InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Let the jelly beans bounce."

cyberghostface (cyberghostface) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-03-15 14:48:00

Entry tags:

publisher: ec comics, title: tales from the crypt

The Living Death!

Well, it's the return of the EC posts, which were easily the highlight of my scans_daily memories... These for the most part will be 'new' stories that I haven't posted, but I'll also repost some of the original ones.

I'll still be posting the remaining Creepy stories in the future as well.

This one's from Tales from the Crypt #24.

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	foxhack 2009-03-15 02:31 pm UTC (link)
	Zombies through hypnotism! Next time, try choosing a word that you'll never utter in real life. Like fluffernutterbingbangdaisyrinkydinkpatootie. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	ratmel 2009-03-15 03:17 pm UTC (link)
	"fluffernutterbingbangdaisyrinkydinkpatootie." No! What have you done?! Auuuugh! D: (Reply to this) (Parent)

	cainofdreaming 2009-03-15 03:24 pm UTC (link)
	Did you say fluggegecheimen? Are you sure? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	queenanthai 2009-03-15 05:58 pm UTC (link)
	Or "chocolate egg cream." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	spoony_bard 2009-03-16 09:36 am UTC (link)
	These Cadbury cream eggs are delicious... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	besamim 2009-03-15 03:03 pm UTC (link)
	Heh, heh! Truly a classic Tales from the Crypt gem. I wish Gemstone would step up the publication of their EC Archives volumes. I've been collecting them all but they don't seem to have released anything since vol. 3 of Tales from the Crypt last summer (Amazon.com listings notwithstanding). (Reply to this)

icon_uk
2009-03-15 03:25 pm UTC (link)

Reminds me of two things

1) Poe's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"

2) A Night Gallery episode where a hypnotist works with an utter hypochondriac, and gets him to the stage where he can trigger the complete symptoms of any disease in his subject by a planned sequence of knocking sounds. This also means that be can turn the chap into an absolute stud too, since he can mimic complete and utter perfect physical health.

The hypnotist's wife is unhappy in their marriage and, as so often happens in such stories, she falls for the newly Adonis'd hypochondriac. The hypnotist finds out, but resolves to do nothing.

He then prepares his ultimate test, death itself. He will get the hypochondriac to appear to die, and then return him with a sequence of knocks. Over the wifes protestations, they perform the experiment, but whilst he does instantly stop breathing and has no heartbeat, indeed rigor mortis has set it, it appears that it's gone too far as he can't be revived by the knocking pattern. The hypnotists tries over and over again to make it work, but nothing happens. Ultimately the poor sod is declared dead, and is buried.

I'll leave this bit texted out, just in case someone hasn't seen it, and doesn't want the end spoiled. Highlight to read

It's only several months later, when listening to the recordings of his sessions with the chap, that the still distraught wife notices that the hypnotist used a different sequence of knocks when setting up the death state, than the one he used to revive him. Realising that at some level he was so jealous of the guys attraction to his wife (and vice versa) that he unconsciously WANTED him dead, the wife, now out of her mind with grief races to the cemetery and makes the correct series of knocks on the door oh the mausoleum, and sure enough he wakes up and comes towards her out of the shadows ... Now if only she'd waited long enough to hear her guilt-ridden husband begging her NOT to try and revive him, as he'd been through an autopsy and embalmed.

(I confess that watching this at half past midnight by myself, in a dark house, at the age of 15, I was so completely and utterly shit scared I literally had to change channels because there was no way on God's green earth I wanted to see what he looked like onscreen, my imagination was already going into overdrive. In retrospect, given the budget of the show, it was probably infinitely scarier in my head that it would have been on screen)

(Reply to this)

	cmdr_zoom 2009-03-15 11:44 pm UTC (link)
	From back when "everyone" knew that hypnotism was just another word for "magic." (Reply to this) (Thread)

	spoony_bard 2009-03-16 09:37 am UTC (link)
	Yesterday's Magic is today's science after all. Except Hypnotism, that's still Blarney. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	filbypott 2009-03-16 10:20 am UTC (link)
	Really entertaining Blarney that's good for parties. :D (Reply to this) (Parent)