During childhood, I loved to hear the spooky stories: stories of heroes, witches, monsters, leprechauns, banshees, ghosts, curses, and magic; anything that was meant to cause freight, in me created delight. I remember sitting as my parents and grandparents recounted these tales, legends, stories, and rhymes. Those were magical times.
As I grew older, I had to learn to entertain myself, reading and television fueled my imagination.
Growing up in the 60’s my views of ghosties and things that go bump in the night were shaped by television. Scooby Doo and the gang brought new ‘ghost hunting’ cases each weekend. Their influence can be seen today by most all of the “paranormal” investigation shows on TV, they are in some way emulating Scooby and his crew.
“The Doo” was not my only influence, television back then was full of supernatural shows. Although most were comedy, they feed an ever-growing interest in the supernatural. Saturday’s were “Creature Feature” days, which brought many of the Hammer films which included vampire and monster hunters. These inspired my imagination and taught me the “Hollywood” version of the monster lore.
After watching the movies, I’d be out in the back yard doing battle with the creatures: staking vampires to the ground with clothespins; banishing demons with a cross made by crossing my index fingers, and with prayers from church, grace, and bedtime:
“Now I lay me down to sleep, go back to ‘heck’ you evil creep!”
I wasn’t allowed to say bad words, not even in prayer.
Not being old enough to cross the street restricted me a bit, but I got to work on the basics and try out new things in a safe location. Well, mostly safe… Things did get a little out of hand one night. I covered the kitchen floor with flour hoping to catch foot prints of a ghost; instead I caught handprints on my butt. I could not sit for a week.
This was all fun, scary, but fun. Things changed one Saturday. I watched my usual shows and saw an interview with a couple, Lorraine and Ed Warren. They “really” investigated ghosts and hauntings, this was serious stuff! The woman was a psychic, and the man called himself a “Demonologist”; I knew what I wanted to be!
“OK Tony, what do you want to be when you grow up?”, “I want to be a Demonologist!”
No, I didn’t have many friends.
As I grew older, I had to learn to entertain myself, reading and television fueled my imagination.
Growing up in the 60’s my views of ghosties and things that go bump in the night were shaped by television. Scooby Doo and the gang brought new ‘ghost hunting’ cases each weekend. Their influence can be seen today by most all of the “paranormal” investigation shows on TV, they are in some way emulating Scooby and his crew.
“The Doo” was not my only influence, television back then was full of supernatural shows. Although most were comedy, they feed an ever-growing interest in the supernatural. Saturday’s were “Creature Feature” days, which brought many of the Hammer films which included vampire and monster hunters. These inspired my imagination and taught me the “Hollywood” version of the monster lore.
After watching the movies, I’d be out in the back yard doing battle with the creatures: staking vampires to the ground with clothespins; banishing demons with a cross made by crossing my index fingers, and with prayers from church, grace, and bedtime:
“Now I lay me down to sleep, go back to ‘heck’ you evil creep!”
I wasn’t allowed to say bad words, not even in prayer.
Not being old enough to cross the street restricted me a bit, but I got to work on the basics and try out new things in a safe location. Well, mostly safe… Things did get a little out of hand one night. I covered the kitchen floor with flour hoping to catch foot prints of a ghost; instead I caught handprints on my butt. I could not sit for a week.
This was all fun, scary, but fun. Things changed one Saturday. I watched my usual shows and saw an interview with a couple, Lorraine and Ed Warren. They “really” investigated ghosts and hauntings, this was serious stuff! The woman was a psychic, and the man called himself a “Demonologist”; I knew what I wanted to be!
“OK Tony, what do you want to be when you grow up?”, “I want to be a Demonologist!”
No, I didn’t have many friends.
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