HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Here’s one final treat to finish off the 2016 season.
THE GALLOWS MAN – This is another neglected American horror legend which has been presented in many different versions over the years. Ralph Sutherland was born in 1702 in either New York City or a town near the Catskills, depending on the version.
Sutherland was born into the New York gentry but in his adult years his drinking and gambling eventually embarrassed the family enough that they stopped associating with him. After boozing, whoring and gambling away a large part of his money Ralph was left with just one reasonably-sized home surrounded by a stone wall. He had enough funds left to maintain that house and took in an indentured servant – a beautiful teen girl from Scotland.
Sutherland’s foul and obnoxious nature soon led the girl to flee. In a rage Ralph mounted a horse and tracked her down before she got far. The black-hearted man tied the terrified girl to his horse and rode back to his home, but was either so furious or so drunk that he inadvertently dragged the poor female to her death. Continue reading
THE DEAD PIT (1989) – This horror film was the directorial debut of the very prolific director Brett Leonard. While not a four-star movie The Dead Pit is enjoyable enough for the Halloween Season and should certainly appeal to anyone into 1980s horror flicks. This movie’s hybrid of zombie elements and slasher elements is both its charm AND the reason behind its love-it-or-hate-it status. 
CREDIT GOES TO BEN GARRISON AT GRRRGRAPHICS.COM 
I. Jacques Morand – Roughly 300 years ago Jacques Morand was in love with Genevieve Parent. Unfortunately for him Genevieve decided to join a convent. When Morand could not change her mind through pleading he turned to threats, which drew warnings from Genevieve’s father and brothers. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER SEVEN – Yesterday the unranked MICHIGAN TECH HUSKIES welcomed the number 7 team in the nation – the ASHLAND UNIVERSITY EAGLES. The Huskies defied all the prognosticators and made believers out of everyone by toppling the stunned Eagles in a 27-24 game for the ages! 
HANGING NINETY – The 6th ranked GRAND VIEW UNIVERSITY VIKINGS traveled to face the CULVER-STOCKTON COLLEGE WILDCATS. The Vikings – apparently sharing Balladeer’s Blog’s weariness with teams called Wildcats, Eagles, Tigers and Bulldogs – proceeded to fold, spindle and mutilate their opponents. In the end Grand View University emerged with a NINETY to NOTHING win. 
Halloween Month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog! Marvel Comics’ Doctor Strange movie is coming out soon. 
From 1979 to this calendar year the movies in this under-appreciated horror franchise forever changed the way we look at funeral homes. And funeral home directors. And Roman Numerals for that matter. For better or worse writer/director Don Coscarelli never sold out, never let the sinister Tall Man become an outer-space joke like Jason Voorhees or a Borscht-Belt Charles Manson like Freddy Krueger. (And it’s hard to believe the first Phantasm was rated X for violence in 1979.) 
THE WEREWOLF (1896) – By Clemence Annie Housman. Halloween month continues at Balladeer’s Blog! This neglected story features a female author writing about a FEMALE WEREWOLF so that makes it a bit special right there.
NUMBER THREE TAKES A FALL – The 6th ranked SADDLEBACK COLLEGE GAUCHOS welcomed the number 3 FULLERTON COLLEGE HORNETS for a Battle Royal. The Gauchos trailed the Hornets 14-6 in the 1st Quarter and 21-17 by Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with Fullerton College clinging to a 24-23 edge but Saddleback College managed a 4th Quarter comeback for a 30-27 victory. 
Balladeer's Blog 