ALL HALLOWS (1926) – Written by Walter de la Mare. In recent decades Walter de la Mare’s horror stories have begun to get as much attention as his poetry. This particular tale is about a haunted cathedral but there is also a blatant subtext.
Our narrator has walked for several miles to reach remote All Hallows Cathedral. The once-prominent place has fallen into disrepair and has become so rarely used for religious services that it has become more of a curious tourist attraction than “holy” site.
Appropriately for a horror story our protagonist has arrived as the sun is going down. The odd, perhaps half-crazed Verger (Anglican Church Caretaker) impatiently leads the new arrival on a tour of the degenerating interior. Almost like a Halloween Funhouse host the Verger emphasizes the creepy lore about All Hallows.
Nightfall is well along by the time he tells the narrator about the temporary disappearance of the previous chief clergyman, who was later found in a dark corner. The Holy Man was weeping and crazed and never recovered his sanity. Continue reading
ROSAURA (1817) – Written by Friedrich Fouque. Halloween Month 2017 is dying quickly. Here is another neglected story from the late Gothic Horror period. Rosaura has a fairly unique supernatural premise so that alone should have earned it a wider following by now.
NUMBER ONE GETS KNOCKED OFF – Division Two’s PITTSBURG (KS) STATE GORILLAS hosted the top ranked team in the nation – the defending National Champion NORTHWEST MISSOURI STATE BEARCATS. Not only did the Gorillas defeat the Bearcats 20-10, but this loss ended NW Missouri State’s THIRTY-EIGHT game winning streak. Pitt State led 17-7 at Halftime and stayed on top from there to the delight of the crowd at The Jungle.
EASY AS ONE, TWO, THREE – Meanwhile in the NAIA the Top Three teams rolled to victory: The (1) UNIVERSITY OF SAINT FRANCIS (IN) COUGARS dismembered the LINDENWOOD UNIVERSITY AT BELLEVILLE LYNX 70-0 ### The (2) BAKER UNIVERSITY WILDCATS handed a 49-0 loss to the CENTRAL METHODIST EAGLES ### And the (3) REINHARDT UNIVERSITY EAGLES (Should be the Rottweilers) hammered the homestanding PIKEVILLE BEARS 44-21.
HILLSDALE STRONG – The storied HILLSDALE COLLEGE CHARGERS (whose own THIRTY-FOUR game winning streak was just recently topped by NW Missouri) took it on the road yesterday to Philippi, WV to take on the ALDERSON BROADDUS UNIVERSITY BATTLERS. The spectators got treated to an Instant Classic, with the Chargers prevailing by a final score of 37-31.
This year’s Dark Tower movie was like promising your audience Interview With The Vampire but instead giving them Vampire Hookers starring John Carradine. 
BEATRICE RAPPACCINI
Balladeer’s Blog’s list of Robert Ludlum’s top seven novels was reasonably popular with readers. Here are links to each review of the set of seven: 