21st, 22nd, 25th Days

THE TWENTY-FIRST DAY

Had to let items accumulate during the busy week. Anyway:

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” by Washington Irving. A famous ghostly tale. Also Preface and first sketches of The Sketch Book.

The Spooky Thing, William O. Steele (jv) – Funniest thing I ever read (as a little kid), and Cubby agrees. A tall tale from Tennessee, adapted by Steele, full of exaggerations and quips that have stayed with me all my life. I often say I have double-distilled dropsy or the dry wobbles when I’m sick. But the Spooky Thing itself is quite a nasty monster!

“On the Trail of the Brontosaurus,” by “Fulann” (Captain W. Hichens) – from BFR website, originally from Chamber’s Journal, Oct. 1927. Dinosaurs, Chemosit, Nunda, and other monsters in Africa!

“Lizzie Borden’s House,” “Tatum’s Ghost,” “Ghostly Attraction,” “Comedy Store Ghosts,” “Devil’s Backbone,” ghostly segments from Unsolved Mysteries. We’re getting into the Halloween spirit, all right!


TWENTY-SECOND DAY

“The Lottery,” “Biography of a Story,” “Tootie in Peonage,” “Janice”, Shirley Jackson (ss) – finally stories by a female writer. “Biography” tells of all the lunatics who wrote in about “The Lottery”. And “Lottery” is another scary tale.

“Then I Wasn’t Alone,” “Shiver in the Pines,” M. W. Wellman (ss)

The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Robert Browning – more poetry, this effort is about a mysterious character who can control rats – and children – with his music.

How to Take Care of Your Monster, Norman Bridwell (jv) – funny book on owning a monster as a pet. We’ve seen all these monsters in Famous Monsters. Now how about movies and stories about them?

“How It All Began,” Kenneth Arnold, from Proceedings of the First UFO Congress by Curtis Fuller – Don’t usually list a single article by itself (unless Xeroxed or clipped from a magazine), but this tells us of the origin of “Flying Saucers” in 1947 (the name, at least). Much like “Ishtar Gate” is like the seed of Cryptozoology, and the Ford’s Theater clipping, telling of Lincoln being seen after death, slid us into the area of ghosts.

Lone Ranger, “The Legion of Old-Timers”

Jonny Quest, “Pursuit of the Po-Ho”

Thirty books read = 1/160 of the way through!


TWENTY-FIFTH DAY

Mazeppa, “Chinchilla Attack #2,” “Slow-Motion School”; Superman, “The Mechanical Monsters”; Zorro’s Fighting Legion, “Chapter Two: The Flaming Z”; Nosferatu (1922 horror) – We learn about vampires big time!

“The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Premature Burial,” “The Raven,” and “The Conqueror Worm,” stories and poems by Edgar Allen Poe – very Halloweeny.

Whales, Dolphins, and Other Marine Mammals, George S. Fichter – a Golden Nature Guide.