What would 32 Days of Halloween be without Rox of Spazhouse, curator of the good stuff? Well. Here she is.
It’s that magical time of the year again. I am talking about autumn, the time of the year that changes drastically (though we in Florida have to wait another month for the temperature to change). In folklore it is the time when the veil between this life and the next is the thinnest. Our imagination is on fire with with fantastical images of dancing skeletons and lit jack o’ lanterns. It is also, the time of year for Need Coffee Dot Com’s 32 Days of Halloween. The bestest holiday in the entire year.
Every year, I crack open my research treasure trove of books pertaining to the month of October. It is no wonder I love this month, naturally, it is my birth month and I like to think I belong to October as much as it belongs to me. I own books–on horror films, folklore, even the business of Halloween.
The first book I reacquainted myself with it is Stephen King’s Danse Macabre. This is King’s very detailed work of nonfiction dealing with all things morbid and macabre. King details his experience with terror and horror. In the chapter “Radio and the Set of Reality” King explains in detail his first brush with terror. At the age of about four he begged to listen to Ray Bradbury’s adaptation of “Mars is Heaven” on the radio show Dimension X broadcast in 1951. This radio play was the story that literally kept a very young and impressionable King up all night. Too fearful to go to sleep. It was this story had also sparked his imagination for his future in giving many of his fans nightmares of their own. We thank you? Yes, yes we do.
Rox of Spazhouse, researcher of all things Halloween
And while we’re on the subject of Uncle Ray, let’s also have a reading by Leonard Nimoy of “Marionettes Inc.”
As well, you know, since we’re in the neighborhood, here’s the fantastic voice of Paul Frees and “The Man” from the Bradbury 13 series.
