Ghost Special (An old annual from 1976)...and the worst poem in the world.....

 I was planning a totally different post today, but I spent three hours trying to get the laptop in my flat to work....several updates later, and it seems to be working for the moment, but it's way too late to start a Gruesome Games post now....

And so I decided instead to share some pages from an old British comic Annual from 1976 that I found online...I would have bought the book and shown it proper, but it's apparently very rare and only shows up randomly every few years, and goes for £150 or so....

Here's a look at the contents, so you can see what the full thing has in store for you if you ever become lucky and rich enough to find one.....

And now here's some selected pages for you to take a look at.....I didn't include any of the longer, more serious stories, as there's more of a chance those could be reprinted some day, but I have included some of the cartoon-style strips.....

Click to go big....

I love the ghostly tales sections that you would always find in these old annuals, and some of the artwork makes me very nostalgic for old books about spooks that I used to read as a kid.  Some interesting stuff about the Tay Bridge Disaster too.  I had a friend that used to stay in Dundee, so I read a bit about the disaster when I was visiting him, but all that spooky stuff about it is news to me!  I did know they reused the engine and called it 'The Diver', and that it apparently gave rise to the 'Worst Poem in the World'....which I shall post here for your pleasure, because I can't possibly make such claims with no evidence....

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay!

Alas! I am very sorry to say

That ninety lives have been taken away

On the last Sabbath day of 1879,

Which will be remember’d for a very long time.

‘Twas about seven o’clock at night,

And the wind it blew with all its might,

And the rain came pouring down,

And the dark clouds seem’d to frown,

And the Demon of the air seem’d to say-

“I’ll blow down the Bridge of Tay.”

When the train left Edinburgh

The passengers’ hearts were light and felt no sorrow,

But Boreas blew a terrific gale,

Which made their hearts for to quail,

And many of the passengers with fear did say-

“I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay.”

But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,

Boreas he did loud and angry bray,

And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay

On the last Sabbath day of 1879,

Which will be remember’d for a very long time.

William McGonagall, Scottish writer of this poem and most famous for being, well, a bit rubbish really........

So the train sped on with all its might,

And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,

And the passengers’ hearts felt light,

Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,

With their friends at home they lov’d most dear,

And wish them all a happy New Year.

So the train mov’d slowly along the Bridge of Tay,

Until it was about midway,

Then the central girders with a crash gave way,

And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!

The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,

Because ninety lives had been taken away,

On the last Sabbath day of 1879,

Which will be remember’d for a very long time.

As soon as the catastrophe came to be known

The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,

And the cry rang out all o’er the town,

Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,

And a passenger train from Edinburgh,

Which fill’d all the peoples hearts with sorrow,

And made them for to turn pale,

Because none of the passengers were sav’d to tell the tale

How the disaster happen’d on the last Sabbath day of 1879,

Which will be remember’d for a very long time.

It must have been an awful sight,

To witness in the dusky moonlight,

While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,

Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,

Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv’ry Tay,

I must now conclude my lay

By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,

That your central girders would not have given way,

At least many sensible men do say,

Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,

At least many sensible men confesses,

For the stronger we our houses do build,

The less chance we have of being killed.

William McGonagall

from Collected Poems (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2006)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*A newspaper column written in 1888 - quotes:

" According to the Chairman, the bridge would never have fallen if this poem had not been written." *

* ~ *

Anyway, with that slightly odd and unneccessary tangent, that seems like a decent enough panic post!

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