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Sapphire & Steel
"Chamber of Horrors"
Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981
World International Publishing
Written by: Brenda Apsley (?)
Art by: Paul Crompton and Genn Rix (?) |
Overnight, an on-loan exhibit of wax figures comes to life.
Read the story summary at Animus Web
Didja Know?
"Chamber of Horrors" is a 5-page text story that appeared in
Sapphire & Steel Annual 1981 published by
World International Publishing.
According to Steve Holland at the
Bear Alley Books website, this story was probably written by
Brenda Apsley, with art by Paul Crompton and Genn Rix.
Characters appearing or mentioned in this story
Reg Ferrell
Andrew
Neville
Chris
Rick
Linda
Ann
Sapphire
Steel
Didja Notice?
On the first page of the story, Reg is settling himself in
at home to watch a Greta Garbo movie on TV. Greta Garbo
(1905-1990) was a well-known Swedish-American film actress
in the early half of the 20th Century.
The illustration of Reg sitting in his living room shows a
lamp with a base in the form of a topless woman! Seems a
little risque for a kids book!
The students engaged in the overnight stay inside the
Chamber of Horrors wax exhibit are said to be participating
in "rag week". In the UK, "rag week" is a week of events
designed to raise funds for charitable organizations by "rag
societies", student societies with a goal of fundraising for
various charities.
On page 3 of the story, one of the wax statues is wearing a
swastika on its left arm, likely indicating it is a
representation of a German Nazi soldier of WWII.
In this story, the entity of Time is able to drain life
force from the students and channel it into the wax statues
to make them come to a sort of mechanical life in order to
destroy something.
Sapphire is able to use the glowing effect of her eyes,
reflected and focused into a tight beam off a hand mirror,
to start a fire!
At the end of the story, the wax figures of the Chamber of
Horrors display are all destroyed while the students slept.
The students wake up and wonder if Sapphire and Steel were
really there, for they have no proof it. They plan to tell Ferrell
what happened and hope he believes them. What if he and
others don't believe them? Will the students have to pay for
the lost waxworks?
Unanswered Questions
Time has generally needed an old artifact or something of
the sort to make a breech in time and manifest trouble. What
was the trigger here that allowed Time to drain the
students' energies into the wax figures?
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