Idiosyncratic or eccentric?

MY DESCENT into the shadows probably began in the mid- to late-1960s. That is when I was introduced by my friends to Nightmare Theater hosted by Sammy Terry and his “familiar” George the spider.

Note that this was the original Nightmare Theater which first broadcast in 1962 on WTTV Indianapolis.

Thanks to Sammy (& my friends) I became enamoured with the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Count Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, Godzilla, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, King Kong, the Mummy, and the Wolf Man. Also in the 1960s Aurora Models released a line of models of these monsters:

 

And if that was not enough to corrupt my youth, Forrest J. Ackerman (the “Ackermonster”) produced Famous Monsters of Filmland:

Boris Karloff died on the 2nd of February, 1969.

Which leads us to Dark Shadows:

That is to say, the original TV series and movies (House of Dark Shadows & Night of Dark Shadows). The series began as gothic tale reminiscent of Jane Eyre but with the introduction of Barnabas Collins became more like Dracula.

Up until 1973, it was fun and neat to watch monster movies, play with monster models, and create FanFic/LARP adventures of Dark Shadows. But it was in 1973 that an entire generation lost their innocence:

Older baby boomers will tell you where they were or what they were doing when they heard of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (I was a baby!). But my generation remembers where we were and what we were doing when Gwen Stacy died. That was the very first time I cried when reading anything.

In 1974 I was turned on to Black Sabbath through their album Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath:

Coincidentally in 1974 was the release of Dungeons & Dragons:

The Exorcist:

It was also the very first appearance of the Wolverine:

And the Punisher:

And so by the end of 1974, we have gone from a diet of “safe” Universal and Gothic monsters to the death of Gwen Stacy, the rise of anti-heroes, and the first release of D&D. I think that it is safe to say that I was not the only one slipping into the shadows….