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140-491: Along with Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror , it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. Publication ceased, however, after horror and crime comics came under scrutiny for an alleged link to juvenile delinquency and the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code . The Haunt of Fear has since been reprinted in single issues and collected volumes. Some of its stories were adapted for

280-465: A Chinese Studio (published posthumously, 1766), which has been described by Yuken Fujita of Keio University as having "a reputation as the most outstanding short story collection." The fairy tale itself became popular among the précieuses of upper-class France (1690–1710), and among the tales told in that time were the ones of La Fontaine and the Contes of Charles Perrault (1697), who fixed

420-609: A GhouLunatic. The Old Witch was the primary host of The Haunt of Fear . Hosting duties for any one magazine were typically shared with the hosts of the other two. For example, a single issue of The Haunt of Fear would contain two stories told by the Old Witch, one by the Crypt-Keeper (of Tales from the Crypt ) and one by the Vault-Keeper (of The Vault of Horror ). The professional rivalry among these three GhouLunatics

560-434: A car accident. Jean needs a blood transfusion but no one at the scene is a match until a mysterious stranger appears and volunteers his help. Shortly afterwards, bodies begin turning up in town—drained of their blood. (The Crypt-Keeper) The owners of a failing amusement park find themselves in luck when a newcomer agrees to sell them the rights to an amazing new rollercoaster. They decide to save on further costs by not testing

700-493: A cover drawn by Kyle Baker . All three of EC Comics' horror hosts (the GhouLunatics) appear in the issue, drawn by Rick Parker . Contributors to subsequent issues included brothers Joe R. Lansdale and John L. Lansdale, Don McGregor , husband and wife team James Romberger and Marguerite Van Cook , Mort Todd , and Chris Noeth. The new version had a smaller digest size with a graphic novel style bookbinding . In all,

840-499: A fixed form, and regardless of literary influence, the tellers constantly altered them for their own purposes. The work of the Brothers Grimm influenced other collectors, both inspiring them to collect tales and leading them to similarly believe, in a spirit of romantic nationalism , that the fairy tales of a country were particularly representative of it, to the neglect of cross-cultural influence. Among those influenced were

980-418: A folklore, Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index 300–749,—in a cataloguing system that made such a distinction—to gain a clear set of tales. His own analysis identified fairy tales by their plot elements, but that in itself has been criticized, as the analysis does not lend itself easily to tales that do not involve a quest , and furthermore, the same plot elements are found in non-fairy tale works. Were I asked, what

1120-401: A hand in the garbage at the city dump, a hand that belonged to an abusive man who murdered his wife's hired farmhand. (The Vault-Keeper) Ezra, a vengeful caretaker decides to get back at his enemies when they die and are brought to his cemetery by desecrating their bodies and refusing to bury them until spring... but not if the dead have anything to say about it. (The Old Witch) A man moves to

1260-472: A handful of single issues in color from 1990 to 1991. Between 1992 and 1999, Cochran and Gemstone Publishing reprinted the full 30 individual issues. This complete run was later rebound, with covers included, in a series of six softcover EC Annuals . In 2007, Cochran and Gemstone began to publish hardcover, re-colored volumes of Tales from the Crypt as part of the EC Archives series. Three volumes (of

1400-532: A highly restrictive Comics Code , EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines cancelled Tales from the Crypt and its two companion horror titles. Tales from the Crypt has been reprinted on numerous occasions. Ballantine Books reprinted selected stories in a series of paperback anthologies from 1964 to 1966. The magazine was fully collected in a series of five black-and-white hardbacks by publisher Russ Cochran as part of The Complete EC Library in 1979. Cochran (in association with Gladstone Publishing and solo) reprinted

1540-421: A horror story about a ghoul , and when he wakes up, he finds he has a strange new taste in food. (The Vault-Keeper) Ralph wants to give his fragile, sickly wife such a fright that it will cause her fatal heart failure, and he can inherit her money, the money she gained when they murdered her wealthy old uncle together. He decides that making her uncle "reappear" will be just the shock to kill her, not knowing that

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1680-563: A letter column, "The Old Witch's Niche." Thereafter, the Old Witch presided over the magazine as its comedic horror host , delivering an irreverent and pun-filled commentary to lighten the horrific tone of the stories she introduced. In spite of her late start, the Old Witch would prove to be the most visible of the GhoulLunatics in their initial run. Not only did she appear in virtually every issue of The Haunt of Fear , Tales From The Crypt , and The Vault of Horror , she also appeared in

1820-862: A literary variant of fairy tales such as Water and Salt and Cap O' Rushes . The tale itself resurfaced in Western literature in the 16th and 17th centuries, with The Facetious Nights of Straparola by Giovanni Francesco Straparola (Italy, 1550 and 1553), which contains many fairy tales in its inset tales, and the Neapolitan tales of Giambattista Basile (Naples, 1634–36), which are all fairy tales. Carlo Gozzi made use of many fairy tale motifs among his Commedia dell'Arte scenarios, including among them one based on The Love For Three Oranges (1761). Simultaneously, Pu Songling , in China, included many fairy tales in his collection, Strange Stories from

1960-403: A long drive. While driving, Carl falls asleep at the wheel and crashes the car. You wake up, glad to have survived. But why does everyone you meet run away from you? (The Crypt-Keeper) Tony decides to pay his "last respects" to his newly deceased wife but finds himself trapped in the crypt with her body. He is forced to turn to a shocking method of survival. (The Old Witch) A man skeptical about

2100-408: A man on a sea crossing, forced to take a cabin that is supposedly cursed: everyone who slept in it has either gone crazy or mysteriously left the ship. (The Crypt-Keeper) Four wealthy, arrogant college students come to bitterly regret playing around with a book of voodoo spells. (No host) Janet is worried that her workaholic brother is ruining his health, so she calls in the family doctor to give him

2240-427: A man-eating tiger with her own hand." In contemporary literature , many authors have used the form of fairy tales for various reasons, such as examining the human condition from the simple framework a fairytale provides. Some authors seek to recreate a sense of the fantastic in a contemporary discourse. Some writers use fairy tale forms for modern issues; this can include using the psychological dramas implicit in

2380-720: A mask on a human face, as in fables . In his essay " On Fairy-Stories ", J.   R.   R.   Tolkien agreed with the exclusion of "fairies" from the definition, defining fairy tales as stories about the adventures of men in Faërie , the land of fairies, fairytale princes and princesses, dwarves , elves, and not only other magical species but many other marvels. However, the same essay excludes tales that are often considered fairy tales, citing as an example The Monkey's Heart , which Andrew Lang included in The Lilac Fairy Book . Steven Swann Jones identified

2520-441: A mausoleum with just one more coffin, which Rodney is saving for himself at any cost. (The Old Witch) A town is full of curiosity at a strange man who always carries a basket on his shoulder. The townspeople get the answers they have been searching for when they break into his house. (The Crypt-Keeper) A young boy's teacher does not believe the stories he comes up with about traveling with an imaginary monster named Magog, even when

2660-494: A monumental work called Le Cabinet des Fées , an enormous collection of stories from the 17th and 18th centuries. The first collectors to attempt to preserve not only the plot and characters of the tale, but also the style in which they were told, was the Brothers Grimm , collecting German fairy tales; ironically, this meant although their first edition (1812 & 1815) remains a treasure for folklorists, they rewrote

2800-429: A mummy back to life actually revive it, only to learn the true horror of the pharaoh's curse. (The Old Witch) Jon Wayland, a painter, returns from the grave to keep on painting for all of eternity after committing a crime against his friend. (The Crypt-Keeper) A jealous man murders another man over a girl and buries him in an old graveyard. His secret soon comes out, and he is forced to hide in an old Civil War tunnel,

2940-444: A native tribe. When they are caught stealing, they learn a startling punishment. (No host) Ernest Parker grows tired of his nagging wife, Nan, and meets a younger woman named Faye. Together, they plan going away and getting married, but they have to get Nan out of the picture, so Ernest coughs up a plan to fake his death. (No host) Over a thousand years ago, a jealous pharaoh had one of his servants mummified after he fell in love with

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3080-509: A new town, meets a beautiful girl, and moves in with her. After being "drugged" by her and having severe blackouts, he sets out to get revenge. However, whenever he blackouts, a woman ends up dead. (The Vault-Keeper) Jonah Westlake, the black sheep of the Westlake family, gets his kicks by playing practical jokes on his own kin, especially at funerals, but his latest joke may be his last. (The Old Witch) Bradbury Prince assists Henrick Villhem,

3220-495: A pair of young boys who have gone to a graveyard to test out an old wives' remedy for removing warts—but is it just magic or can the boys really believe their eyes? (The Old Witch) A man and his secretary are marooned on a deserted island following a plane crash. They ignore a warning not to eat any fruit from the trees growing on the island, with consequences neither of them could have foreseen. (The Vault-Keeper) Gold-digging Harriet plans to ditch her elderly husband to move in with

3360-522: A parting shot is determined to marry John's wife wearing the same tuxedo that John wore at the wedding. Unfortunately, this is what John was buried in, and now Larry has to dig up the body to retrieve it. (The Old Witch) Bill is in love with Laura, but Laura loves only Jim. Bill kills Jim and decides he must kill Laura because she knows about the murder. What Bill does not know is that when Jim promised to always protect Laura, he really meant it. (The Crypt-Keeper) Jean and her lover, Freddie, are involved in

3500-451: A picture book aimed at children in which a princess rescues a prince, Angela Carter 's The Bloody Chamber , which retells a number of fairy tales from a female point of view and Simon Hood's contemporary interpretation of various popular classics. There are also many contemporary erotic retellings of fairy tales, which explicitly draw upon the original spirit of the tales, and are specifically for adults. Modern retellings focus on exploring

3640-399: A professor who claims to be able to revive him after his death. The prisoner is executed in the electric chair, and the professor brings him back to life. He shoots the professor and goes to take his revenge on the judge who sentenced him to death but finds that he should not have been so hasty. (The Crypt-Keeper) A couple on their honeymoon come across a deserted amusement park. Only one ride

3780-422: A projected five) was released in 2012. Dark Horse Comics took over publication of the remainder of the series from 2015 to 2018. The complete five-volume series was later republished as over-sized trade paperbacks from 2021 to 2025. Gaines and Feldstein were responsible for writing all the stories until the end of 1953. An unauthorized adaptation of Ray Bradbury 's work in another of EC's comics eventually led to

3920-472: A projected five) were published before Gemstone's financial troubles left the project in limbo. The series was revived by Dark Horse Comics , which published the last two volumes in 2013 and 2014. These were later republished as over-sized trade paperbacks from 2021 to 2025. Papercutz began running a new series of original Tales from the Crypt comics in 2007. The first issue was published in June 2007 with

4060-404: A reviving tonic. When he begins going through a monstrous transformation, it is a race against time to find out what was in the tonic. (No host) Theodore Warren goes into a trance and draws the face of a terrified-looking man. He is shocked but not as much as when he meets the man in real life—a man who is carving Warren's own name into a tombstone. (No host) A prisoner on death row is visited by

4200-422: A series of authorized Bradbury adaptations. Features included "Grim Fairy Tales", horror-based parodies of well-known fairy tales such as " Sleeping Beauty " and " Hansel and Gretel ". The parodies began appearing in issue #15 (September/October 1952). Artist Graham Ingels took over the art duties of The Haunt of Fear starting with issue #4 (November/December 1950). He became the Old Witch's primary artist for

4340-448: A series of paperback anthologies from 1964 to 1966. The magazine was fully collected in a series of five black-and-white hardbacks by publisher Russ Cochran as part of The Complete EC Library in 1985. Cochran also reprinted several issues in a standard comic book format during the early 1990s in association with Gladstone Publishing . He eventually reprinted the entire series with Gemstone Publishing from 1992 to 1998. This complete run

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4480-404: A skeleton tied to the helm. (The Crypt-Keeper) Ida and Jim are plotting to murder Ida's stingy, drunken husband so they can be together. He proves a little harder to kill than they would like. (No host) The young sub-curator of a museum is angry that his own invention is being ignored in favor of a new exhibit: the frozen body of a Neanderthal . The enraged man decides to get even by thawing out

4620-492: A tale of a group of scientists that fed an amoeba that ate everything in its path to two boaters. It is just a myth... right? (No host) A doctor insists that the body he examined was killed by a vampire, but no one in town will believe him. So, he goes to the mansion where the body came from and finds that there is a vampire, but who is the vampire? (No host) A shopkeeper tells a customer a story about his quest with his assistant to Africa to collect some real shrunken heads from

4760-571: A technique developed by evolutionary biologists to trace the relatedness of living and fossil species . Among the tales analysed were Jack and the Beanstalk , traced to the time of splitting of Eastern and Western Indo-European, over 5000 years ago. Both Beauty and the Beast and Rumpelstiltskin appear to have been created some 4000 years ago. The story of The Smith and the Devil ( Deal with

4900-481: A time ", this tells us that a fairy tale or a märchen was originally a little story from a long time ago when the world was still magic. (Indeed, one less regular German opening is "In the old times when wishing was still effective".) The French writers and adaptors of the conte de fées genre often included fairies in their stories; the genre name became "fairy tale" in English translation and "gradually eclipsed

5040-489: A total of 28 issues before ceasing publication with issue #28 (November/December 1954). Along with its sister titles, Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror , The Haunt of Fear was popular, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers, and others who believed the magazines contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency . In April and June 1954, highly publicized congressional subcommittee hearings on

5180-441: A tunnel that leads him straight to a "biting finish". (The Old Witch) A crude, malicious circus owner mistreats and sabotages his circus freaks and employees until he blinds one of his famed attractions, then the tables are turned... (The Crypt-Keeper) You are a traveler seeking shelter in a commodious inn owned by an old, ugly man and find out he has a little secret that is just dying to come out. (The Old Witch) A hobo finds

5320-460: A turn for the worse when he damages the corpse's brain and has to make a last-minute substitution. (No host) The story of how Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein met the Crypt-Keeper, Vault-Keeper, and Old Witch in a sewer and were "persuaded" into giving them a publishing deal. (The Old Witch) Roger Compton goes to a small town to visit his old college friend, Peter, but finds that his old pal

5460-495: A version intended for children. The moralizing strain in the Victorian era altered the classical tales to teach lessons, as when George Cruikshank rewrote Cinderella in 1854 to contain temperance themes. His acquaintance Charles Dickens protested, "In an utilitarian age, of all other times, it is a matter of grave importance that fairy tales should be respected." Psychoanalysts such as Bruno Bettelheim , who regarded

5600-539: A world where all the fairy tales take place, and the characters are aware of their role in the story, such as in the film series Shrek . Other authors may have specific motives, such as multicultural or feminist reevaluations of predominantly Eurocentric masculine-dominated fairy tales, implying critique of older narratives. The figure of the damsel in distress has been particularly attacked by many feminist critics. Examples of narrative reversal rejecting this figure include The Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch ,

5740-408: A younger lover, but her husband has one final surprise for her before she goes. (The Old Witch) A man acquires a gorilla's mummified paw and discovers it can grant him anything he wishes. Unfortunately, he does not always think before he wishes aloud. (The Crypt-Keeper) A greedy undertaker extorts money from the families of the dead by charging them for the most overpriced funerals possible. He finds

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5880-405: Is a fairytale? I should reply, Read Undine : that is a fairytale   ... of all fairytales I know, I think Undine the most beautiful. As Stith Thompson points out, talking animals and the presence of magic seem to be more common to the fairy tale than fairies themselves. However, the mere presence of animals that talk does not make a tale a fairy tale, especially when the animal is clearly

6020-408: Is all in the mind but can you tell when your nightmares will begin to spill over into reality? (No host) An arrogant reporter does a story on a famous haunted house and learns the hard way that some things should just be left alone. (No host) Dr. Ravenscar, a disgraced surgeon, retreats to his family castle to plan his comeback. He wants to prove he can bring a man back from the dead, but things take

6160-451: Is best known today. The Brothers Grimm titled their collection Children's and Household Tales and rewrote their tales after complaints that they were not suitable for children. In the modern era, fairy tales were altered so that they could be read to children. The Brothers Grimm concentrated mostly on sexual references; Rapunzel , in the first edition, revealed the prince's visits by asking why her clothing had grown tight, thus letting

6300-485: Is his own involvement? (No host) A woman becomes mute with shock after witnessing a doctor murdering his wife. He commits the witness to an insane asylum but then decides he must kill her before she regains her voice. (No host) A couple whose plane went down over the Bermuda Triangle are trapped on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean. They think they are in luck when they come across a ship; until they find

6440-406: Is in its essence only one aspect of the collective unconscious as well as always representing also the whole collective unconscious. Other famous people commented on the importance of fairy tales, especially for children. For example, G. K. Chesterton argued that "Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child

6580-409: Is its own best explanation; that is, its meaning is contained in the totality of its motifs connected by the thread of the story. [...] Every fairy tale is a relatively closed system compounding one essential psychological meaning which is expressed in a series of symbolical pictures and events and is discoverable in these". "I have come to the conclusion that all fairy tales endeavour to describe one and

6720-605: Is no clear line separating myth from folk or fairy tale; all these together form the literature of preliterate societies. Fairy tales may be distinguished from other folk narratives such as legends (which generally involve belief in the veracity of the events described) and explicit moral tales, including beast fables . Prevalent elements include dragons , dwarfs , elves , fairies , giants , gnomes , goblins , griffins , merfolk , monsters , monarchy , pixies , talking animals , trolls , unicorns , witches , wizards , magic , and enchantments . In less technical contexts,

6860-414: Is now a feared recluse with a peculiar hump on his back and an even more peculiar taste for human flesh. (The Old Witch) A young woman takes her alcoholic, partying brother to Mexico for a relaxing vacation. When he disappears into an underground club and numerous bodies are found partially eaten, she decides to find him on her own. (The Vault-Keeper) A group of scientists working on an experiment to raise

7000-494: Is open, and as they discover, the owner is a little too obsessed with making sure that his "dummies" look perfectly real. (No host) A fraternity boy is determined to terrify the new pledges going through a hazing ritual and makes them go to the top floor of an old house rumoured to be haunted. He gets his comeuppance when the boys disappear and he is sent to find them. Reprinted from The Haunt of Fear #15 (1) (May/Jun 1950). (No host) Larry kills his love rival, John, and as

7140-630: Is that the fairy tale has ancient roots, older than the Arabian Nights collection of magical tales (compiled circa 1500 AD), such as Vikram and the Vampire , and Bel and the Dragon . Besides such collections and individual tales, in China Taoist philosophers such as Liezi and Zhuangzi recounted fairy tales in their philosophical works. In the broader definition of the genre,

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7280-471: The Bronze Age . Fairy tales, and works derived from fairy tales, are still written today. The Jatakas are probably the oldest collection of such tales in literature, and the greater part of the rest are demonstrably more than a thousand years old. It is certain that much (perhaps one-fifth) of the popular literature of modern Europe is derived from those portions of this large bulk which came west with

7420-564: The Crusades through the medium of Arabs and Jews. Folklorists have classified fairy tales in various ways. The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index and the morphological analysis of Vladimir Propp are among the most notable. Other folklorists have interpreted the tales' significance, but no school has been definitively established for the meaning of the tales. Some folklorists prefer to use the German term Märchen or "wonder tale" to refer to

7560-567: The Old Witch (of The Haunt of Fear ). The professional rivalry among these three GhouLunatics was often played for comedic effect in the letter column . The Crypt-Keeper was introduced in Crime Patrol #15, and he continued with the magazine through its rebrandings. The character began as a frightening presence in the early issues, shown as a sinister hermit sitting framed in the lightless crypt's half-open door, his face all but hidden by

7700-469: The Renaissance , such as Giovanni Francesco Straparola and Giambattista Basile , and stabilized through the works of later collectors such as Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm . In this evolution, the name was coined when the précieuses took up writing literary stories; Madame d'Aulnoy invented the term Conte de fée , or fairy tale, in the late 17th century. Before the definition of

7840-672: The Tales from the Crypt cover remained censored. "Kamen's Kalamity" (#31) starred many members of the EC staff, including Gaines, Feldstein, and the story's artist, Kamen. Ingels, Davis, and Craig also made cameo appearances in the story in single panels which they drew themselves. As with the other EC comics edited by Feldstein, the stories in this comic were primarily based on Gaines using existing horror stories and films to develop "springboards" from which he and Feldstein could launch new stories. Specific story influences that have been identified include

7980-409: The "purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes" and "they represent the archetypes in their simplest, barest and most concise form" because they are less overlaid with conscious material than myths and legends. "In this pure form, the archetypal images afford us the best clues to the understanding of the processes going on in the collective psyche". "The fairy tale itself

8120-470: The 17th century, a passion for the conversational parlour game based on the plots of old folk tales swept through the salons. Each salonnière was called upon to retell an old tale or rework an old theme, spinning clever new stories that not only showcased verbal agility and imagination but also slyly commented on the conditions of aristocratic life. Great emphasis was placed on a mode of delivery that seemed natural and spontaneous. The decorative language of

8260-421: The 1972 film and voiced by John Kassir in the 1989 television series. Freddy has managed to cheat death for many decades by having his old friend, a surgeon, perform transplants on him to replace his organs with those from a younger man. But he has to steal them from corpses, and now he is finding he has less and less time before he needs another operation. (The Crypt-Keeper) A public executioner decides to take

8400-404: The 1972 motion picture Tales from the Crypt and television's Tales from the Crypt , which aired on HBO from 1989 to 1996. In 1950, EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines and his editor, Al Feldstein , began experimenting with horror tales in their crime titles, War Against Crime and Crime Patrol . An EC Western comic called Gunfighter , which had previously run for five issues as

8540-466: The 19th century: that the folk tradition preserved fairy tales in forms from pre-history except when "contaminated" by such literary forms, leading people to tell inauthentic tales. The rural, illiterate, and uneducated peasants, if suitably isolated, were the folk and would tell pure folk tales. Sometimes they regarded fairy tales as a form of fossil, the remnants of a once-perfect tale. However, further research has concluded that fairy tales never had

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8680-503: The Cat's Away" ( The Vault of Horror #34) conducts a tour of his house above and below ground. "Horror Beneath the Streets" ( The Haunt of Fear #17) tells how he and his fellow GhouLunatics got their EC publishing contracts. The Crypt-Keeper also served as the host of EC's 3-D comic book, Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt of Terror (1954). He was portrayed by Ralph Richardson in

8820-454: The Crypt traces its origin to a Feldstein story, "Return from the Grave!", in EC's Crime Patrol #15 (December 1949/January 1950) with the Crypt-Keeper making his debut as teller of the tale. Issue #16 featured more horror tales than crime stories, and, with issue #17, the title changed from Crime Patrol to The Crypt of Terror . Due to an attempt to save money on second-class postage permits,

8960-408: The Crypt was popular, but in the late 1940s and early 1950s comic books came under attack from parents, clergymen, schoolteachers, and others who believed the magazines contributed to illiteracy and juvenile delinquency . In April and June 1954, highly publicized congressional subcommittee hearings on the effects of comic books upon children left the industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of

9100-633: The Devil ) appears to date from the Bronze Age , some 6000 years ago. Various other studies converge to suggest that some fairy tales, for example the swan maiden , could go back to the Upper Palaeolithic. Originally, adults were the audience of a fairy tale just as often as children. Literary fairy tales appeared in works intended for adults, but in the 19th and 20th centuries the fairy tale became associated with children's literature. The précieuses , including Madame d'Aulnoy , intended their works for adults, but regarded their source as

9240-519: The Grimms' tale appears to be the only independent German variant. Similarly, the close agreement between the opening of the Grimms' version of Little Red Riding Hood and Perrault's tale points to an influence, although the Grimms' version adds a different ending (perhaps derived from The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids ). Fairy tales tend to take on the color of their location, through

9380-703: The Horror Comics, and Dr. Wertham". He described it as "the outer limits of... 'good taste'." It was also one of many examples used by Fredric Wertham in his book Seduction of the Innocent . Author Grant Geissman used the title of the story for his book on EC artists, Foul Play (2005). As with the other EC comics edited by Feldstein, the stories in this comic were primarily based on Gaines using existing horror stories and films to develop "springboards" from which he and Feldstein could launch new stories. Specific story influences that have been identified include

9520-723: The Russian Alexander Afanasyev (first published in 1866), the Norwegians Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe (first published in 1845), the Romanian Petre Ispirescu (first published in 1874), the English Joseph Jacobs (first published in 1890), and Jeremiah Curtin , an American who collected Irish tales (first published in 1890). Ethnographers collected fairy tales throughout

9660-485: The art for the Crypt-Keeper's stories with #24 (June/July 1951) and continued as the title's lead artist for the rest of the run. Feldstein devised the Crypt-Keeper's origin story, "Lower Berth!" (#33), which was illustrated by Davis. Issue #38 was one of two covers from EC's horror comics censored prior to publication. While The Vault of Horror cover for issue #32 was restored in Russ Cochran's EC Library reprints,

9800-403: The best of him. (No host) A fraternity initiation goes eerily wrong, when the initiates are told to walk through a supposedly haunted house... but never come out. (No host) Boris Petaja, a skilled magician, begins to kidnap innocent townspeople to use in his experiments on a real "saw a man in two" trick but finally meets his match in a young couple he kidnaps. (No host) A swamp hermit relates

9940-464: The body and leaving it to decompose in the sun, but he does not think to check that the caveman is really dead. (No host) Daniel Richards is staying in Haiti with his wealthy plantation-owner friend. He ignores instructions not to spy on a native voodoo ritual but then notices something very interesting about the photo he took of the event. (No host) A you-are-the-main-character story in which you are

10080-426: The boy tells him Magog will gobble him up for whipping him. The teacher should have heeded the warning. (The Old Witch) A retired mobster marries a superstitious Irish family who are convinced that a banshee wails prior to the death of one of their kin. (The Vault-Keeper) A jealous husband keeps his wife locked up in their mansion like one of the numerous hounds he uses to hunt foxes. When she falls for another man,

10220-405: The children's window of tolerance". These fairy tales teach children how to deal with certain social situations and helps them to find their place in society. Fairy tales teach children other important lessons too. For example, Tsitsani et al. carried out a study on children to determine the benefits of fairy tales. Parents of the children who took part in the study found that fairy tales, especially

10360-435: The choice of motifs, the style in which they are told, and the depiction of character and local color. The Brothers Grimm believed that European fairy tales derived from the cultural history shared by all Indo-European peoples and were therefore ancient, far older than written records. This view is supported by research by the anthropologist Jamie Tehrani and the folklorist Sara Graca Da Silva using phylogenetic analysis ,

10500-399: The color in them, triggered their child's imagination as they read them. Jungian Analyst and fairy tale scholar Marie Louise Von Franz interprets fairy tales based on Jung's view of fairy tales as a spontaneous and naive product of soul, which can only express what soul is. That means, she looks at fairy tales as images of different phases of experiencing the reality of the soul. They are

10640-556: The comedy Fat & Slat , became The Haunt of Fear with issue #15 (1) (May/June 1950). Due to an attempt to save money on second-class postage permits, characteristic of comics publishing in the era, the numbering did not change along with the titles. However, numbering for the magazine was reset after #17 (3) due to a request by the United States Post Office that the fourth issue under the new title be numbered accordingly. The Haunt of Fear continued to run for

10780-452: The common elements in fairy tales found spread over continents. One is that a single point of origin generated any given tale, which then spread over the centuries; the other is that such fairy tales stem from common human experience and therefore can appear separately in many different origins. Fairy tales with very similar plots, characters, and motifs are found spread across many different cultures. Many researchers hold this to be caused by

10920-418: The conversations consisted of literature, mores, taste, and etiquette, whereby the speakers all endeavoured to portray ideal situations in the most effective oratorical style that would gradually have a major effect on literary forms." Many 18th-century folklorists attempted to recover the "pure" folktale, uncontaminated by literary versions. Yet while oral fairy tales likely existed for thousands of years before

11060-498: The corpse is already ahead of him. (The Crypt-Keeper) A man who loves to collect hunting "trophies" discovers that it is not just animals that can be hunted. (The Crypt-Keeper) Fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale , fairy story , household tale , magic tale , or wonder tale ) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre . Such stories typically feature magic , enchantments , and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cultures, there

11200-503: The cruelty of older fairy tales as indicative of psychological conflicts, strongly criticized this expurgation, because it weakened their usefulness to both children and adults as ways of symbolically resolving issues. Fairy tales do teach children how to deal with difficult times. To quote Rebecca Walters (2017, p. 56) "Fairytales and folktales are part of the cultural conserve that can be used to address children's fears   …. and give them some role training in an approach that honors

11340-451: The direction of a man who may be able to help by giving Harry a hearing transplant from a bat. (The Crypt-Keeper) Two old friends are doctors who ca not agree whether illness is physical or just in the mind. When one of them is close to death, the other is convinced he can save his old friend through hypnosis, a technique so successful it keeps the patient's heart beating even after his death. (The Old Witch) Duncan falls asleep while reading

11480-438: The double curtain of his long white hair. He soon evolved into a more comedic horror host , delivering an irreverent and pun-filled commentary to lighten the horrific tone of the stories he introduced. Occasionally, the Crypt-Keeper would appear as a character as well, often providing the reader a glimpse of his life. "The Lower Berth" ( Tales from the Crypt #33) gives an account of the circumstances surrounding his birth. "While

11620-408: The economy and concision of the tales. Originally, stories that would contemporarily be considered fairy tales were not marked out as a separate genre. The German term " Märchen " stems from the old German word " Mär ", which means news or tale. The word " Märchen " is the diminutive of the word " Mär ", therefore it means a "little story". Together with the common beginning " once upon

11760-599: The effects of comic books upon children left the industry shaken. With the subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code , which placed severe restrictions on violent comic book genres, including forbidding publishers from using the words "terror" and "horror" in titles and from depicting zombies , werewolves , gruesome characters, and outrè horror fiction trappings, EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines cancelled The Haunt of Fear and its two companion horror titles. The Haunt of Fear has been reprinted on numerous occasions. Ballantine Books reprinted selected stories in

11900-445: The eight-page lead stories and his splash pages, particularly on issues #14 and #17, set a new standard for horror illustration. Among the title's most controversial stories was "Foul Play" (#19, May/June 1953), written by Feldstein and drawn by Davis. It featured a crooked baseball player being dismembered, with his body parts used to play baseball by his murderers. The story was singled out by Robert Warshow in his 1954 essay "Paul,

12040-433: The fairy tale Momotarō . Jack Zipes has spent many years working to make the older traditional stories accessible to modern readers and their children. Many fairy tales feature an absentee mother, as an example " Beauty and the Beast ", " The Little Mermaid ", " Little Red Riding Hood " and " Donkeyskin ", where the mother is deceased or absent and unable to help the heroines. Mothers are depicted as absent or wicked in

12180-403: The fairy tale is a distinct genre within the larger category of folktale, the definition that marks a work as a fairy tale is a source of considerable dispute. The term itself comes from the translation of Madame D'Aulnoy's Conte de fées , first used in her collection in 1697. Common parlance conflates fairy tales with beast fables and other folktales, and scholars differ on the degree to which

12320-655: The fairy tales served an important function: disguising the rebellious subtext of the stories and sliding them past the court censors. Critiques of court life (and even of the king) were embedded in extravagant tales and in dark, sharply dystopian ones. Not surprisingly, the tales by women often featured young (but clever) aristocratic girls whose lives were controlled by the arbitrary whims of fathers, kings, and elderly wicked fairies, as well as tales in which groups of wise fairies (i.e., intelligent, independent women) stepped in and put all to rights. The salon tales as they were originally written and published have been preserved in

12460-417: The final story in each issue of Crime SuspenStories from #3 through #16. Occasionally, the Old Witch would appear as a character as well. A personal account of the circumstances surrounding her birth are related in "A Little Stranger!" ( The Haunt of Fear #14), and "Horror Beneath the Streets" ( The Haunt of Fear #17) tells how she and her fellow GhouLunatics got their EC publishing contracts. The character

12600-766: The first famous Western fairy tales are those of Aesop (6th century BC) in ancient Greece . Scholarship points out that Medieval literature contains early versions or predecessors of later known tales and motifs, such as the grateful dead , The Bird Lover or the quest for the lost wife. Recognizable folktales have also been reworked as the plot of folk literature and oral epics. Jack Zipes writes in When Dreams Came True , "There are fairy tale elements in Chaucer 's The Canterbury Tales , Edmund Spenser 's The Faerie Queene , and in many of William Shakespeare plays." King Lear can be considered

12740-477: The following: After their unauthorized adaptation of one of Ray Bradbury 's stories in another magazine, Bradbury contacted EC about their plagiarism of his work. They reached an agreement for EC to do authorized versions of Bradbury's short fiction. These official adaptations include: Although EC's horror stable consisted of three separate magazines, there was little beyond their titles to distinguish them from one another. Each magazine had its own host, known as

12880-536: The following: Anecdotes from Bennett Cerf 's Try and Stop Me were sources for stories, including "House of Horror" (#21), "Death Suited Him!" (#21), and "Death's Turn!" (#22). After their unauthorized adaptation of one of Ray Bradbury 's stories in another magazine, Bradbury contacted EC about their plagiarism of his work. They reached an agreement for EC to do authorized versions of Bradbury's short fiction. These official adaptations include: Although EC's horror stable consisted of three separate magazines, there

13020-503: The forms of Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella . Although Straparola's, Basile's and Perrault's collections contain the oldest known forms of various fairy tales, on the stylistic evidence, all the writers rewrote the tales for literary effect. In the mid-17th century, a vogue for magical tales emerged among the intellectuals who frequented the salons of Paris. These salons were regular gatherings hosted by prominent aristocratic women, where women and men could gather together to discuss

13160-519: The gem. When they are caught by the tribe themselves, he gives up his "friend" to the vengeful tribalmen only to find he must face the ultimate consequence! (The Old Witch) Jeff Slag, a conniving young man working at an ironworks , marries his boss's daughter and then murders his boss in order to take over the plant only to find that there really is irony in death. (The Crypt-Keeper) Two men attempt to rob their wealthy uncle's grave as revenge for his not leaving them any of his money. They are witnessed by

13300-460: The genre of fantasy, many works that would now be classified as fantasy were termed "fairy tales", including Tolkien's The Hobbit , George Orwell 's Animal Farm , and L. Frank Baum 's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz . Indeed, Tolkien's "On Fairy-Stories" includes discussions of world-building and is considered a vital part of fantasy criticism. Although fantasy, particularly the subgenre of fairytale fantasy , draws heavily on fairy tale motifs,

13440-819: The genre rather than fairy tale , a practice given weight by the definition of Thompson in his 1977 [1946] edition of The Folktale : "...a tale of some length involving a succession of motifs or episodes. It moves in an unreal world without definite locality or definite creatures and is filled with the marvellous. In this never-never land, humble heroes kill adversaries, succeed to kingdoms and marry princesses." The characters and motifs of fairy tales are simple and archetypal: princesses and goose-girls ; youngest sons and gallant princes ; ogres , giants , dragons , and trolls ; wicked stepmothers and false heroes ; fairy godmothers and other magical helpers , often talking horses, or foxes, or birds ; glass mountains; and prohibitions and breaking of prohibitions. Although

13580-485: The genres are now regarded as distinct. The fairy tale, told orally, is a sub-class of the folktale . Many writers have written in the form of the fairy tale. These are the literary fairy tales, or Kunstmärchen . The oldest forms, from Panchatantra to the Pentamerone , show considerable reworking from the oral form. The Grimm brothers were among the first to try to preserve the features of oral tales. Yet

13720-417: The girl the pharaoh loved. However, the girl discovered his plot and tried to revive him with a scribe, only to be offed by the king. In the present, three friends stumble upon the crypt and find that history has a nasty way of repeating itself. (The Old Witch) A you-are-the-main-character story in which you are a man afflicted with recurring nightmares about being buried alive. Your psychiatrist assures you it

13860-456: The head owner of a cheese company, but when he refuses to tell Bradbury the secret ingredient, he decides to do away with Henrick. (The Crypt-Keeper) Rodney Whitman was just a young boy when his parents died and he was sent to live with his uncaring aunt and uncle and their two mean sons. The only thing that kept him going was the thought of being buried with his family in the Whitman mausoleum,

14000-641: The history of their development is necessarily obscure and blurred. Fairy tales appear, now and again, in written literature throughout literate cultures, as in The Golden Ass , which includes Cupid and Psyche ( Roman , 100–200 AD), or the Panchatantra ( India 3rd century BC), but it is unknown to what extent these reflect the actual folk tales even of their own time. The stylistic evidence indicates that these, and many later collections, reworked folk tales into literary forms. What they do show

14140-463: The husband decides to take care of the problem, only to find he is barking up the wrong tree. (The Old Witch) Three explorers travel to a cursed crypt rumored to hold an evil being, but when they venture inside they find a perfectly preserved mummy and soon find that he is not the only monster lurking about. (The Vault-Keeper) Vincent Beardsley, a greedy New Yorker seeking the fourth tribal diamond for his collection, takes his friend to Ecuador to claim

14280-500: The idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon." Albert Einstein once showed how important he believed fairy tales were for children's intelligence in

14420-404: The issues of the day. In the 1630s, aristocratic women began to gather in their own living rooms, salons, to discuss the topics of their choice: arts and letters, politics, and social matters of immediate concern to the women of their class: marriage, love, financial and physical independence, and access to education. This was a time when women were barred from receiving a formal education. Some of

14560-610: The law into his own hands. (No host) A private detective finds himself with a new case to solve when he and his wife rent a hotel room and find an unidentifiable body hidden inside. (No host) Convinced that he became a werewolf after a mysterious incident during a trip to Europe, Ralph goes to visit his old friend George for help. However, with the full moon rising, he is closer to the truth than he knows. (No host) A surgeon, furious that his fiancee has left him to marry an artistically gifted man, decides to take his revenge by cutting off his love rival's hand. The artist commits suicide, but

14700-521: The literary forms, there is no pure folktale, and each literary fairy tale draws on folk traditions, if only in parody. This makes it impossible to trace forms of transmission of a fairy tale. Oral story-tellers have been known to read literary fairy tales to increase their own stock of stories and treatments. The oral tradition of the fairy tale came long before the written page. Tales were told or enacted dramatically, rather than written down, and handed down from generation to generation. Because of this,

14840-458: The more general term folk tale that covered a wide variety of oral tales". Jack Zipes also attributes this shift to changing sociopolitical conditions in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that led to the trivialization of these stories by the upper classes. Roots of the genre come from different oral stories passed down in European cultures. The genre was first marked out by writers of

14980-405: The most gifted women writers of the period came out of these early salons (such as Madeleine de Scudéry and Madame de Lafayette ), which encouraged women's independence and pushed against the gender barriers that defined their lives. The salonnières argued particularly for love and intellectual compatibility between the sexes, opposing the system of arranged marriages. Sometime in the middle of

15120-500: The most popular contemporary versions of tales like " Rapunzel ", " Snow White ", " Cinderella " and " Hansel and Gretel ", however, some lesser known tales or variants such as those found in volumes edited by Angela Carter and Jane Yolen depict mothers in a more positive light. Carter's protagonist in The Bloody Chamber is an impoverished piano student married to a Marquis who was much older than herself to "banish

15260-505: The narrative is perceived both by teller and hearers as being grounded in historical truth. However, unlike legends and epics , fairy tales usually do not contain more than superficial references to religion and to actual places, people, and events; they take place " once upon a time " rather than in actual times. Fairy tales occur both in oral and in literary form ( literary fairy tale ); the name "fairy tale" (" conte de fées " in French)

15400-457: The numbering did not change with the title and continued as The Crypt of Terror for the next two issues. Tales from the Crypt debuted with issue #20 (October/November 1950) and continued to run for a total of 27 issues (excluding the initial three, #17–19, published as The Crypt of Terror ) before ceasing publication with issue #46 (February/March 1955). Along with its sister titles, The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror , Tales from

15540-530: The presence of fairies and/or similarly mythical beings (e.g., elves , goblins , trolls , giants, huge monsters, or mermaids) should be taken as a differentiator. Vladimir Propp , in his Morphology of the Folktale , criticized the common distinction between "fairy tales" and "animal tales" on the grounds that many tales contained both fantastic elements and animals. Nevertheless, to select works for his analysis, Propp used all Russian folktales classified as

15680-435: The presence of magic as the feature by which fairy tales can be distinguished from other sorts of folktales. Davidson and Chaudri identify "transformation" as the key feature of the genre. From a psychological point of view, Jean Chiriac argued for the necessity of the fantastic in these narratives. In terms of aesthetic values, Italo Calvino cited the fairy tale as a prime example of "quickness" in literature, because of

15820-462: The quote "If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairytales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairytales." The adaptation of fairy tales for children continues. Walt Disney 's influential Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was largely (although certainly not solely) intended for the children's market. The anime Magical Princess Minky Momo draws on

15960-444: The remainder of the comic's run, though his art had been appearing since the second issue. Ingels later took over cover art duty with issue #11 (January/February 1952). Other artists who contributed to the title were Feldstein, Johnny Craig , Wally Wood , Harvey Kurtzman , Jack Davis , George Roussos , Harry Harrison , Joe Orlando , Sid Check, George Evans , Reed Crandall , Jack Kamen , and Bernard Krigstein . Ingels' artwork on

16100-429: The ride for safety, but then when it opens, they are offered the first turn on the new attraction. (The Old Witch) On New Year's Eve, Robert Arnold discovers a book in the attic that tells of a curse on his family: every 50 years, the oldest of the clan will die on New Year's Eve. Robert realizes he is the oldest living Arnold, but he does not believe in the curse. (The Vault-Keeper) You and your friend, Carl, are on

16240-738: The run consisted of 13 issues, including nine graphic novels, with the last issue being published in September 2010. Super Genius Comics relaunched Tales from the Crypt for two issues in November 2016 and March 2017. Early covers were created by Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig , and Wally Wood , with the remaining covers (1952–55) by Jack Davis . The contributing interior artists were Feldstein, Craig, Wood, Davis, George Evans , Jack Kamen , Graham Ingels , Harvey Kurtzman , Al Williamson , Joe Orlando , Reed Crandall , Bernard Krigstein , Will Elder , Fred Peters, and Howard Larsen. Davis took over

16380-495: The same psychic fact, but a fact so complex and far-reaching and so difficult for us to realize in all its different aspects that hundreds of tales and thousands of repetitions with a musician's variation are needed until this unknown fact is delivered into consciousness; and even then the theme is not exhausted. This unknown fact is what Jung calls the Self, which is the psychic reality of the collective unconscious. [...] Every archetype

16520-400: The severed hand appears to have taken on a life of its own. (The Crypt-Keeper) A morgue attendant begins having visions of death which he links to the "Living Corpse", a performance artist who feigns death during his act. (No host) Marian Mander is convinced she is going insane when she begins to see and hear strange things after her son's death. Her husband is worried about her, but how deep

16660-445: The simpler riddle might argue greater antiquity. Folklorists of the "Finnish" (or historical-geographical) school attempted to place fairy tales to their origin, with inconclusive results. Sometimes influence, especially within a limited area and time, is clearer, as when considering the influence of Perrault's tales on those collected by the Brothers Grimm. Little Briar-Rose appears to stem from Perrault's The Sleeping Beauty , as

16800-431: The spectre of poverty". The story is a variant on Bluebeard , a tale about a wealthy man who murders numerous young women. Carter's protagonist, who is unnamed, describes her mother as "eagle-featured" and "indomitable". Her mother is depicted as a woman who is prepared for violence, instead of hiding from it or sacrificing herself to it. The protagonist recalls how her mother kept an "antique service revolver" and once "shot

16940-723: The spread of such tales, as people repeat tales they have heard in foreign lands, although the oral nature makes it impossible to trace the route except by inference. Folklorists have attempted to determine the origin by internal evidence, which can not always be clear; Joseph Jacobs , comparing the Scottish tale The Ridere of Riddles with the version collected by the Brothers Grimm, The Riddle , noted that in The Ridere of Riddles one hero ends up polygamously married, which might point to an ancient custom, but in The Riddle ,

17080-516: The stories printed under the Grimm name have been considerably reworked to fit the written form. Literary fairy tales and oral fairy tales freely exchanged plots, motifs, and elements with one another and with the tales of foreign lands. The literary fairy tale came into fashion during the 17th century, developed by aristocratic women as a parlour game. This, in turn, helped to maintain the oral tradition. According to Jack Zipes , "The subject matter of

17220-456: The story, as when Robin McKinley retold Donkeyskin as the novel Deerskin , with emphasis on the abusive treatment the father of the tale dealt to his daughter. Sometimes, especially in children's literature, fairy tales are retold with a twist simply for comic effect, such as The Stinky Cheese Man by Jon Scieszka and The ASBO Fairy Tales by Chris Pilbeam. A common comic motif is

17360-572: The subsequent imposition of a highly restrictive Comics Code . Tales from the Crypt has since been reprinted in single issues and collected volumes. It has spawned various movies and television series, including a 1972 film and a television series that aired on HBO from 1989 to 1996. The title was revived for a second volume by Papercutz (2007–2010) and for a third by Super Genius Comics (2016–2017) In 1950, EC Comics publisher Bill Gaines and his editor, Al Feldstein , began experimenting with horror tales in their crime titles. Tales from

17500-504: The supernatural is talked into attending a seance . He is sure he can trick the medium into proving herself a fake by asking her to channel the spirit of his wife who is still alive. Or is she? (The Crypt-Keeper) Jay and Bill, visitors to Haiti, are determined to witness a voodoo ritual. But when the locals catch them spying, it is not long before they start seeing strange dolls everywhere. (The Vault-Keeper) Harry loses his hearing and with it his job and his wife. An old friend points him in

17640-572: The tables turned when he uncovers a previously hidden talent of his own for "playing dead." (The Old Witch) Tales from the Crypt (comics) Tales from the Crypt is an American bi-monthly horror comic anthology series that was published by EC Comics from 1950 to 1955 created by Bill Gaines and Al Feldstein . The magazine began in March 1947 as International Comics . It continued under this title for five issues before becoming International Crime Patrol (#6) and Crime Patrol (#7–16). It

17780-443: The tale through use of the erotic, explicit sexuality, dark and/or comic themes, female empowerment, fetish and BDSM , multicultural, and heterosexual characters. Cleis Press has released several fairy tale-themed erotic anthologies, including Fairy Tale Lust , Lustfully Ever After , and A Princess Bound . It may be hard to lay down the rule between fairy tales and fantasies that use fairy tale motifs, or even whole plots, but

17920-469: The tales in later editions to make them more acceptable, which ensured their sales and the later popularity of their work. Such literary forms did not merely draw from the folktale, but also influenced folktales in turn. The Brothers Grimm rejected several tales for their collection, though told orally to them by Germans, because the tales derived from Perrault, and they concluded they were thereby French and not German tales; an oral version of " Bluebeard "

18060-403: The tales that servants, or other women of lower class, would tell to children. Indeed, a novel of that time, depicting a countess's suitor offering to tell such a tale, has the countess exclaim that she loves fairy tales as if she were still a child. Among the late précieuses , Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont redacted a version of Beauty and the Beast for children, and it is her tale that

18200-452: The term is also used to describe something blessed with unusual happiness, as in "fairy-tale ending" (a happy ending ) or "fairy-tale romance ". Colloquially, the term "fairy tale" or "fairy story" can also mean any far-fetched story or tall tale ; it is used especially to describe any story that not only not true, but also could not possibly be true. Legends are perceived as real within their culture; fairy tales may merge into legends, where

18340-530: The tradition of literary fairy tales. Andersen's work sometimes drew on old folktales, but more often deployed fairytale motifs and plots in new tales. MacDonald incorporated fairytale motifs both in new literary fairy tales, such as The Light Princess , and in works of the genre that would become fantasy, as in The Princess and the Goblin or Lilith . Two theories of origins have attempted to explain

18480-417: The witch deduce that she was pregnant, but in subsequent editions carelessly revealed that it was easier to pull up the prince than the witch. On the other hand, in many respects, violence‍—‌particularly when punishing villains‍—‌was increased. Other, later, revisions cut out violence; J.   R.   R.   Tolkien noted that The Juniper Tree often had its cannibalistic stew cut out in

18620-605: The world, finding similar tales in Africa, the Americas, and Australia; Andrew Lang was able to draw on not only the written tales of Europe and Asia, but those collected by ethnographers, to fill his "coloured" fairy books series . They also encouraged other collectors of fairy tales, as when Yei Theodora Ozaki created a collection, Japanese Fairy Tales (1908), after encouragement from Lang. Simultaneously, writers such as Hans Christian Andersen and George MacDonald continued

18760-511: Was first ascribed to them by Madame d'Aulnoy in the late 17th century. Many of today's fairy tales have evolved from centuries-old stories that have appeared, with variations, in multiple cultures around the world. The history of the fairy tale is particularly difficult to trace because only the literary forms can survive. Still, according to researchers at universities in Durham and Lisbon , such stories may date back thousands of years, some to

18900-528: Was inspired by Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem , host of Alonzo Deen Cole's radio series, The Witch's Tale , which aired from 1931 to 1938 on WOR , the Mutual Radio Network , and in syndication. A man finds his wife's love for her cat, Snooky, unbearable, and finally decides to take care of the problem once and for all, but soon finds he is slowly slipping into insanity when his imagination gets

19040-404: Was later rebound, with covers included, in a series of six softcover EC Annuals . Cochran and Gemstone planned to publish hardcover, re-colored volumes of The Haunt of Fear as part of the EC Archives series, until Gemstone's financial troubles left this project in limbo. The series was revived by GC Press, a boutique imprint established by Cochran and Grant Geissman , and the first volume (of

19180-450: Was little beyond their titles to distinguish them from one another. Each magazine had its own host, known as a GhouLunatic. The Crypt-Keeper was the primary host of Tales from the Crypt . Hosting duties for any one magazine were typically shared with the hosts of the other two. For example, a single issue of Tales from the Crypt would contain two stories told by the Crypt-Keeper, one by the Vault-Keeper (of The Vault of Horror ) and one by

19320-451: Was often played for comedic effect in the letter column . The Old Witch was the last of the three to make her appearance. She was introduced in the second issue of the magazine, #16 (2) (July/August 1950), in a segment titled "The Witch's Cauldron" in which the Old Witch introduces herself in a story drawn by artist Jack Kamen. The third issue featured a Johnny Craig cover depicting the three GhoulLunatics stepping out of doorways and launched

19460-560: Was retitled The Crypt of Terror with issue #17 (April/May 1950). Two more issues were published under this title before it was rebranded as Tales from the Crypt for issue #20 (October/November 1950). The comic bore this title for 27 issues until being discontinued after issue #46 (February/March 1955). Along with The Haunt of Fear and The Vault of Horror , it formed a trifecta of popular EC horror anthologies. Publication ceased, however, after horror and crime comics came under scrutiny for an alleged link to juvenile delinquency and

19600-414: Was thus rejected, and the tale of Little Briar Rose , clearly related to Perrault's " Sleeping Beauty ", was included only because Jacob Grimm convinced his brother that the figure of Brynhildr , from much earlier Norse mythology , proved that the sleeping princess was authentically Germanic folklore. This consideration of whether to keep Sleeping Beauty reflected a belief common among folklorists of

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