Tag Archives: Halloween stories

October 31, 2016 · 10:10 pm

THE GALLOWS MAN: HALLOWEEN TREAT

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Here’s one final treat to finish off the 2016 season.

gallows-manTHE 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.

Sutherland was born into the New York gentry but in his adult years his drinking and gambling eventually embarrassed the family enough that they stopped associating with him. After boozing, whoring and gambling away a large part of his money Ralph was left with just one reasonably-sized home surrounded by a stone wall. He had enough funds left to maintain that house and took in an indentured servant – a beautiful teen girl from Scotland.

Sutherland’s foul and obnoxious nature soon led the girl to flee. In a rage Ralph mounted a horse and tracked her down before she got far. The black-hearted man tied the terrified girl to his horse and rode back to his home, but was either so furious or so drunk that he inadvertently dragged the poor female to her death. Continue reading →

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October 30, 2016 · 7:02 pm

WEREWOLVES OF DETROIT

Mascot FOUR original pics

Balladeer’s Blog

Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues with this look at two neglected werewolf legends from Detroit. 

werewolf-of-detroitI. Jacques Morand – Roughly 300 years ago Jacques Morand was in love with Genevieve Parent. Unfortunately for him Genevieve decided to join a convent. When Morand could not change her mind through pleading he turned to threats, which drew warnings from Genevieve’s father and brothers.

In desperation Jacques sold his soul through one of the White Witches of the Woods. In return he gained the unholy power to turn himself into a werewolf after dark. After preying on Genevieve’s father one night he followed that up the next by picking off one of her brothers. Continue reading →

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October 28, 2016 · 6:40 am

THE WEREWOLF (1896): FEMALE WEREWOLF

WerewolfTHE WEREWOLF (1896) – By Clemence Annie Housman. Halloween month continues at Balladeer’s Blog! This neglected story features a female author writing about a FEMALE WEREWOLF so that makes it a bit special right there.

The Werewolf is set in 1890s Denmark. Amidst werewolf attacks plaguing the countryside a Danish family finds itself being charmed by a sultry, seductive woman who calls herself White Fell. The woman travels alone by night so is obviously the werewolf at large. Unfortunately her potent beauty allays suspicion and even pits brothers Sweyn and Christian against each other.   Continue reading →

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October 26, 2016 · 10:44 pm

CARMILLA (1871) BY SHERIDAN LE FANU

carmillaCARMILLA (1871) – By Sheridan Le Fanu. Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues. I would have thought that the classic vampire story Carmilla would be too well known for me to have to cover it. I’m surprised at how many people I encounter who are not familiar with the original story, however, just some of the adaptations.  SPOILERS AHEAD!

The vampire Carmilla is really the presumably long-dead Countess Mircalla Karnstein. She fell in love with Laura, the heroine of the story, when Laura was six, so she spared her. As the story begins Laura has turned eighteen, so Carmilla considers her ripe for seduction. The vampire plans to spend eternity with our teenage heroine, in the now-routine element of vampire tales.

A nice novelty is that Carmilla turns into a cat instead of a bat, but otherwise the 200 year-old vampress’ pursuit of Laura followed the usual pattern: “Sickness” strikes dead several girls in the Austrian town near the castle where Laura lives with her father. Eventually she herself begins to show lesser versions of the mysterious illness’ symptoms. Continue reading →

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October 25, 2016 · 10:35 pm

MORE AMERICAN HORROR LEGENDS

Dalton Changeling 2Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues …

THE DALTON CHANGELING – In late 1700s Massachusetts a malevolent witch replaces the infant child of the Dalton family with a changeling spawned by a dark ceremony. Can the Freemasons of New England devise a way of dealing with the monstrous child or will it be free to roam the countryside on nightly reigns of terror? CLICK HERE    Continue reading →

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October 25, 2016 · 12:56 am

THE LOST STRADIVARIUS (1895): HALLOWEEN READING

lost-stradivarius-2

*** * *** *** *** *** Jeremy Brett as John Maltravers in a 1966 television adaptation of The Lost Stradivarius.

THE LOST STRADIVARIUS (1895) by John Meade Falkner – More than a century before Anne Rice’s violin-oriented ghost story Violin came The Lost Stradivarius. Halloween month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with a look at this neglected gem of horror fiction.

The main story is set in the 1840s. John Maltravers, a young man from the British gentry, is attending Magdalen College at Oxford University. Stumbling across an anonymous piece of lost music the talented Maltravers plays the piece on a violin.

This spontaneous recital summons up – among other horrors – the ghost of Adrian Temple, the violinist who composed the eerie piece of music when he was a student at Oxford in the 1750s. That ghost leads John to the hidden location of his (Temple’s) Stradivarius violin. Continue reading →

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October 23, 2016 · 7:53 pm

MONSTER RALLY 2016

Here’s a look at seven of the neglected monsters Balladeer’s Blog has covered over the years. These horrific figures deserve as much love as the better known characters like Dracula or La Lorona.

barenhauter-2THE BARENHAUTER

First Appearance: Isabella of Egypt (1812)

Cryptid Category: Living Dead Servant

Lore: A misanthropic mercenary soldier grown disgusted with the human race accepted a bargain with Satan: in exchange for a period of years spent without shaving or bathing and wearing nothing but a bearskin he would be rewarded in the end. That reward: after finally shaving and bathing at the end of his time as a hermit he was incredibly handsome and well-built. 

On top of that the Devil granted him a fortune in jewels and coins, making him the ultimate catch – physically perfect AND wealthy. In return Satan claimed the souls of the Barenhauter’s dumped former lovers, who would take their own lives in despair. (It was implied that the Barenhauter also had incomparable amatory skills on top of wealth and handsomeness.)  

After death the Barenhauter paid his own price for his deal with the Devil. Anyone who came into possession of any part of his former treasure could summon him from his grave to serve them in any way they wanted (usually for evil purposes). The revenant’s perfectly-preserved body never tired and felt no pain. Continue reading →

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October 20, 2016 · 9:27 pm

TALES OF HOFFMANN FOR HALLOWEEN

Tales of Hoffmann

Tales of Hoffmann

Yes, as if I wasn’t boring enough already I’m also into opera! Now, I know traditionally “the” Halloween Opera has always been Don Giovanni , but I’ve never bought into that notion since there’s really only one scene in the whole opera that qualifies as spooky and supernatural.

At this time of year I prefer Offenbach’s Tales Of Hoffmann. Not only is it full of appropriately eerie and menacing elements, but it’s also the perfect opera for you to share with someone who’s seeing their very first opera.

One of the reasons for that is that it’s in short segments, surrounded by a wraparound opening and finale. Offenbach adapts short stories written by E.T.A. Hoffmann, who in real life was a pre-Edgar Alan Poe author of eerie short stories in his native Austria during the 1800s. At any rate since this opera’s in short segments novices to the artform won’t have time to Continue reading →

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October 18, 2016 · 11:34 pm

THE MESSENGER (1897): GOTHIC HORROR

messenger-or-black-priestTHE MESSENGER (1897) – Balladeer’s Blog’s month-long celebration of Halloween continues with another neglected work of horror – this one penned by Robert W Chambers, author of The King in Yellow, which I reviewed HERE 

The story – also known as The Black Priest or The Black Abbot – is set in 1896 in the mysterious Brittany region of northwest France. Richard Darrel, a wealthy American knickerbocker (upstate New York gentry) has bought a Breton estate with assorted household staff. He lives there with his beautiful (of course) wife Lys, a native of Brittany.  

Landscaping work near Richard’s estate has uncovered thirty-eight skeletons: men killed in a battle between English invaders and Breton defenders back in 1760. A bronze cylinder in the mass grave holds a delicate parchment with a message written in human blood at the time of the burial. The writing is in the ancient language of Brittany, which only the clergy of the 1760 time period were literate in.  

Our American hero senses that the local authorities are withholding vital information from him. He is also intrigued by the revelation that there were thirty-nine men buried in the pit but only thirty-eight skeletons have been found. Continue reading →

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October 17, 2016 · 10:56 pm

THE SPECTRE LEAGUERS

gloucesterTHE SPECTRE LEAGUERS – In 1792 the Gloucester Leaguers returned from the dead to plague Massachusetts 100 years after their horrors had first been unleashed.

During King Philip’s War in 1692 a league of French and Native Americans who were fighting against the New Englanders were slain to the last man. Supernatural tales abounded about the appearance on the face of the moon of a Native American bow as well as a scalp dripping with blood. Superstitious souls said this strange phenomenon meant that the Gloucester Leaguers were not through with their depradations.

In 1792 the dead bodies of the Franco-Indian force raised themselves from the dead, fully armed and clothed in the tattered remains of their clothing. The next two weeks were witness to nocturnal horrors which most people would have believed to be impossible in any world ruled “by a just God or the laws of reason.”   Continue reading →

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