Blue Bolt Weird Tales #119

This 1953 pulp magazine features two supernatural stories. The first, featuring characters Jeff Barton and Joan, concerns a mysterious hand-carved Oriental chest purchased at auction. A Hindu bidder reveals the chest contains demons imprisoned by an ancient Pocarian priest thousands of years ago—the chest must never be opened a twelfth time, or the demons will destroy the world. Despite warnings, Barton opens it, releasing gaseous vapors and apparitions. The Pocarian priest's ghost appears and burns the chest to prevent catastrophe. The second story involves Winfield Corkran, a retired ship captain, haunted in a Georgia mansion by the ghost of its original owner who died by suicide. Corkran encounters the spirit, which attacks him, leaving physical marks before he awakens—or does he? Both stories blend horror with ambiguity about supernatural reality versus hallucination or drug-induced delusion. The issue also includes period advertisements for various mail-order products.