ED WILSON

Real Name: Ed Wilson

Identity/Class: Human (1950s era)

Occupation: Bookkeeper

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Joe Macy (neighbor), unidentified policeman

Enemies: Unidentified neighbor

Known Relatives: Ellen (wife)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: His house at 17 Maple Street, in Creston Gardens

First Appearance: Adventure into Mystery#3/4 (September, 1956)

Powers/Abilities: An accountant by profession, Ed Wilson was a normal human with no paranormal abilities; he wore eyeglasses.

   Bored with his mundane life, Wilson seemed to have an over-active imagination--after falling victim to the confusion caused by a simple childish prank, he jumped to an outlandish conclusion to explain his predicament.

Height: 5'7" (by approximation)
Weight: 150 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Black (balding)

History:
(Adventure into Mystery#3/4 (fb) - BTS) - The past of accountant Ed Wilson is largely unrevealed, but at some point he and his wife moved into their home in the Creston Gardens housing development, where they lived for years. But Wilson grew to hate his humdrum, routine life, because day after day after day, it was always the same thing--get up at seven; get to the office at nine; keep books; get home to his wife at seven-thirty.

(Adventure into Mystery#3/4) - One autumn evening, as Wilson was walking home from work, he despondently thought to himself that his life was in a dull and boring rut, and he wished that something--ANYTHING!--different would happen to him.

   Wilson lethargically passed the street sign leading to his home on Maple Street; when he reached his house, Wilson found a fierce dog leashed by the front-door, but he and his wife didn't own a dog. At first figuring he'd turned in to the wrong house, Wilson saw the address number above the front-door and confirmed it was his own. Not wanting to confront the ugly brute of a dog, Wilson instead walked to the backdoor to enter his home...but he found it locked. As he pounded on the door, Wilson called for his wife to unlock it; but he was shocked when a large and imposing stranger opened the door. With alarm welling within him, Wilson questioned the stranger as to why the stranger was in his house, but the stranger aggressively insisted that he owned the house!

   As confusion and panic gripped him, Wilson ran across the street to Joe Macy's house and pounded on the door for help; but Wilson was further shocked when, rather than Macy, the door was opened by another man he didn't recognize!

   Wilson was nearly hysterical, and his confused outbursts attracted a small crowd of on-lookers--more faces he didn't recognize!--who thought Wilson must be out of his mind. But Wilson denied he was crazy, and having read about things like this occurring (see comments), Wilson came to the only logical explanation he could think of--He must have somehow slipped into another dimension...another identical world populated by people different from those that he knew!

   Upon hearing Wilson's wild claim, the stranger in Joe Macy's house was now convinced that Wilson was insane, and he threatened to call the police; Wilson ran off, determined to find a way back to his own world.

   Wilson tried to hide, but he was found by a policeman and the small mob of strangers. The distraught Wilson begged them all to stay away from him, and he explained his plight to the strangers... but he was taken aback when the policeman and the others began to laugh at him. When their laughter died down, the policeman explained that pranksters had merely switched around all the street signs in the neighborhood--with every house in the development looking the same, the trouble had all started because Wilson had mistakenly gone home to the wrong house!

   With his confusion cleared up, Wilson was relieved that he really hadn't gone to another dimension, and he was grateful to just be back in his own dull and routine world again.

   In regards to the switched street signs, the policeman told Wilson that he must have forgotten what day it was, and he reminded Wilson that kids pulled all kinds of mischief on Halloween!

Comments: Created by an unidentified writer and Jim Mooney (artist).

Wilson mentioned he lived in the neighborhood for years, but based on his unfamiliarity with the other people who lived just a few streets away, I guess he didn't socialize much.

Since he seemed to be familiar with the concept of traveling to other dimensions, I'm guessing Wilson probably read a lot of science-fiction and fantasy.

Considering his irrational behavior, it seems like Wilson had probably been working too hard and he was in need of a vacation.

This 4-page story -- A World Gone Mad! -- would be reprinted in Fear#26 (February, 1975).

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Ed Wilson has no known connections to:

Unidentified neighbor

A burly red-headed man, his home address was at 17 Oak Street in the Creston Gardens housing development.  He owned a large dog that he would keep leashed in the front of his house.

On Halloween night, pranksters had switched the street signs in the neighborhood around, which caused Ed Wilson (whose own house was at 17 Maple Street) to mistakenly walk "home" to the red-headed man's house instead.

After finding the red-headed man in "his" home, Wilson ran away in a panic; the red-headed man was later among the group of people who shared a laugh when the policeman revealed to Wilson that he had fallen victim to the pranksters.

(Note: Although I have him listed as an enemy, there was no indication that the red-headed man continued to hold a grudge against Ed Wilson once Wilson's confusion was all cleared up.)

--Adventure into Mystery#3/4

Unidentified policeman

A patrol officer, he was called to the Creston Gardens housing development when a home-owner complained about an "insane" man--Ed Wilson--who claimed he had slipped into another dimension.

The policeman would later explain to Wilson that pranksters had merely switched around all the street signs in the neighborhood, and he pointed out to Wilson that he had obviously forgotten that it was Halloween.

--Adventure into Mystery#3/4

Creston Gardens

A suburban housing development located somewhere in the United States, the neighborhood encompassed Maple Street and Oak Street.  The known residents included Ed and Ellen Wilson, and Joe Macy.

All of the Cape Cod-style houses in the neighborhood looked alike; when pranksters had switched the street signs around on Halloween night, Ed Wilson mistakenly walked home to the wrong house.

--Adventure into Mystery#3/4

images: (without ads)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p3, pan1 (Main Image - Ed Wilson flees from "his" house, unidentified neighbor in background)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p3, pan5 (Headshot - Ed Wilson comes up with outlandish explanation for his plight)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p2, pan3 (Ed Wilson mistakes unidentified neighbor's house for his own; unidentified neighbor's dog leashed out front)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p4, pan2 (Ed Wilson begging mob of strangers to leave him alone)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p2, pan5 (Unidentified neighbor opens door to Ed Wilson)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p4, pan4 (Unidentified neighbor)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p4, pan6 (Unidentified policeman reveals neighborhood street signs were switched around)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p4, pan7 (Unidentified policeman reminds Ed Wilson that it's Halloween)
Adventure into Mystery#3/4, p1, pan1 (Ed Wilson entering Creston Gardens)

Appearances:
Adventure into Mystery#3/4 (September, 1956) - unidentified writer, Jim Mooney (pencils and inks), Stan Lee (editor)

Last updated: 10/31/17

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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