Happy Halloween! Balladeer’s Blog marks it with a neglected work of American horror.
THE MONKS OF MONK HALL aka THE QUAKER CITY (1844-1845) – Written by George Lippard, this strange and macabre story was originally serialized from 1844-1845 before being published in novel form. This bloody, horrific work was America’s best-selling novel before Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
I always refer to this book as “Twin Peaks Goes To The 1840s.” On one level The Monks of Monk Hall deals with crime, corruption, drugs and sex-trafficking among many supposedly “respectable” citizens of Philadelphia the way Twin Peaks did with residents of the title town.
On another level the novel deals with supernatural horrors that lurk behind the Quaker City’s murders, vices and sexual perversions, again like the David Lynch series. The center of the darkness is Monk Hall, an old, sprawling mansion with an unsavory history and reputation. Many have disappeared into the bowels of the building, never to be seen again. The power players and criminals who mingle at the Hall in bizarre orgies, secret murders and drunken debauches are known as “Monks” – Monk Hall’s exclusive membership.
Think of Monk Hall as a combination of Twin Peaks establishments like the Black Lodge, One-Eyed Jacks and the Great Northern all rolled into one. The vast, multi-roomed Hall is honey-combed with secret passageways and trap doors. Beneath the mansion are a subterranean river plus several levels of labyrinthine catacombs filled with rats, refuse and the skeletal remains of the Monks’ many victims from the past century and a half.
The sinister staff of Monk Hall are happy to provide their members with all the sex, opium and other diversions that they hunger for behind their public veil of respectability. Throw in the occult practices of the members and there’s a sort of “American version of Sir Francis Dashwood’s Hellfire Club” feel to it. Among the novel’s more horrific characters:
DEVIL-BUG – The deformed, depraved and deranged bastard offspring of one of Monk Hall’s members and one of the many prostitutes who are literally enslaved there. Devil-Bug has spent his entire life in the Hall and has no other name. He is squat, incredibly strong and grotesquely ugly with one large gaping eye and one small, withered, empty socket on his face.
This monstrosity works as Monk Hall’s combination door-man, bouncer and executioner, gleefully murdering on demand and secreting the corpses away in the sub-basements beneath the mansion. Just to make him even more unwholesome, Devil-Bug sleeps next to the corpse of one of his victims and uses occupied coffins as furniture in his creepy rooms.
RAVONI – Interchangeably referred to as a sorcerer, mad doctor, astrologer and anatomist, this handsome but sinister man pulls the strings behind the supernatural evils of Philadelphia and vicinity.
Master of an occult method of eternal youth, Ravoni has been alive for over two hundred years. (The novel repeatedly says just two hundred years, but the villain refers to having been present at the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which happened in 1572, so it has to be longer)
Ravoni has powers of mesmerism, prognostication and can even raise the dead. He was the original owner of Monk Hall under another name long ago. Readers eventually learn the kind of dark rituals the man performed at the Hall but don’t learn the full extent of his evil plans until the climax of the novel. Continue reading
THE WRAITH 
BEATRICE RAPPACCINI 
AMAZING ADVENTURES Vol 2 #31 (July 1975)
Those pursuers: Atalon – white-shirted human quisling administrator of Death-Birth, the now-destroyed alien fortress where they raised humans like cattle since they eat human flesh – and the Sacrificer, green-clad medical madman who used to prepare those cannibal meals for the aliens, including their favorite delicacy – human infants carved out of their mother’s body shortly before they are due to deliver. 
De facto Third Party President Donald Trump received praise from the parents of Kayla Mueller, the international humanitarian worker raped and killed by Islamic State officials when Obama was in office. They praised the president for the recent raid in which Abu bakr al Baghdadi, current head of ISIS and one of Mueller’s rapists, was killed. Al Baghdadi’s likely replacement was also killed over the weekend. 
The Democrats at the Washington Post (Motto: Democracy dies at our hands) eulogized al Baghdadi as “an austere religious scholar” who “dies at 48.” The Democrats in Congress – all of them white-collar criminals – bemoaned the fact that President Trump wisely did not inform them of the raid beforehand, thus blocking them from leaking the information prematurely. 
I’m a non-believer but I love exploring the mythology behind the world’s various belief systems. 
If anything history has shown that people – ESPECIALLY the self-congratulatory asses called Democrats – take great delight in loudly and repeatedly condemning people of the past for (GASP) having opinions that differ from their own. It takes no courage and little effort to put on an air of moral superiority toward long-dead human beings. 
The obsessive conformity, status-anxiety and insecurities of Democrats prevent them from questioning their faith and thereby realizing that their own condemnation of figures from long ago is every bit as much of a shallow, meaningless pose as the attitude that may be shown by Democrat Fundamentalists of the future. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER SIX – In the NAIA the 18th ranked SIENA HEIGHTS UNIVERSITY SAINTS took it on the road against the number 6 team in the nation – the UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS. The Saints stunned the Cougars and the prognosticators by toppling USF by a final score of 24-14. 
MARATHON GAME OF THE DAY – This distinction goes to the clash between the NICHOLS COLLEGE BISON and their hosts the UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND NOR’EASTERS. The 4th Quarter ended in a 38-38 tie. One Overtime wasn’t enough. Two weren’t enough. Three weren’t enough. In the FOURTH OVERTIME the Bison emerged with a 51-48 triumph. 
USCAA SPOTLIGHT GAME – USCAA stands for United States Collegiate Athletic Association. The WILLIAMSON COLLEGE OF THE TRADES MECHANICS took the field against the visiting NEW JERSEY WARRIORS yesterday. The Mechanics led 7-3 at the Half before going on to win the game 14-3. 
Halloween Month continues at Balladeer’s Blog.
Halloween month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with a look at the first two volumes of Graveyard Shift, the “monsters as superheroes” sensation drawn by THE Jon Malin and written by Mark Poulton. 
Graveyard Shift Volume Two featured the team taking on the reborn menace of Dracula himself and his legions. The first two installments raised six figures each on Indiegogo and it is presumed that the third volume, expected in 2020, will continue that trend. 
EIGHT AND O – In NCAA Division Two the 4th ranked OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY TIGERS traveled to face the SOUTHERN NAZARENE UNIVERSITY CRIMSON STORM. The Crimson Storm led 7-0 in the 1st Quarter and 13-7 come Halftime. After the break the Tigers went on top 20-13 in the 3rd Quarter before winning it 27-13 to remain undefeated. 
ONE-POINT WONDER – Down in the NJCAA the ITAWAMBA COLLEGE INDIANS were on the road against the NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE RANGERS. These two teams went blow for blow and score for score until the Indians ultimately emerged with a 22-21 victory. 
PRC THRILLER – The (9) PEARL RIVER COLLEGE WILDCATS hosted the MISSISSIPPI DELTA COLLEGE TROJANS. The Wildcats converted a 7-6 1st Quarter edge into a 17-6 advantage at the Half. The 3rd Quarter ended with Pearl River College up 24-13 and in the 4th the Wildcats held on to win it 24-19. 
Balladeer's Blog 