Val's Halloween Countdown Thread

fuck I missed yesterday. OH WELL

Anyway, here is the late, great Sir Christopher Lee narrating an animated short version of Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher".

And here he is again, reading "The Raven".

 

(Missed last night because I was on a ghost tour, which was pretty cool. The majority of ghosts in my town are apparently either Civil War-era children or college students who died doing really stupid shit (as the second group comprises much of the living population as well, this is hardly surprising).)

Here are two delightful Wikipedia pages to kill some time on: List of people who disappeared mysteriously & List of unsolved deaths. And speaking of all things unsolved, here is a youtube channel with a bunch of Unsolved Mysteries episodes. :D

 

OH ALSO it's Bela Lugosi's birthday! In honor of which, here is some Bauhaus.

 

Manga rec time: Anne Freaks (spoileriffic Wiki page here.)
A series about how sometimes you're in the middle of burying your mother's body when a hot girl shows up and asks you to help her kill her dad. Also there's a terrorist cult involved. You know, classic teenage experiences! Just like Judy Blume writes! Seriously though, if you're into ultraviolence, moral ambiguity, weird moments of humor, and a little bit of romance between murderers, all of that is included. :D

Also, this is Anna:

She reminds me of someone, just a little bit. Must be the hair. And the gun. And the fashion sense.

 

One week till Halloween!

Podcast rec: Pseudopod
They have a helpful page for new listeners right here, and eleven years of archives to trawl when you're finished with that. :D

 

I have some intention to write up a thing about Dracula (or more specifically about his name), but just in case I don't get to that before midnight or ever, please enjoy this objectively ridiculous but also amazing song:

 

I was gonna post something else but then


so yeah, everything else can wait.

 

No Blood in the Water: The Legal and Gender Conspiracies Against Countess Elizabeth Bathory in Historical Context

Yes, I am recommending someone's dissertation about Erzsébet Báthory, because it's my thread and I'll cry talk about Pre-Modern Eastern European sadist nobles if I want to. IT'S TOTALLY HALLOWEEN RELATED, SHE WAS A SERIAL KILLER

oh and also here is a thing about how it's highly unlikely Bram Stoker deliberately based Count Dracula the vampire on Vlad Dracula the real guy. Not that there's any separating them now, obviously, but it's interesting. Well, to me.

 

(Source)

Panel two made me laugh really hard.

Also, here is your real-life Dracula fact for the evening: There is actually no "Castle Dracula". There are several places where Dracula lived, some of which are castles (and some are dungeons), but there's not one specific castle. Bran Castle sometimes gets namedropped, but he probably didn't actually live there. AND NOW YOU KNOW.

 

My favorite Dracula comic:

(Source)

 

This is totally relevant content and not just me posting somewhat-spooky songs by a band I really like.

 

Holy shit guys it's Halloween. Enjoy Siouxsie Sioux being adorable.

 

happy halloween!!! thank you for the thoroughly enlightening countdown, there's been some great stuff in here

 

Thank you! This was basically just an excuse for me to yell about Dracula and some other historical weirdos and post goth rock, so I'm glad anyone else enjoyed it. Happy Halloween! :D

 

Slightly unrelated but I love it when people title their dissertations/theses in fun or punny ways