House of Mystery #191

House of Mystery #191 (On Sale: January 12, 1971), has a nice cover by Neal Adams.

We begin with our cover story, "No Strings Attached" by Len Wein and Bill Draut. When an opportunist buys his house in order to profit from a new highway that will run through the property, a kind old man dies of a broken heart.  The neighborhood children's ill wishes towards the buyer animate the old man's puppets who murder him and dangle his body in the puppet show with strings attached. Reprinted in DC Special Blue Ribbon Digest #24 (1982).

Following that is a Room 13 cartoon by Sergio Aragonés. This page has not reprinted perhaps due to the use of stereotypical "Chinese" dialect.

Another cartoon by Sergio Aragonés, Cain's Game Room is next.

Next, we have "The Hanging Tree" by Jack Oleck and Tony DeZuniga. In the past, a witch is hanged in Salem and curses the tree so that all who carve their initials on it will meet horrible deaths. In present day, a resident who believes in the curse shoos away a tourist couple and makes the witch angry. Her ghost appears to him and says that she'll take him instead. He tells her that she has no power over him as he hasn't carved his initials in the tree. The tourists hear from another resident the story of the witch and they think that the man was just making a fool of them. They decide to return to the tree and finish carving. The man follows them but doesn't say anything to them because he knows they won't listen. After they leave, he goes to the tree and attempts to erase their initials with his knife. The witch's ghost appears and he is terrified. She tells him that she isn't after them now, but him. He claims his initials aren't on the tree, but she points to his carving and he is startled to see that when the ghost interrupted his work he had actually transformed the couple's initials into his. The witch's ghost drags him under the ground.

We end with "Night Prowler" by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson. On Christmas Eve, a man and his wife are awakened by the sounds of a prowler in the house. This story has been reprinted in Limited Collectors' Edition C-43 (1976), Roots of the Swamp Thing #3 (1986), and DC Universe Christmas TPB (2001).

Ezcept where noted, entire issue reprinted in Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery Vol. 1 TPB (2006), and House of Mystery: The Bronze Age Omnibus (2018).

Edited by Joe Orlando.