Wednesday 13 December 2017

Creepmas Spook Sightings Of Yester Year No.3 - A Boom In English Ghosts



While searching the British Newspaper Archive for spooky Christmas stuff, I discovered this great article about ghosts, which is just a bit too lengthy for me to type out, so in a break from the usual way I do things, I'm posting the scans here for you to squint your eyes over! It's from Britannia & Eve, dated Tuesday 1st of December, 1931....

(To really be able to read them, you're probably best saving the images and zooming in, or you could try using Control+ to zoom into the larger images after clicking...sorry, but I couldn't find any other way to make them viewable other than this..and resizing just makes the images even blurrier!)








(Images Copyright of Illustrated London News Group)






Dear Satan

Frosty The Snowman Recovers His Broom




This comic strip comes from Dell Publishing's Frosty The Snowman No. 661, 1955, and tells how Frosty recovers his broom from an old witch he steals it when her own broom breaks.....










Nothing like some violence to settle things when all else fails, eh kids? He did just beat up the witch though, right? I mean, she went awfully quiet and we never actually see her again.....Hmmm.......

Anyway, thanks to Digital Comic Museum as always...no uploader credits this time as this was found already uploaded elsewhere on line, so the scanner is unknown....

Tuesday 12 December 2017

Whatever happened to Creepmas? (Never mind, here's Macaulay Culkin!)




So illness, returning friends and college courses have obliterated my attempts at Creepmas posting mostly the last few days, so to make up for all the missed days, you can expect a whole splurge of posts tomorrow, the last official day of The 13 Days Of Creepmas! 

In the meantime, here's Macaulay Culkin in another sequel to Home Alone....

*NSFW - swearing, violence, Macaulay Culkin......*


Also, you've hopefully been checking out all the people who have continued with the Creepmas stuff all week, by clicking he badge in the top left of the blog!? Or you could just click the one right below here....

I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS



Sunday 10 December 2017

Creepmas Spook Sightings of Yester Year No.2 - A Gaggle of Ghosts




Today's snippet comes from The Western Gazette, dated December 24th 1937......my favourite from this lot is the one titled The Fourth Passenger! Properly creepy! See what you think.....



UNCANNY STORIES OF CHRISTMAS HAUNTINGS

At the Christmas Party there is almost certain to be someone who will try to make our blood run cold with tales of hauntings.  We may not believe in ghosts.  But we listen intently.  Perhaps we have the feeling that those who scoff at the uncanny may be the first to be "visited."

Some spectral visitors to-day are said to be modern in character, and this is attributed to the theory that ghosts remain earthbound until the scenes of their earthly habitation are destroyed.

The ghost of a famous dramatist which haunted a threatre(sic), for example, has never been seen since the building was pulled down and replaced by a "super cinema."  Nevertheless, even this modernistic place is haunted each Christmas by a ghost, which has been identified as a musician, who a few years ago, up to the time of his death, played the piano there.




Apparently thus visitor has a rooted objection to anything savouring of jazz and other musical works associated with the "talkies."  Each year the ghost is now seen in the corridor near the manager's office, looking not terrifying but almost worthy of sympathy, for it shudders and seems to be shocked.

And while the Ghost is seen, there is a quiet background of sound, not in keeping with the dance tunes of to-day, but reminiscent of the rollicking songs of virile cowboys in the days of not so long ago, when films were silent and the pictorial adventures of western heroes were accompanied by pianoforte renderings.

HAUNTED BY A MONEY LENDER

A peculiarity of ghosts is that they may prove to be totally different in character from the objects of their hauntings.  A dismal mortal, for example, may be haunted by a cheerful spectre.  On the other hand, a comedian of the music hall stage is said to be visited each Christmas by the mournful ghost of a money lender.

In the comedian's dressing room, no matter what theatre he may be working in at the time, the ghost insinuates itself.  One can scarcely say that the ghost appears, for it seems to slither along the wall, and flatten itself out on the ceiling. Its visitation is accompanied by a continuous jingling of coins and an occasional voice which speaks of percentages and rates of interest.




The comedian in question declares that he is never frightened by this experience. On the contrary, he regards it as salutary, for he claims to be descended from a noble family whose exalted but penniless members, centuries ago, persecuted the Jewish money-lenders.  Moreover, he is a self-confessed spendthrift and mends his ways only for a few weeks following Christmas.

FOR THE LOVE OF A LADY

There was once a happy ghost.  Or, apparently it was happy, for its laughter echoed along the corridors of an ancient castle in Devonshire.  It was not at the hour of midnight when the ghost's laughter was heard, but at the winter break o'day, at the time when centuries ago his beloved, the daughter of the Squire, ran away from him who was a poor Jester, with the son of a neighbouring house.

The fair-haired fickle daughter of the castle's lordly owner did not travel far with her new lover, for a snowstorm overtook them on Dartmoor, and they perished.

Upon receiving the sad tidings, her father called upon the Jester to make merry and dispel the black clouds of despair which pervaded the castle.




Heartbroken, the professional merry-maker started to sing of his lady who had gone.  But before his song was fairly started he collapsed.  He had, in fact, "died for the love of a lady."  Many years later, it was recorded that the jester reappeared in that gloomy castle.  But his ghost was never actually seen.  Instead, the corridors of stone echoed with his laughter... uncannily piercing, yet not unpleasant.  For although he had loved and lost, he had at least tasted of the happiness which was not for him alone.

THE FOURTH PASSENGER

This story of a phantom coach concerns a traveller who held His Majesty's commission in the army, and was not normally affected with "nerves."  But on this Christmas-eve, having left his Regiment's headquarters to walk to the nearest town, where his motor-car was garaged, the lieutenant of infantry became uneasy at the loneliness and the extreme cold and dark of that country road.  His legs and hands seemed to have no feeling in them, and it was with difficulty that he was able to walk.  His brain was too numbed to realise that the vehicle which suddenly overtook him was a coach drawn by four chestnut horses.

Summoning his last remaining scrap of vitality, he shouted, and the coach stopped.  Muffled up in a great cape, the guard descended and opened the door.  The lieutenant entered, and immediately lost consciousness.  After what might have been a few minutes or a few hours, he awakened, and was at once nauseated by a smell of decay.  The inside of the coach was indescribably dirty and horrible.  Then he noticed that there were three other inside passengers.  But they showed no signs of life.  Their features were marble, their eyes glassy, and their lips bloodless.  Although it was unspeakably dark and dismal in that coach, each of the three other passengers appeared to be outlined by a phosphorescent glow.



Normally a man of high courage, this lieutenant of infantry felt the demon of abject terror descending upon him.  He tried to shout, but no word came from his lips.  Yet it seemed that his unspoken complaint was answered by one of the ghostly figures, who moaned terribly.

There appeared to be no doubt that the coach was moving at a fairly rapid pace.  With a sickening jerk, however, it stopped, and the soldier found himself being propelled through the door, down and down endlessly.

Next morning, in the valley, hundreds of feet below the road, he was picked up, frozen and near to death, by a farmer, who carried the luckless soldier to his house and restored him to consciousness.  That lieutenant of infantry lived to become a commander of ability and fame.  But he continued always to declare that he had been the fourth passenger in that phantom coach.

A LEGLESS GHOST

Many people have claimed to have seen a headless ghost.  But apparently, there has been only one which did not possess legs!

This legless apparition was seen every Christmas for some years in the corridor of an ancient north-country house.  Suddenly there would be a clanging of bells and the rattling of chains.  A long, mournful groan.  Then the ghost would appear, slowly moving through the floor! That is to say, the ghost's waistline was on the corridor floor.

The explanation was advanced that when the house was re-built, in the middle of last century, this particular floor was raised about three feet above its original position, thus allowing alterations to be made to the rooms below.  Now, the ghost being earthbound to the old corridor level, could not be expected to transfer its affections to the new floor through which it was able to walk with the greatest of ease!

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Saturday 9 December 2017

Creepmas TV Shows




It's getting increasingly tricky for me to find properly creepy shows based around Christmas to put up on the blog, but I think I've found three that might at least pass as being somewhat related to Creepmas!

First up is a Christmas episode of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, a weird old sitcom featuring the ghost of an old Sea Captain played by Devon Miles from Knight Rider who spends his undead days living in a house with a widow that he fancies and her two kids..the series was based on an even weirder film that wasn't a comedy...anyhoo, it has a ghost in it, so that makes it fine for Creepmas!!




Next up is a Christmas episode of Sherlock Holmes from 1955 that starts with a serial killer getting sent to prison by Holmes, and the killer threatens to put an end to Holmes before he faces the executioner! And then *shock* somehow escapes prison! Can you guess how the Christmas Pudding of the title is involved?? Maybe.....but anyway, it has a serial killer and Sherlock Holmes, so its fine for Creepmas!!




And finally for today, quite possibly the scariest combination of creepiness for Creepmas that I could possibly have found.....a snippet from Howdy Doody's Christmas, featuring a clown, a puppet and a whole load of nonsense from a show that I can only be thankful for that I never remember being shown in the UK, at least not in the 80s when I was a kid....
Anyway, its freaky as hell, and never fine...at all...ever.....




Still got this lurgy-cold, but it does seem to be on the shift, so hopefully tomorrow I can get another Spook Sighting post up, and then maybe a Gruesome Games post for Monday or Tuesday! We'll see how we go, but for now, I'll leave you to your Howdy Doody fuelled nightmares....laters, stuffers!





Friday 8 December 2017

Old Creepmas Cards




Bleurgh! Ye dreaded lurgy has once again appeared from nowhere and attacked my nose, throat & ears.....and so for yesterday's post, I had just planned to stick up some old creepy and generally 'WTF?'
Victorian Christmas cards...

But I ended up forgetting to even do that! So here's a load of them now instead, as I'm still all lurgied up! Wouldn't be Christmas without some sneezing and wheezing I guess! Anyway, I will try and get some other sort of post up by tonight though, but we'll see how that goes...in the meantime, see if you can spot some familiar face from this year's Creepmas badges in amongst these cards....(Also, what was the obsession with root vegetables? weird!)....


















Wednesday 6 December 2017

Gruesome Gift Ideas for Creepmas 2017 - Part 1



About time I did one of these posts isn't it? Not long to go to get the Christmas shopping done after all...so lets get right into it with a look at the first of the cool-stuff-what-I-would-like-myself-for-Creepmas finds...

If you know me at all, you'll know how much I love Garbage Pail Kids, and so this load of stuff that's due to go on sale tomorrow from Creepy Company would be right up my street!




I especially like the Wax Wrapper Fleece Throw...it would be awesome to curl up on a sofa wrapped in that during the cold Creepmas nights!

Creepy Co. also have a load of other horror-related items for sale, with Goosebumps and Halloween collections, and Vincent Price & My Pet Monster stuff too, so check those out at their website for more ideas....


Due out this very day from Super 7 are these great ReAction figures of classic thriller director Alfred Hitchcock and Count Orlok from Nosferatu!




Both figures are 3.75 inches, are articulated and Alfred even comes with a crow and a cigar! 







And due out tomorrow, also from Super 7, are these awesome Eddie ReAction figures!! 



For those who don't know, (seriously?) , Eddie is the mascot for British Heavy Metal band, Iron Maiden, and these figures are based around how he looks on various different album & single covers from the band's 40+ year career...




This is Aces High Eddie...






This is Killers Eddie....





And this is Powerslave Eddie....





And finally we have Trooper Eddie! 



All of the Maiden/Eddie toys go on sale at 2 Minutes To Midnight (PST) tomorrow in Super 7's American stores and Webstore.....


Finally for today's gift ideas, if you you have a loved one who prefers to read rather than play with action figures or who already has enough GPK socks, how about this book on beasts from Japanese folklore? 




The Book Of Yokai by Michael Dylan Foster is probably the only book you'll need to get up to speed on the various different yokai that have been appearing in Japanese horror films, games, anime, manga and even Ice Cream for years and years and years now....
I say probably, because I haven't actually read it, but if anyone was to buy me a book for Creepmas based around Japanese folklore, this would be the one I'd want to see in my stocking! *hint...coff*



So there's a few things to be getting started with....I'll post some more ideas later in the week! IN the meantime, be sure to pop over to the hub and check out what everybody else is doing for these 13 days of Creepmas! Just click the badge below to be whisked off there right now by some sort of internet wizardry! But be sure to be back here tomorrow for some sort of other post-type-thing...yes!


I'm a CREEP for The 13 Days of CREEPMAS