Terry Sharp: Hell-bent on fighting Satanists

Groovy Age of Horror has activated the bat signal to spring the horror blogosphere into a grassroots "spread the word" campaign for a highly worthwhile comic book, Faceless: A Terry Sharp Story. From the online preview:

ONCE UPON A TIME IN ENGLAND - 1962. By day, Terry Sharp is a hard-living, skirt-chasing, celebrated director of classic horror films. But by night, the horror turns real - Terry has discovered a shadowy group of Satanists hell-bent on taking control of the British government. This knowledge has made him a marked man. Black magic or bullets - the Faceless conspirators don't particularly care which - as long as the end result is Terry's death. Too bad for them, Terry Sharp isn't ready to die just yet - not without taking a whole lot of bad guys with him

This is the kind of story telling the Haunted Vampire is happy to help promote. Now if you'll excuse me, I got a comic book to race out and buy. UPDATE - Groovy Age of Horror has snagged an exclusive. UPDATE 2 - Exploring the Terry Sharp web site, I found this comic book, The Black Forest. The story is set on the battlefields of World War I with an American fighting vampires and other creatures of the night. The comic was released in 2004 when I was busy fighting to stop other bloodthirsty horrors. I'm going to look for The Black Forest. The other great news is The Black Forest 2 is scheduled for release on Sept. 7, 2005.

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Haunted by Granny

The Mirror of London has the story of a family haunted by Granny:

The 58-year-old - Sue's mum - says: "The first thing was the sheets moving as I lay in bed. I sensed my mum and felt the blankets moving around me. It was like she was tucking me in just like she used to." When Joe, 75, died in 1997, the problems got worse. "After the funeral, the boxes of his old stuff would move about," says Sandra. "I'd make a point of putting, say, a pension book on the table and walking out of the room. Each time it moved." Next she heard footsteps at night. Then the coughing started. "It scared me so much that I wouldn't go to bed," she recalls.

My grandmother is probably haunting the Bingo Hall.

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'Bewitched' statue Part Deux

I've blogged this already. Go read this post to read my thoughts. Here's the latest story, this one from the L.A. Times:

When the city's design review board approved the project this month, many in town were relieved. "It's probably going to be the best-looking statue in town," said Megan Kalgren, 20. Scooping herbs into little plastic bags to sell for "spell kits" at her mother's witch supply store, Kalgren said she had attended meetings about the statue and thought the opposition was ridiculous. "A bunch of people were complaining, but I'm like, 'It's a statue, it's cute, get over it,' " Kalgren said. A customer in Kalgren's store, Natasha Rooney of Rochester, N.H., said she was a witch and saw nothing offensive about honoring the television version. "I think it's cool," said Rooney, 16. "Salem is all about history, and even though the statue that is going up may not be historical, it fits right in with the town." Salem Mayor Stanley J. Usovicz Jr. agreed: "Despite the unfortunate events in 1692," he said, "I think — and many people here also think — that popular culture and contemporary art in a historic city makes a great deal of sense."

Makes sense to me.

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Theater calls in ghost hunters

From the Glasgow Evening Times:

Members of the Scottish Paranormal Investigations (SPI) team will spend a night in the Tron Theatre to analyse spirit activity.

The team's overnight stay comes after several people, including the theatre's caretaker, reported seeing spectres in various parts of the building.

The tower is the oldest part of the Trongate theatre and dates back to the 16th century. It has survived several fires and has a rich history which includes a spell as a place of execution.

There have been reports of people dressed in old-fashioned clothing seen near the tower and also of people looking out of its window down to the street below.

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Incan children sacrificed in ceremonies

If you kids don't behave, I'm going to send you to the temple. From Discovery News:

Recent evidence sheds light on the young boys and girls who were killed during Inca sacrificial ceremonies in the 15th and 16th centuries, evidence that includes pottery and human remains found at South American mountaintop sites.

Although archaeologists do not believe the Inca practiced cannibalism, as did their Aztec neighbors to the north, the evidence does suggest that Inca leaders targeted children to serve as sacrificial "tribute," somewhat similar to money collected for state taxes.

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North Wales Paranormal Research calls it quits

The North Wales Paranormal Research team has decided to give up the ghost. The founder of the group, which began in 2002, has announced on the organization's web site that she and the other directors decided to shut it down.

We've all travelled up and down the country, as far afield as Woodchester Mansion in Gloucestershire and Newcastle Keep in Newcastle upon Tyne. In addition to these we have investigated some of the supposedly 'most haunted' buildings in the UK, including Chingle Hall, the aforementioned Derby Gaol and Plas Teg. In addition to the larger scale venues, we have also been involved in a number of private residence cases which have all proved interesting. We've had some very interesting results but most importantly of all we have all had great fun along the way.

Good luck in the future.

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Perfect tour for me

I would love to do this.

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Coming attractions

I haven't done this in a while. I should go back to see how many of the upcoming movies I wanted to see I managed to see. I was going to see House of Wax this weekend, finally, but instead took the kids to see Madagascar (I know, I just ruined what little street cred I had in the horror blogosphere). UPDATE: When I compiled similar lists earlier in this blog's history, I was pretty much writing it for myself as a checklist reminder of movies I wanted to see. But I want to throw out the question to others: Which of the upcoming movies are you most looking forward to seeing? June 10 - Haute tension. French film opens in the U.S. Trailer here. This will probably go into my NetFlix queue even though I'd prefer to see it on the big screen. June 17 - Batman Begins. Let's just say I'm cautiously optimistic. June 24 - Land of the Dead. ::Drool:: Long awaited, eagerly anticipated and politically probably more relevant than ever before, I can't wait for this movie to open. Bewitched. I saw a trailer for it before Revenge of the Sith. It looks like the great pilot episode for a remake of a TV series. I doubt if there's enough to make it worth seeing on the big screen. Nicole Kidman as a witch is hot, though, and the wife loves Will Ferrell. July 1 - War of the Worlds. If the drive-in at Stephen City, Va., is playing it, that's where I'm going to try to see it. For some reason, seems like the perfect place to see this movie. Undead. An Australian zombie film hits the U.S. probably to ride the coattails of Land of the Dead. But it looks like a good popcorn flick and if you haven't seen the trailer yet you should. The Guardian raved about it. To be honest, I'm looking forward to this more than the big budget War of the Worlds. Here's what The Guardian had to say about Undead:

There's a few bob in zombie films nowadays; it's a lucrative niche market, and platoons of the walking dead with their outstretched arms and vacant stare are relatively cheap to rustle up. But Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's superb zombie spoof Shaun of the Dead recently raised the bar very high for this kind of thing, as well as giving us an unimprovably brilliant description of the zombie's befuddled, belligerent behaviour: "Like a drunk who's lost a bet." This is an Australian zombiesploitation splatterfest by the Spierig brothers, Michael and Peter, and it likeably declines to take itself too seriously, while simultaneously being very clearly the creation of people who take the genre very seriously indeed.

July 8 - Fantastic Four. This may sound like the most trivial of concerns, but I really wish they had made The Thing more clunky looking. Irregardless of the reviews, this is on my must-see list. The inner-fan boy in me cannot be denied. Trailer here. Dark Water. I don't know if I want to dive in to these waters after walking out of Ring 2. As someone on the IMDB message board asked, "No pirates?" July 22 - The Devil's Rejects. Long-time readers of this site know I've been watching the development of this movie with keen interest. July 29 - The Brothers Grimm. From the IMDB description of the plot:

Folklore collectors and con artists, Jake and Will Grimm travel from village to village pretending to protect townsfolk from enchanted creatures and performing exorcisms. They are put to the test, however, when they encounter a real magical curse in a haunted forest with real magical beings, requiring genuine courage.

Terry Gilliam directing. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger. What's not to like? Night Watch. Russian fantasy film with vampires, witches, shapeshifters and other creatures battle for control of the night. Here's part of how Filmcritic.com described Night Watch:

Once it receives its long due stateside release, the smash Russian fantasy epic Night Watch will inevitably be compared to The Matrix, most likely because of all the people running about a modern-day city (wearing sunglasses at night, no less) doing battle with forces that normal folks can’t even see. Also, the film was a box office hit and the first in a planned trilogy. But truth be told, Night Watch has much more in common with the worlds created by fantasy novelist Neil Gaiman, most especially his classic Neverwhere (filmed for British TV) about a secret world existing just below the surface of everyday London. The two works share an abiding interest in the careful creation and delineation of complex universes of the unreal – not to mention a love of dark, shady places, and large-scale struggles between good and evil.

Entire review well worth reading. Don't forget to answer which movie you're most looking forward to seeing.

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New feature added

I added a new feature to my sidebar between recommendations and advertisements for some of my visitors. You know who you are.

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'The Opera Ghost really existed'

The Bad Hair Blog has a great post on The Phantom of the Opera novel by Gaston Laroux and the many movie and stage adaptions that followed.

The Phantom of the Opera story, while originally a horror tale, is in a sense a retelling of the French folk tale of Beauty and the Beast, and of course of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (the book written by Victor Hugo in 1831, not the Disney movie).

Go read the entire post here or at the Blogger News Network here.

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Vampires beware

Paging Dr. Van Helsing. Dr. Abraham Van Helsing to the white courtesy phone please. Scientists discover what gives raw garlic its potency at the molecular level.

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Scottish ghost hunters investigate pub

Notice how often British public houses are haunted? Perhaps the spirits (no pun intended) get confused and believe they are in heaven. Ghost Finders Scotland has details posted of a recent investigation of The Saracen Head, a pub in Glasgow reputed to be haunted. (Among the items on display at the pub is the skull of the last witch executed in Scotland.) There are photographs, recordings and video files online as well as technical aspects of the investigation. My favorite is Video File 1 and EVP File 2. Link here to the entire report.

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Archaeologists dig up Thracian tombs

Mysterious races, gold treasures in tombs, coded messages in the pottery, it doesn't get better than this. From Time Europe:

Whatever was in that tomb, Kitov's crew had to get to it first. Otherwise, the tomb raiders could make off with priceless historical artifacts. So Kitov and crew moved to Kazanlak, to a site near a spring with rumored healing powers. And they began to dig. Finally, about a month later, they struck gold — literally. Inside the tomb, they found the remains of a man who had been chopped into pieces, the bones of his legs, hands and lower jaw positioned carefully on the ground. Next to the dismembered skeleton was a life-size mask made of solid gold. Kitov was so excited, he now can't recall how he reacted. But his teammates remember him grabbing his head with both hands. "It can't be possible," he gasped. "It can't be possible."

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Ancient tombs found in China

From the Xinhua News Agency:

Seventeen ancient tombs believed to be built in the Warring States Period (403 - 221 BC) were found in a recent rescue excavation at an express highway construction site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Nearly at the same place, an ancient village dating back 4,000 years was also discovered by the experts, who are from a research institute on archaeology of the autonomous region.

They were surprised by the unique burial style. Bodies were put in jars, pots or basins and then buried in tombs in nearby Chenjiaying Village in Chifeng's Songshan District.

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Light blogging of the dark

Maybe it's the fun I had yesterday with the extended family or maybe it's the beautiful weather keeping me outside or maybe it's having four-days off in a row this weekend when I've been working six days a week. But I'm feeling lazy this Memorial Day weekend. So here's a round up of other great stuff you can go read: Mondo Schlocko has part two of a great interview with horror film maker Eric Stanze. Shaun Jeffrey of In the Shadows has landed an agent. Exclamation Mark has a post that Luke Halpin should read. M Valdemar and attentiondeficitdisorderly Too Flat help those of us who began following Layla Hardesty's live journal and The Outbreak in the middle of their stories. Don't also miss HP's great answer to a question I asked about the terror of the "twist" ending in horror. That question was prompted by this great post on Corpse Eaters. Bill Cunningham at DISC/ontent writes about his story meeting for a monster movie script he is writing. Let's wish him the best of luck. And The Groovy Age of Horror has a thought-provoking essay on how to establish a niche as a horror blogger. I see The Mystery of the Haunted Vampire's niche as the traditional supernatural aspects of horror: ghosts, vampires, werewolves, etc., with the occasional lost city or artifact or Fortean event thrown in. That is why there are very few posts on slasher films, UFOs or conspiracy theories on my blog. As interesting as I find such things, others cover those topics much better. UPDATE - Corpse Eaters posted his thoughts on the issue here. M Valdemar's take here.

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Apparitions of Mary

The Chicago Sun-Times has a run down of past events.

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Haunted shop frightens customers

Maybe this shop should have a "ghostly white sale" instead of a "white sale." From the BBC:

Staff and customers at a lighting shop in North East Lincolnshire have been turning a whiter shade of pale after a spate of ghostly goings-on. Lights drop from the ceiling, shades are thrown, doors open and slam, and footsteps echo throughout Beagles Lighting on Cleethorpe Road, Grimsby. Paranormal investigators, who were called in by shop owner Fiona Glover, have declared the shop haunted.

Yes, I know a white sale refers to sheets and other linens and this is a lighting shop. But who hasn't worn a white sheet as their costume to be a ghost for Halloween? So go read the entire story. It's got great details.

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Pimping online ghost hunting classes

The West Virginia Society of Ghost Hunters will be offering an online classes for beginning ghost hunters. (I'm holding out for the in-person experience.) For information on the courses, email Susan Crites at infoATwvsocietyofghosthunters.com. (Replace AT with @ of course.) Write "Enrolling Basic Ghost Hunter Training!" in the subject line.

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Saskatchewan farm grows mysterious trees

Here's an interesting tale about trees that seem to belong more in Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" than on a quiet Canadian farm. From Virtual Saskatchewan Online:

Skip and Linda Magowan's farm in The Thickwood Hills northwest of Saskatoon is becoming a hot spot for fans of the strange and unusual. This aspen's trunk, photographed in early spring, looks like it belongs to an elephant. The attraction is a stand of aspens economically named 'the crooked trees' by folks who live in the vicinity. The trees are located on the northern perimeter of the Magowan farm and they're surrounded by normal aspens that grow boldly skyward in competition for sunlight. The crooked trees, on the other hand, feature branches that loop, twist and reach out in every direction. The effect is an eerie, even haunted appearance.

The article goes on to describe the area as a hot spot for UFO activity. I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

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Depp pays for cannon to shoot gonzo's ashes

David Boyle pointed us to this story on Salon that actor Johnny Depp (Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, From Hell, etc.) is paying for the tower and cannon to shoot out Hunter S. Thompson's remains on to his ranch. It is good of Depp to do this for it is a fitting tribute to a journalist who lived a unique life. Our country needs journalists of Thompson's caliber now more than ever for the man's courage and writing ability were peerless.

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Haunted Times editor gives ghost talk

From the Mount Pleasant (Iowa) News:

Moon said he has had contact with spirits since he was seven years old. For several months he saw a boy standing at the end of his bed. He said he was glad when his family moved, but his new house had more paranormal experiences than the previous one.

Moon focused on two pieces of paranormal evidence during the hunt. The first was using photographs to look for ghosts. Moon recommended a digital camera with 3.2 mega pixels or less. The digital gives the opportunity for ghost hunters to see the image they have captured immediately rather than have to get film developed that may be touched up. Moon took the group to the Bentonsport Cemetery where everyone with a digital camera captured orbs. According to Moon, an orb is a spirit. Most spirits, he says do not take human shape because it requires a large amount of energy. The only way to get the energy is by taking it from the living, or from electrical devices

Several people on the tour experienced camera malfunctions or cell phone batteries going dead after being fully charged when arriving at the inn.

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Bloggers of the night! What sweet posts they make...IV

Finally organized my links section into some kind of order and added quite a few that I'd been intending to post. The side bar is a work in progress. Any links you'd like me to add, feel free to post in comments.

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The ghost in the cabin

When I first moved to Gerrardstown, a quiet village on the Virginia line, my wife and I bought an old house on the main street near the Corner Grocery. The original part of the house was a log cabin built about 1804. There had been many additions over the years, with the last in the 1860s making it a two story woodframe. But the original log cabin remained as the kitchen with the exposed log walls and original very wide floor boards. When we moved in, we thought the house lovely. But curious things would happen. One night my wife heard the back door -- an old-fashioned affair made of boards and with a cast iron latch -- open with it's distinct metallic snick. She called down the narrow stairs to me -- except I had just stepped out of the shower in the upstairs bathroom. I wrapped a towel around and crept down the stairs with a shillelagh held ready to strike. I saw nothing and heard no one. The back door was closed. I drew the bolt of it shut and put it down to her imagination or the wind or one of the three cats or the dog. Speaking of the pets, there would be times when the animals would all be together in the living room, sitting near us as we read. It could be disconcerting to see all four animals suddenly raise their heads and follow together as if watching something or someone walk across the room without us seeing anything, not even a lady bug flying. A month after moving in the previous owner stopped by with his truck for he was still removing items from the barn. He asked how we liked the house. I told him we loved it, but, in a joking manner, I wish he had told us about the ghost. Instead of laughing, his face drew ashen. "What do you mean?" he asked. So my wife and I told him of the events I related above. He told me he and his wife always had a feeling the house was haunted. He said they heard strange sounds on occasion and other occurances, but he did not go into specifics. But he did not joke about the house being haunted.

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Evidence of Viking Templars in Minnesota in 1362?

Long thought by many an elaborate hoax, a stone carved with Nordic runes may hold more secrets than previously thought. From WCCO News Channel 4 in Minneapolis/St. Paul:

Wolter and Nielsen scoured rune catalogs and found the dotted R's. "It's an extremely rare rune that only appeared during medieval times," Wolter said. "This absolutely fingerprints it to the 14th century. This is linguistic proof this is medieval. Period." Wolter and Nielsen traced the dotted R to rune-covered graves inside ancient churches on the island of Gotland off the coast of Sweden. "The next thing that happened is, we started finding on these grave slabs these very interesting crosses," Wolter said. Templar crosses are the symbol of a religious order of knights formed during the Crusades and persecuted by the Catholic Church in the 1300s. "This was the genesis of their secret societies, secret codes, secret symbols, secret signs -- all this stuff," Wolter said. "If they carved the rune stone, why did they come here? And why did they carve this thing?" Wolter has uncovered new evidence that has taken his research in a very different direction. He now believes the words on the stone may not be the record of the death of 10 men, but instead a secret code concealing the true purpose of the stone.

Entire story well worth the click on the link.

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The mad genius from the bottom of the sea

This man sounds like a real-life version of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo (except for the ship sinking and vengeance plotting). From Wired:

Craven, who will soon turn 80, moves at a brisk shuffle, his black sneakers taking two steps for every one of mine. Back and forth we pace, like inmates in a jail yard. Craven's mind is already way beyond the Marianas project. "I've decided to run a marathon to demonstrate my newest innovation," he says. "You see, I apply cold temperatures to different parts of my body in three bastings. The third is the most complicated - I ice the terminuses of my lymphatic system. My body heals itself. Look at these hands," he says, opening and closing his fists. "I have no joint pain of any kind!" Craven may sound like a brilliant psychotic, but he's got plenty of credentials: a PhD in ocean engineering, a law degree, and a stint as chief scientist for the US Navy's Special Projects Office. There he was instrumental in developing the Polaris missile program, the submarine-based backbone of America's nuclear deterrence and one of the most complex defense systems ever. In fact, most deep-ocean activities - saturation diving, exploring with submersibles, searching for tiny objects on the ocean floor - owe their origins to top secret, cold war-era Navy projects in which Craven had a hand.

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Tim Boucher: occult investigator

Sometimes when I can't sleep I hit the next blog button. I came on this site, Blither, which deals with a real-life terror:

Went in for the usual chemo treatment today. But, as life would have it, it turned out to be not so usual.First off the tech couldn't seem to draw blood from my port. They check my blood every time I go in. Usually there is no prob in drawing it. But today my body decided to be defiant. The tech kept having me take deep slow breaths.. in through the nose out through the mouth. Again and again. But to no avail.They even tipped me back (the infusion center has recliners) and basically tried to "pour" the blood outa me. But that didn't work either.Finally they just did it the old fashioned way.. needle to vein.The results were even more fucked.Seems my white blood cell count is down below acceptable levels. Well.. acceptable as far as the chemo goes.

And I book marked it and looked around the page and found this, Tim Boucher, Occult Investigator, on his links:

Adventures of an Occult Investigator Hi! I'm Tim Boucher and I always thought mystical/supernatural shit was really cool, so I became a real-life occult investigator. I study all manner of myths, magic, saints & superheroes, from the esoteric to pop-culture. To find out more about me, check my FAQ page!

Tim Boucher definitely belongs in my side bar. So that's what happens when you hit next blog. You never know where in the world you're going to go. Feel free to post any other links I should have in my sidebar. I still plan to re-organize it some day soon. But for now, I'm going to bed. Good night.

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FBI investigates alleged cult in Louisiana

Paging Inspector LeGrasse. Inspector LeGrasse to the courtesy phone, please. From the Baton Rouge (La.) Advocate:

Tangipahoa Parish sheriff's deputies worked to bring two alleged cult members to jail in Amite on Tuesday while the Federal Bureau of Investigation dug up the grounds at the Hosanna Church in Ponchatoula looking for more evidence. The extradition of the two suspects and the excavation are part of a seven-week investigation into the alleged occult practices of the church that includes sex with children and animals. Nine people have been arrested so far.

Did they worship Cthulhu by chance?

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