Ripley's Believe it or Not - Part 1

As a kid I was an avid reader of any Ripley's book I could lay my hands on. It's where I got all my info about the weird and wonderful. So when I spied this comic at work, I just had to have it. It was somewhat disappointing as it was not packed full of the small thumbnails cataloging the strange and bizarre that I remember from my paperbacks. This 1971 issue of True Demons and Monsters features only a few stories. They stories themselves though, totally remind me of the kind thing Mulder would recount to Scully to demonstrate that these weird and bizarre things happen more than you think.

The stories in this issue include, The Trumpeting Demons of Death (revenge story featuring ghostly elephants), Vengeance of the Kobolds (creatures undermining the local mines), The Horror of the Black Lake (underwater monster), and Prey of the Banshee (yep, story about a Banshee). There's also a one page story, in text only, called The Dark Cloud (demon terrorizing local farmer).

Years later, all this interest in weirdness would lead me to the Fortean Times and Charles Fort.

I have to close the pages now because my nose is being infiltrated by the mustiness floating off this ancient tome...and god knows what else!

The Hallowe'en Dream Waltz

Wonderful illustration! Cover of The Home Friend Magazine, October 1930. Click image below to enlarge.

Trick-or-Treat Treasure Chest

If you look beyond catalogs (like Dennison's Bogie Books), there exist a ton of wonderful vintage imagery appearing in magazines, early readers, and comics, etc., receiving little attention for valuation. I'm guessing this is because the content of these various publications is not completely devoted to the holiday, nor tied to the decor that people love to collect and display. So a beginning budget-conscious collector can find some real gems!  

One of my favorite vintage covers is this single panel scene of sight-gags created by Graham Hunter for Treasure Chest (of Fun and Fact) Comic Book Vol 4 No. 4. October 19, 1948. A search engine will lead you to a number of his covers (and for other holidays) that are just as much fun! There's so many brilliant details inside of this one piece, that you don't mind the lack of any Halloween content in the rest of this Catholic comic book series.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if one day someone gathered all the smaller, less-noticed Halloween works together in one volume for us?

Links of interest: Halloween Books on Pinterest.