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 FIFTY-ONE – The Fool Killer is back to hurl his Truth Bombs at some more malefactors. NOTE: This month the Fool Killer added a Blacksnake Cattle Whip and a Double-Geared Buzz Saw to his arsenal of weapons. The one to whip the foolish, the other to slice skin off their backs. Some of the Fool Killer’s targets from James Larkin Pearson’s November of 1911 edition of The Fool-Killer:
*** The roughly seventeen multi-millionaires whose wealth supposedly allowed them to control the entire country. In more recent years that number has been lessened to around fifteen, but the basic sentiment remains the same – the country seems to exist for the profit and power of a very, very few.
*** Women who chewed tobacco. Pearson and his Fool Killer supported women’s right to vote but for some reason women chewing snuff really, really bothered him.
*** The federal authorities responsible for sending 12 year old Albert Dewey Carter to five years in prison for stealing $5.00 from the post office.
*** Writer Upton Sinclair, whose wife Meta had just left him for poet Harry Kemp.
*** Corporation lawyers who “smothered their consciences for a fat salary.” Continue reading
LIFEPOD (1981) – Previously Balladeer’s Blog examined the worst movies from the 
As the Arcturus, on its maiden run, approached Callisto, the Cerebral announced massive system failures and began shutting down life support systems while ordering the crew and passengers to evacuate in lifepods and await rescue from Callisto’s authorities. In their Mayday broadcasts the crew make it clear they no longer trusted Captain Montaine (Christopher Cary), who insisted the Arcturus was fine and the Cerebral was just malfunctioning.
SHOWDOWN IN GLENDALE – The ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM welcomed the LANGSTON UNIVERSITY LIONS to town on Saturday. Neither team scored in the 1st Quarter but by Halftime the Firestorm held a 10-7 edge over the Lions. Both ACU and Langston notched a Field Goal in the 3rd Quarter, while the 4th saw the Firestorm shut out LU while putting up 14 points of their own for a 27-10 victory. 
GETTING STUNG – This game pitted the SAINT AMBROSE UNIVERSITY FIGHTING BEES against the visiting UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IL) FIGHTING SAINTS. The Fighting Saints grabbed a quick 6-0 lead in the 1st Quarter only to see the Fighting Bees go up 7-6 by the Half. After the break came a scoreless 3rd Quarter before Saint Ambrose University clinched a 14-6 win in the 4th. 
DAREDEVIL Vol 1 #1 (April 1964) 
Previously here at Balladeer’s Blog I covered YT Channels that featured what I considered the very best of the emerging subgenre of Analog Horror or “Unfiction” as a lot of people have labeled it. Those descriptive terms have been coined to help keep these creative efforts distinct from pure ARGs (Alternate Reality Games). 
(If you’re in the mood for Analog Horror which does NOT back away from pandemic and lockdown lore, check out 
EMPIRE OF ASH (1988) – Also released as Maniac Warriors, this post-apocalypse movie is, as you would expect, another of the 1980s’ countless imitators of The Road Warrior. In Empire of Ash our year is 2050 and our main location is an American settlement called New Idaho, with Canadian forests passing for the post-holocaust world. All cities have become uninhabitable so survivalists scrape by in woodland communities. 
HISTORY WAS MADE – The ROOSEVELT UNIVERSITY LAKERS played their first ever intercollegiate football game. It was played in snow … in freezing temperatures … but they STILL won, notching the first win in program history! Their opponents were the visiting SAINT AMBROSE UNIVERSITY FIGHTING BEES. Recently, Roosevelt University merged with Robert Morris University (IL), whose sports teams were called the Eagles but in the merger all teams will now go by the RU team name Lakers. 
COMEBACK KIDS – The SAINT ANDREWS UNIVERSITY KNIGHTS took it on the road against the BLUEFIELD COLLEGE RAMBLING RAMS yesterday. The Rambling Rams led 14-7 in the opening Quarter and 20-9 at the Half. The Knights exploded in the 3rd Quarter to take a 42-27 lead but Bluefield College countered by going up 43-42 in the 4th. The Knights notched a late TD to emerge with a 48-43 victory. 
COUGARS ON THE ROAD – The SAINT XAVIER UNIVERSITY COUGARS traveled to face the UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IL) FIGHTING SAINTS. The 1st Half of this gridiron grudge match ended in a 9-9 deadlock, followed by the Cougars grabbing a 12-9 edge to end the 3rd Quarter. The Fighting Saints knotted things up at 12-12 only to see Saint Xavier University go on to win the game by a score of 19-12. 
Happy Presidents Day Weekend! Balladeer’s Blog’s seasonal posts continue with this look at the presidential election of 1912. 
DEMOCRAT: Woodrow Wilson, the victor. To this very day many Republicans blame Wilson for starting the country on its path toward all the things they don’t like. 
PROGRESSIVE: Former Republican President Theodore Roosevelt had come out of retirement to run again because he was thoroughly disenchanted with his hand-picked successor, incumbent Republican President William Howard Taft. 
TALES OF SUSPENSE Vol 1 #59 (November 1964) 
Balladeer's Blog 