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Post by dem bones on Jan 26, 2008 16:15:58 GMT
G. F. Marson - Ghosts, Ghouls & Gallows (Rider, 1946) The Face "Drowned Men Tell No Tales" The Ice Beck The Perfect Crime "Drop With The Left" Death Of A Cleric Ever Faithful "Trumpeter, What Are You Calling Now?" The Whip The Haunted Bus Cats And One Mouse The Devil's Playthings The Victory Ball Malice Prepense Nothing Ever Happens Reverie "Biter Bit" The Sixth CommandmentBit of an oddity, this. The first half (contents not listed above) is devoted to anecdotal accounts of "true" hauntings, the second given over to eighteen short stories, several purporting to be the reminiscences of Ickleborough's finest, the long-serving Superintendent Maclane who is never far from a glass of his favourite tipple as in "He procured his glass of Highland Dew" .... "Superintendent Maclane added a drop more hot water to his glass of Highland Dew" .... "Superintendent Maclane thought for a moment, took a sip of his Highland Dew and then answered" .... Could Highland Dew be this year's Seagram's Hundred Pipers? Includes: The Face: Maclane, then a junior member of the force is sent to Monkton-on-Sea to investigate a series of thefts perpetrated by a fraudulent "priest". On learning that Slim Pete Pullet, notorious safe-cracker, is masquerading as a holidaying cleric, Maclane suspects that an attempt to rob Monkton Abbey is afoot. He informs the Vicar but that worthy isn't unduly concerned: the Abbey is reputedly protected by the ghost of a monk with no face! Sure enough, when Slim Pete makes his audacious attempt on the loot, the ghost scares him straight into the clutches of Maclane. All very tidy and predictable - but the story doesn't end there. Some months later the Abbey is successfully burgled and this time the temporarily-reformed Pete is instrumental in catching the culprits - a Satanic Cult! The Ice Beck: The reservoir and adjoining railway-line at Ickleborough are popular suicide spots. Depressed school-leaver Hazel is enticed across the tracks by a shadowy figure and throws herself into the drink. This time it is down to Superintendent MacLane's daughter Helen - Head Girl, top swot, champion athlete, Olympic swimmer, etc. - to save the day. When Hazel fails to drown the mysterious curse is lifted. Cats And One Mouse: Shrewsbury. I've no idea what a "poodle-faker" is but the old Padre certainly doesn't care for them. Atkinson, apparently, is such a man. He was a member of the German Secret Service but defected when he realised the Brits had rumbled him, sold out his colleagues, and helped us sink one of their U-boats. Now the Hun are out for revenge. Several attempts are made on Atkinson's life but the Padre always thwarts them even though he can't stand the man. Atkinson, it seems, was given to hanging around cafes "with a bevy of elderly harridans, all drinking tea and talking scandal at the top of their voices .... You feel he ought to be kicked and yet his grey hairs prevent you administering the necessary correction." A non-supernatural thriller with strong anti-Boche sentiment. Well, there was a war on. "Biter Bit": Creepy Jimmy Noakes is reputed to have the Evil Eye and the villagers do all they can to placate him. A war invalid, Williams, arrives at Valley Farm and this fellow is no respecter of reputations, no matter how terrifying. Noakes 'curses' his heifer (by pouring turps down its throat: that isn't in any Grimoire I've seen!) but Williams dispenses a fitting punishment.
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Post by ripper on Dec 7, 2017 9:47:35 GMT
"Slim Pete Pullet" That's a "Carry On" character name if ever I heard one.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 8, 2017 10:04:51 GMT
A bona fide 'sport is supernatural' mild chiller and an 'On the Buses' classic in quick succession. That will do me. The Whip: It is THE FUTURE, i.e. 1960, and due to busybody stewards paying greater regard to heath and safety issues, our sportsmen have gone soft, jockeys particularly so. Oh, for the good old days when "hard-riding, hard-drinking, hard-sweating"' hardman, 'Mad' Job Morley, the terror of the turf, took his lash to any poor sap dared try get past him on the home straight! On the eve of the Poulersferry meeting, Morley's whip comes into the hands of amateur rider named Ferguson, who falls under its demonic spell .... The Haunted Bus: Exciting supernatural adventure featuring Superintendent Maclane versus the blotchy-faced ghost of Jacob Wild, the very hands-on managing director of Hillsborough's Brown Bus Company. Read it HERE.
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