Black Dahlia Avenger, Steve Hodel, James Ellroy

Black Dahlia Avenger 

The True Story

One of the Most Notorious Murders of the 20th Century...SOLVED!

by Steve Hodel

Elizabeth Short is The Black Dahlia...

Black Dahlia Avenger is a very interesting True Crime/Mystery novel. A novel which I picked up at my former place of employment as it was offered up in a small stack of "Take Me" free books. I heard of the Black Dahlia before so I decided to take the free book and read it and I must say I'm glad I did. The subject matter is quite scary and the details of the murder(s) are very graphic out of necessity. 

At it's most basic this book is the story of the relationship between a father and a son...from the sons' perspective. This isn't no ordinary father and son though, the father was a licensed doctor and the author and son is a retired LAPD homicide detective. The book can also be described as a great mystery novel as Steve Hodel decides to investigate one of the most legendary "unsloved" murders using his expertise and experience as a LAPD homicide detective...what he finds out during his investigation is shocking, controversial, mind numbing and very disturbing. All of these elements in one book make Black Dahlia Avenger a very interesting read to say the least.

This post is dedicated to Elizabeth Short, "Gloria" (pictured below), Evelyn Winters, Laura Trelstad, Rosenda Mondragon, Marian Newton, Viola Norton, Louise Springer, Geneva Ellroy, Elspeth Long and Helene Jerome. 

The Phantom of the Opera

This is the cover of an '86 hardcover version of the original 1911 book which I picked up at a library book sale.

Here's a couple of great pictures from the silent 1925 version of the Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin. Pictures courtesy of the book Classics Of The Horror Film by William K. Everson.

Ghost Files by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson with Michael Jan Friedman

 

This is a cool book from '07 that features some great, real ghost stories and photos from T.A.P.S. aka Ghosthunters. The stories are about ghosthunts that are too evil and scary to feature on the Syfy TV series. I scanned a couple of ghost photos featured in the book. My fave story is about a box of golf balls that move by themselves and form an arrow in a haunted apt. Seems the former tenant was a real, bonafide devil worshiper and he left something evil behind after he moved out. Great book!

 

 

 

 

Back cover.

 

 

www.simonandschuster.com

 

 

Famous Monsters Of Filmland, Bela Lugosi, Dracula

Cool Horror magazine cover featuring Bela Lugosi as Dracula, the definitive Dracula...just in time for Halloween. Notice the mini-painting of Nosferatu in the upper left corner.

Hollywood Gothic is the ultimate book on Dracula, from the book by Bram Stoker, the controversy of Nosferatu and the Dracula movie, from stageplay to the big screen. Highly recommended!

Ghost Stories, Stories To Shock You! Ghostly Tales Of Suspense And Terror!, Dell Comics

 

 

Here's a classic '62 Dell Ghost Stories comic book that even has a ghost story on the back cover!

 

 

From Queen City Bookstore.

H.P. Lovecraft, Lovecraft, fear of the unkown

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.

H.P. Lovecraft is the forefather of modern horror.
I was recently exposed to the man and his stories through Filmfax magazine, which peaked my interest.

Unknowingly, my first exposure to Lovecraft was through a Metallica song of which the song title refers to one of his stories. Next, I watched the Re-Animator movie on video back in the 80's. Lovecraft's influence and output of stories goes way beyond those 1st 2 references. I never really knew how much his influence has affected pop culture until I watched this DVD. His stories were limited to pulp magazines while he was alive but after his early death from disease, his friends who recognized his genius, started a book publishing company specifically to publish his work. Many of those stories were overlooked by Lovecraft during his lifetime due to his highly self-critical nature. The book company flourished and went on to publish not only Lovecraft stories but other famous horror authors as well.

If you're a fan of John Carpenter, Stephen King, Guillermo Del Toro, Stuart Gordon, Caitlin Kiernan, Peter Straub, Robert Bloch and Neil Gaiman then you need to watch this documentary on Lovecraft. The DVD goes on to cover his life, his work and his influence on modern horror.
If you know of Lovecraft then this a must see.

www.cinevolvestudios.com

Ghost Adventures, Travel Channel

I found this DVD set at my local public library and after watching it I find the "Ghost Adventures" ghost hunting style the most interesting and exciting to watch on TV. 3 guys literally locked into a haunted locale overnight, calling out and challenging hostile ghosts (in complete darkness!) to show themselves and asking the ghosts to use their human life energies to manifest themselves. These 3 guys almost make ghost hunting look easy. Some of the scenes are quite creepy and bone chilling.  This DVD set is from 2010, I'm not sure if the show is still on TV but you can bet I'm going to search for more of these DVD's the next time I go to my public library.

I am a fan of T.A.P.S. (Ghost Hunters), the ghost hunting show on Sci-fy, but I have bought their DVD's and the quality of the DVD's isn't always the best. I bought the Buffalo Central Terminal episode and it has failed to work in my DVD player. Maybe it's the ghosts making the DVD malfunction?
This is why I take out stuff from the library and check out the latest Ghosthunters episodes on Youtube.
I have to say that I recently watched an episode on the Youtubes in which TAPS caught an EVP of a scream which dies out into a gust of wind, which gives me goose bumps just thinking about it.

Ripley's Believe It or Not, True Ghost Stories

True Ghost Stories

Weird! Eerie! Authentic!

Super Scary comic from 1974. True Ghost Stories in comic book form! Can't beat that!
I visited the Ripley's Wax Museum in Canada, when I was young, before the new enhanced license days.

The Spectre, DC Comics

The Spectre is a really cool golden age character who was brought back into DC comics after a 20 year hiatus. The Spectre is really Jim Corrigan, Jim was killed in the line of duty while doing his job as a police officer. Jim comes back to life as a visible ghost and continues his duty as a police officer in the mortal world and he shares his body with the ghostly Spectre, a ghost who delivers hard justice in the mortal, paranormal and astral plane. Jim Corrigan comes back to life and is killed again in this graphic novel. I would recommend The Spectre to any paranormal and comic book fans, the possibilities for interesting stories seem endless for this all encompassing character. This book length GN features stories from '66 to '83 and explains why The Spectre disappeared for 20 years and why he came back into the comic book realm.
This great GN has also allowed me to read some of the issues I have stored away in my collection and also includes some really great Neal Adams art.

Fate True Reports of the Strange and Unknown

www.fatemag.com
FATE True Reports of the Strange and Unknown is a cool, informative small sized magazine that is an interesting read, it's sorta like Coast to Coast radio in mag form. Topics covered include real-life Amazons, UFOs, Demonic Possession, real-life Zombies, Teleportation, Paranormal book reviews and a interesting reader letters section. Picked FATE up at Barnes and Noble bookstore.

Ghost, Dark Horse Comics, Ghost Stories

Ghost #9

Ghost #8

Ghost #2

A sexy, ghostly superhero, now that's cool! Ghost is one of my newest comic obsessions,

by Dark Horse Comics circa '95.

Check out my Comic Book blog www.comixiownblog.blogspot.com

Ghost Invaders Of WNY