Balladeer’s Blog continues its examination of the many facets of Fool Killer lore. FOR PART ONE, INCLUDING THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT IN THE 1850s, CLICK HERE.
PART 78 – As always, it’s fascinating to read the over 100-year-old opinions of James Larkin Pearson (and by extension his Fool Killer), including the opinions that one doesn’t agree with. Here are some of the Fool Killer’s targets in October 1915:
*** Dr. Stephen Herbert Langdon, for his claim that his translations of ancient Sumerian clay tablets convinced him that instead of the Biblical First Man it was really the Bible’s version of the Survivor of the Great Flood who ate of the Forbidden Fruit. And the Forbidden Fruit was really a legume from a cassia tree, not an apple.
NOTE: I found news articles about Langdon’s claims as far back as August of 1914, but they were apparently just getting big in the U.S. in 1915. Oddly, in 1920 the New York Times, Antique Religion and others started covering Langdon’s claims as if he had just made them. At any rate, Langdon’s claims eventually influenced comparative mythology theories about the Adam and Noah stories being based on Utnapishtim and other figures from Sumerian myths.
*** Eastman Kodak Company. The Fool Killer was being very cynical about the recent decision by the Federal District Court at Buffalo, New York which ordered the company to be dissolved on anti-trust grounds. They even joked that Kodak stock would probably go up and that the company would survive intact given how so many big money corporations had circumvented anti-trust rulings from courts.
*** King George V & Czar Nicholas of the Allied Powers, and Kaiser Wilhelm of the Central Powers, all of whom said that God was on THEIR side in the raging World War. Continue reading
MCGURK (1979) 
Monday is here with another current events roundup from 
A FAMILY SKELETON (1885) – This short story was written by one of Balladeer’s Blog’s favorite neglected sci-fi authors – Robert Duncan Milne. This time around, Milne’s tale deals with a French nobleman and his wife, who has proven to be sterile. 
NAIA OVER NCAA DIV TWO – Yet another of the 2026 season’s Upsets by an NAIA football team – the WARNER UNIVERSITY ROYALS – over a D2 team – the CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY PANTHERS. The Royals led their hosts 10-0, 17-3 and 25-10 in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Quarters, respectively. In the 4th Warner U. consummated the Upset 32-10. 
SPIRIT OF EIGHTY-TWO – Staying with the NAIA for a moment, the SOUTHWESTERN COLLEGE MOUNDBUILDERS took it on the road against the BETHANY COLLEGE SWEDES. The Moundbuilders folded, spindled and mutilated Bethany College, converting their 28-0 1st Quarter lead into a 55-0 advantage at the Half. In the end, Southwestern College won EIGHTY-TWO to SIXTEEN! 
MOON GIRL
PART ELEVEN – Back at the home of his unfit uncle King Temugedege, Ozidi took Odogu’s Wife to bed with him that night. Though she seemed to willingly leave Odogu’s home, and in fact had led Ozidi by the hand as they fled, it became clear that the woman was playing a game of her own. 
ANNE OF THE INDIES (1951) – Jean Peters stars as female pirate Captain Anne Providence, commander of the ship Sheba Queen. One day she and her crew seize a British ship in the West Indies. 
TV’s DRACULA aka Jake Esau, hosted his Bad Movie shows in the old-school “vampire with a campy Bela Lugosi as Dracula accent” manner. His schtick involved the well-worn plays on words to emphasize anything that came close to “scary” or “bloody” during his Host Segments or his in-character gigs doing television commercials. 
