Gorey gone “Batty”

What better way to restart blogging again, than with one of my favourite illustrators Edward Gorey, born today 22nd February 1925.

 

A man who is probably most famous for his little illustrated book of twenty-six children dying sudden and disturbing deaths. And I’m still trying to work out why I fell in love with it immediately; was it the dark humour or that he had taken something disturbing – the death of children- and made it delightful?

I will probably never know, but from the moment I started to read more of his wonderfully strange and bizarre books, he became my master of understated horror; his work full of weird, gaunt and thin characters- the perfect mood for a geeky teenage girl!

He made the conventional curious, cats in clothing, women in fancy dress, haunting tea-cosys, mythical creatures and treacherous villains. Once saying  he wanted “to make everyone as un-easy as possible” no more so that in “The Loathsome Couple” about two child murderers and their casually miserable marriage.

To me there will never be anyone so wonderfully strange, odd and bizarre as Edward Gorey. Illustrating and writing over 100 books in his career. Bringing a new twist to HG Wells “War of the Worlds” and winning a Tony Award for his work on the 1977 Broadway production of “Dracula”.

Turning the sets into a work of art, it is breath-taking like a massive children’s book had been opened on stage. Can you imagine all of those meticulously unsettling little sketches in motion? It is stunning, and clever, and quite terribly creepy!

And whilst it is difficult to see in these pictures the details in the set design for the “Toy Theatre” are amazing; the morbid dolls in Seward’s library, the fangs on the skulls in Lucy’s bedroom, the bat cradling a zombie almost lovingly in Dracula’s tomb—make looking at the set up close entertainment enough. But there’s so much more to do with it.

The stage is set for your own revival of “Dracula”

If you want Dracula to avoid the stake at the end of the story? You can! Did you wish the maid had a larger role? Make her the star! Did you always imagine it as a musical? Get ready to belt it out.

As for me, today I will just sit back, maybe with one of his many books and imagine what character I would have been in one of his stories and wonder what tragic end he would have given me, I do hope that it would have been disastrous!!

or A for ABI

An Event not to be missed

It has been so long since I have been truly disturbed and scared by a film, that I had almost forgotten what it feels like, but there is one “Event Horizon” released today in 1997 that does both, it is surprisingly good, atmospheric, sadistic and haunting.

One way to describe it is to mix Alien and The Shining together and add a dash of Hellraiser, but the film works by not just being a horror set in space, the horror comes because it is space and the setting itself adds peril to the mission.

However to fans of sci-fi horror it does seem to have a “Marmite” effect, with some utterly hating it while personally I love it.

The story follows a group of astronauts, including Laurence Fishbourne (pre Matrix) and Sean Pertwee aboard the rescue ship “Lewis & Clark” who are on route to investigate a strange distress call, sent from the top secret research vessel “Event Horizon” which vanished without a trace 7 years ago and has reappeared like magic..

Dr Weir (Sam Neill) the ships designer, tells us and the crew of the rescue mission of his gravity drive that can fold space and time and opens gateways to other places…

From the minute they arrive to find the ship floating without its crew the film really starts, its cold, dark, empty cathedral like atmosphere makes this a very bleak experience.

Through blood splattered walls and the crew’s last video tape they discover what could have happened, but as each of them start to have strange hallucinations the question is where has the ship been and more pressing what has it brought back…the more they learn the worse it becomes.

Though not groundbreaking the films design, especially “Event Horizon” makes it feel very menacing, and unwelcoming, but it is the suspense that will keep you hooked, keep you absorbed and unable to look away… it will get under your skin like the warped sound of the “Gravity Drive” purring away in the background.

And after the 95 minutes in the company of “Event Horizon” you will never look at Sam Neill’s kind-natured face from Jurassic Park quite the same way again!

He is brilliant as the dark and sinister Dr Weir, who appears obsessed with the ship from the start, and eventually is consumed completely, he is possibly the best in the world at conveying slow-burning insanity!

 

So all in all the film was certainly not what I expected, thinking it was going to be some boring “Alien” rip off and I was in for a shock to the system… It takes a LOT to scare me and this film definitely did.

I admit though that it isn’t for everyone, but I, for one, loved every second and I’m just sorry it wasn’t longer.

So you are all coming with me ……

Pleasing terror

I don’t really believe in ghosts, but have always loved ghost stories. That’s because I do believe in the power of stories to disturb and unsettle, even the most firmly rational mind. And judging by the audience figures for the theatre show “Ghost Stories” I’m not alone in the desire to be scared witless, by something I don’t believe in!

Nowadays, it’s easy for a play or film that sets out to frighten its audience – it can always rely on visual effects, and that old trick of simply making you jump.

For me personally, I like to sometimes forget what I’ve seen; whether in CGI, make-up or every monster imaginable, and go back in time, to the books of Montague Rhodes James.

The pleasure in reading his books is that they fill our nervous imaginations, at first welcoming with ease into his characters world. But then they bring trouble on themselves by innocent actions – a little too curious, examining an old manuscript or by picking up a harmless object on the beach.  As the stories unfold you begin to realise the unpleasantness that is developing around the victim. You see them slowly becoming trapped in horrific and ghostly situations from which there is no escape!

He does the literally equivalent of covering our eyes at the moment of horror – a few words dropped casually; a face like crumpled linen, a creature made of hair, a footprint with the bones visible. We desperately want to look, but even more desperately, we don’t want to ‘see’. We’re like the observers in “The Mezzotint” – “profoundly thankful that they could see no more”!

So for those of you who like your “flesh to creep”, there is nothing better than reading these stories; with just the sound of a ticking clock, you’ll be taken back to the time they were written, the times of long train journeys and remote landscapes.

 

Ask anyone what they consider to be the most horrible moment in M.R. James’ fiction, and the chances are they will come up with the passage in “Casting the Runes” – in which, waking in the dark Mr Dunning puts his hand under the pillow to get his watch and;

“What he touched was, according to his account, a mouth, with teeth and with hair about it, and he declares not the mouth of a human being.”

On the face of it, that mouth should be no more frightening than the false teeth in the glass on the bedside table. The ghostly mouth, doesn’t bite or even lick the hand, it’s just there and it shouldn’t be – it stops the heart!

And like most, I have my favourite stories one of which is  “The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral”. It takes the dull pass time of a man looking through a collection of documents, to pie.ce together the death of an Archdeacon and finds a tale of murderous ambition!

Our guilty victim is increasingly troubled and ‘haunted’ from beyond the grave by a black cat and that whispering voice;

“The whispering in my house was more persistent tonight. I seemed not to be rid of it in my room. I have not noticed this before. A nervous man, which I am not, and hope I am not becoming, would have been much annoyed, if not alarmed, by it. The cat was on the stairs tonight. I think it sits there always……. There is no kitchen cat.”

You can feel his ghosts gather around you; from the 2 cloaked figures waiting expectantly at the crossroads in “Count Magnus” , the engraving of an old manor house coming to life in “The Mezzotint” and a man haunted through his dreams from “O Whistle & I’ll Come to you My Lad”

His memorable images conjure the night terrors of child-hood, the glimpsed figure on the lonely beach and that voice that whispers in our ear on the dark stairs. It’s unsettling the effect his books produce, reminding us, we don’t really know what populates the dark – beyond the circle of our candlelight!

Afterwards, you will be glad to constantly remind yourself, that this is in fact “just a story”. But you will never forget any of his writing, or find anything more English or disturbing as his “ghostly tales”

So as you walk down a deserted beach, or even a lonely stretch of road, it will never feel quite the same again – you have M.R. James to thank for that!

Say Hello….

A little boy wakes in the middle of the night to find his favourite toy, moving around his bedroom. His mother bolts out of her bed to the screams of her child and the sounds of furniture being overturned. Rushing to his room she is worried when his door is locked. All she can do is listen to the sounds of giggling and chaos, only broken by the screams of her son calling out to her. Finally wrenching the door opened she finds her son huddled under his blankets, his toy sat at the end of the bed and his belongings scattered all over the room … All the boy could whisper was “Robert did it”…

 

Now this could sound like the start of a horror film, or maybe just the little boy blaming his toy, so he wouldn’t get into trouble. Hoping his parents would just put it down to a nightmare or his over active imagination…..let’s face it didn’t you dream of your favourite toy coming to life to play with you?

We’d all agree that a good imagination is healthy…BUT what would happen if your toy started to torment you to the point where you couldn’t sleep??? This is what supposedly happened to Robert Eugene Otto (AKA ‘Gene) and his favourite toy “Robert”

“Robert” was given to Gene in the early 1900s by a maid and the child instantly became unnervingly close to his new doll. He took it everywhere with him.. feeding him at the dinner table….going on errands with his parents…and “Robert” took pride of place in Gene’s bed at night.

At first everyone thought it was cute how the two seemed so close, but then started to notice unsettling things, like at night people would wake to the sound of light footsteps echoing through the old house, as if someone was running from room to room, friends of the family reported seeing the doll walking up the stairs, furniture seemed to have a life of its own and most disturbingly people reported “Roberts” smile turning to a grimace and hearing it giggling.

And whilst most children tend to outgrow their toys – the bond between Gene and “Robert” continued throughout his life.

Returning to his family home (after the death of his parents), with his new wife Anne, Gene re-discovered “Robert” in the attic. However, Anne detested the toy, saying she found Gene’s attachment unsettling and insisted she’d seen the expression on “Roberts” face change!

With the two reunited, strange and frightening experiences haunted Anne and her friends, claims that doors would slam, dishes would smash by themselves and more chillingly they could hear the sounds of tiny foot-steps and childish laughter, which would disturb their quiet evenings.

After her servants left the house, refusing to return Anne confined the sinister object to the attic.

Her determined efforts, however, were short- lived and as Gene became even closer to his doll, he would spend hours with him talking, Anne also could hear the two-sided conversations between her husband and the deep voice.

Many stories circulated that Robert would be seen staring out of a window, frightening school children by moving or demonic giggling coming from the house, when supposedly no one was at home.

Gene insisted that Robert was locked in the attic, so imagine his surprise to find him sitting in a rocking chair in the Turret Room, seizing the doll he returned it to the attic, only to find it returned to the rocking chair when he came back down !

When Gene died in 1972, he was found in the Turret room, lying next to his favorite toy….even though Robert the man was gone, “Robert” the doll carried on…

Anne moved to Boston leaving the house to the new tenants, whose 10 year old little girl found “Robert” in the attic – she carried the doll everywhere and things were going great… until the parents found the doll at the end of their bed… knife in hand ! Even to this day their daughter claims the doll would torment her, was alive and tried to kill her – she is still deeply traumatized!

That was enough the family left the house never to return and donated “Robert” to the Key West Martello Museum but the story doesn’t end there…

One employee at the museum remembers having spent time cleaning the doll and then left for the night…. When he returned the next morning the lights were on. Robert was in a different position and stranger still? It appears that Robert’s shoes had dust on the bottom of them like he had been walking around!!!

Both visitors and employees report to hear giggling, see his legs cross and uncross and some claim to sometimes hear tapping on glass as they pass his case, when they turn to look they have seen “Roberts” hand pressed against the glass….

This would be the doll that inspired “Chucky” and haunt our nightmares and whilst you might not believe in curses or dolls that come to life, it’s always better to ask Robert permission to take his photo… you know… just to be on the safe side, because if you don’t when you return home, having completely forgotten about the doll and its curse ….you might just see something run across the room, out of the corner of your eye… That’s “Robert” and he’s not happy….

 

Chamber of Horrors

Today, 16^th May 1861, Herman Webster Mudgett was born. Whilst ylou might not instantly know his name he would become the first person in America to be given the label “Serial Killer”.

He was born and raised in the small state of New Hampshire and turned his fascination with the human body into a career, when he graduated from medical school in 1884.

Wealthy, well-educated and refined, the young doctor moved to Chicago where he became the owner of a drugstore, and eventually opened a hotel. Women were drawn to the handsome, finely-dressed and charismatic businessman.

He was a total lady-killer.

Beneath the cover of a successful entrepreneur Herman Webster Mudgett – better known as Dr. H.H. Holmes – designed and opened his new hotel with one thing in mind: murder.

Fairgoers enjoying the colour and light of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago had no idea that not far away Dr. Henry Howard Holmes had set up his own dark, private exhibition of death and torture on a scale comparable to that of the fair itself.

His “Murder Castle” would come complete with stairways to nowhere, windowless rooms fitted with gas lines and body chutes used to drop his victims down to the basement. It would be here that they would be subjected to real-life horrors that would make most modern “torture porn” sit up and take notice, with vats of acid, lime pits, an oven and a surgical table.

He was a living and breathing monster, manipulating his victims into signing over their power of attorney, before they would find themselves awake and in the basement of his castle, where he would dissect them, selling their organs and skeletons to medical schools across the country.

Caught by accident in 1895 when a life insurance scam went wrong he became the centre of world-wide attention, when his giant, boarding house in Chicago was uncovered.

When the police finally entered the death house, they discovered, along with the aforementioned horrors,it became apparent that many of Holmes’ victims had been held captive within the house for many months before their deaths.

 Throughout his trial another phenomenon rose from people’s fascination with sensational crime, as thousands lined up to see the famous murder site. It was made into an attraction, that offered guided tours to the suffocation chambers and torture rooms, but before it ever opened to the public, it mysteriously burned to the ground.

So many people who had rented room from Holmes had actually gone missing and estimates of his victims grew to around 200, he only ever confessed to killing 27 and whilst his figure is low there is no way to know just how many he actually killed.

And most people would think that the story would end upon Holmes being hanged for his crimes and buried in a un marked grave, but speculation about him continues.

Researching this article I came across a fascinating theory that Holmes was no other than “Jack the Ripper” and whilst it may seem daunting to link the murders they committed together, there could be several clues, that when you look at them, appear quite interesting.

For instance, the Whitechapel horrors began in August 1888, at the same time Holmes had started work on his ‘hotel’ and supposedly had taken a vacation and was unaccounted for.

The other curious thing is the descriptions of the 2 men seem to be very similar. A sketch was made of Jack from 13 witnesses who claimed they had seen the murderer. Both “The Ripper” and Holmes are described as middle aged, handsome and neat in appearance.

So take a look at the picture below and I’m sure you will be able to see the connection. So on the left we have “Jack the Ripper” and on the right H H Holmes.

Whilst there have been many theories put forward over the last century as to the Ripper’s identity, with dozens of suspects around, H H Holmes does fit the profile – the similarities of their crimes are haunting.

However in the end the world may never know with certainty the identity of history’s most notorious serial killer. All we are left with is the archives of written reports and witness accounts from people who have long since passed.

But having said all that there are some obvious gaps in this theory the biggest being why would Holmes come to London ? From reading up on his crimes he was a devious and manipulative man, hiding his crimes away in the house he had constructed, very unlike the Ripper murders.

It would be an interesting thought that they were the same person, but for me this case is still open…