COLMA, CALIFORNIA – It’s called the City of the Dead, the City that Always Sleeps, etc. There are roughly one point five million people buried in the many cemeteries which make up Colma.
I sometimes think of it as an unliving Woodstock Concert audience, complete with Arlo Guthrie’s ghost exclaiming “There’s supposed to be about a million and a half dead people here tonight!” But as we’ve established, I’m kind of weird.
Colma is near San Francisco. Fresh graves in San Francisco cemeteries in the 1800s expanded those graveyards so much that around the turn of the century the city banned any additional cemetery space. The overflow began filling what is now Colma.
Eventually, Frisco decided that the existing graveyards in the city were taking up too much valuable real estate, so untold thousands of graves were moved out of San Francisco and reestablished in Colma. The city was officially labeled a necropolis in 1924 and by now the dead are said to outnumber the living in Colma by over a thousand to one. Continue reading
Okay, so it wasn’t an actual crossover, but Balladeer’s Blog still finds it pretty hilarious. Back in 2012, the Icelandic television station Channel Two aired an episode of the children’s show Teletubbies but accidentally attached the subtitles track from an episode of the adult-oriented, swearing and violence driven gangster series The Sopranos. 
And ... 
As Halloween Month rolls along, I will take a movie-by-movie look at the opening season of Elvira’s show Movie Macabre (1981-1986). Her massive success kicked off an even greater proliferation of Movie Hosts and Hostesses in the 1980s. I covered 
GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE (1972) – Psychotronic icons Michael Pataki and William Smith starred in this twisted flick about a vampire (Pataki) who rapes a woman (Lyn Peters) who subsequently gives birth to an abnormal infant. The baby will drink only blood and grows up to be James Eastman (Smith). James goes on a quest to kill his father for the pain he brought into his mother’s life. Ultimately he does, but becomes a full vampire himself. (Just go with it.) Aired Sep 26th, 1981.
THE ROOM IN THE TOWER (1912) – This story was written by E.F. Benson. The British narrator has a recurring nightmare in which he visits his friend John Clinton at his family manor. The other family members, including his mother Mrs. Stone, are cold and grim toward him. 
HUCK FINN – A musical adaptation of part of the Mark Twain novel Huckleberry Finn. Earle Hyman, who played Cliff Huxtable’s father on Cosby, starred as Jim, Jimmy Boyd was Huck, BASIL RATHBONE played the Duke, Jack Carson the King, and FLORENCE HENDERSON was Mary Jane Wilk. Songs included Loafin’ on the Water, My Friend Huckleberry Finn, Funny but Likable and Too Wonderful for Me. 
STRANGE HARVEST (2025) – Halloween Month continues with this review of a movie which got previewed in 2024 before its official release in August 2025. Because Balladeer’s Blog covers everything from mild Silent-Era horror films to extreme horror from recent decades I will post my courtesy warning for Strange Harvest:
However, his murders seemed unrelated until detective work recently found the obscure link connecting them. I will go into details about the grotesque murders below. Oddly, despite the grisly nature of the slayings, Strange Harvest otherwise starts out with a slow burn approach reminiscent of Rosemary’s Baby, The Exorcist and other films. 
DOWN GOES NUMBER TWO – In NCAA Division Three the 6th ranked UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT WHITEWATER WARHAWKS played host to the number 2 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT RIVER FALLS FALCONS. The Warhawks held a 17-16 edge at Halftime and following a scoreless 3rd Quarter they carried through on the Upset with a 24-16 win. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER EIGHT – Staying in Division Three for a moment, the number 18 WASHINGTON (MO) BEARS welcomed the 8th ranked JOHN CARROLL UNIVERSITY BLUE STREAKS. A 7-7 1st Quarter tie became a 21-17 Bears advantage at the Half. After the break, Washington U. outscored the Blue Streaks 14-8 to win the game 35-25. 
Anne Coleman was a feared witch in Lanesboro, MA in the 1780s. She was suspected of causing storms that sank ships, bringing on diseases that killed cattle, making food go bad and other malevolent deeds. 
SPIDER-MAN Vol 1 #68 (Jan 1969) 
That evening the students mount a protest about the way some of them are being thrown out of their housing to make room for the arriving archeologists. The Kingpin and his thugs take advantage of the protest as it rages out of control to break in and steal the priceless tablet.
