RIP Dick Smith

1922 - 2014.

The Ecstasy of Gold

A great tribute to one of my all time favorite shows, Breaking Bad:

Ozymandias

By Percy Bysshe Shelley:
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half Sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, 
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away"

Halloween Costume 2014 Backstory

What follows is the backstory to my costume for this Halloween. His name: Prof. Emelius T. Dread, Ringmaster of Merrick & Dread's Carnival of Darkness. 

“Professor” Emelius T. Dread was an itinerant showman in the late 19^th century. He made ends meet by performing as a vaudeville magician, touring throughout Europe. His stage performances became known for the morbid, Grand Guignol-style illusions and Dread’s macabre sense of humor. Fascinated with the Occult, Dread often took inspiration from real rituals and rites when designing his stage performances; the notorious Black Magician Aleister Crowley attended a performance of Dread’s as a young boy, later remarked on the show’s “Curious authenticity.” He dreamed of one day creating his very own year-round fairground, as were beginning to become popular.

One day, in 1884, Dread met the man who is possible the infamous sideshow “freak” of all time: Joseph Carey “John” Merrick, AKA “the Elephant Man”. Merrick wrote to Dread, knowing of Dread’s show business connections, hoping to establish himself as a sideshow attraction in a bid to escape the workhouses of Leicester. Dread agreed, and, with the help from an old vaudeville associate named Sam Torr, assembled a collection human oddities and toured under the banner of “Prof. E.T. Dread’s Museum of the Weird”. The “Museum” was essentially a travelling tent show that featured a collection of bizarre artifacts, such as actual murder weapons, and a stage performance with Dread as the Master of Ceremonies, introducing acts such as Anastasia the Bearded Lady, The Invincible Galletti, the Wild Men of Borneo, and of course, Merrick, the star attraction. A notorious eccentric, Dread helped gain attention for the troupe by the outlandish appearance he conceived for his role as barker and MC – he twisted his hair into dreadlocks to match his name, and sported outlandish harlequin makeup. The toured all across Europe, and were incredibly successful. Members of the troupe later remembered how Merrick & Dread seemed especially close; once, when a drunken, rowdy patron loudly referred to Merrick as a “dumb animal”, Dread actually jumped from the stage in a rage and broken the man’s nose. Eventually, the show was re-christened “Merrick & Dread’s Museum of Wonders”.

Dread shared his plans with Merrick for one day building a permanent amusement park attraction, possibly in the United States. Merrick, who by this this point had substantial funds saved up, was initially willing to invest in his friend’s dream. Only fate had other ideas. In seems that in some point in the spring of 1886, during a tour in Brussels, Merrick and Dread had some kind of falling out. Why it happened is not know, but Galletti, the strongman of the troupe, later stated that Merrick’s Christian faith had alienated him from Dread and his Occult practices. Regardless, Merrick returned to England, and was eventually admitted to the London Hospital as a permanent resident by Frederick Treves.

Almost immediately after Merrick’s departure, Dread’s sideshow began losing money hand over fist. Desperate to win back his star attraction, Dread weekly wrote letters to Merrick, trying to win him back, to no avail. He tried to visit Merrick during his time at the hospital, but Merrick refused to see him. Dr. Treves later remarked that “The only man John (Merrick) was ever truly afraid was Emelius Dread.” Broke, Dread returned to performing as a stage magician. Eventually, in December of 1889, Dread managed to arrange a meeting with Merrick, still hoping to revive their former partnership. While no one else was present, nurses heard much angry shouting from Dread, later seeing him running from Merrick’s room, clutching at his left eye; Merrick stated that he struck him, but would not say why. Five months later, Merrick was found dead in his room of suffocation. His death was blamed on his abnormally large cranium having caused him to suffocate in his sleep, but some whispered Prof. Dread had taken his revenge on the Elephant Man for blinded eye; some even said that Merrick’s death was the result of Black Magic.

In the summer of 1890, Dread left England for the US. It was there that that he found employment as a performer at Steeplechase Park on Coney Island, one of the first amusement parks in the US. Around this time, Dread began an obsession with dark rides and funhouses. He would spend late nights designing and re-designing his amusement park dream, only now the plans got darker and darker, and the amusements and shows more sinister. For almost 30 years, Dread bid his time and saved his money, waiting for the opportunity.

Eventually, in 1931, he launched not an amusement park but a traveling carnival – Merrick & Dread’s Carnival of Wonders. No one was really sure why he used his former partner’s name. Dread himself never said why. The carnival did gain some infamy for Dread’s employing mostly ex-cons. Touring the country, Dread’s carnival was enormously successful. For four years it toured the country. But curiously, it left a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances. Eventually, FBI investigators caught up to the carnival in the town of Indiana, Pennsylvania in October of 1935. When they arrived, they found it completely abandoned. While exploring the grounds, not a single person was found. Entering some of the train cars, they found fresh, steaming cups of coffee, as though they had just been set down. In Prof. Dread’s private car, they found the entire car set up as though for an Occult ritual. Human blood was found on the scene, but never any bodies.

The carnival was trucked off to the local junkyards, and the strange disappearance was largely forgotten about by the people of Indiana, PA. But some say, on cold October nights, if the moon is bright and the wind is blowing, you can almost smell the aroma of cotton candy and hear the sound of a ghostly circus calliope approaching...

The only known photograph of a young Emelius Dread (right) and Joseph Merrick (left) in the early days of the Museum of the Weird. 

The WNUF Halloween Special

Originally broadcast live on October 31, 1987, the "WNUF Halloween Special" is a stunning expose of terrifying supernatural activity that unfolded at the infamous Webber House, the site of ghastly murders. Local television personality Frank Stewart leads a group of paranormal investigators including Catholic exorcist, Father Joseph Matheson and the prolific husband-and-wife team Louis and Claire Berger. Together, the experts explore the darkest corners of the supposedly haunted Webber House, trying to prove the existence of the demonic entities within. Did they find the horrific truth or simply put superstitious rumors to rest? Compiled from the highest quality source material available, this trailer is for the first official release the program has received since its initial broadcast.

The Skeleton Dance

An classic cartoon.
 

Horror is Universal

A great tribute to the Universal Monsters:

100 Days Until Halloween!

Time to get cracking, Specters!

All Seeing Eye

When I die, I definitely want a tombstone this badass. 

Hellfire

Picture by The House of Shock Horror Show, New Orleans, LA.

Captain Spaulding's Murder Ride

"You like blood, violence, freaks of nature?" Love this scene.

Support the Radley Haunted House!

Steampunk Makeup Tutorial

This was too awesome not to post:

Portrait of An American Family

20 years ago today, shock rocker Marilyn Manson's first album, Portrait of An American Family, hit the shelves, and there was no looking back. Below, for your listening pleasure, is the entire album (Warning: NSFW!):

The Return of the Monsters

From DreadCentral:
"The house that monsters built is looking to revere its monstrous franchises anew!

According to Deadline the studio is in early stages of developing a substantial new production endeavor that will expand and unify a network of classic characters and stories. The architects of that narrative will be Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan.

Kurtzman recently broke with partner Roberto Orci, but his big-scale projects have included Transformers, Star Trek, and The Amazing Spider-Man. Morgan is the writer behind five installments of The Fast and the Furious, which has been Universal’s most reliably lucrative franchise. It’s not set in stone yet if either will write, but they will soon be going around town enlisting talent to bring new cinematic life to these enduring characters from lore, literature, and Universal’s own library. While Universal has selectively tapped its movie monster library already, this will be the first time that the studio has formalized an approach to these classic characters in a cohesive, connected way rather than as a series of stand-alone projects by disparate filmmaking teams.

They’ve begun the meetings to put together an interconnected slate of monster films, and the first will be a reboot of The Mummy, which will be released April 22, 2016. Part of their duty will be to work closely with production, marketing, promotions, and consumer product to support the revival. They will also reevaluate projects which have preexisting attachments and bring them all under one cohesive strategy."

Don't Let The Government Destroy Net Neutrality!

Send a message to the FCC here:

Street Art

The things you see in the morning...

My Dark Place Alone - Behind the Scenes:

Music Video Monday: "My Dark Place Alone"

By the Murderdolls:

Legacy, Part II

Legacy

Whatever's Inside... It's Horrible!

Faces in the Fog

Photo by Haunted Overload

You Will Never Be Rid of Me

Sex & Death

An old photograph of Theda Bara.

Where No Man Has Gone Before

Click Below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WoM2bHfr48

Fireworks

This is absolutely breathtaking: someone flew a drone into a 4th of July fireworks display, and this is what they filmed. Beautiful.

Happy Fourth of July!

Enjoy the burgers, beer, and fireworks for me!

The United Monster Talent Agency

Such an awesome tribute to the horror movies of Old Hollywood. See how many famous faces you can spot. Specially thanks to Highbury Cemetery for bringing this to my attention.

Pirate Haunts

On a bit of a pirate quick lately, so I thought I'd post some pirate-themed haunts:
Hi-Rez Designs Pirates Show:
Sailors Grave:
Haunted Pirate Ship:
Pirates of Emerson:
Pirates of the Caribbean Haunt:

Pirates of the Caribbean - Behind the Scenes

Continuing on from yesterday, I thought I'd share these behind the scenes videos of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. First up is a look at how the ride came to be:
Finally, we have a look at the major overhaul the ride underwent in the mid-2000s, after the movies had been released: