|
Post by Jojo Lapin X on May 14, 2020 14:46:31 GMT
I have personally witnessed a number of inexplicable and blood-curdling sights at the British Museum. All of them associated with the price stickers attached to the tat in the gift shop. All of that stuff is not crap. I have several fine British Museum coffee mugs with Egyptian motifs, made from bone china in England.
|
|
|
Post by Swampirella on May 14, 2020 15:02:12 GMT
I have personally witnessed a number of inexplicable and blood-curdling sights at the British Museum. All of them associated with the price stickers attached to the tat in the gift shop. All of that stuff is not crap. I have several fine British Museum coffee mugs with Egyptian motifs, made from bone china in England. Ah, but whose bones were used to make them?
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on May 14, 2020 15:43:11 GMT
I personally agree with Phil about the mummies, as well as the "bog people" and other preserved corpses displayed in museums. They should be respectfully reinterred, and if possible some sort of memorial rite should be performed as part of the reinterment. In this age of holograms, virtual reality and other tech toys to amuse the public, images of the bodies could be displayed in special installations at the museums as a draw for the public--since everybody who works in a museum knows that looking at preserved corpses is a huge reason for the public to pay the admission ticket.
I stood in a room in the National Museum in Dublin one afternoon for about 15 minutes and watched students and idlers coming to gape at the body of a man who had been killed in a sacrificial ceremonial rite centuries ago and thrown in a bog. The comments, jokes, obscenities and beyond were infuriating and ultimately, literally MIND-NUMBING to me. In this age of instant sensationalism on the mass media, there's absolutely no excuse for having actual bodies of people who lived in the remote past to be displayed in this manner. Particularly in the case of those who died in ritual circumstances, such as those whose bodies are kept in the Dublin Museum: from what can be determined, their deaths were meant to be an act of service to the energies of the land and the human communities of which they had been a part in life.
I realize most will see these remarks as the words of a "nutter" but so be it.
As for the cold spots, orbs, etc hardly worth reporting on... they are quite standard in places such as museums and old houses. Beyond cliche at this point.
H.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on May 22, 2020 16:46:07 GMT
Ian Thorne - The Mummy (Cresswood House, 1981) Adapted from the screenplay by John L. Balderston. A perfunctory micro-novelisation of the 1932 Universal movie starring Boris Karloff as Im-ho-tep, entombed alive 3,700 years ago for attempting to revive his dead lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-amon, through necromancy. 52 page booklet, illustrated with b/w stills throughout, omits most of the best dialogue. Transcript attached.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 11, 2020 18:50:39 GMT
Thanks to Justin Marriott for suggesting .... Donne Avenell & Carlos Cruz - Dr. Mesmer’s Revenge (Rebellion, 2020) Blurb: An Ancient Evil Returns
After several artefacts are stolen from his home, the mysterious Egyptologist Dr. Mesmer resurrects a five-thousand-year-old mummy called Angor - a Pharaoh possessed with great mystical power. Together they set out to retrieve the missing items, bringing terror and destruction in their wake!
Can anybody stop them? Both the army and constabulary will need to work together in order to stop Dr. Mesmer and his unearthly ally! Spanish superstar artist Carlos Cruz (Dan Dare, and Donne Avenell (The Saint, bring you a complete tale of bandage-wrapped terror and mayhem!
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jun 27, 2020 16:05:04 GMT
Ray Cummings - The Case of the Mummified Corpses: ( Thrilling Mystery, Nov. 1939). McClure and Son, Scientific Detectives, Investigate a Ghastly Series of Shocking Crimes which Smack of Ancient Egyptian Magic!E. Hoffman Price - Mummies to Order: ( Thrilling Mystery, Jan. 1940). Murray Deane is Confounded by the Vengeance of Dead Gods.G. T. Fleming-Roberts - Blood of the Mummy: ( Thrilling Mystery, July 1939). The Sorcery of Ancient Egypt Casts a Shadow of Hate Over The Hallan Mansion as the Mummy of Hortotaf Undergoes Weird Transformation.
|
|
|
Post by andydecker on Jun 27, 2020 19:20:24 GMT
A Mummy and its .45 in Blood of the Mummy. How great is that? You got to love this!
|
|
|
Post by cauldronbrewer on Jun 28, 2020 1:58:44 GMT
A Mummy and its .45 in Blood of the Mummy. How great is that? You got to love this! Yes, your typical mummy lurches ineffectually after its victims, but this one fills them with hot lead.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Jul 11, 2020 5:37:57 GMT
Chris Bell - Shem-El-Nessim: An Inspiration in Perfume: (Peter Crowther & Nick Gevers [eds,] - This is The Summer of Love, PS, 2009: Stephen Jones [ed.], Best New Horror #21, 2010). Set during the mummy craze of the 1920s. Stan Tooprig is lured to his doom by the scent of the perfume worn by a mystery Louis Brooks lookalike he passes on a London Street. Obsessed, he traces her to Cairo via the Valley of Kings, finally catching up with her back home at the Savoy hotel. She smiling, hands him a room key ... Afterward Tooprig suffers the most horrifically vivid dream of being embalmed alive. He is reminded of Retz, the late tomb-looter he met in Egypt, who was unable to get that infernal odour from his nostrils and died a desiccated husk. Where has his deadly lover gone? On returning to the hotel it's patiently explained to Tooprig why he could not have spent the previous night in room 941.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Aug 30, 2020 19:11:13 GMT
Elise Chanowitz John Macklin - The Mummy's Curse: ( World's Strangest "True" Ghost Stories, 1990). Was the haunted mummy case of the Princess of Amen-Ra somehow responsible for the sinking of the Titanic? Brief chronicle of the several mysterious deaths and injuries to befall those who came in contact with the casket between 1890 and 1912. Jim Sharpe John Macklin - When Death Comes on Swift Wings: ( World's Most Bone-chilling "True" Ghost Stories, 1993). April 1924. Archaeologist Gordon Richardson, 26, and friends Ian Grant and Philip Masters, chip in to buy a mummy case from an Arab trader for a trifling $32, knowing it will raise a fortune in London. Back aboard ship, they play cards for sole ownership. Masters jokingly quotes the ancient curse, "Death shall come on swift wings to him that defieth the tomb of a pharaoh." Grant wins the game. He is the first to die.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Sept 2, 2020 17:32:35 GMT
Paul Hardy Ernest R. Suffling - The Strange Discovery of Dr. Nosidy: ( The Story Hunter, or, Tales of the Weird and Wild, 1896). Nosidy, a self-described scientist, mesmerist, thought-reader and electrician, constructs an apparatus whereby he can communicate telepathically with the dead. All he requires is the subject's skull. Early experiments with an Egyptian mummy and the looted cranium of a Saxon king meets with frustration due to his inability to understand the language. He fares better with the relatively recent skull of Sidney Smith, belligerent coach driver, but the fellow's language is so abusive Nosidy smashes the relic to bits. Following this breakthrough there is no stopping the scientist who soon accumulates more knowledge about everything than any man whoever lived; We leave him resolved to keep the great discovery to himself. While the Mummy's participation in events is minimal, have added story to this listing on the grounds that they all count. William T. Smedley, Arthur Conan Doyle's Lot 249, Harpers Magazine, Sept. 1892.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 14, 2020 16:15:51 GMT
Raymond Sibley - The Mummy (Ladybird, 1985) Blurb: From stories by Arthur Conan Doyle Retold by Raymond Sibley
Did the mummy really come alive from time to time? No one knew for certain - but something was prowling around !"I don't know his name so I call him Lot no. 249 because that was his number in the auction sale when I bought him." Old College, Oxford, summer 1884. Young David Smith has a room beneath Bellingham, a keen Egyptologist who has recently purchased a 4,000 year old mummy in such excellent condition "you could think that he had died only yesterday." Bellingham is quick to anger and slow to forgive. Should any of his fellows offend him, he sets the mummy on them. It is only by chance that Smith, Lee and Norton survive these murderous attacks. David realises what they're up against, but can he destroy the rampaging relic before it destroys him? "Its head was close. He could see straight into its eyes. Claw-like fingers scratched the bedpost as it felt for Smith's face. The stale breath from the thing turned Smith's stomach. It crouched - ready to spring." A competent if not particularly dynamic retelling of Conan-Doyle's disappointingly unscary supernatural horror story. Book more successful as showcase for Angus McBride's attractive artwork.
|
|
|
Post by dem bones on Oct 30, 2020 17:19:04 GMT
Anon - Victor Drago and the Horror of the Mummy's Curse: ( Tornado, #11-13, 1979). With the City museum due for demolition, the exhibits are packed and readied for removal to the new building. Of a sudden, Simpson, who has been working alone in a storeroom, runs screaming into the street, regardless of oncoming traffic. Only Victor Drago's supreme driving skills prevent disaster. But what could have caused the fellow to take on so? On regaining consciousness, Simpson begs not to be taken back inside the building for fear of the mummy's curse. Forbes, the curator, is dubious. "Pharaoh Ramtoth can't harm anyone. He has been dead and lying inside his sarcophagus for five thousand years." "Not any more," cried Simpson, his voice becoming hysterical. "He's come back to life, just as the inscription on his tomb foretold. He's roaming the museum and looking for victims. I've seen him." What can it all mean? Another case for Victor Drago, the celebrated private detective! Grateful thanks to Justin Marriott for providing scans of this macabre three-parter.
|
|
|
Post by helrunar on Oct 30, 2020 20:27:05 GMT
Would love to read that story, though I suspect a Scooby-Doo ending. I'm not familiar with the Victor Drago series.
H.
|
|
|
Post by pulphack on Oct 31, 2020 6:35:22 GMT
I don't know about a scooby doo ending as I haven't read that one, but perhaps not. Victor Drago was supposed to be Sexton Blake - at that time Fleetway/Amalgamated/IPC etc were undergoing yet another change of ownership and there were some doubts as to whether Blake was in or out of copyright, and who in fact owned the character at that point. In truth, although DC claim Blake as part of their ownership, it's still a bit of a grey area: they had 'The Sexton Blake Library' registered as a trademark but none of the characters and the old texts are - if you want to argue the point - out of copyright as the time for ownership of company created IP is less than that of an individual writer, and needs to be renewed. I know of at least one rights owner who was disputing this to get back the work written by a writer whose estate had come to him (he was an IP lawyer by trade). Dave Abbott at IPC/DC in the UK has fudged the issue splendidly and got Obverse, Snow and Wordsworth to credit/pay/license for things they may not actually have had to pay for... so by default he has established a dubious ownership. Anyway...
This may have been the reason why 'Victor Drago' came into being. Back in the day, our old chum Jack Adrian aka Chris Lowder was working at IPC writing comic scripts (remember, this is the man who wrote the first ever Judge Dredd strip for the 2000AD dummy) and he managed to persuade his editor that a Blake revival was overdue (also remember that his first ever published work was a Blake novel in the fifth series that he was conned over by Bill Baker and which came out as a Desmond Reid with nary a comma changed). The first Drago strip was beautifully drawn and scripted - a series that really captured the golden age Blake, Tinker and Pedro, with references to all manner of past adventures. I suspect it was JA's attempt to really bring the character back, doomed by the 'so who does own the IP?' and 'did we lose that in the last buy out?' arguments that saw the wholesale name changes. Still a great strip, though. Subsequent Dragos were not down to JA (at least, most of them weren't) and the quality did dip, but the ones I've come across are still amongst the best of that period in the dying Brit comics trade (unless you were 2000AD)).
|
|