Spruce Street book: "The Ghost of Windy Hill"

In August I wrote about M for Mischief being one of the first books that I distinctly remember having, circa second grade. Well, there's at least one book I distinctly remember having even earlier than that. I had a copy of The Ghost of Windy Hill in my bedroom on Spruce Street in Montoursville when I was in first grade. It's not a cover you forget if you had this book during early childhood! Probably my first ghost-themed book. (This isn't that original, long-gone copy; it's one I came across a while back. And I just noticed that "69" on the back cover, which I'll see if I can gently rub off.)

This is the Weekly Reader Children's Book Club hardcover of The Ghost of Windy Hill, published by Thomas Y. Crowell of New York. The book, first published in 1968, was written by Clyde Robert Bulla (1914-2007) and illustrated by Don Bolognese. There have been other editions over the years, some with a different illustrator.

Illustrator Bolognese, by the way, talked about his long career in this 2022 interview and mentions a 1967 anti-war children's book he wrote and illustrated titled Once Upon a Mountain. 

The Ghost of Windy Hill is 84 pages, has numerous illustrations and is broken into 14 short chapters, one of which is titled "The Crazy Quilt." The story opens in a candle shop, as daylight is fading. It ends with a walk in the woods that includes a woman in a long, white dress. It's beloved by many, though some note that, while spooky at times, it doesn't quite rise to the level of "ghost story."

Here are some comments that I found sprinkled across Goodreads, Amazon and Facebook...

• The Ghost of Windy Hill was my favorite book as a little girl — my Granny had purchased the book for me through the Weekly Reader club for kids in elementary school
• I think any child who reads it will find it a fun read.
• The memorable aspect of "The Ghost of Windy Hill" is Bulla's portrayal of a warm, supportive family. 
• Simple, entertaining ghost story concerning a family who relocate to a country farmhouse for the summer and encounter rather strange situations. Eerie illustrations contribute to the very clever writing from Bulla. 
• The title of this story is very misleading. Of course there usually isn't really a ghost at the end of such stories but in this one there really isn't even a hint of one! 
• For a kids book it hits well above its weight class in creepiness.
• Great read for kids during the Halloween season. There is talk of a ghost but the main story centers around a family moving into a large farmhouse for the summer and in the end helping several of the new people they meet.
• This is what got me hooked on the kind of books I mainly read now.
• Started my lifelong love of horror! 

The Danbury Press: "Vampires, Zombies and Monster Men"

Ahh, the 1970s. A time when you could just go around advertising occult volumes featuring the Sigil of Baphomet on the back cover. Is it any wonder that the Satanic Panic took hold a few years later?

Featured today is the hardcover volume titled Vampires, Zombies, and Monster Men, which was part of The Danbury Press series called The Supernatural. The Danbury Press was a division of Grolier, those nice, wholesome folks who published the encyclopedias found in school and home libraries. 

Published in 1975 and 1976, the 21-volume set included these tantalizing volumes:

• Alchemy, the Ancient Science
• Atlantis and the Lost Lands
• The Cosmic Influence
• Dream Worlds
• Enigmas and Mysteries
• The Geller Phenomenon
• Ghosts and Poltergeists
• Healing Without Medicine
• Magic, Words, and Numbers
• Minds Without Boundaries
• Monsters and Mythic Beasts
• Mysterious Powers
• Psychic Voyages
• Signs of Things to Come
• Spirits and Spirit Worlds
• Strange Cults
• Vampires, Zombies, and Monster Men
• Visitors from Outer Space
• Wisdom from Afar
• Witches and Witchcraft
• Guide and Index

I only have this one, plus Ghosts and Poltergeists and Enigmas and Mysteries, all three picked up on the cheap at a Goodwill store. They aren't particularly scarce, but most online sellers put them into bulk lots.

This hardcover volume is 144 pages and filled with photos and illustrations, about half of which are in full color. The listed author is Daniel Farson (1927-1997), whose grand-uncle, appropriately, was Bram Stoker. Colin Wilson and Uri Geller are listed as editorial consultants, and I think we should give a shout-out to the folks who designed this fine-looking volume:

• Series coordinator: John Mason
• Design director: Günter Radtke
• Picture editor: Peter Cook
• Editors: Mary Senechal, Eleanor Van Zandt
• Copy editor: Mitzi Bales
• Research: Frances Vargo
• General consultant: Beppie Harrison

The volume features two chapters on vampires and individual chapters on lycanthropy, traditional zombies, fairies, wild men in the woods and humans who proved more evil than any folkloric monster could ever be.

The interior images are a mixture of cinematic frights and pure gruesomeness from across history. A sampling includes Bela Lugosi, Edvard Munch's "vampire," Count Dracula-themed ice cream, David Farrant, the Croglin Grange vampire, actress Theda Bara, Peter Cushing & Christopher Lee (of course), Sabine Baring-Gould's The Book of Were-wolves, Peter Stumpp (spelled in the book as Peter Stubb), Michael Landon as a teen wolf, voodoo dancers, the Cottingley Fairies, the pixies of Cornwall, Richard Dadd's painting The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke, François Truffaut's L'Enfant sauvage, serial killer Peter Kürten, Jack the Giant Killer, Elizabeth Báthory, and the unsettling closing image of Francisco Goya's Saturn Devouring His Son.

There's a lot packed in there! I suspect that an 8- or 9-year-old who got their hands on this in the mid-1970s would have had nightmares for months. Scott Davis agrees in his Amazon review: "I read through an early version of this book when I was a kid. My uncle had it. Scared the living bejeezus out of me! A great read if you like monster myths."

I'm kind of surprised that there don't seem to be any substantial articles or blog posts about Danbury Press' The Supernatural series online. If you have any thoughts or memories on this or any other volume, please leave a comment. 

And now I've fulfilled a life goal of photographing a skunk alongside the Cottingley Fairies.

A hilarious cover design for Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein"

I stumbled across this on eBay last night and had a good laugh. It's described as the 1990 Ediciones Quinto Sol Spanish-language paperback edition of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. We have Boris Karloff as The Monster, making a very dumb face. Below his head are cartoon versions of his stitched-together hands, with a bundle of yellow flowers in each hand. Why you'd reference that scene from the 1931 movie, I have no idea. I'd love to know the story behind this cover design.

It brings this to mind, of course:

Scholastic book: "The Phantom Cyclist and Other Ghost Stories"

• Title: The Phantom Cyclist and Other Ghost Stories
• Author: Ruth Ainsworth (1908-1984). I'm surprised she hasn't been featured on Papergreat before this, given how many children's books she wrote, many of which are retellings of classic fairy tales.
• Cover illustration: Mike Eagle. Look how creepy his back cover is! How many faces can you see woven into the drawing? Reminds of the ghostly faces outside Downe Court Manor. 
• Interior illustrations: Antony Maitland (1935-2025). You can see two of his illustrations from the book at the bottom of this post.
• Publisher: Scholastic Book Services (TX 3598)
• Cover price: None
• Year: 1974, I think. The book was first published in 1971 by Andre Deutsch Limited. This edition was published by Scholastic in arrangement with Follett Publishing Company.
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 138
• List of stories: The Phantom Cyclist; Cherry Ripe; The Whistling Boy; The Cat Who Liked Children; The Silent Visitor; Mirror, Mirror on the Wall; and The White-haired Children.
• Excerpt #1: The room had changed, too. Her rocking horse had gone, and her dolls' house, and all her other toys. The gas fire had gone, too. A coal fire was burning in the grate, and there was a rocking chair by the fire in which Patty was sitting.
• Excerpt #2: "Children think we are queer, and grown-up people think we are very queer indeed. We have queer names and peculiar hair, and we look after ourselves. Please don't ask permission. Just come, both of you."
• Rating on Goodreads: 4.21 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt: This past April, Chris Browning wrote: "It’s a magical collection of lightly spooky stories, but mostly time slip pieces which entirely feel right for the BGC I worked in during the early 2000s, which still felt sleepy and dreamlike and strange. These are ghost stories in the way Tom’s Midnight Garden is a ghost story, unstuck spirits and modern children meeting between the years. Some are sweet and gentle (the one about the cat is lovely), most are slightly haunting and strange with a slightly dark ending hinted very lightly by Ainsworth. And then there’s 'The White-haired Children,' which feels like an absolute masterpiece of strange fiction, slightly unsettling but with a bucolic tone that reminds me of John Buchan’s 'Fullcircle.'"
• Rating on Amazon: 5 stars (out of 5)
• Amazon review excerpt: In 2011, cataholic wrote: "Warm, cozy and very English, many of the stories take place in the countryside and none of the families are dysfunctional. No Stephen King style horror here, no vampires or other monsters, just good old fashioned ghost stores reminiscent of earlier times."

Skellies in the 'hood, plus other Sunday snapshots

First up, the skeletons are starting to pop up on our street for the monthlong celebration of Halloween. Full disclosure: The first shot is our house's front patio.

One reason I don't have a full post today is because I spent part of the afternoon sorting and listing for sale ephemera related to decade-old Papergreat posts, all in the continuing attempts to Resimplify. That project was hindered at one point by "assistant" Sir Oliver. It's possible that some of the items I'll be mailing out will include free cat hair.

Finally, here's a skunk-themed teaser, also featuring the Cottingley Fairies, for one of this upcoming week's posts.

TV horror host: Ottola Nesmith

This photo of Ottola Nesmith being creepy appears in the May 26, 1958, issue of Life magazine, which features on its cover the attack on Vice President Richard Nixon's limousine in Caracas, Venezuela, on May 13, 1958. ("Week of World Tumult," states one of the headlines.)

Nesmith was featured as part of a Life photo essay on television's "Night Harbingers of Horror" — "The horror movie, now a staple of local late-night television shows, has spawned a new breed of announcers who take farfetched ways of introducing their spooky fare. ... These macabre masters of ceremonies try to get the viewers teetering on the edge of terror before The Frozen Ghost or Calling Dr. Death from a 52-film series called Shock."

Nesmith was the only woman horror host featured in the photo essay¹, which also included KRON's John Barclay (whom I believe was actually second fiddle to Russ Coglin on Nightmare Theater), KTNT's Warren Reed, WCAU's John Zacherle, and KFJZ's Bill "Gorgon" Camfield.

The caption for Nesmith under "A Little Old Lady Ghoul" states: "One of the few lady ghouls on TV is Ottola Nesmith of KTLA in Hollywood. She plays the role of a little old demented lady who sits in front of Victrola in rooming house, has weird visions. On show, directed by her son, she fancies herself the young beauty who gets abused in the horror films her program shows."

Nesmith appeared in more than 100 films, typically in smaller and uncredited roles. Some of her most notable films were The Wolf Man (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Sunset Boulevard (1950) and the Val Lewton films The Leopard Man and The Seventh Victim.

If I may recommend a great book, film historian Gregory William Mank's The Very Witching Time of Night (2014) features a chapter on a pair of Shock! horror hosts, one of whom is Nesmith.² It's filled with wonderful details about her short time at KTLA and why her act as the "Lady Ghoul" got her sued by Frankenstein star Mae Clarke. It's quite the story.

Related posts

• Zacherley's 1960 Transylvania passport for fan club members
• Late nights and weekend afternoons of horror in the 1970s
• Ghoulardi's kid

Footnotes

1. The very first TV horror was a woman: Maila Nurmi, aka Vampira, hosted The Vampira Show in 1954 and 1955 on KABC in Los Angeles. But her show was off the air by the time of this Life photo essay. The 2021 book Glamour Ghoul: The Passions and Pain of the Real Vampira, Maila Nurmi, by Sandra Niemi, documents Nurmi's life.

2. Naturally, Mank is from Delta, Pennsylvania. Because everything revolves around York County, as we've long said.

Vintage snapshot of scarecrow and pumpkins

There's no date, no location, no nuthin' on this found vernacular photo. It features a slightly creepy scarecrow sitting in a wagonload of pumpkins outside of what appears to be a roadside farm market. It's autumn, as the pumpkins and the background foliage attest. I'd guess the 1980s or 1990s, but it seems kind of timeless, which I think is one of the comforts of October. I'm curious what the word "BITTERSWEET" refers to on the partially obscured sign.

Related posts

• American Autumn (a photo essay)
• American Autumn 2020
• Kid lit horror: "The Night the Scarecrow Walked"
• Happy Halloween: Witches and zombies and scarecrows! Oh my!
• RPPC with family, jack-o'-lantern and cat
• Vintage Hallowe'en postcard: Witch declares that she's No. 1

Spooktober begins: "The Ghostly Hand and Other Haunting Stories"

Another October is here, which means a monthlong celebration of spooky stuff on Papergreat, and at least one more night of nail-biting over the Philadelphia Phillies' playoff fate. (Following them can be more stressful than any horror novel or film.)

Focusing on ghosts and goblins during Deireadh Fómhair, when the world is ablaze, literally and figuratively, might seem childish, but it's a nice and necessary diversion — for just a small portion of each day and for our mental health — from the corruption, crises and collapses. (Others, including Tom at Garage Sale Finds, are keeping up this October tradition, too.) 

As always, there will be a lot of old books this month and I'm kicking off, appropriately, with another Scholastic volume from the 1970s. Click on the Scholastic books label at the bottom of this post to find dozens more.

• Title: The Ghostly Hand and Other Haunting Stories
• Editor: Nora Kramer (1896-1984). This is her third curated collection to be featured on Papergreat, following Arrow Book of Spooky Stories and Arrow Book of Ghost Stories.
• Illustrator: Don Dyen, though his name is credited incorrectly as Don Dyan on the title page. It appears that he has a LinkedIn page that he's been active on this year. Prints of his illustrations of sports figures Cliff Lee and Mike Schmidt, among others, seem to be available on this website.
• Publisher: Scholastic Book Services (TX 2234)
• Cover price: 60 cents
• Year: 1st printing, October 9172
• Format: Paperback
• Dedication: "For My Grandchildren"
• Contents: What I love about this book is that it collects and preserves a great deal of material from sources that might not be as ubiquitous as a Scholastic paperback. There is material from 1949's Upstate, Downstate: Folk Stories of the Middle Atlantic States; 1951's Shantymen and Shantyboys: Songs of the Sailor and Lumberman; a 1966 issue of Golden Magazine; Gaelic Ghosts; 1956's The Screaming Ghost and Other Stories; and especially 1923's The Creaking Stair, among others.
• Excerpt #1: "This is a true ghost story," said my elderly Quaker friend. "It really happened to my cousin, the one my own age whom I love more than any of my other relatives."
• Excerpt #2: The woman of the house had two horses to her carriage, and Mrs. MacNair had no carriage at all. But the MacNairs had three bogles, being well supplied, and Mrs. MacNair was so set up about them that it fair put one's teeth on edge to hear her going on about them and their doings.
• Rating on Goodreads: 3.33 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt: In a 2022 four-star review, Roger praised "The Open Window" by Saki: "I liked several of the stories and would have given this 3 stars, but The Open Window is one of the best short stories I’ve read in a long time, and probably the best short ghost story I’ve ever read."
• Rating on Amazon: 4.4 stars (out of 5)
• Amazon review: In a 2019 review, J.M. DeMuth writes: "Rereading the stories brought back fond memories of how I loved to read when I was a kid, and in particular ghost stories. These stories are all rather tame by today's standard. But as a kid reading them on cold, dark, late October evenings I can say that they kept my interest and had me wondering what was going 'bump' in the night! Try reading some around your next campfire, or by the fireplace on some chilly autumn evening."

Here are some of Dyen's interior illustrations, plus the poem by Rosalind Welcher that opens the book...