Vault of Horror #35 (1954)

The expedition, led by Professor Burton, neared the Pyramid of Khafra, the scene of the disappearance of a previous expedition. As they passed by the Sphinx, in legend called the "Father of Terrors", he told the accompanying journalist, Miss Allen facts about the previous expedition. Reaching the entrance to the pyramid, all entered to make a preliminary investigation when suddenly the massive stone panel they had entered through closed behind them, and a booby-trap killed of one the explorers. The group headed down some passages to find a possible exit, and as they proceeded, one by one members of the group were killed, leaving only Burton and Allen alive. As they made their way deeper into the pyramid, Burton told her that legend said the sphinx actally lived at one time, but Allen pooh-poohed the idea. Suddenly they came upon King Khafra's tomb, crawled through a passage and reached the interior to find all of Khafra's wealth and some hieroglyphics stating the legend of the sphinx was true.....just before the living sphinx sprang out and killed them!

Lionel reached the top of the Waraiji Mountain range on a deserted dirt road, stepped out of his car and then turned on the radio. Up here, he could breathe....relax in the open air, and as he readied himself to scale a crude path to the top, he mused that he should flip off the radio in the car so that the battery wouldn't run down. But before he could do so, a large blur flew past him into a cave, so he decided to explore, and forgetting to turn the radio off. As he entered the cave, something brutally hit him and knocked him down, so he moved out of the cave only to be attacked again by many of the creatures who savagely ripped at his body: huge, horrible man-killing BATS! And as he tasted the blood in his mouth and as his last ounce of consciousness ebbed away, all he could think of was the car radio and that he had left it on.....and that the battery was going to ..........!

VK starts off his column touting EC's newest mag, Panic, then prints letters from Rosemary Cage, Richard Gunst, Allan Katz and Jerry Simonetti, plus some "Perverted Poetry" from Michael Reynolds, Larry Tucker, Arnold Hageman, Kreda Freeman and Paul H. Cox. He closes out the column pushing subscriptions for the Vault of Horror and memberships in the EC Fan Addict Club.

Helen gazed out the window of the room she shared w/Joyce as the latter bid goodnight to a Mr. Boxer, the man she told Helen would help her to win a beauty contest the next day: "Miss Corpse of 1954"! Helen decided to play a trick on her roomie: she'd drug Joyce's drink w/sleeping pills, take a note Boxer had given to Joyce and appear in her place the next day. Helen gave the note to the man in charge, got into her suit and won the contest, being told to report that evening to an address for the award presentation. Arriving home, Helen found Joyce dead in bed [from an overdose of those pills], she called the Police and reported it as a suicide. Later Helen reported to the address she was given, but told the people there she had taken Joyce's spot.....a bad move, since she discovered that the wonner had to ACTUALLY be a corpse to win. That's the last she knew as the men came at her with scapels, rubber tubes and embalming fluid!

The little boy celebrated the best Christmas he ever had because he could now see! Born blind, all he ever knew was the love of his mother, and the companionship of his teddy bear. His father died, so Mom remarried a cruel and vicious man who mistreated her. He always said that the little boy had "shoe-button" eyes, just like his teddy. One day, the little boy's mother became deathly ill, and he asked his step-dad to help her. He abused her, took the boy's bear and ripped the eyes off of it. Mom sewed on new button eyes before she died. Jed killed the boy, who regained his sight in heaven.