Salt: You are frightened of the night?

           Randy: Baloney!

           Salt: You are frightened of baloney? 

                     ~from the 1982 movie Pandemonium

Tonight I'm going to check out the series premiere of Dracula (NBC at 10pm) because I like vampire stories, and set in Victorian England, this show harkens back to classic Bram Stoker. There are loads of retellings and reimaginings - Interview With the Vampire, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, True Blood, Twilight, etc. - but only one that features a potential vampire rabbit.

He was found by the Monroe family at a screening of the movie Dracula. Sleeps from sunup to sundown. Appears to have fangs. And since he arrived, vegetables are being found drained of their juices until they turn white! According to the family cat Chester there can only be one answer - Bunnicula must be a vampire! Unable to effectively communicate the potential danger to his family, Chester tries to convince Harold (our canine narrator) that the bunny has to be stopped before vegetables are no longer enough to satisfy his drinking desires. 

While the book is kept in the children's section, I think it's a great, fun read for any age. Deborah and James Howe wrote several other books in the Bunnicula series, including one of my all time favorite titles for a book - The Celery Stalks at Midnight. Oh, and an important tip - when trying to destroy a vampiric creature, don't use a steak of beef. You'll just look silly.

  

Is real life stranger than fiction? Oftentimes I believe this to be true. What I am certain of is that real life crime is scarier than anything horror writers have come up with. Oh I've been terrified by Stephen King, wouldn't swim even in lakes after seeing Jaws, and do not want to be possessed or be around people who are possessed by demons thanks to The Exorcist. But true crime both fascinates me and freaks me out - this really happened?

Well, if you're looking to scare yourself silly I'd go with Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi  (the prosecuting attorney in the case), with Curt Gentry. The name Charles Manson is well associated with words like cult leader, delusional, racist, and murderer. Living in California in the 60's, Charlie wanted to be a singer and musician and was a fan of "free love" so long as it worked in his favor. After gathering followers, he convinced them all to live at the broken down Spahn Movie Ranch north of Los Angeles. Although very scary, apparently Manson was also quite charismatic and took advantage of these lost, stoned flower children, brainwashing them to believe in Helter Skelter - a crazy theory of racial apocalypse where by they would hide in a secret city under Death Valley, arising after the war to control the world as white supremacists. And he claimed that this idea was inspired by his interpretation of the song Helter Skelter by The Beatles.

Manson also manipulated several of his followers to murder, the most famous and horrifying being the gruesome killing of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others at the home of director Roman Polanski (Tate's husband). Although never present at the crime scenes, Manson was arrested and convicted as the architect of the murders. He wanted to defend himself but caused so many ludicrous scenes he was subjected to a gag order, and eventually found guilty. Due to a change in California law, he skirted the death penalty and was sentenced to life in prison. Now 78 years old, Charlie Manson will be eligible for parole in 2027 at age 92.

    shutter (noun)

1. a solid or louvered movable cover for a window.

2. a movable cover, slide, etc., for an opening.

3. a person or thing that shuts

4. Photography - a mechanical device for opening and closing the aperture of a camera lens to expose film or the like.

    verb (used with object)

5. to close or provide with shutters: She shuttered the windows.

6.to close (a store or business operations) for the day or permanently.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane is a very creepy psychological mystery thriller. In 1954 U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels and his partner Chuck Aule take a ferry boat to a maximum security insane asylum. A patient has somehow escaped and left no clues. They interview the tight lipped staff and director who are obviously hiding something. When a storm hits the island, the partners are separated and Daniels makes what he thinks is an important discovery about the hospital experimenting on prisoners by giving them psychotropic drugs, and in some cases lobotomies. I say he "thinks" this is significant information because it only begins to explain what's happening. If you like twists and turns, mind-bending, kind of freaky noir fiction, Shutter Island is for you. And be sure to think about the definitions above while reading - they are all applicable.