Tag Archives: Halloween

October 28, 2015 · 11:14 pm

THE RED GNOME

Another neglected American horror legend from Balladeer’s Blog to help celebrate Halloween Month.

THE RED GNOME

Red GnomeThis red-hued hobgoblin has plagued Detroit for over 300 years. The Red Gnome was one of the supernatural entities created by the Native American deity Glooskap to protect his people. When European  settlers began to populate the area the figure did what he could to protect the native inhabitants but when that proved futile he turned his attention exclusively to tormenting the newcomers. 

The Red Gnome was short in stature and often mistaken for a child when glimpsed from behind. The hobgoblin has rotten teeth and breath that can kill if the creature so chooses. Anyone tricked into kissing the Red Gnome is said to die immediately. In addition this ageless being has ruby-red eyes that can shoot fiery rays. 

In 1701 Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac (yes, as in THAT Cadillac) battled the Red Gnome, which plagued him until he had lost all his fortune. The hobgoblin’s fiery eye-beams would cause frozen ice on the Detroit River to melt under skaters or racers, plunging them to their deaths in the icy waters below. In warmer weather he would cause small boats to capsize and then drown the passengers.  Continue reading →

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October 27, 2015 · 10:34 pm

THE CORPSE-SMITH OF CONNECTICUT

Another neglected American horror legend from Balladeer’s Blog to help celebrate Halloween Month.

THE CORPSE-SMITH OF CONNECTICUT

Corpse SmithConnecticut is known for its lost cemeteries and graveyards. The Stamford area was supposedly the central territory for the macabre figure called the Corpse-Smith of Connecticut. Also known as the Cadaver Master and the Carrion Engineer this ghoulish character was once a mortal man.

Around the late 1770s the Corpse-Smith was a new arrival from Europe but his exact nationality is no longer known. The man was a brilliant scientist and had made extensive studies of the funerary arts of many High Civilizations from the past including Egypt and Sumer.

The Corpse-Smith combined those arts with his own scientific brilliance and had made incredible advances in the preservation and study of corpses. Like so many geniuses this man was far ahead of his time. Continue reading →

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October 26, 2015 · 11:05 pm

THE GREEN STAIN

Another neglected American horror legend from Balladeer’s Blog to help celebrate Halloween Month.

THE GREEN STAIN

Green StainOn Manhattan Island in the early 1800s a druggist named Rigdon ran an apothecary/ drug shoppe. He was a decidedly unfriendly man but the excellence of his concoctions and their rapid effect on his customers ensured him steady business.

The man’s wife and children seemed to fear the man and were a decidedly nervous lot whenever they were found to be helping out at Rigdon’s establishment. It was noticed by the gossips that feline and canine pets of the children never seemed to be around very long, and the children would refuse comment on the disappearances. Continue reading →

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October 26, 2015 · 9:58 pm

THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTED (1980)

Night of the Hunted 1THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTED (1980) – Halloween Month continues with a review of this French horror film. The Night of the Hunted was written and directed by Jean Rollin, who may be the definitive “love him or hate him” auteur.

My own view has long been that Rollin’s films are like projects David Lynch would direct from scripts by Anne Rice. I also believe that the often pedestrian translations of his movies into English accounts for why some viewers think his films are much less complex than they really are.

With The Night of the Hunted our man Jean departs from his usual tales of the undead and explores a different sort of horror. Brigitte Lahaie, the beautiful starlet of so many Rollin films, stars as Elysabeth, who is part of a pair of women on the run through the night-darkened roadways. Continue reading →

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October 25, 2015 · 4:35 am

SIX ZOMBIE FILMS THAT ARE UNIQUE

If you’re like me you’re bored with all of the zombie and pseudo-zombie films that seem to come out every few months. The 21st Century is as mired in tiresome, cookie-cutter zombie flicks as the 1980s were in tiresome, cookie-cutter slasher flicks.

Here is a look at six films which, while technically classified as zombie films at least adopt unique perspectives and don’t follow established formulas.

ShiversSHIVERS (1975) – David Cronenberg directed this overlooked gem that takes his love affair with body-horror and sets it in what would otherwise be a traditional zombie format. In fact my opinion is that George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead from a few years later shows a lot of this Cronenberg film’s influence.

Barbara Steele is the big name for horror fans in Shivers which was also released under the title They Came From Within. Lynn Lowry and Joe Silver are also in the film.

Countless other movies give us zombies that act purely on the animal instinct to kill and feed. Shivers gives us zombies who act first on the animal instinct to fornicate with killing being a secondary – but no less inevitable – consideration. Continue reading →

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October 24, 2015 · 10:52 pm

KILLIAN HEYLIGER’S PORTRAIT

Another neglected American horror legend from Balladeer’s Blog to help celebrate Halloween Month.

KILLIAN HEYLIGER’S PORTRAIT

1600s inBack when New York was still New Amsterdam Killian Heyliger was a vicious figure whose wealth protected him from the consequences of his actions. Today he would be considered a serial killer but back then with law enforcement technology in such a primitive state Heyliger had no problem getting rid of all traces of his victims.

Heyliger had financed an inn as an investment and lorded it over the establishment no matter what the actual management felt about it. Killian took any woman he wanted from the staff and befriended any men he wanted from the guests and would party and gamble with them all night in his private suites upstairs.  Continue reading →

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October 23, 2015 · 10:40 pm

HUGUES THE WEREWOLF (1838): GOTHIC HORROR

If you love Gothic Horror be sure to check out my October 1st review of the obscure Gothic novella Isabella of Egypt (1812)

HUGUES THE WEREWOLF (1838)

Hugues the WerewolfHugues the Wer-Wolf to give it its original spelling, is a very enjoyable 1800s horror story written by Sutherland Menzies. The Wulfric family are from old Norman stock and live between Ashford and Canterbury.

The Wulfrics are largely shunned because of the belief that for several generations lycanthropy has run through their family. Since this is a horror story we know it’s the truth and that the Wulfric werewolves are responsible for bloody deaths of livestock and human beings as well as the digging up of freshly buried corpses when other game is scarce.   Continue reading →

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October 22, 2015 · 11:43 pm

THE DARK WOODSMAN

Another neglected American horror legend from Balladeer’s Blog to help celebrate Halloween Month.

THE DARK WOODSMAN

Dark ForestAround two hundred years ago in the forest outside Brighton, MA stalked the Dark Woodsman. Big and brawny and garbed in the clothing of the era, he was a supernatural figure condemned by Heaven to labor eternally at the cutting down of the seemingly endless woodland of New England. Alone the damned figure would chop down a tree per night, carry it off to some hidden woodmill then whittle and craft the timber.  

All implements made from the trees of the Dark Woodsman were used for evil. From his wood slave ships were made, spears and arrows for Native American tribes at war were crafted, clubs for bludgeoning victims were fashioned and devices for every other possible evil came from the vile figure’s workshop.  Continue reading →

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October 20, 2015 · 8:26 pm

THE DEAD DANCE BY MOONLIGHT

Another neglected American horror legend from Balladeer’s Blog to help celebrate Halloween Month.  

THE DEAD DANCE BY MOONLIGHT

Dead Dance by MoonlightManetti was the violinist’s last name. His first name has been lost to history. He was making a name for himself throughout New England when twin milestones occurred which prevented him from earning the full musical fame he longed for.

Those twin milestones happened in 1775 and they were:

On the personal level, Manetti was diagnosed with consumption (tuberculosis) and on the national level, the Revolutionary War broke out. Due to his medical condition the thirtyish violinist was not looked down upon for refraining from military service. However, none of the New England towns had funds to spare for the type of symphonies or opera houses Manetti had envisioned for the area.  Continue reading →

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October 19, 2015 · 9:43 pm

THE MARQUETTE MONSTER

Balladeer’s Blog presents another neglected American horror legend for Halloween Month.

THE MARQUETTE MONSTER

Marquette MonsterNear what is now Alton, IL a monstrous man-eating monster was first sighted by Jacques Marquette in the 1670s. Sightings of the creature continued until the 1860s. The celebrated drawing of this monster by Native Americans was dated to around the year 1200 CE.

The monster is also known as the Piasa Bird, named after Native American terms for dragon-like creatures that supposedly inhabited the region in the ancient past. Over the decades the description varied but overall the Marquette Monster was said to have the body of a horse-sized cougar, the wings of a bat and the head of a human but adorned with antlers like a deer.   Continue reading →

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