is upsetting the angel of death but Drummond continues to ignore him. He finds out that the serum only has temporary effects and the he must keep administering it to his beloved Angela for her to continue to survive her ordeals. One night Drummond and Angela are badly injured in a car accident. Angela lies dying on the ground and Drummond realizes that he must return to his lab to retrieve more of his serum for her. He reaches the hospital just in time to give her one last dose before he collapses from his injuries. Drummond wakes up in his hospital bed only to find Angela standing over him. She reveals her true image to him as the Angel of death. Drummond realizes that the name Angela means angel and that her last name of Todd is a German word meaning Death. The angel of death reveals that Harry is a threat to her and kisses him goodbye one final time as Drummond chokes.
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Synopsis for "Creeping Beauty"
Two men duel for the love of a beautiful but cruel woman named Ilona Carrie. Edmund Carver is distraught that he had to kill his close friend to win the hand of Ilona but she seems terribly unconcerned over the loss of his friend. Ilona gets upset that Edmund shows so much remorse over the result of the duel so she breaks up with him. Edmund begins to realize that he has made a terrible mistake and realizes that Ilona Carrie is an evil woman that uses her looks to entice men into giving them whatever she wants. He seeks out Ilona under the ruse that he wants to reconcile with her. He leads her to a strange cave where he abandons her and she quickly becomes lost in the labyrinth of passages. Ilona soon finds herself in another world that is inhabited by disgusting ugly creatures that stare at her. The creatures apprehend Ilona and place her in a cage. They place a sign on her cage indicating that she is the ugliest creature ever discovered in that world. It is a strange and unexpected punishment for a beautiful and conceited person. She lives out the rest of her days under their stares.
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Synopsis for "The Dark Secret of the Swamp"
A runaway convict by the name of Frank Mandrill escapes into the swamp to avoid capture. He encounters a house that is inhabited by and old man and woman. He pretends to be a writer in search of a quiet place to do his work and asks the old couple if he can stay with them. The old couple takes him in. Mandrill soon realizes that the house is surrounded by strange muddy statues. He inquires about them and the old man replies that he made the statues himself so that he can sell them for extra money. One day Mandrill is out on a walk and encounters a statue that resembles a friend of his by the name of Chuck. He asks the old man if he creates the statues based on real people but the old man replies that he create them purely out of his imagination. Mandrill becomes suspicious then one night he notices the old couple loading a dead body into a boat. Mandrill realizes that the couple has murdered an old transient and they are about to drop the corpse into a body of quicksand. They dip the body into the quicksand and pull it out again. As they pull the body back into the boat they remark that it has become a statue that they can sell at antique stores. The couple then spots Mandrill spying on them and the old man starts shooting with his rifle. As he fires he causes the boat to rock and the couple capsizes. They fall into the muddy quicksand and plead with Mandrill to rescue them but Mandrill does not offer any help. He watches them as they drown. He then returns to the old couple's home and begins to occupy it as his new home. A strong storm hits the area one night and the area begins to flood. The house is hit with water and quicksand and Mandrill finds that he has to climb the roof to escape from drowning. As he goes on the roof he accidentally impales himself on a weathervane and dies. The house is then submerged by water and mud. Later the scene changes to a New England antique shop where they have a strange new statue for sale. A statue of a man impaled on a weather vane is purchased by a couple as a decoration for their mansion.
Appearing in "The Dark Secret of the Swamp"
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