True Zombie Tales

Check out this amazing article over at Mens Journal about real Haitian zombies! From journalist Mischa Berlinski: "About a month after I arrived in Jérémie, a rumor swept through town that a deadly zombie was on the loose. This zombie, it was said, could kill by touch alone. The story had enough authority that schools closed." Forget the brain-eating undead of Zombieworld... this is the real deal. A fascinating and highly recommended read.

Eyes On Monster Watch

Here's a nice antidote to the heavy (and hopefully fun!) dose of fantasy The Secret Saturdays injects into the realm of cryptozoology. Monster Watch promises to keep the public updated on monster news, "from microscopic space bacteria to giant woolly mammoths", but only working off of hard, scientific facts. If you ever doubted the world is filled with real monsters, click the link and be amazed. And while on the subject of 'real' monsters, the always awesome Pink Tentacle has posted a stunning piece on mummified demons! Click through and read for yourself... many photos are of obvious taxidermy 'gaffs', but what to make of this demon head (above) from Zengyōji temple? From the site, "Nobody knows where the demon head came from, nor how or why it ended up in storage. Legend has it that a resident priest discovered the mummy in a temple storage chamber in the early 18th century. Imagine his surprise." Oh, and did I mention it has a third face on the back of the head? Eeeek!

Beating Hearts

Seems like a good time to point out to all you broken-hearted creeps like me that St. Valentine wasn't only the Patron Saint of love, but also of bee keepers, epilepsy, fainting, and plague. I plan to celebrate St. Valentine's day tomorrow by eating honey until I pass out. Since tomorrow is also about the mating of birds... a la Chaucer's lines, "For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day, Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate."... I also recommend a viewing of Hitchcock's The Birds. Bah Humbug.

The Call Of Cthulhu?

According to Space.com, something is "roaring" from the depths of space. They say "one team of astronomers has found a strange cosmic noise that booms six times louder than expected. The roar is from the distant cosmos. Nobody knows what causes it." The thought that dear old H.P. Lovecraft could've been right is freaking me out (and I wouldn't be the first to have such thoughts)! An awakened Cthulhu certainly puts the current recession into perspective, no?

Old Things

To kick off 2009, I've gone back over the last few years of Monsterama posts and cleaned up some faulty image files for you. Now you can browse the nearly 300 entries by date, category, or by searching for a subject. Revisit old posts on the likes of Mr. and Mrs. J. Evil Scientist (here, here, and here.), the weirdest Hanna-Barbera characters of all because they had their own comic book but no TV series! There's a nifty place to follow up on them over at Quasi-interesting paraphenalia Inc., with more info and embedded video! Remember my old posts on Milton the Monster? You can check out Hal Seeger's horrible hick here, and here. Or go back and flip over foreign-made, off-model Frankenstein Jr. stuff (here, here, and here.) Speaking of which, Funko finally put out the first licensed Franky Jr. toy in a looong time with their wicked wobble bank! Click on Tutenstein or the Secret Saturdays at right to instantly get at the whole story behind my own creepy creations. Have fun!

Happy New Monster!

National Geographic has the dirt on the newly unearthed Austroraptor... a huge, five meter long bipedal dinosaur with a slender, pterodactyl-like skull, a find that has upturned the 'canon' on the evolution of raptors. Fernando Novas, the lead researcher behind the discovery says the new raptor represents the "the largest dromaesaurid discovered in the Southern Hemisphere." Fast and vicious like a velociraptor, but way bigger and scarier! Grroaaarrrrr!!!!

Cryptipedia

There's been some discussion on other message boards about the number of cryptids that could or will make an appearance in the Secret Saturdays cartoon. The highest number speculated suggests we could have a couple hundred 'real' cryptids to choose from. I want to assure you that the number is much higher! As a truly geeked-out student of cryptozoology, I was able to cull together a list of 500 mysterious creatures, along with descriptions, habitat, and a note on whether they were modern sightings or folkloric legends. This became the original Cryptipedia database, and has been used by writers of the series, comic book scripters, and game designers ever since. The game will have something like 40 exclusive cryptids alone, plus many more from the show. And my list keeps growing... every year that goes by reveals new unidentified mystery creatures popping up around the globe. Add to that my growing library of books on folklore, legends, monsters, demons, and the like (which can include reports of 'real' sightings of missing creatures), and you get the idea. We have more than enough cryptids to choose from, and plenty for you to discover through our Secret Saturdays universe.

Cryptids Are Real!

This new site is a must-see, focusing on that most beloved of subjects-- cryptozoology-- the inspiration of the Secret Saturdays.

Yes Yes!

I've always been fascinated by the typographically alluring and spiritually dubious Ouija Board that first entered pop culture in the midst of the Victorian Spiritualism craze, but is still alive and kicking today. Despite some very disturbing and hair-raising personal family legends surrounding this mysterious device (no, seriously. Ghosts can be such jerks), I have a small collection of old boards and even once created a spectral supervillain (Doc Phantom) who was basically a ouija board with a head. If, like me, you're interested in both the history of the witchboard as well as the various graphic and creative forms it has taken over the century, you will really dig the Museum of Talking Boards... a one-stop ouijapalooza.

Microscopic Monsters

Very cool post about tiny, mythical, 16th Century creatures living in our bodies over at Pink Tentacle. From the site: "Long ago in Japan, human illness was commonly believed to be the work of tiny malevolent creatures inside the body. Harikikigaki, a book of medical knowledge written in 1568 by a now-unknown resident of Osaka, introduces 63 of these creepy-crawlies and describes how to fight them with acupuncture and herbal remedies."

Spooky Singapore

The great and powerful Cory has an overwhelmingly awesome Flickr set of pics from Haw Par Villa, the Tiger Balm themepark, in Singapore.

The Upright Beast

The Paranormal Database is an astoundingly thorough and well-conceived site devoted to strange goings-on in the United Kingdom, and I've been spending a few hours of research there recently. With a little digging around, you'll find reference to Sherwood Forest's cryptid, the 'Upright Beast'... also known as The Sherwood Thing or the British Werewolf. (From The Evening Post, November 28th, 2002) An eight foot, hairy man-beast with red glowing eyes is said to be on the prowl... the 'Sherwood Forest Thing'. Beast watcher Chris Mullins says: "I believe it's feasible. Wildmen could still exist in our time. Notts and Derbyshire are known for their underground caves and catacombs, explored and unexplored, and the woods could conceal a lot." This same creature has been spotted throughout the weird and wonderous Nottinghamshire region where it has garnered some other local nicknames, including 'The Fiskerton Phantom'.

Clap for the Kappa

It's sort of surprising that Japan's Kappa... cute creeps that appear as half-turtle, half-hominid river spirits... aren't better known outside of their native haunt considering how hugely popular they are there. I mean, the Kappa is probably Japan's most famous monster. From the great Shigeru Mizuki's adorably weird Sanpei the Kappa to the classic brushy comic strip work of Kon Shimizu (Kappa Tengoku, Kowataro the Kappa, etc.) which became the spokesmonsters of Kizakura Sake for many decades, Kappa are a big part of Japanese pop culture. Not that these river-dwelling pranksters are a modern phenomenon, though... no, sir! Kappa are venerable Yokai, and have been a part of Japanese folklore for centuries. I was just re-watching Miike's The Great Yokai War again, and loving the depiction of Kawataro the Kappa (named for the Shimizu character? See responses...). Frankly, you can't have a Yokai movie (from the Yokai Monsters trilogy from the 1960's, to the recent monsterpiece Kibakichi) without a Kappa! This guy Kyoichi Shimazaki, AKA Ghostman, has some really wonderful effects makeup and behind the scenes images on his site, including the stunning Kappa creation pictured below. Wish I knew what it was created for, but I can't read Japanese.Follow the links and discover the Kappa, my friends. But don't get too close to the water!

Cryptozoology

Some of the crew working on the Secret Saturdays were surprised to discover that the 'cryptids' that appear in the show are all based on real modern sightings of strange creatures or on traditional folkloric beasts from cultures around the world. The mixture of hard science and local mythology that make up what is known as 'Cryptozoology' has fascinated me since childhood. Scattered data collected by such pioneers as Charles Fort and Bernard Heuvelmans has inspired a devoted branch of science dedicated to the study of mysterious animals. I check in on Loren Coleman and Cryptomundo every day, and it's a great place to begin your own research into the world of mystery beasts. And I never miss an article of Dr. Karl Shuker's in Beyond, either. I hope the real cryptozoologists out there don't think I'm trivializing their work so much as popularizing it through animation. I take the stuff seriously. No, really. Don't laugh. I believe in Sasquatch, don't you?

Momo a Go-Go

The Secret Saturdays director Scott Jeralds and I were talking last week and, being his birthday, I guess he was a little nostalgic. It came to light that 35 years ago this summer, Scott was vacationing in Missouri during the terrifying Momo monster flap of 1972. It was wonderful to get that kid-perspective of the event-- I mean, can you imagine being a fantasy-prone kid who discovers that your parents have been shielding you from the news that a real, honest-to-gosh, dog-killing monster is roaming around exactly where you're having a nice, rural vacation? Yipes! I know producer Fred Schaefer once told me about the Goat-Man that was said to live in the swampy woods near his childhood home in New Orleans, and I'm starting to wonder just how many folks on the crew have had cryptozoological encounters! Sadly, I've never spotted a Sasquatch or oogled an Ogopogo. I feel so unqualified for the job!

Bewitching Tricks

While on the subject of witches, here's a link to some fabulous Bewitched trivia, including altered Hanna-Barbera animation, lost theme music, and loads of bloopers.

Enter... KLAUBAUF!!!

In some regions of the Christian world, Christmas and St. Nick are't all sugar and spice. Last year I discussed the meanacing Krampus, now it's time for the Bavarian horror known as Klaubauf. St. Nikolaus is followed around by this hideous Yeti-esque fiend, a shaggy monster with horns, bells and dragging chains. They go door to door scaring the sin right out of the little Bavarian children with threats of switchings, kidnappings, and eternal hellfire. Saint Nick is the 'good cop'. I don't know about you, but this would definately make me want to be nicer to my siblings. And if you thought seeing a crowd of Santas as a kid was disturbing...

The Golden Age Of Monsters

Fun reflection on the '60's monster craze."Monster Mania had such widespread cultural infiltration during that decade, even publications like Time and Life devoted articles to the phenomena. To many who experienced it first hand, it remains a defining moment of 1960s youth, along with the Beatles, the Batman television series and - much later in the decade - Woodstock, the Moonwalk , LSD and Free Love."

Holy October!

Time for Monsterama's yearly reminder about the history of the holiday season originally derived from the Celtic Samhain. But lets not short change the Christians... they brought a lot to the table in the creation of the festival now known as Halloween. In the 800's, as Christianity was spreading into Celtic lands, Pope Boniface IV designated November 1 All Saints' Day (a time to honor saints and martyrs) in an attempt to replace the Celtic festival of the dead with a church-sanctioned holiday. The celebration was also called All-hallows or All-hallowmas (from Middle English Alholowmesse meaning All Saints' Day) and the night before it, the traditional pagan night of Samhain, began to be called All-hallows Eve. In A.D. 1000, the church made November 2 All Souls' Day, a day to honor the dead. It was celebrated similarly to Samhain, with big bonfires, parades, and dressing up in costumes as saints, angels, and devils. Together, the three celebrations, the Eve of All Saints', All Saints', and All Souls', were called Hallowmas.

Sleep of the Green Man

A very happy Maybon to all you beautiful wiccans, druids and witches out there. For the uninitiated, Mabon is the Autumn Equinox, which divides the day and night equally. Time to take a moment to pay our respects to the impending dark and give thanks to the waning sunlight. The Druids called this celebration Mea'n Fo'mhair, and honored the The Green Man by offering libations to trees. So go pour some Budweiser onto the roots of the nearest Oak tree and say 'Cheers!', why don't you. Or better yet, build and burn a Wicker Man!