Starting Halloween Early - Spook Shows! Plus Creepsville and Agents of Peril, of Course

I'm back again. Sorry for no Blog last week, but a death in the family kept me away. Colette's oldest cousin, Dave, left this mortal coil. Dave was a rogue, a trickster and a good guy. He will be missed, which was obvious when friends and family got up to tell the assembled group about his life.

Spook Shows -- Sheer Shivering Shreiking Horror!

This last week, the temperature dipped for a day, with the day's high being 70 degrees. A quick flit of cool air served to bring forth an urge for our spookiest holiday: Halloween. As luck would have it, I had dug out a large envelope file holding loads of clip art, including horror films and Spook Shows.

Basically, the Spook Shows were traveling oddities that went town to town, usually playing horror double features along with a live stage show. The live portion usually had a magician using an unusual name (For example, the Spook Show Purveyor in Creepsville was named Dr. Sardini.) Most of these also had monsters run off the stage and seem to kidnap audience members. In a number of shows, cheesy versions of familiar monsters would also appear, such as Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster.

Articles these days about the Spook Shows usually have them stopping in the mid 1960s, but I actually saw one when I was about 12 years old in the mid 70s at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, IL. The advertisement promised three horror films, but they only showed Tales of Terror, the Edgar Allan Poe anthology film by Roger Corman, starring Vincent Price, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone. The live stage show featured a magician host (whose name escapes me at this time) and the Frankenstein Monster. Other monsters (people in obvious rubber masks) ran around the grand old theatre theatre pretending to grab people. Girls screamed as they were brought to the stage. One guy, in a nifty illusion, had his head cut off.

Later, my step father told me something astonishing. He claimed had been in the show as the Frankenstein Monster. Just recently, he reminded me of this odd memory. I'll have to get more info on this show and will share what I get here.

If you've never seen it or don't own it, there is a DVD created and released years ago by Something Weird Video called Monsters Crash the Pajama Party, which has a short film that included running monsters, kidnapping creatures and screaming girls. The DVD also features quite a lot of advertising from print and film trailers created specifically for those great old Spook Shows. The late, great Mike Vraney, creator of the company did the work himself of putting this labor of love together as an all-ages production.

So, here's a number of old newspaper advertisements to give you a spooky feel of what one of these shows was really like. After those ads are this week's Creepsville and Agents of Peril.

Wisconsin Sure Looks a Lot Like the Movie "From Hell It Came." You Decide + Creepsville & Agents of Peril

Last week, Blogspot had a hard time posting all the images and notes from a party in Wisconsin that happened years ago. I promised the rest of it would be posted this week, so here it is:

Previously on The Wisconsin Party Miasma aka "When will this Under the Dome TV series finish?!!"

"This is all the booze we have left?"

"Nope, you can have more if you plant tulips..." Perhaps it's best we not finish this vocal exchange.

The clock strikes 6:47 pm. Suddenly, there's a controlled substance odor in the air and one of the female party goers starts dancing.

Then another does.

Then another...

...and skinny dipping begins...

...and the girls start chasing other girls...

...and then the big brownie guy is walking around grabbing the girls.

...and they start getting picked up.

...and put down into mud puddles. It may look crazy to you, but it's really all about love.

The party breaks up. The gang that is still conscious gives their takes on the success of the party.

 "I lost another bra. Jeez!"

"I used my professional kissy face and all I got back was a t-shirt that says I stole June's bras. Why in hell would I steal bras?"

Stu added, "My hat is better by far than any used over-the-shoulder-bolder-holder."

"I love you. I love your manly hat. I even love the fact that you really do have a banana in your pocket."

Meanwhile, the chocolate brownie man is looking for June to kiss his... never mind, kids do actually read this blog. Er... Okay, maybe not.

As I said, in the end it's all about love... between two people who we don't even know... who wandered in late, and stole my new underwear.

So long ago, but I do recall that's where it all ended... oh, except one thing...

The mysterious Eric declares: "Everyone look out, there's a lobster loose! There's a lobster loose and its vengeful! Better have some melted butter! Holy cow, it's loose!"

Here are this week's Creepsville and Agents of Peril strips. Enjoy!

 

Party's over. Comics are done for this week. Everybody go home. Later, when you wake up, you might want to consider doing the following activity below at your next party. Have fun, and stay sober (as if).

Mysterious Wisconsin Party Pictures (aka "Fun With From Hell It Came!") + Creepsville & Agents of Peril

INFANTILE HUMOR WARNING: The following section of photos and text are packed to overflowing with childish and pathetic attempts at humor. After reading this, you may want to take a bath to clean the residue of this material away. Don't forget to read this week's Creepsville and Agents of Peril, too.

Our Slides Program Tonight: My Trip to Upper Wisconsin Circa Summer 2005 -- Part 1

I was digging through the Art Vault looking for nude drawings of Dr. Emil Franchel to blackmail him with when I stumbled across a number of photos that I took at a party I attended in the northern most regions of Wisconsin back in 2005. Back then, Wisconsin residents refused to sell or use color film. Beats me why! It does give this event a vague film noir feel. The party lasted almost 2 days, but we had so much fun and only a slight bit of brain damage. Okay, a lot of brain damage...

We just arrived at our cabin and conversation quickly twisted into a Q&A regarding who stole our friend June's bra the last time we had been there.

My buddy, Stu, suggested we just leave this alone.

Here I am trying to bring this exercise to a halt, so we can focus on the fun (mostly alcoholic).

June was still annoyed, convinced that I stole it.

What a glorious day!

The laughs really started when Eric got there and recreated his performance as Uncle Laughs, seen here inserting a steak knife into Belcho, the rude doll's, chest.

Eric also came in this snappy outfit of the carrot man from Lost In Space.

You just know a party is getting to be great when someone gets tied up early on. Especially if you have chickens.

The guy in the chair was a friend of Stu's. Beats me what he thought he was doing, but he had been smoking dope only minutes before. To say the least, just say no, kiddies.

The guy on the ground got a little annoyed when someone dared him to sing the theme song to Gilligan's Island. He claimed he had never heard it before. I hollared out what a giant sack of doo doo he was.

Fortunately, Mable showed up in her jungle girl outfit. I really think that outfit is keano.

We all joked that maybe she had June's missing unmentionables.

Eric was intrigued.

Drunkenness by the group en masse soon results in a daring dance devoted to Mt. Saint Helens.

Three women show up and start dancing. They asked if this was the Wilson party. We lied and said it was. Boy, did they ever get mad when they found out I wasn't a doctor.

Before that happened, our small group broke off to run back to our cabin to get Jello shots.

"What the hell is this?!"

Stu started to say something, but he was so drunk we couldn't figure out what he was saying. I tried to write it all down.

Later, we found road apples left by a horse in our fridge.

A scream alerted us that Betty was in my bed and had been there totally, completely drunk. I shook her until her head popped off. If Betty wasn't a real person, how did she get to the party... and who was her date?

I won't tell you how we figured it out, but Betty is a real woman. Betty was glad to slam another drink, this time an Undertaker (Vodka and a cadaver thumb).

Here's a shot of Betty later when she found out what she had been drinking.

Seconds later, we discovered June in a shower with Sophie. Both of them were wearing clothes. Wish I knew how this came about, because I've been asking June to repeat it for years. She thinks I'm joking. I'm not.

Minutes later, we tried to get a truth or dare game going, but both June and Betty wouldn't do it!

Eric dances with himself.

Back to the party as I try to grab June's buns.

"I love it when you grab my..."

I put on my best kissy face and said, "Come over and sit on my lap, and I'll pay for a tattoo of Adam West across your back."

"Batman?!!" She asked. I answered, "No, Adam West."

Suddenly: Mmmm-pop!!! "When I hear a sound like that coming from a man's pants, I know he's excited or a balloon he's hiding has popped."

"Sorry, I filled them."

Later, we check the keg to make sure there's still beer in it.

One sure sign of success for any parties we held at the campground was that Irv, the man in the flowery design diaper had showed up... and this party was no exception.

Betty finds Irving to be very hot, ignoring the odor of his diaper, which had never been washed. MOre often than we wanted to hear it, she would refer to Irving and say, "Oh, I love him so!"

"Why can't you get a diaper like him?"

TO BE CONTINUED & CONCLUDED NEXT WEEK!

Oh, and this week's Creepsville and Agents of Peril...