THE BLACK REAPER (1899) – By Bernard Capes. Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues with this neglected horror tale. The story takes place in 1665 in a secluded British farming town called Anathoth.
The Black Reaper of the title is an interesting humanoid monster. Religious superstition and human evil mingle in this tale, just like in so many other great horror stories. And it seems Stephen King must have been, uh … “inspired” by The Black Reaper.
The citizens of Anathoth are described in the narrative as the kind of religious people who merely pay lip service to their beliefs but don’t live by them. They even treated their previous Vicar like a joke.
Now the plague is once more at large in the land and a new fire-and- brimstone preacher has replaced the disrespected man in Anathoth. The new “holy” man frequently rails at the citizens, telling them that they are all horrible sinners and that God will one day mow them down like ripe corn.
All of them, that is, except the children. Continue reading
New paradigms replace the old. It’s the way of life. The previous paradigm featured narrow-minded, reactionary parents clashing with open-minded educators who were trying to update the state of American education after decades of stagnation. 
Halloween Month moved another notch today, leaving us with just 20 days left. Balladeer’s Blog continues its month-long celebration with a look at another neglected gem of horror fiction.
Goetzi turns out to be a vampire who lures Cornelia and Ned deeper and deeper into a trap. Back in England, Ann Ward deduces all this from odd letters that she receives from her friends and from horrific premonitions which come to her in nightmares. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER TWO – The NAVARRO COLLEGE BULLDOGS took it on the road against the undefeated 2nd ranked team in the nation – the TYLER COLLEGE APACHES. Navarro trailed the Apaches 14-0 in the 1st Quarter and 26-13 at Halftime. After the break the Bulldogs made their move, shutting out Tyler College the rest of the way while notching 7 points in the 3rd Quarter and 17 in the 4th. Navarro College pulled off the mammoth upset by a final count of 37-26. 
AND ANOTHER UPSET IN THE TOP TEN – The storied ASA COLLEGE AVENGERS welcomed the number 10 LACKAWANNA COLLEGE FALCONS. After a scoreless 1st Quarter the Avengers and the Falcons were tied up at 7-7 by the Half. An action-packed 3rd Quarter saw ASA College go on top 19-14 and a Safety in the 4th cemented a 21-14 win for the Avengers. 
ROCKTOBER BLOOD (1984) -This example of the Heavy Metal Horror films of the 1980s was produced, directed and written by Beverly and Ferd Sebastian, a well-known pair to all of us Bad Movie Geeks. The premise of this hilariously bad movie is that Heavy Metal star Billy Eye programs something sinister into his latest album by way of backward-masking. (Like “I buried Paul” and others) 
CAPTAIN WIZARD 
LANGSTON TOPPLES THE NCAA – Yet another NAIA college football team has upset a team from the NCAA Division Two. For newbies to these levels that is like when a 1AA team upsets a 1A team. The LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS traveled to face the NCAA’s LANE COLLEGE DRAGONS yesterday and defeated them in a 27-21 game for the ages. 
THAT WAS NUMBER FIIIIVE! – The UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA-WESTERN BULLDOGS welcomed the number 5 team in the nation – the MONTANA TECH OREDIGGERS. The Bulldogs proceeded to celebrate their scheduled Booster Bash by dragging down the 5th ranked Orediggers 42-35 in an undeniable thriller. 
OTHER UPSETS IN THE RANKINGS – The DORDT COLLEGE DEFENDERS took it on the road against the 12th ranked DOANE COLLEGE TIGERS and prevailed by a final score of 21-16 ### And the (17) STERLING COLLEGE WARRIORS marked Homecoming with a mild upset of the visiting (16) TABOR COLLEGE BLUE JAYS in a 23-21 Instant Classic. 
Here at Balladeer’s Blog I am enthralled by the political realignment going on here in the U.S. ever since the campaign and election of our de facto Third Party President Donald Trump – the Richard Channing of Presidents. 
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