Concerto For Violin And Elephant!!

So you've got your standard story of pupil murdering his mentor so he can take his Stradivarius. Happens every day, it seems.

But...

Cursed? Yeah, right.

Yet it seems to be true:

A violin that only plays good music if you string the bow with hair from the recently dead?!? Seems like there are easier ways to make a living.

But Morton Jenks wants to be a star, so he takes up grave robbing:

Well, what do ya know? it's true!!

And the audience loved it!

But it had to be hair of the recently dead, you see. So after a week or so, the sound sucked again.

Jenks continued his grave robbing, even graduating to murder. Until:

I wasn't aware circuses had "featured singers." Who knew? So he bribes a carny to get him what he needs...but he found a carny with a heart!

So, that night...

And that's how a concert violinist gets trampled by elephants.

From Mysterious Stories #2 (1954)