Halloween Horrors: Ghostwatch

October 16th, 2020

Back on Halloween in 1992, the BBC played a trick on its viewers by broadcasting a program called Ghostwatch. It was an early example of what we would call “Reality TV,” and like the overwhelming majority of Reality TV shows, it was fake.

It was supposedly a BBC camera crew staking out a home where poltergeist was said to be active. In fact, it was a scripted event where viewers intentionally caught glimpses of the malevolent ghost “Pipes” in the background while he was ignored by the cast, with planted on-air callers to the studio adding to the story, and during the course of the broadcast things got progressively weirder.

Like Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast, there were disclaimers that it was fiction, but the form in which in which it was presented (with real-world TV personalities like Red Dwarf‘s Craig Charles and presenter Michael Parkinson) convinced viewers they were watching the real thing.

And like Welles, they caught hell for it:

Five days after the programme’s transmission, an 18-year-old boy with learning difficulties, Martin Denham, hanged himself, having fallen into what his stepfather described as a trance. He had become obsessed with Ghostwatch and was convinced that there were ghosts in the water pipes of his Nottingham home.

In November 1993, a year after the programme’s one-off airing, two doctors from a child psychiatry unit in Coventry, Dawn Simons and Walter Silveira, submitted an article to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) recording the first cases of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by a television programme. Two ten-year-old boys had been referred to them. One was admitted to an inpatients unit for eight weeks; he would bang his head in an attempt to free himself from thoughts of Ghostwatch and its evil spirit, “Pipes”.

Consultants from Edinburgh came forward with four more children with similar symptoms. Martin Denham’s parents launched an inquiry into their son’s death. In 2002, his mother condemned the BFI’s DVD release of Ghostwatch, saying the programme had killed her son.

The show’s producers, Ruth Baumgarten and Richard Broke, were hauled on to BBC One’s consumer watchdog show Biteback to defend themselves.

Here’s a retrospective video on it:

And here’s writer Stephen Volk on creating it:

Today, of course, fake paranormal reality TV shows have proliferated so far and wide that you can rank over 60 of them and see them parodied on South Park:

More Austin Restaurant Closures

October 15th, 2020

While no one was looking, a whole bunch of Austin restaurants closed:

  • BRIO Tuscan Grille: Pricey Italian chain location in the Arboretum. Good food, but I only ate there on the very occasional Sunday (when Reale’s is closed).
  • Blue Baker: Another Arboretum closure. More bakery with a sidelight in sandwiches. I really hated the design of their space.
  • Brick Oven: Longtime Austin pizza restaurant at Braker and 183 is closing because that center’s HEB wants to expand into the space. I never liked their crust.
  • Bombay Bistro North: Same center, possibly the same reason, but they seem to have closed before now. Pretty decent Indian food,
  • Third Base Northwest: Sports bar on 183 that served pub grub; seems to have closed sometime in the last 10 months or so.
  • There are a lot of Austin restaurant closures that aren’t getting covered by Eater or the Statesman because they aren’t downtown and/or hipster-frequented joints. I only noticed these because I discovered that two of the three restaurant pad sites near the Arboretum had no labels on them in Google maps.

    (Cross posted to The Logbook of the Saturday Dining Conspiracy.)

    Halloween Horrors: Fleischer Cartoon’s Swing You Sinners

    October 13th, 2020

    In this one, Bimbo is menaced by a veritable legion of phantoms in a graveyard.

    (Hat tip: Don Webb.)

    Library Additions: Random Firsts, Some Signed

    October 12th, 2020

    Non-Zelazny (mostly) hardbacks from my most recent Bob Pylant purchase.

  • de Camp, L. Sprague. Warlocks and Warriors. Putnam, 1970. First edition hardback, a Fine- copy with five tiny ink “x”s next to stories on the copyright page and a trace of bend at head and heel, in a Fine- dust jacket with traces of edgewear along flap folds. Signed by de Camp. Includes Zelazny’s “The Bells of Shoredan.” The Zelazny and others include maps for their stories that I’m not sure I’ve seen anywhere else.
  • Greenberg, Martin H. Dragons: The Greatest Stories. MJF Books, 1997. First edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket. Anthology. A few mysteries about this copy: Has a numberline ending in one (which would typically indicate a first edition rather than a book club edition), but no price on the dust jacket (which would typically indicate the opposite), and has a red binding along the spine. The ISFDB lists two editions, one at a price of $19.95, and the other at a price of $7.98, the latter of which it indicates is taken from the Locus database, which also lists only one edition of the book and that as an instant remainder (which would explain the lack of a price). The Don Maitz cover appears to be a cropped example of the fuller dust jacket illustration that originally appeared on Kathleen Sky’s Witchdame in 1985; copies of this anthology with green spine and the fuller illustration (still with no price on the dust jacket) appear to be second printings. Still another mystery is the not-quite-right Zelazny signatures on the title page and at his story “The George Business,” which would be a neat trick since Zelazny died in 1995. No idea if Bob or someone else created the spurious signatures. It would seem that this instant remainder edition was done first and the pricier retail edition (if it even exists) may have been done later.

  • Ipcar, Dahlov. A Dark Horn Blowing. Viking Press, 1978. First edition hardback, a near Fine copy with slight bend at head and heel, a short, thin line of rust-colored staining at very bottom of front free endpaper, and a trace of age-darkening to pages, in a Near Fine dust jacket with a vertical crease running along the edge of the rear flap. Fantasy novel of a woman kidnapped to elfland to nurse a newborn elf prince. Never heard of it, but Bob said it was a good novel. In the Encyclopedia of fantasy, John Clute calls her work “atmospheric and densely conceived.”
  • Lee, Tanith. Sometimes, After Sunset. Nelson Doubleday/SFBC, 1980. First edition hardback, an omnibus edition of Sabella, or The Blood Stone and Kill the Dead (neither of which had any other hardback editions), a Fine copy in a Near Fine+ dust jacket with slight wear at points, a thin 1/2″ scratch at top front spine join, a trace of rubbing along front flap join bend edge, and slight age darkening to white flaps. Nice early Maitz cover.
  • Le Guin, Ursula K., editor. Nebula Award Stories 11. Gollancz, 1976. First edition hardback (precedes the U.S. edition by a year), a Fine- copy with slight bend at head and heel, traces of foxing to front free endpaper, and slight dust soiling at head, in a Near Fine copy with spine fading and a trace of edgewear at points. Includes the Nebula-winning Zelazny novella “Home is the Hangman.”
  • Meacham, Beth. Terry’s Universe. Tor, 1988. Uncorrected bound proof (trade paperback format) of the hardback first edition, a Fine copy. Tribute anthology to the late Terry Carr. Includes Zelazny’s “Deadstone Donner and the Flintstone Cup.”
  • Schiff, Stuart David, editor. The Best of Whispers. Borderlands Press, 1994. First edition hardback, #375 of 500 signed, numbered copies, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket and a Fine slipcase. Signed by all the then-living contributors (Fritz Leiber died in 1992), including Zelazny, Ray Bradbury, Karl Edward Wagner, Russell Kirk, Hugh B. Cave, Lucius Shepard, Jerry Sohl and Alan Ryan. Includes Zelazny’s “The Horses of Lir.”

  • The Bizarre Story Behind Space Mutiny

    October 9th, 2020

    A perennial Mystery Science Theater 3000 favorite, Space Mutiny is a grade Z science fiction film feature bad acting, a bad script, bad direction, ludicrous sets, thoroughly incompetent continuity, and special effects licensed from the original Battlestar Galactica TV series.

    Here the people behind The Bad Movie Bible (which I may need to pick up) take a look at the story behind the film:

    I didn’t realize that ostensible director David Winters was also the choreographer for The Star Wars Holiday Special. While that’s an awful lot of evil to pack into one career, any teenage boy whose parents had The Movie Channel in the 1980s are certainly willing to forgive a lot of sins for producing late night “classic” Young Lady Chatterly. (In the “non-evil” department, he was also a Jet in West Side Story.)

    The MST3K episode of Space Mutiny is available as part of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Vol. 4. BLAST HARDCHEESE says you should pick up a copy…

    Library Additions: Zelazny Book Club Editions

    October 7th, 2020

    Part 6 of my third purchase of Zelazny books from Bob Pylant. I previously listed signed Amber book club editions, today is signed (all but one) non-Amber book club editions.

  • Zelazny, Roger. The Changing Land. Del Rey/SFBC, 1981. Book club hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to white flaps, signed by Zelazny. Supplements signed copies of the PBO and the Underwood-Miller signed/limited hardback. Kovacs, I.6.d. Levack, 4c.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Dilvish, The Damned. Del Rey/SFBC, 1981. Book club hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to white flaps, with signed letter from Zelazny laid in. Supplements signed copies of the PBO and the Underwood-Miller signed/limited hardback. Kovacs, I.15.d.
  • Zelazny, Roger. The Dream Master. SFBC, 2004. Book club hardback, a Fine- copy with uniformly age-darkened pages in a Fine dust jacket. SFBC 50th Anniversary edition book. Kovacs, I.18.n.
  • Zelazny, Roger. The Last Defender of Camelot. Pocket Books/SFBC, 1980. Book club and first hardback edition (gutter code L10 on page 278, as per Kovacs), a Fine- copy with slight age darkening to pages in a Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by Zelazny: “To Liz,/All sorts of good wishes -/ — Roger Zelazny.” Supplements the Underwood-Miller limited edition, and another copy of this edition inscribed to me in a more worn dust jacket. Kovacs, V.15.c. Levack, 24b.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Madwand. Ace/SFBC, 1981. Book club edition hardback, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust dust jacket with slight age darkening to the white jacket. Kovacs, I.30.d. Levack, 26c.
  • This ends the Zelazny hardback portion of the purchase, which I needed to finish so I could move the Zelazny section down as part of putting in a new bookcase. I will get to the non-Zelazny hardbacks (including some anthologies with Zelazny stories), signed Zelazny paperbacks, and magazines featuring the first appearances of Zelazny stories, in due course.

    Halloween Horrors: The Apprehension Engine

    October 6th, 2020

    Suppose you wanted to do the soundtrack for a horror film: What would you use to score it? Synthesizer? Computer?

    Or how about commissioning a custom instrument to make eerie, unnerving sound?

    Behold The Apprehension Engine!

    The Witch is one of the films Mark Korven has scored, and I just noticed that it seems to have gotten pretty cheap as of late…

    Halloween Horrors: 2020 Transworld Animatronics Show

    October 3rd, 2020

    Thank God the Wuhan Coronavirus hasn’t derailed America’s Halloween Animatronic industry:

    Lots of zombies, lots of clowns, lots of zombie clowns…

    Halloween Horrors: The Pedophile Living In Your Daughter’s Closet

    October 2nd, 2020

    Remember the spider man of Denver and the Japanese woman that secretly lived in a man’s cabinet for a year without him knowing?

    Well, the wackiest state in the union manages to one up that one:

    A Louisiana man has been arrested after a 15-year-old Florida girl’s parents found he had been living in their daughter’s bedroom closet for more than a month after he met the teen online two years ago and traveled to meet her for sex.

    Jonathan Rossmoine, 36, was arrested and charged with multiple sex crimes Sunday after the child’s parents learned he had been secretly living in her bedroom at their family home in Spring Hill, Hernando County.

    Rossmoine allegedly confessed to traveling from Louisiana to Florida on multiple occasions to have sex with the child, who described the 36-year-old as her boyfriend.

    Police said he then moved into the girl’s room in August, where he would hide out from her parents in the closet and emerge when they left the house.

    Even creepier: It’s not the first time this sort of thing has happened, a father found a 42-year old man hiding in his 12-year old daughter’s closet:

    See also: Jack Vance’s Bad Ronald.

    So they next time your children ask you to check their closet for monsters, remember that there are some in human form…

    Library Additions: Signed Zelazny Amber Book Club Editions

    October 2nd, 2020

    Part 5 of my third purchase of Zelazny books from Bob Pylant. Book Club editions are something I don’t generally collect (except when they’re the first hardback edition), but I thought these pristine signed hardbacks of the second (or Merlin) Amber trilogy were worth adding. All of these supplement signed first edition hardbacks of the same titles. These are listed in series rather than alphabetical order.

  • Zelazny, Roger. Trumps of Doom. Arbor House/SFBC, 1985. First book club edition, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to the white portions of the dust jacket, signed by Zelazny. Kovacs, I.43.d.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Blood of Amber. Arbor House/SFBC, 1986. First book club edition, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to the white portions of the dust jacket flap, signed by Zelazny. Kovacs, I.2.d.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Sign of Chaos. Arbor House/SFBC, 1987. First book club edition, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to the white portions of the dust jacket flap, signed by Zelazny. Kovacs, I.38.c.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Knight of Shadows. Morrow/SFBC, 1989. First book club edition, a Fine copy in a Fine- dust jacket with slight age darkening to the very top white portions of the dust jacket flap, signed by Zelazny. Kovacs, I.27.c.
  • Zelazny, Roger. Prince of Chaos. Morrow/SFBC, 1991. First book club edition, a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Zelazny. Kovacs, I.35.d.