Friday, January 16, 2015
Strange
AEET exits the gee willickers world of the super cute, and now plunges you headfirst and screaming into the scary world of the supernatural! Noted ghost detective Brad Steiger published a ton of these type "true" books back in the day, featuring documented case histories of good and evil from beyond the grave, and astonishing tales of men and women in our world-- but not of it! The two books of his that I own are from his Popular Library paperback series from the late 60's and early 70's packed with "strange" accounts of ghosts, ghouls, clairvoyants, monsters, mentalists, and the possessed. Of interest to us here at AEET is the superbly spooky front and back cover illustrations (uncredited) which of course I scanned and blew up to 400%, so we can enjoy every last drop of eerie atmosphere!
Wow, judging from the illustrations, I'd really like to have some of those books.
ReplyDeleteThe furry monsters look like Cousin Itt mixed with some creatures from Montague Rhodes-James' books!
And how many girls sadly realize, too late, they have "given their wedding ring to a ghost"...
They're fun books, the stories are all super short (maybe 3-4 pages long) and if anything feel like those prose pieces they used to include in old anthology horror comics meets Ripley's Believe it or Not... definitely worth picking up for the cover illustrations.
ReplyDeleteMan, the Ghostly Secret of Her Eternal Youth is fantastic! I also like how all the ghouls in the Village of the Walking Dead are the same shape as the houses.
ReplyDeleteAwesome! These illustrations are sooo familiar. Must have come across one of these back there in the distant land of childhood. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteA lot of those creatures could really some good hair care treatments.
ReplyDeleteI noticed just yesterday at the used book store, (coincidently enough) another editor like Brad Steiger who published similar books as these around the same time, and also used the same type of small illustrations on his covers as well. They seemed more straightforward and slick, though somehow less interesting, otherwise I'd be sharing them here with everyone. I forget the guy's name now though... sorry!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the hairy comments! :)
Wow these are neat! I LOVE the Villiage of the Walking Dead one!
ReplyDeleteThe "Phantom Sea Captain Who Played Beethoven" should be labeled "The Phantom Sea Captain Who Played Beethoven and his Phantom Teacher that Said WRONG PLAY IT AGAIN ... FOR ETERNITY!"
ReplyDeleteI have to do all the work for these guys!
Ladies, this Valentine's Day you must seal your love with a severed head! All the cool kids are doing it...
ReplyDeleteAs I was looking at the illustrations I thought, "These look so familiar in their style; I bet they are by the same publisher of a couple of similar books that I have!" Then when I got down to the bottom and saw the covers, I knew I was right! I do have one or two in this series in my old paperback book collection. I will have to take them out and find them and scan them to my monster blog. Thanks for the inspiration and for the posts that let me see others I had not seen before.
ReplyDeleteCool man! Be sure to paste your link here in the comments once you get yours posted! Look forward to seeing more as well :)
ReplyDeleteCool! I've never seen these in my garage saling travels. I'd definitely pick them up if I did!
ReplyDeleteGood luck in your search!
ReplyDelete