THE DUST CLOUD (1912) – Halloween Month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with a look at this tale written by British author E.F. Benson. The story deals with a ghostly automobile and for me the 1912 setting and several macabre touches give it a certain charm that makes it irresistible.
Our unnamed narrator is a well-to-do Brit visiting with his much wealthier friend Harry Combe-Martin near Suffolk. The pair are the stereotypical Gearheads of Old, passionate about driving and discussing every type of automobile model that comes along. Given the time period their goggles and long coats when driving are a given.
After-dinner conversation about the finer points of assorted automobiles turns to Harry’s late friend Guy Elphinstone, another car enthusiast. Elphinstone was a singularly unpleasant man and often spitefully drove over chickens and rabbits who got in his way as he flew along the roadways.
One day a few months earlier, Guy Elphinstone’s impatience caused an accident in which he ran over and killed a little girl and crashed into his own manor’s closed park gates, thus killing himself, too. His car – a twenty-five horsepower Amedee Bollee – was totaled in the wreck. Continue reading
While Senile Joe Biden hides away til Thursday night and tries to remember that he’s NOT running for the Senate (he’d be “the Senator from Burisma”) and while the Techno-Fascists who run Google and its ilk have been deservedly slapped with a huge antitrust suit, let’s combine Halloween Month with a few news items: 
Stephen King, looking nothing at all like a child molester who creepily hangs around children’s playgrounds, will be the mascot. 
DEMOCRATS GETTING MORE OPEN ABOUT THEIR PLANS FOR POST-ELECTION CHAOS FROM VOTE FRAUD, ETC
HEROIC BLACK PASSENGER WEARING “BLACK VOICES FOR TRUMP” HAT EJECTED FROM PLANE FOR TRUMPED-UP REASON
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. 
Not even the Democrats’ many, many media outlets can censor ALL the reports regarding the latest explosive revelations about the Joe Biden Crime Family and its Underboss Hunter Biden. The Democrats at social media outlets have been working overtime to 
It’s easier to find the story in which the Boilermakers Union 
DOWN GOES NUMBER SIX – The Upset of the day came in the game between the SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE MOUNDBUILDERS and their hosts the 6th ranked KANSAS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY COYOTES. The Moundbuilders led 7-0 in the 1st Quarter and 14-7 at Halftime. The 3rd Quarter ended with Southwestern College on top 35-21 before winning it 42-21.
WORKIN’ OVERTIME – The ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM welcomed the WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY PIONEERS (should be the Flying W’s). After a scoreless opening Quarter the Firestorm held a 14-7 advantage at the Half. That became a 21-14 lead in the 3rd Quarter before the Pioneers forced Overtime with a 28-28 tie. In the extra session Arizona Christian University won out 31-28. 
HOW SWEDE IT IS! – The BETHANY COLLEGE SWEDES took it on the road against the STERLING COLLEGE WARRIORS yesterday. The Swedes watched a 6-0 1st Quarter lead turn into a 7-6 Warriors edge by the midpoint. Sterling College was in front 21-6 going into the 4th Quarter, but Bethany College exploded for 20 points for a spectacular 26-21 comeback win. 
As Halloween Month continues here’s a look at the very early years of the Marvel Comics horror character Blade the Vampire Slayer, who debuted in 1973. In retrospect I prefer the original “look” for this dynamic figure: the long coat, the bandolier of six teakwood knives and the green-hued “photo-optic visor” aka goggles aka biker shades. I’ve never liked swords for vampire slaying so the wooden knives used by Blade back then appeal to me more. 
alleged legal fights with the original creator of Blade, fights that eventually necessitated the changes in Blade’s look and trademark weaponry. Suffice it to say that the 1970s Blade strikes me as an “Indiana Jones of horror” with a vintage Pulp Magazine vibe. And football player Eric Dickerson would have made a perfect cinematic Blade if a movie had been done in the early 1980s, right after Raiders of the Lost Ark. With Pam Grier as Safron Caulder and Oliver Reed as Deacon Frost.
TOMB OF DRACULA Vol 1 #10 (July 1973) 
Our vampire slayer arrived in time to save all but a few of the “beautiful people” from Dracula.
The Robber Baron Democrats of Silicon Valley and Social Media continue to abuse their power with their ongoing interference in the 2020 presidential election. Influential people don’t want you to hear about Joe Biden’s meetings with his son’s alleged co-conspirators. Social Media outlets which allow the spread of idiotic conspiracy theories claiming Trump can be tied to kidnapping plots suddenly act like they have standards when it comes to verifiable exposes about the Joe Biden Crime Family. 
The technofascists do not deserve Section 230 protection as they have proven over and over and over again that they abuse their power to shut out information and opinions that don’t align with the views of privileged one percenters like Jack Dorsey. Even though Dorsey has admitted it was “unacceptable” to censor the reports about the Biden-Burisma corruption scandals, too much damage has already been done. 
Puck magazine (1871-1918), the well-known political humor magazine, was at its height under original founder and creative director cartoonist Joseph Keppler. Here is a February 23rd, 1881 Keppler political cartoon depicting Jay Gould, the telegraph monopolist, and Cornelius Vanderbilt the railroad baron. 
This is similar to the way the Silicon Valley and Social Media Robber Barons of today cloak themselves in “socially conscious” public images while in reality clutching the United States and all its institutions by the throat. 
Per Lancaster’s Fraternal Order of Police the Lancaster Police Chief Jarrad Berkihiser (left) was forced to resign following his wife’s Facebook post stating she was voting for Trump. (Link below) 
#WALKAWAY
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