Psychedelic Horror Blog

 

 

October 30, 2011, Tomorrow is Halloween!

 

Radiant Boys are the ghosts of little boys who have been murdered by their mother. Here’s one for Halloween. I call it, “A Little Boy In The Woods, With Glowing Eyes:

 

 

October 27, 2011, Happy Halloween!!  Here’s a haunted church to start everyone off, The Wisteria Church:

 

 

There’s a ghost in the bottom-right window:

 

 

Horror Calendar 2013, February

 

October 20, 2011

 

Here’s the second month for the 2013 Calander. You can view it right side up, or upside down. Here’s how I started it:

 

 

I call this version, The Birth Of The Lambs. Here it is reversed:

 

 

I kinda like this side better. What do you think? This version is called “Wolf Moon”

 

October 19, 2011

 

Horror Calendar 2013, January

 

I’ve started work on a calendar for 2013. I’m actually thinking about coloring them, but I don’t know. Each month is going to feature a folklore image. I started with Janos for January. Janos is the Roman God of Doors. He’s always shown with two faces; one facing toward the past, and one facing toward the future. Here it is:

 

 

 

_________

 

 

February 4, 2011

 

This has been a huge time for me. After 21 years of teaching, my parents estate has allowed me to retire early. I’m now going to dedicate myself to continuing my drawing and website work.

 

I’ve renewed the Horror Short Story Of The Month, but I’ve made it a lot more manageable. Instead of a huge, flowery introduction, I’ve limited it to one picture at the start, one at the end, and that’s it.

 

I’ll be going to Glastonbury this February 16-22. I’ll be doing a lot of ghost hunting. Look for me there. 

 

 

 

October 26, 2010

 

Halloween is coming this Sunday! It’s the happiest day of the year. I’ve had 17,500 people visit the Ghastly Door since May 15th and I hope this Halloween will be bigger than ever.

Hopefully, I’m going to publish my interview with Bob Curran today or tomorrow. Look forward to it. Dr. Curran is the king of horror folk-lore.

Happy Hunting.

 

Gathering Flowers, By Will Jacques:

 

 

September 27, 2010

 

I’ve started archiving both my Horror Cartoon Of The Week:

http://ghastlydoor.com/horror-cartoon-of-the-week/

http://ghastlydoor.com/horror-cartoons-archive/

 

And My Hidden Picture Puzzle Of The Week:

http://ghastlydoor.com/hidden-picture-puzzles-archive/

 

I already have them in galleries, but I thought it would be better to see the ones that I picked and to be able to read a little about them.

 

 

September 24, 2010

  

 

The Devil And His Cat

 

 Most of you know I have my own horror magazine on the web, ghastlydoor.com. I’m not a writer. I’m an artist, but I am an editor and I’ve been a HUGE fan of Horror Short Stories since the 4th grade. Here’s my opinion on the future of the horror genre. Take it for what it’s worth.

They say horror and comedy don’t age well and there’s a grain of truth in that. One thing’s for certain, the two genres have to keep re-inventing themselves to reflect society’s taste. Here’s my take on what will sell in the horror world:

PULP: Times are hard. People don’t want depression, nor do they want psychological nose-picking. They want action and they want escape. The real Pulps started during the last depression and there’s a very good reason for that. In my opinion, today’s horror needs to be action-based, colorful, and escapist. I think we’ve moved past the deep, self-obsessed, horror imagery of the 70’s and 80’s. Today’s people just can’t be bothered. Look at Jim Butcher. We want to go somewhere and forget the recession we live in.

TRUE: All you have to do is turn on the TV. Monster Quest, Ghost Hunters, UFO documentaries, the list goes on and on. The Travel Channel has practically turned into the Ghost Hunter channel. Here’s the real future of Horror (IMHO), the “It Could Be True” kind. Traditional horror isn’t selling as well today, but “Non Fiction” Horror is doing great. That’s why I feature so many ghost photos and articles about monster hunters.

What do you think?

 

 

April 30, 2010

 

Tonight is Beltain, the second of the great Celtic fire festivals. The first is Samhain (pronounced “Sowen”) we know it as Halloween. You’ll notice the two are exactly six months apart. Tomorrow is May Day. The Celts believed that on these two days, the veil that separates the living and the dead would be lifted and the dead could return.

Anton LaVey, the founder of The Church of Satan, chose this day as the day of the Great Sabbat. It’s the “holiest” day in the Satanic calandar.

“LaVey began presenting Friday night lectures on the occult to what he called a “Magic Circle” of associates who shared his interests. A member of this circle suggested that he had the basis for a new religion. On Walpurgisnacht, April 30, 1966, he ritualistically shaved his head in the tradition of ancient executioners, declared the founding of the Church of Satan and proclaimed 1966 as “the year One”, Anno Satanas—the first year of the Age of Satan.” (Wikipedia)

This night was as scary and important to the ancient Celts as Samhain (Halloween). Watch the newspapers for the next couple of days to see if anything “Weird” happens, cult killings, graveyard vandalism, etc…

 

 

April 26, 2010

 

Bluegrass and Horror Art

 

I’m a huge Bluegrass fan. For those of you who don’t know, Bluegrass is a form of folk music. It has it’s roots in the European folk music of the last several centuries. Today, it’s widely recognized as American. No music comes out of nowhere. It’s all related.

In the early years, any instrument could be used to play folk music in the traditional jigs and reels of American dance. Lately, Bluegrass instruments have standardized into guitar, bass, violin (fiddle) banjo, dobro, and mandolin. The form of Bluegrass we adhere to today was standardized by Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass boys in 1946. Earl Scruggs, a banjo master, invented the three-fingered picking style that reverberated throughout the world.

Also recognized is the four-part harmony singing that came out of the “Shaker” singing books of the period in the American South. Bill Monroe himself sang high tenor. Lester Flatt sang lead, Earl Scruggs sang baratone, and a variety of others sang whatever part they could.

Bluegrass is a huge part of my art. I’velistened to it while drawing almost every picture. I started playing banjo myself when I was 21. Never the best, I switched to an octave mandola several years ago. Banjo is a super hard instrument to play.

 

 

What Makes A Horror Story Memorable?

 

Good question. Everybody would probably have a different opinion. For me it’s setting. My friend Ben Jones wrote a story about a city guy who goes on a camping/fishing trip to an abandoned estate (in the UK). The rotting old mansion is sitting on a hill overlooking the pond where he pitches his tent. The whole story has such a misty, cool, feel to it that he could really write about anything that happens there and it would be successful.

I was lucky enough to be able to do an illustration for the story. I’m going to ask him if he would put it up for my Horror Short Story Of The Week. I sure hope he wants to. I would love to have the story published here.

 

 

 

For past Psychedelic Horror Blogs, go to my archive page:

 

http://ghastlydoor.com/psychedelic-horror-archive/