From the readers: Montoursville, Skyrim, Africa and much more

I have some catching up to do, because it's the first "From the readers" of 2026 and the first once since early November. Thank you, as always, for your comments and insights! 

Montoursville 2018: My schools (Part 3): Anonymous writes: "Hello Chris. Mr. Derr also showed me (us?) 'Chariots of the Gods' on reel to reel. lol. Hence starting my lifelong interest in UFO topic."

Thanks for commenting! That's pretty hilarious, the idea of a science teacher showing a film about Erich von Däniken's dubious theories regarding ancient astronauts — pseudoscientific theories that weren't even originally his! 

This also reminds me that I was a student at C.E. McCall Middle School in early 1982 when everyone was buzzing in the hallways about The Jupiter Effect — the idea that we were going to suffer great cataclysms on Earth when all of the planets "aligned" on March 10, 1982. As it turned out, we survived. But, hey, those two guys sold a lot of books about it.

Related posts:

• 1967 advertisement for a flying saucer lamp in Saucer News (which contains links to all of the other UFO posts)
• Sunday evening ramblings
• Vintage, foreboding religious tract: The Mark of the Beast

Friday nostalgia: Who remembers 1970s flip-it cartoon books? RickA writes: "Thank you for this post. The memory of this was vague. I couldn't recall what the main book was like — but I distinctly remember the 'flip-book' portion of these. You (and Google AI) helped answer that question and also helped me recall the fun I had with these. I know we had two of them. Now to search for more with your blog helping me start my journey."

You're welcome! I like to think of Papergreat the start of many internet journeys! 

Ringing in the holly-jolly month with a vintage Christmas postcard: Tom from Garage Sale Finds writes: "I have a few Christmas postcards postmarked late on Christmas Eve and I always think of that postman working late on Christmas Eve, stamping postcards (not sure if there was machine for that by then) and thinking how he'd like to wrap things up and get home."

Old postcard featuring Markleton Sanatorium in Somerset County, Pa.: Anonymous writes: "I live on the property where the building was and I know there isn't anything there."

Reader submission: Amazing collection of vintage Cheerful Cards: Anonymous writes: "I remember selling these fondly. I had a suitcase full and sold individual cards as well as boxes. Walked or rode my bike around the neighborhood. Actually sold Cheerful and one other now national company. I still have my business cards from the early to mid 60’s. I am now 71 years old."

Thank you for sharing those memories! 

Holiday hanky from Peoples Laundry & Dry Cleaning: Anonymous writes: "My Father, John Paleczny, started Handy Hanky Inc. in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He expanded to the U.S with a shop in Niagara Falls, N.Y. He passed away in January 1962 and the family sold the business to Mr. Harry Hosey of Old Hickory, Tenn."

Thank you for sharing this information! I hope it helps anyone else who might be doing internet journeys into this topic.

Lost Corners: The Skyrim dog tale: Anonymous writes: "Thank you for this. I read the original a long time ago, and wanted to revisit it. Googling 'twitter skyrim adopt a dog' brought me right here."

You're welcome. And I'm glad for any opportunity to repost this image I made of Coby inside a video game.

Victorian trade card for Partridge & Richardson's Bee Hive: EC writes: "Thank you so much for this informative post! I was trying to learn about another trade card from this business; I thought the business itself was Bee Hive, lol!"

Intellivision's "Night Stalker," my first survival horror video game: Anonymous writes: "I can still hear the heartbeat ... playing under all the action and other sounds. Very thematic! So good after all these years ... they did a lot with so very little."

My grandmother's 1982 trip to Africa: Ray from the Along the Ray blog writes: "Talk about.a small world — back in the early 90s I typesetted Holbrook Travel's newsletters that were mailed to their customers. They are still around and rocking it. Thanks for sharing, I enjoy your posts and get them via your RSS feed in my RSS reader."

Oh wow! A small world indeed. This was certainly not a post I expected to connect with someone. Thank you for reading Papergreat! (Also, you and I are in the dwindling group of folks who know what typesetting is.)

Book cover: Ida Chittum's "Tales of Terror" (1975): Anonymous writes: "A fascinating and colorful look at the books, life and mind of an authentic writer and storyteller from a wild and lost world. Full of beauty and mystery."

Who wants to join me in buying a crumbling, haunted British estate? Henry Thompson asks: "Does anyone know who now owns Downe Court Manor? I lived there in the 1960s. The ghost photo through the trees was taken by my father. If you do know who owns the place these days? I have some 18th and 19th century documents relating to the house and the Selby-Smyth family, and these may be of interest to the owner. email: hodt11@gmail.com"

Old photo postcard of Brackenhurst Hall in Southwell: And here's another query: "My grandfather worked there as butler for Lord and Lady Hickling. My mother was born in one of estate cottages in 1920 and her two sisters several years later. I lived at No. 1 Home Farm and spent my childhood there.

My father was the head herdsman following WWII —1973. Or thereabouts. There were quite a few families living in the farm houses. The Millards, Paul Millard whom I played with in school holidays, the Thicketts, their daughter had polio and her father was a lecturer, Mr. & Mrs. Lythe, Farm Principle, Mr. & Mrs. Mee next door to Number 1 our house. Contact me at (apaws4chat@gmail.com) if you would like to chat more about Brackenhurst."

The (new) oddest stuff I've found tucked inside a book: Commenting on this 2012 post, Anonymous writes: "Thank you for your research. I found several skeins of embroidery floss at a thrift store from Cynthia Mills. I am so happy to know more about the Mill"

Luckyday buttons — the talk of the town: Anonymous writes: "I have 2 cards, both with the 6 buttons, strawberry blonde hair, red hat with white flower. Also have a Lady Washington Pearls, 6 blue men's shirt buttons. The man on this card has a white shirt, red tie, and is holding a golf club."

RIP Art Bell, of the Kingdom of Nye: This feels like a good one to bookend with the first comment in this roundup. Commenting on this 2018 post, Anonymous writes: "Listened to him as a kid laying down in the back seat of our car as my family drove home late night. Today I’m 65 years old and I listen to his podcasts nearly every light. Can’t get enough. Love ya Art!"

Gimbels & Gumball

As I continue unhoarding/resimplifying, here's my grandmother's card for Gimbels, a chain of department stores that closed for good in 1987. Her last name is misspelled on the card, which is fairly par for the course with that name.

As I wrote in a 2013 post, "Gimbels was around from 1887 to 1987 before being liquidated. It was headquartered in New York City and once had the biggest chain of department stores in the United States. But perhaps its greatest legacy came in Philadelphia. ... It was in the City of Brotherly Love that Gimbels launched the first department-store parade. The first Gimbels Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in Philadelphia in 1920."

In addition to the 2013 post, here are some other posts that have mentioned Gimbels over the years:

• Brighten your summer with vacation specials from Lit Brothers
• Neat stuff from an 1880 volume of Edgar Allan Poe's works
• Moon landing clippings, Part 5

Beembom never threw away an old ID, credit card, driver's license or business card, so I've been pruning them slowly since we cleaned out the house on Oak Crest Lane. This Gimbels one is kind of neat, which is no reason to keep it. But it might fetch a few bucks. It looks like they can sell for about $10 apiece on eBay, so maybe there's a collector/nostalgist out there who wants it and I get enough to buy a few cans of cat food.

Speaking of cats, we have managed to add another one to the household. Outdoor community cat Gumball, who I mentioned in early March, seemed to be sick and struggling, so on April 29 I trapped him (which itself was a minor miracle, because I'd been trying for months to TNR him) and took him to a veterinarian. Turns out he had multiple broken teeth, bad tartar buildup and a gum infection. We got him all fixed up with surgery (including neutering) and now he's staying in our guest bedroom. And here's the amazing part: It turns out he absolutely loves people. He is the sweetest boy. He loves pets and scritches on every part of his body, including his belly. He loves to cuddle. And he hasn't displayed a single antagonistic trait toward people. This strongly reinforces my belief that he wasn't born feral. He must gotten lost from his human family or, more likely, abandoned by human dillweeds. We have several cases like that, sadly, probably including Yinzer and Marmalade, who I also mentioned in March.

Given his love for people, Gumball can't (and won't) just be tossed back outside. So we'll find ways to start integrating him into the household with other cats ... or perhaps there's another human who can offer him a forever home. Either way, he's safe now and he'll get his daily pets and scritches. And, yes, his Temptation treats. And look at those blue eyes! 

Some Postcrossing arrivals

I've had some time to get back into Postcrossing a little bit, and I've received some nice cards and messages in the mail the past few days. 

The "A Call for Peace" postcard is a Karen Kerney design that's available from the Syracuse Cultural Workers website. Sender Misty, who lives in Georgia with her family, eight cats, dog and a tortoise, hopes for a better world for all.

The card featuring the "Outlaw Guns" and "No Nukes" buttons is from the collection of the Busy Beaver Button Museum and was mailed to me by a "friendly ghost" in Maine. "Friendly ghost" writes: "I hope the future is governed by science, peace, and collaboration."

And on the vintage card showing the southern tip of Manhattan, sender Amy writes: "This card came from my dad's apt. when I cleaned it out. Seeing the Twin Towers brings back memories of that sad day. I wish religion and politics would bring the world together — instead of tearing us apart. Pray for peace."

It's the 50th anniversary of the opening of Brigantine Castle

Brigantine Castle, the haunted attraction on the pier in Brigantine, New Jersey, opened 50 years ago, on Memorial Day weekend in 1976. It was in operation for less than a decade and burned down before it could be demolished, but it lives on in the memories of many who went to the Jersey shore's beaches in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

In fact, it's in so many memories that it spurred more than 600 comments on a Vintage Philadelphia post on Facebook that went up just this morning. Just a few of those comments:

• "I remember going as a kid. I thought it was a real castle. What a great time to be alive."
• "Scary tv commercials wedged in between the terrifying 'Creature Double Feature' on channel 48"
• "Its TV commercials were the first time I ever heard J.S. Bach's iconic Toccata and Fugue."
• "I went through it as a kid. Remember the fake rats going across my feet!"
• "Best Job I ever had!!"
• "We went the year it opened & didn't get past the first floor, that witch did us in. Granted we were 5, 10, 11 & 13."
• "The vampire that jumped out of the portrait scared the crap out of me!"

I wrote a fair bit about Brigantine Castle in this 2016 post, which you can check out, so for this anniversary I wanted to share some images from a hard-to-find brochure that I managed to track down a few years ago.

Related posts

• Brochure for the Boris Karloff Wax Museum in Niagara Falls 
• 1977 children's book about actual (maybe) haunted house
• Dilapidated structures of Southern Jersey