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Quote1 To some people, the stroke of midnight means the beginning of a new day...but to Ebenezer Grimm it means...THE END!!! Quote2
—From the splash page of "The Stroke of Midnight"

Appearing in "Hands Off!"

  • Appearances not yet listed

Synopsis for "Hands Off!"

Eugene Varo designs artificial hands, and strives to imitate "the old masters" in that field. However, his creations are rejected by manufacturer Perry Nugent. Returning home, Varo is confronted by a ghostly figure who desires to take the hands back to the past, as "they are too beautiful for this age." Varo promises to eventually relinquish the hands, but refuses to give them up until the figure grants them the power to move on their own and commit murder. The bargain is struck, and Varo uses the hands to kill Nugent, but he leaves the hands in Nugent's home and they are picked up by the police. The next night, the ghostly figure returns to find that Varo cannot give him the hands. Infuriated, he removes Varo's own hands and vanishes into the past.

Appearing in "The Corpse!"

  • Appearances not yet listed

Synopsis for "The Corpse!"

This story is narrated by the dead body of John Saxton. Before his death, he had been engaged to marry a woman named Barbara, but suspected her of having an affair with his brother Donald. Yielding to his paranoia, John hired a private detective to spy on them, and he received a report which seemed to confirm his suspicions, as Donald was heard to tell Barbara that he loved her. Enraged, John undermined a rock formation so that an avalanche would eventually fall on Donald and Barbara's picnic grounds, but read the rest of the report and learned that his suspicions were misguided (Donald meant that he only loved Barbara as a SISTER). Panic stricken, John ran to the picnic area and shouted at Donald and Barbara to get back. Unfortunately, the noise of John's shouts caused the avalanche to occur, and he was killed by the falling rocks. Donald and Barbara survived, but would never know what had truly happened.

Appearing in "I Didn't See a Thing"

  • Appearances not yet listed

Synopsis for "I Didn't See a Thing"

Running from the police, wanted criminal Ed Rocco ducks into a bar, where he meets a rather strange-seeming bartender. Rocco buys a drink in an attempt to quiet his nerves, but he soon sees the ghosts of the men he has murdered gliding into the bar and threatening to kill him. Rocco's nerves are strained to the breaking point, but the bartender says several times that he doesn't see anything. Even though the ghosts are now building a gallows outside the bar, Rocco decides that it must be all in his head and walks out. Immediately, the ghosts seize and hang him, and we see that the bar has a sign in the window saying "Please leave your money on the counter...I AM BLIND."

Appearing in "The Stroke of Midnight!"

  • Appearances not yet listed

Synopsis for "The Stroke of Midnight!"

Bank president Ebenezer Grimm has a busy day: first he fires a longtime employee for being too "soft-hearted," and then he forecloses on the mortgage of an old woman, forcing her out of her house. She immediately walks in front of a truck, but Grimm is unaffected by the news. Back in his office, he meets a beautiful young woman named Mary Allan, who wants to borrow money from his bank. Attracted to her, Grimm takes her for a drive and tris to put the moves on her, but his hands go right through her shoulders when he attempts to kiss her. She reveals herself to be the disguised ghost of the woman whom he foreclosed on, and she announces that she is out for revenge. Because the deadline for her mortage was midnight the previous night, she takes Grimm to a clock tower, ties him to the clock, and attaches an axe to the minute hand. The story ends just before midnight, as Grimm is about to meet his timely fate.

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