Who’s ready for Halloween?  Silence.  I said, who’s ready for Halloween?  Silence.  I can’t hear you!  This time, there’s a wet, gargling sound in response, like someone trying to talk with a mouthful of Jello.  The place: the third torture chamber in Lord Blackheart’s castle.  The cast: your Horror Hostess, my assistant, Beaumont, and Thaddeus, Lord Blackheart’s hulking, mute servant.  Thaddeus waves a hatchet over his head in what I can only assume is an excited manner.

Great!  I say with the enthusiasm of an aerobics instructor.  Now remember what we talked about!  What does Halloween mean for us?

Thaddeus gargles out something that sounds like "Candy!" and he sounds so excited that I almost feel bad for tricking him.  But, I have to get out of Castle Blackheart before his employer comes back.  How else was I supposed to host the next HFC meeting?

That's right! I say with more enthusiasm than I feel.  And if you let us go, we'll be able to get you lots of candy from back at the Vault!  Beaumont is squeezing my arm so hard that it's starting to go numb and I'm pretty sure we're going to die, but, Thaddeus steps aside as the two of us stagger nervously towards the door.  I'm honestly shocked that we made it, but I'm happy to report that one terrifying (but very excited) masked assistant was given a big bag of Halloween treats at the end of the month!

And speaking of treats, I'm so excited to show off my new creepy compatriot, courtesy of our long-time fiend, Dawn!  Everyone, please say hello to Octavia Webster (what an awesome name for a spider!).  I'm always a fan of naming my creepy critters (but Dawn named this one, which is even better!!).

[Octavia is so sweet!  And that might be because she's full of candy!]

Octavia is in good company, joining a cast of creeps who will have to be featured in a future newsletter.  I'll also try to make sure they can all show their faces (or skulls) at future meetings.  So, keep your eyes (or eye sockets) peeled for more frighting faces in the months to come!  And thank you again to Dawn for this delightful new addition to my collection!  I absolutely love her ♥

Until next time,

HH

At our last meeting, we watched the somewhat obscure chiller The Face at the Window.  For those of you who missed the meeting, let me tell you a little bit about the film.  This title was another melodramatic vehicle for Tod Slaughter, who we saw a few months ago in The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.  A banker finds himself in financial straits after his bank is robbed by a mysterious killer and his own clerk is accused of the crime.  Salvation comes in the form of the Chevalier del Gardo, who offers to save the bank on the condition that he can marry the banker's beautiful daughter.  There's a lot to unpack in a film like this, including a mysterious face at the window, an obvious villain with an unknown means of committing the crimes, disguises, and a fugitive hero forced on the run while he tries to clear his name.  What more could you want from an evening's entertainment?

This month was also our Halloween party.  We had 15 fiends and enough snacks and treats to keep us satisfied until Halloween!  Thank you to everyone for your delicious donations.  I can only speak for myself, but I had a wonderful time! 

Since this was our party, we also played a trivia game, and I'm told (once again) that it was too difficult.  And the results speak for themselves--the highest score was only a 6 out of 10!  Congratulations to Sarah for winning the Halloween prize!  The items included (as well as the trivia questions) were all ghost-themed and referenced films with ghostly names, characters, and themes, such as The Uninvited, Carnival of Souls, and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. The prize included lots of candy, ghost socks, and more!

We had four familiar faces in this month's film.  First up was of course our Chevalier, Tod Slaughter.  Tod appeared in the starring role in The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (August 2024).  Tod's fellow Fleet Street alum was Aubrey Mallalieu (M. de Brisson the banker).  In Fleet Street, Aubrey was Trader Paterson.  Next up is Robert Adair (Gouffert the police inspector).  Robert was an uncredited hunter in Bride of Frankenstein (December 2017).  And finally, Billy Shine was Pierre the butler in this film and Mugsy's assistant in My Son the Vampire (April 2019).

[Tod Slaughter, Aubrey Mallalieu, Robert Adair, Billy Shine--Image credit IMBD.com]

The library is a wonderful place to work and a great change of pace after I finish my nightly responsibilities at the Vault.  However, that doesn't mean that there aren't some creepy things that happen here.  What do I mean?  Well, here are some spooky library goings on that everyone should be aware of!

1.) Mysterious Sounds:  Sometimes, you'll be wandering around the library or sitting at a desk and you hear a strange sound.  It could be a ringtone, a beeping, a banging, or even a crash, but when you go to investigate, the sound has stopped or there is nothing amiss at the location.  When you leave the area, the sound will sometimes start up again.  What's causing it?  You'll certainly never find out.

2.) The Stain: There's a spot of carpet with a mysterious stain.  No one knows where it came from--it was there when you started working and will probably be there long after you've retired.  Attempts to clean the stain only work for a short time and attempts to change out the carpet don't eliminate it.  There's nothing dripping from the ceiling or seeping from the floor, so no one really knows where it comes from or how it was formed.*

3.) The Pod People: This happened when I was still pretty new to the library.  I was waiting to check out my books and the patron beside me in line started talking to me about "the pod people".  He said that they rise out of the ground at night and come into the library and use the computers.  And when I asked, he confirmed that there were pod people in the building at that moment.  I haven't seen him since, so I suspect they got him.†

4.) The Basement: Perhaps the creepiest part of the entire building is the basement.  Now, most staff will tell you that we don't have a basement.  But, we do.  And it's terrifying.  Dark, a single swinging lightbulb in the ceiling, and tons of spiderwebs.  There used to be a librarian down there, but I've been told he hasn't been seen in over a decade, although someone keeps cashing his paychecks.  I'm not sure what goes on down there, but it certainly puts the Vault to shame!‡

5.) The Hole in the Wall: Are you familiar with the Edgar Allan Poe story "The Cask of Amontillado"?  A coworker started sending me jokes about it, starting with this picture (below).  After a while, it became clear that if there ever was a hole in the wall, we would probably investigate it together and one of us would end up climbing in to see if we could find something.  If you've read the story, I'm sure you can guess how it would have ended!  She left the library a few years ago, which is fortunate for me, as the library's current construction project has resulted in several person-sized holes that one could get walled-up in.  If she was still working here, imagine what could have happened to your poor Hostess!§

*Stain?  There is no mysterious stain.  I don't know what you're talking about.

†This story is 100% true in that a patron struck up a conversation with me and told me that there were pod people using the library computers.  I remember asking "Are there any here right now," and he just whispered "Oh, yes..." in this incredibly sincere, but creepy way that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end!

‡When I first started working at the library, I would tell patrons that if they returned a book from Cuyahoga County, Rocky River, or one of the other area libraries here by mistake, we took them down into the basement, but that I wasn't sure what became of them afterwards.

§The joke was real, but I miss the coworker dearly.  Still, I did send her some pictures of one of the holes in the wall, which is just big enough for a person to stand inside.  Perhaps the best payback for someone threatening to bury you alive is to show them that they've missed the opportunity to do so!

Thank you for joining us for another piece of classic horror!  I look forward to seeing you all next time.  In our next film, a group of explorers stumble upon a strange, subterranean civilization!  But, will they be allowed to leave alive?  You'll have to join us to find out!