To test further, I've copied these 24 .gif files into my home directory. I then run (just like the user I'm testing for does) a 'display *.gif' and keep hitting the space bar to move through the files in the window that opens up. When it gets to the last file I get a 'bus error' and the display window dies. Other times I see this:
(and I'm not showing the entire output.. )
be312[~/testing/dir4]display *.gif
*** glibc detected *** display: corrupted double-linked list: 0x000000000051c180 ***
======= Backtrace: =========
/lib64/libc.so.6[0x2b6b03e8b4fe]
/lib64/libc.so.6[0x2b6b03e8c9b7]
/lib64/libc.so.6(__libc_free+0x6c)[0x2b6b03e8cb7c]
/SPG_ops/utils/x86_64/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-6.5.8-8/lib/libMagickCore.so.2(RelinquishMagickMemory+0xf)[0x2b6b02c7064f]
/SPG_ops/utils/x86_64/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-6.5.8-8/lib/libMagickCore.so.2(XSetWindows+0x16)[0x2b6b02cf0346]
/SPG_ops/utils/x86_64/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-6.5.8-8/lib/libMagickCore.so.2(MagickCoreTerminus+0x9)[0x2b6b02c6f409]
display(DisplayImageCommand+0x1a5)[0x4009dd]
/lib64/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xf4)[0x2b6b03e3d164]
display(DisplayImageCommand+0xa1)[0x4008d9]
======= Memory map: ========
00400000-00401000 r-xp 00000000 00:17 99934525 /SPG_ops/utils/x86_64/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-6.5.8-8/bin/display
00500000-00501000 rw-p 00000000 00:17 99934525 /SPG_ops/utils/x86_64/ImageMagick/ImageMagick-6.5.8-8/bin/display
00501000-006f0000 rw-p 00501000 00:00 0 [heap]
2b6b02a61000-2b6b02a7c000 r-xp 00000000 08:02 14482 /lib64/ld-2.4.so
So here comes my confusion. Just so it would be easier to follow my testing and have easier filenames, I took the 24 files and copied them to another test directory and changed the names to 01.gif, 02.gif... 24.gif that way I could be sure what file it was on when it crashed. But to my surprise, when I did a 'display *.gif' on these same files with the shortened names, it did not crash at all. When the last file was shown the display window disappeared cleanly and I got my prompt back.
It seems like there's an issue with the length of the filename perhaps? Is this a bug? I need help.

Here's the version of the software:
be312[~]/usr/local/bin/display -version
Version: ImageMagick 6.5.8-8 2010-02-05 Q16 http://www.imagemagick.org
Copyright: Copyright (C) 1999-2010 ImageMagick Studio LLC
Features:
Thanks in advance,
-chris