Basement Sublet of Horror COMICS!!!!

 In the many months since I last blogged, exciting things have happened. Mostly not to me, but here's one thing with which I was tangentially involved:

 

That's right! The Basement Subvlet of Horror now has its own comic book, written by Gunther Dedmund himself, along with Rik Verlin Livingston, Paul Stockton, Derek McCullough and myself, and illustrated by Livingston, Jeff Kilian and Sy Grudko, along with photos by myself, Kris Hermanson and Gunther himself.

PLUS!

 You also get TWO trading cards with each copy.....

 

Above is one of legendary Wichita Horror Host Tom "The Host" Leahy.....

And this is one of ME!

You can get the first Fab issue from www.basementsubletofhorror.com! And if you like, you can request either of the above cards......

DO IT NOW!

Commemorative BSOH Coin

Hey, look what I got for Christmas from Gunther Demond himself! It's a commemorative Basement Sublet of Horror coin!

 And on the reverse, it's got the BSOH logo!

I don't know how you can get one of these, sadly, unless you know Gunther personally. I hope they make one for Tex LeBeauf next!

Buffalo Remains and the Saddest Piñata in the World

I've been very aware that my taxidermy-related posts have of late been lacking. So here are two shots of a pretty moth-eaten buffalo (Bison bison, for you scientific types):
 
Here's a plucky-looking dog, from the same undisclosed location in Kentucky:

 And their friend, Mr. Trout:

 And, finally, the Saddest Piñata in the World:

Human Remains for Sale, Paris, 1985

I'll bet that headline is going to get me some interesting Google searches. This skeletal hand and its companion foot were on sale at a bookstall on the Left Bank of the Seine in that halcyon summer of 1985:

Sorry I've been backsliding this week! I've been busy scanning and cleaning up old negatives like this one. Tomorrow I head for Oxford, Mississippi to talk to my friend Jack Pendarvis's class about Wichita in the 1940s, thence to Atlanta, Georgia to record some video with my friend Lane Davies, thence to Columbia, Tennessee to see my cousin Lindsey Page and then to Nashville to visit Roy Acuff's Record Store! So believe you me I will have lots to blog about.

The Cabinet of Dr. Sweeney, plus Bonus Ghost Sign

 A couple of years ago my filmmaker friend Mark W. Stone took me on a tour of the neighborhood where Dr. Francis Sweeney, almost certainly Cleveland's infamous Torso Killer, had his practice.

 Which building it was is impossible to say at this point, but these were the buildings that held those sorts of offices at that time.

 This one still houses some medical offices.

 On the right, a library converted into a chapel.....

 And here, windows both broken and boarded up.

And finally, a really nice Ghost Sign, in multiple languages (Czech?) advertising Mail Pouch tobacco.

Major Astro, circa 1970

In Wichita we had several memorable kiddie show hosts (Cap'n Bill, played by Bill MacLain, Freddie Fudd, supposedly Elmer's cousin, played by Henry Harvey) but none loomed as large in our little cartoon-addled minds as Channel Three's Major Astro, played by Tom Leahy, who also served as The Host on KARD's late-night horror movie show "Nightmare" (the prime inspiration for Joel Sanderson's brilliant "Basement Sublet of Horror").

 The show began in the days of the Mercury program, but as you can see by the Moonbase set above, it was still running well into the Apollo years.

 Here the Major waves, looking like he's giving his signature sign-off line, "Happy orbits, boys and girls!" I met Tom once when my friend Jeff Killian interviewed him in his home, and I was running one of two video cameras. In the interview, Tom was very, very funny, (he referred to the character as "The Maj") and afterwards he invited us to have a drink with him. Jeff and the other cameraman demurred, as it was before noon, but I wasn't by God going to pass up the chance to have a snort with Major Astro. He gave me a glass of white wine and said "I believe I'll have something stronger myself." Then he poured himself a good-sized tumbler of scotch.

The viewing screen behind him to his left is where the cartoons would first appear before going full-screen.  I believe Jeff gave me these pictures in the late eighties to print; I just found them in a box of old slides. Most likely they came from The Maj himself. Tom died a year or two ago, mourned by thousands of Wichita's former kiddie-show viewers. Rest in Peace, Maj!

Illinois Haunted House

 After dropping my kid off at camp this summer Mrs. Phillips and I passed by this Haunted House attraction in rural Illinois.

 I imagine that in-season this portasign is illuminated and marked with directions. Or maybe it isn't. Maybe it just sits there.

 "In season" would be right about now. I should go up there and check it out! Or you should.

 Here's the sign you see as you're driving away. See the tiny little car next to it for scale!

That's all I have in terms of rural haunted house attractions.

Hungry gargoyle

Paris, Tour St. Jacques, mid-eighties. I've always liked this picture because it either looks like the gargoyle is guarding the tots on the carousel or preparing to devour them one by one.

That's all I got today!

The Basement Sublet...of Horror!

My good pal Joel Sanderson is the creator/producer/film editor/star of the greatest TV Horror show ever, The Basement Sublet of Horror. Check it out if you dare: http://www.basementsubletofhorror.com/
I've guest starred on two episodes, once as psychotic, pilled-up country western legend Tex LeBeauf, beamed down to the sublet by the nubile female aliens who've kindly adopted him, and once as Gunther Dedmond's sinister landlord. Every episode I've seen is a gas, and Joel's inventive re-imaginings of the D-movies he's recut are works of art in themselves.