Cleveland Rocks “A Christmas Story!”

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Last week, I took a mini Spring Break road trip from Chicago to Pennsylvania. I brought along my two youngest kids; Jade (16) and Luke (14) who were both with me last summer when I made a pit stop at the world’s biggest twine ball in Minnesota. I love bizarre roadside attractions and that one had been memorialized in song by the great Weird Al Yankovic, himself. This adventure would also feature Weird Al as I had VIP tickets to see him outside of Pittsburgh. It was one of the stops of his “The Ridiculously Self-Indulgent Ill-Advised Vanity Tour” with Emo Phillips and my tickets granted a meet and greet with the multi-Grammy winner afterward. To plan a road trip around something like this without a bunch of strange stops along the way would be downright irreverent. Our first stop was the Toledo Zoo to see their prehistoric flying reptile replicas before making our way to Cleveland to see the actual house used in A Christmas Story – fully restored to its on-screen appearance.

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Horror at the Library Book Sale…Continued!

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Continuing on with my recent horror paperback finds. In case you missed the last one, there’s a great site called Book Sale Finder that lets you know all the big ones taking place in the US throughout the year. These books are from two such sales as well as a Chicago bookstore called  Bucket O’ Blood as well as eBay. They aren’t going to get any cheaper than a local sale so take advantage of that site! Here’s the final rundown of my latest haul…

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Horror at the Library Book Sale!

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Last Christmas, I mentioned my newfound enthusiasm for vintage horror novels and my crusade in tracking them down. It seems like Grady Hendrick’s book, Paperbacks from Hell, has inspired many of us horror fans and though it made them harder to find, I’m pleased to see it. Perhaps it will encourage publishers to give those romance books a rest and start churning out a new crop of pulpy horror – especially if they mimic that vintage cover art.

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Something About Resurrection Mary

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Like most major cities, Chicago has its fair share of supernatural lore and old cemeteries;  including the infamous Bachelor’s Grove which is considered one of the most haunted in the world. I love a good graveyard. So when I discovered a group that met up every Sunday to do local tours, I quickly signed up. The first was about thirty-five minutes north in Justice, Illinois – Resurrection Cemetery. This Roman Catholic burial ground is over twice the size of Brookfield Zoo and home to Chicago’s most famous ghost, Resurrection Mary.

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Monster Memories and the 120th Anniversary of “War of the Worlds!”

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The good people at Scary Monsters Magazine have just dropped their latest masterpiece – Monster Memories #26! Aside from sporting yet another frame-worthy cover, this 145-page opus is loaded with so many great articles it’ll warrant multiple readings. My favorite comes straight of the gate with Jason Strangis’ “Fantastic ’50s” and I also loved “Monster Robots and Donuts” (best title ever) by Mark Glassy. If you’re a fan of War of the Worlds than you are gonna love this issue. Don Smeraldi’s “All is Wells in the World” is Rondo-worthy good and I just loved it! Monster Memories #26 even has a wonderful tribute to Rick Koz Svengoolie who will probably be so relieved to see a story about him in SM/MM that wasn’t written by me. Although….if you skip over to page 90 you can check out my article/tribute to Harou Nakajima. I was fortunate to have seen the legendary man in the Godzilla suit just (1954-1972) just weeks before his death at the Indianapolis Days of the Dead convention. Assisting me with this piece was the great J.D. Lees – publisher of G-FAN and the man behind G-FEST as well as Tim Bean who worked with Nakajima on several occasions including Indy. Tim and J.D – if you’re reading this, a Godzilla-sized THANK YOU and complimentary copies of MM #26 are headed your way. As for the rest of you, what are you waiting for? Go out and get yourself a copy!

Dave~

The Confessions of a Horror Wimp

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I’m pleased to welcome my friend, Nicholas Cara, to Terror Daves. Nick is a devout Svengoolie fan and the accomplished author who penned the highly entertaining Grey Ghost books. Today, however, he just wants to get something off his chest…

I have a confession horror fans, I’m a wimp. There is no way around it, when it comes to the world of horror I’m a chicken, a wuss, a scaredy-cat, a namby-pamby lily-livered yellow bellied wimp. But you know what? That’s okay.

Will you ever see me in a theater watching a new horror flick? Nope. Renting a tape (kids, ask your parents) of the newest or even a dated 1980’s slasher flick? No chance. I mean most show’s on television today tiptoe the line once saved for the strongest R rated Jason or Freddy movies and I’m happy to usually be in control of the remote control safely on my couch which for us wimps is a great feeling.

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