Preternatural Peculiarities: The Tulip Staircase Ghost

I have a little tradition of making some sort of animation to celebrate the holidays.  Unfortunately this year I've been busy with other projects, and haven't had much time to devote to a new animation. Well, certainly nothing as elaborate as what I did last year. 

However I did find some time to conjure a short spooky animation for Halloween.  Although first here's a little biographical introduction...

I vividly remember this book,  Haunted Houses by Larry Kettelkamp, in my elementary school library...

That cover was fascinating, and I leafed through the book a number of times while standing in the school library.  I don't remember ever checking it out.  I think I was probably too scared to actually take that book home with me.  It was safer to just leave it in the school library.

Anyway that cover photo is Tulip Staircase Ghost, and for my money, probably the best ghost photo ever taken.  If it's a hoax it's pure genius.  The way the figure is distorted and elongated is truly otherworldly.

If you'd like to know more about the Tulip Staircase Ghost photo please click this link.  If you'd like to watch a short animation I made using this photo simply click play if you dare...


Hopefully I'll find the time to do another quick "Preternatural Peculiarities" before the month is through. Are there any ideas out there?

Alfred Hitchcock's Ghost Stories for Young People

Here's the cool cover art for the Alfred Hitchcock's Ghost Stories for Young People vinyl LP...

OK I know, that's an easy one to find online, but how about the back...

That's not so easy to find.  Now future internet generations (or as long as this blog exists) can see the B&W illustration of a child terrified by a huge ethereal letter from Alfred Hitchcock.
              
If you would like to listen to this recording you can thank YouTuber, VintageHorrorSounds,  for uploading the entire album...


Also the album is available on CD or download at Amazon.

A Scary Tale From Novi

This short video from 2001 was the last "creative" production I made for local government access television...



I had super high hopes to make this into a special half-hour show, but it never got off the ground. Former Novi Police Chief Lee Begole had done a show years earlier called Scary Tales From Novi where he simply recounted various local ghost stories and mysterious tales. I thought it would be great to reenact some of those stories for a new show.

I tried to get other city production staff excited by the idea because this was too big to do on my own, but unfortunately nobody really shared my enthusiasm. Even getting this modest little short completed was a chore.

I don't know what it was, but nothing seemed to go smoothly. It's always hard to get actors together for free, and this time I also needed someone with an old car. I wanted to actually show police officers searching the weeds and finding the graves stones, but I couldn't find costumes that looked like 1950's police uniforms. When it came time to do the BW grave stone shots I couldn't property use my tripod due to a missing mounting plate. I remember feeling that this project was cursed.

In the end it turned out OK. Although I think my narration kinda sounds like Criswell from Plan 9 From Outer Space (1958). I don't remember if that was intentional or not.