Madam Bluebeard (The Vault of Horror #27, Dec 1951/Jan 1952)

For the beginning of our story, let's look in on a pathetic scene, a funeral, in a cemetery. As a group of black-clad mourners gathered around the sobbing widow watch, the coffin of the recently-deceased is lowered into the yawning black pit. Sad, isn't it? Feel sorry for the poor widow? Don't! Notice the neat line of graves beside the new one? Count them! Yes, there are six others! This poor woman is burying her seventh husband! Is there any wonder I've christened her "Madam Bluebeard"? After all, she killed them all.

MOURNERS: "Poor Teresa. I don't see how she's stood up under these emotional shocks." "Seven husbands in seven years all accidentally killed."

Oh, yes! That's what everyone believes. That Teresa's seven husbands all died accidentally. Even her husbands believed it. That is, all except Freddy. The one they're burying now. He knows different. Or I should say "knew" different. Ah, but I'm getting ahead of my story.

MAN #1: "Poor girl."

MAN #2: "Poor? That's a laugh. She's loaded. Her seven husbands' estates amount to a tidy sum. Why...why if I didn't think Teresa was a jinx, I'd marry her myself. But I'd probably end up like all the others in a freak accident."

MAN #1: "The others? How did they die?"

MAN #2: "Well, let's see. Earl was her first. It happened about three months after they were married. Earl had probably fallen asleep while fishing. His boat drifted into the rapids and he was killed going over the falls. Howard, Teresa's second, fell off a cliff while they were honeymooning in a trailer. Douglas, number three, was killed on a hunting trip. His gun exploded in his face. Neal, the fourth, fell from his office window fourteen stories. Warren, Teresa's fifth, was killed when their car was struck by a train. Teresa was thrown clear and suffered only mild bruises. Then Peter, husband number six, was electrocuted while taking a bath. A radio he was listening to fell into the tub of water. And, of course, you know how poor Freddy was killed."

MAN #1: "Yes, well, Teresa's leaving. I guess it's all over. Coming?"

Oh, sure, Earl fell asleep while fishing. But he knew about the rapids and the falls downstream, so he was very careful to tie up the boat to an overhanging bough before taking a snooze. Only... And as for Howard, well, he was inside the trailer when Teresa stopped it at the cliff edge. When she screamed, Howard came out of the trailer door full-speed. And Douglas, husband number three, met his untimely fate because after cleaning his gun, he left it around where Teresa could get at it. She poured molten lead into the barrel, blocking it up.

Neal, number four, was leaning out of his office window, looking for the new cadillac Teresa claimed was parked below when Teresa yanked the scatter rug out from beneath his feet. As for Warren, husband five, he had made the mistake of falling asleep while Teresa was driving home from a party. She had just stopped their car on the grade-crossing, stepped out and waited. And Peter, who loved music, erred when he took his bath with his back to the door. He never saw Teresa open it, reach the stick in and knock the radio off the shelf above the tub.

One day, while he was up, Teresa strung a strong wire taught about two feet high across the runway. And when Freddy came in for a landing...

CRASH!

But Freddy wasn't killed in the crash. When he crawled from the wreckage, Teresa was forced to finish the job.

FREDDY: "No, Teresa, no!"

So you see why I've christened Teresa "Madam Bluebeard"? What's that you say? She must be nuts? Of course she's nuts! It stems back to her childhood when her father walked out on Teresa and her mother.

TERESA'S MOTHER: "Jack! What will we live on, Teresa and I?"

JACK: "For my part, you can starve! Goodbye!"

Teresa's mother had been embittered by her husband's leaving. She had brought up her daughter to hate men.

TERESA'S MOTHER: "Men are beasts, Teresa! They're nothing but animals!"

TERESA: "Yes, mommy."

All of her life, she had been taught...

TERESA'S MOTHER: "Money! That's all they're good for! The beasts!"

TERESA: "Yes, mother."

Until it became logical in Teresa's warped mind that...

TERESA: "Men are beasts. Wild beasts. Wild beasts must be destroyed."

Then, when Teresa's mother died on a cold day in November...

TERESA: "I'll avenger your death, mother. You shall see. They'll pay for this. The beasts!"

And so, on the first anniversary of her mother's death, Earl, Teresa's first husband, lay in his grave. Teresa came and laid a wreath on it in her mother's honor. And on the second anniversary of her mother's passing, there were two graves to place wreaths upon. Earl's and Howard, her second husband's. Year after year, the neat little row of graves grew. And year after year, Teresa came and placed wreaths upon them, in honor of her mother.

TERESA: "Six years, mother. And six wreaths in your memory."

Now the black-clad mourners are filing out of the cemetery, leaving the seventh grave to be filled in. Freddy's grave.

GRAVEDIGGER: "Let's get to work, Hank."

HANK: "Yeah, it's getting cold."

And so the seventh grave is filled in. The neat line lies silent under the darkening sky. Earl, under the first. Howard, beneath the second. Douglas, under the third mound. Neal, below the fourth. Warren in the fifth. And Peter, the sixth. Each peaceful in death, each ignorant. And in the fresh grave, Freddy, who knows. And as the wind comes up, rustling through the bare trees, sweeping across the gravestones, whistling past the row of seven graves. It seems to sound like a whisper like someone whispering. Like Freddy telling the others.

One day in November...

TERESA: "I'd like to buy some wreaths. Seven of them."

STOREKEEPER: "Yes, ma'am. Shall I wrap them or are you going across the road with them?"

TERESA: "I'm going across the road to the cemetery. How much will that be?"

STOREKEEPER: Er...fourteen, ma'am. These are hard to get this time of year."

Teresa crossed the road and enters the cemetery, the seven wreaths in her arms.

TERESA: "Fourteen dollars. The beast!"

On over the frozen mounds she moves to the neat row of seven graves. She stooped and places a wreath upon each grave. Then Teresa tosses her face toward the darkening sky and begins to laugh. But her laugh is cut short by a rumble beneath her feet. She stares down, horrified. The seven graves are each cracking open.

TERESA: "Good lord!"

The rotted hand reaches up from beneath the frozen earth, grasping Teresa's ankle in a death-like grip. She cannot run. She cannot move. She can only watch as the corpse rise from their graves. Watch and scream. And as Teresa's screams end in a choking cough, silence once again descends upon the grave yard. The wind whispered across the cemetery, caressing the neat little row of graves. Only now, there are eight graves instead of seven. And on the eighth grave lie seven soiled wreaths.