Horror Histories Vol. 5 - The Real Twin Doctors Behind Dead Ringers

David Cronenberg.  There’s a horror film director who is in a league of his own.  With films like Scanners, The Brood, The Fly, Videodrome and Dead Ringers, there’s no question that he’s a master of the genre.  However, did you know that the inspiration behind that last film comes from a real life pair of twisted twins?

Stewart and Cyril Marcus were born on June 2, 1930.  They were identical twins who went on to both become gynecologists with a practice in New York City.  On July 17, 1975, both were found dead and at first it was ruled that they’d died from barbiturate withdrawal.  Later, it would be revealed that the toxicological report was wrong and Stewart had died of an overdose.  Cyril died a few days later from the same.

Fast forward to 1977 when the novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland debuts.  It took the addiction and deaths of the Marcus Twins and used it as a jumping off point to tell the story of twin gynecologists, addicted to drugs and doing horrible things to their patients.   

The book differs from reality some but the Marcus Twins were still bad news if you were their patient.  At first, they were considered two of the best minds in their profession.  People did see them as odd at times but they were generally looked up to.  Stewart had remained single while Cyril married, had two daughters and later divorced.  However, by the time they died, they’d succumbed to heavy barbiturate use and in fact had examined and even operated on patients while under the influence of drugs. 

Later, during an investigation into their practice, witnesses in the operating room with them testified that they saw the pair perform surgeries with shaking hands and even shakier balance.  All the while their patients, assistants and coworkers never said a thing.  The incident shone a light on drug use by doctors and contributed to the crackdown on controlling these substances even more closely than before. 

Of course, all of this is just putty in the hands of both Cronenberg and star Jeremy Irons (who gives a masterful performance playing both brothers).  If you haven’t seen Dead Ringers, then make that your Friday night horror flick this weekend.  You’ll be glad you did!

Want another horror recommendation?  Buy The Wash, my horror novel about an ancient evil arising in the high desert of Utah. There aren’t any twins, but there are drugs involved, so there’s that.  You can find it at my Amazon Author’s page.

See you next week and don't forget, starting Monday we begin exploring the weird and wonderful in Tokyo, Japan.  I can't wait to show you all the fun things we ran across.

See you next time!

Southern California Vol. 25 - Santa Cruz Mystery Spot

Okay, so in the past two weeks, we’ve covered your penny arcade interests at Fisherman’s Wharf (Musée Mécanique) and explored California’s Bigfoot history (Bigfoot Discovery Museum).  You’re still up in Santa Cruz and you’ve done your Lost Boys excursion to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.  You’ve got time for one more thing and you want it to be fun, weird and historical all at the same time.  Where do you go?

You visit The Mystery Spot.

After WWII, Americans experienced a prosperity they hadn’t seen in years.  Suddenly, everyone had an automobile and road trip excursions were the usual way to take a vacation.  A handful of entrepreneurs realized the potential of all those travelers stopping for a rest break and possibly dropping a few dollars if the attraction was interesting enough.  One such man was George Prather. 

Prather built a house that seems to defy gravity and the laws of physics.  It’s located on three acres of land that he purchased in 1940.  The story he liked to tell was that he was walking on the property when he suddenly felt dizzy and his compass began going crazy.   He realized immediately that this place must be an anomaly in Earth’s gravitational field and built the house so that people could experience it first hand.  Of course, the fact is that the house is built on the hill in such a way that everything you’re experiencing is a visual illusion. 

Balls aren’t really rolling uphill, but they certainly look like it.  That man isn’t standing out on a tiny ledge on the wall or is he?  What about that lady in the chair that seems to be floating?

The Mystery Spot has been open since 1941 and is now a California Historical Landmark.   It’s also a lot of fun, so why not round out your excursion to this neck of the woods by making yourself extremely dizzy.

Fair warning for those of you who've been following these California posts for the last six months.  We're going to take a break from the Golden State and spend some time focusing on a different country altogether.  

The truth is that as this posts, I’ve just returned from two weeks in Tokyo, Japan.  Some of you may remember that I went there last year with my family.  This time though, we went back to focus on some of the things that people don’t normally know about or do on a visit to Tokyo.  We visited the infamous Suicide Forest, sought out Godzilla locations, had drinks and food at a Kaiju bar, searched for the inspirations behind our favorite Ghibli Studios films and generally sought out the odd.  For instance, how would you like to visit a parasite museum? 

You know you would, so be sure to swing by here over the coming weeks as we check out the weird and wonderful around Tokyo.  I promise we'll eventually come back to California because there's a lot more weirdness out here to cover.

Until then, take a moment and check out my short story A Debt to the Dead on my Amazon Authors page. I think you’ll enjoy it. 

Horror Histories Vol. 4 - A Clever Murder Inspires Rear Window

Rear Window.  It’s one of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous films.  For those who don’t know, it’s a story of a man confined to his room with a broken leg.  He’s a photographer and to pass the time, he begins using his camera to follow the lives of his neighbors.  Pretty soon, he becomes convinced that one is a murderer.  The movie is masterful at ramping up tension, especially with our protagonist trapped in his room.

What many people don’t know is that the plot is actually inspired by a London case from 1924.  It started with a police stop at a train station.  The suspect was Patrick Mahon and police pulled him aside to question him because of his suitcase.  Once opened, it contained a knife and bloody clothing.  Mahon tried to pass it off as having come from scraps for his dogs but when they pressed him, he cracked. 

It turns out that he’d killed a woman named Emily Kaye.  In order to cover his tracks, he’d dismembered the body and would take pieces of it with him to the train station.  Then as the train made its way to the next stop, he would discard them along the way, ensuring that there would never be enough of one thing to identify her if they were ever found. 

Hitchcock became fascinated by the thought of carrying out body parts clandestinely.  It was only a few creative jumps before he’d combined that idea with the thought of a helpless protagonist and Rear Window was born.

If you’d never seen it, what the hell is wrong with you?  You should be watching it now instead of reading this blog.  

If you have seen it and want to do a deep dive into Hitchcock, I suggest you check out two excellent books by two good friends of mine.  Eric San Juan and Jim McDevitt have been a huge inspiration in my own writing career and together, they immersed themselves in Hitchcock films to produce A Year of Hitchcock:  52 Weeks with the Master of Suspense and Hitchcock’s Villains:  Murderers, Maniacs and Mother Issues.  You should definitely check both of those out.

And while you’re on Amazon, check out my book The Wash or myshort stories A Debt to the Dead and Fenton Takes a Swim.  Both can be found on my Amazon Authors page.

See you next week!

Southern California Vol. 24 - Bigfoot Discovery Museum

Last week, I showed you a really cool museum of antique penny arcade machines in San Francisco (Musée Mécanique).  If you’re going to be up that way and are really into the unusual stuff or even just want to pretend you’re in the movie The Lost Boys, you may find yourself visiting Santa Cruz.  

There, you can visit the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk featured at the beginning of that film.  Who knows? Maybe you'll even see some muscle dude playing a saxophone to that song by The Call.  If that's you're plan, do it on Saturday and on Sunday, take a relaxing drive and check out the Bigfoot Discovery Museum.

Look, I’m not about to argue with anyone about whether Bigfoot is real or not.  Whether you think it’s been debunked by all the Finding Bigfoot shows or not, I can tell you that plenty of people have seen something they can’t identify.  For just one afternoon, pretend there’s still a possibility that a large mysterious animal is roaming the Northern California wilderness.

The museum is only two rooms but it’s arranged into three different “areas”.  The first deals with the bigfoot from myths and legends going back centuries.  Here you'll find native american accounts and early sightings.  The second area focuses on more modern eyewitness accounts and physical evidence.  You'll see plaster casts and photos as well as that famous piece of film footage by Patterson and Gimlin.

The final area will please all of you Six-Million Dollar Man fans out there as it focuses on the Paranormal Bigfoot.  That area features displays about the possibility that Bigfoot is an alien, possesses supernatural powers and/or can move between dimensions.  That’s some pretty wild stuff compared to just figuring we’ve got a cryptid animal running around our forests.

As I mentioned above, the museum is pretty small and if you’re not going to actually read the accounts posted along with the casts of footprints, then you can easily do it in a half hour.  Still, it’s worth seeing just to get that sense that there may be something out there.  The owner is famously friendly and approachable and will be glad to tell you about his own experience seeing a sasquatch at the age of five. 

Since you’ll be driving through some of the most gorgeous scenery on Earth as you make your way down the coast by Santa Cruz, you should take a moment to park, hike out to a tree and read a few chapters of a good book.  I’d suggest The Wash which can be purchased from my Amazon Author’s page.

See you next week!

Horror Histories Vol. 3 - JAWS and The Twelve Days of Terror

Jaws.  It’s one of the most iconic movies in the history of cinema.  Steven Spielberg’s film is a master class in building terror and suspense by keeping the killer shark off camera for much of the movie.  It was the thought of what could be out there rather than the giant shark itself that made people avoid the water.  

The movie is famously based on Peter Benchley’s novel of the same name and Benchley took his inspiration from real life events.  In particular, the twelve days in 1916 where five people along the Jersey shore were attacked by a shark or sharks, four of them dying horrible deaths.

Things started on July 1, when Charles Epting Vansant was taking a quick swim at the beach next to his hotel.  He quickly started shouting for help but bystanders thought he was shouting at the dog who had gone out to swim with him.  A lifeguard eventually pulled him in to shore but Vansant’s legs were mutilated.  He bled to death while awaiting emergency services and the lifeguard reported that the shark actually followed them into the shallows.

This caused a sensation in the papers, but just like in the book and film, authorities did not close the beaches.  Instead, they figured it was an isolated incident and despite the fact that local boat captains were reporting large sharks in the area, no warnings were issued.  Five days later, the bell captain of a local hotel went for a swim and was killed.  The shark bit his legs completely off and he bled to death as lifeguards pulled him to shore.   The papers had a field day with reports of local women fainting as the body was brought to shore.  Now people were officially staying out of the water, worried that they may be the next headline. 

That’s what makes the next three attacks so strange.  They happened on July 12 in Matawan Creek near the town of Keyport.  Even with the attacks along the shore making headlines, people living along the creek figured they had nothing to worry about.  After all, when does a shark swim up a creek for food?  Right?

That explains why when a local sea captain named Thomas Cottrell said he spotted an 8-foot-long shark in the creek, no one really paid him any attention. It was a hot day and some of the local boys decided to go for a swim.  As they got in the water, one of them spotted what he thought was a log.  By the time they realized it was a shark, it had already grabbed Lester Stilwell, age 11, and pulled him under.  The boys ran for help and a local businessman, Watson Fisher responded.  He dove in and grabbed Stilwell’s body but before he could bring it to shore, he was also attacked.  Both of them died.

The final attack happened a mere thirty minutes after Fisher and Stilwell were bitten.  It was a half mile from where those attacks happened but this time the victim, Joseph Dunn, was rescued by his brother and a friend who literally pulled him from the mouth of the shark.  He was rushed to a local hospital and recovered from the attack.

All of this made for anxious times along the Jersey shore.  Resorts needed tourists but tourists needed protection.  Some of the local businesses eventually put in mesh nets to protect bathers, but prior to that, a small armada of boats went out to try to catch the maneater that was terrorizing the beach.  On July 14, Michael Schleisser caught a 7.5 foot shark while fishing in Raritan Bay, very near the mouth of Matawan Creek.  The shark was so aggressive, it almost sank his boat.  Once brought in to shore, it was opened up and determined to have human remains in its stomach.

As a side note, Schleisser had a hell of a resume and was just the kind of man who would wrestle in a great white.  He was actually both a taxidermist and a lion tamer for Barnum and Bailey.  He mounted the fish and put it on display.  After it was caught, the attacks ended.

All of this captured the imagination of Peter Benchley who released his novel thinking that he may make a few bucks from it but never expected the cultural phenomenon he was ultimately responsible for.  

When the movie hit theaters and became the very first summer blockbuster, interest in sharks and particularly great whites soared.  Hell, I wasn't even allowed to see the film until the rerelease in 1979, but even I became shark obsessed during the original run.  Sharks were all over the news and featured on TV movies.  It was that kind of phenomenon. 

As a result, great whites became highly prized by sport fishermen and soon their populations were plummeting.  Benchley had always been a waterman and an avid scuba diver.  While he loved the money and fame he received from JAWS, he detested the impact it had on shark populations.  He became a tireless advocate of shark conservation and lobbied for protections on certain species all the way up until his death.

One final note about this.  When it’s all said and done, that great white that Schleisser caught was probably not the same shark that attacked the three people in Matawan Creek.  Yes, I said that human remains were found in the stomach, but that’s according to the scientists at the time.   The material they recovered was said to be “suspicious fleshy material and bones”.  It could easily have been seal flesh.

The problem with the great white theory is that one would be pretty unlikely to swim as far upriver as the shark that attacked the people in Matawan Creek.  A more notorious culprit would be a bull shark and while they’re not common in the Jersey area, they’re actually more common than Great Whites. 

If you want to read an excellent book on this whole incident, I highly recommend you read Twelve Days of Terror by Richard G.Fernicola.  It was one of the many books I read in the months leading up to my  great white cage dive and I believe you’ll enjoy it.  If you just want to read a great book about being obsessed with great whites then you need to pick up Susan Casey’s excellent novel The Devil’s Teeth. 

And if you don't give a crap about sharks but want to read something scary, check out my novel The Wash.  You can find it at my Amazon Author’s page.

See you next week!

Southern California Vol. 23 - Musée Mécanique

This week I want to talk about a museum that’s further north than L.A.  I haven’t even touched what all there is to do in San Francisco because to be fair, I’ve only been there twice and both times for only a couple of days.  However, since we’ve been talking about museums over the last two weeks, I have to give a shout out to one of my favorite museums on the planet.  

I’m talking about the Musée Mécanique located down near Fisherman’s Wharf.  I’ve only been there once and I only got to stay a fraction of the time I wanted to, however I’ve made it a bucket list item to go back and spend at least an afternoon exploring everything on display.

The Musée Mécanique is basically exactly what its title suggests.  It’s a collection of over 300 antique (and not so antique) coin operated machines.  There are games, puppet shows, film loops and music boxes.  The building they’re in can only house a portion of the machines they’ve collected over the years, but you’ll get to experience at least 200 while visiting. 

It all began with Ed Zelinsky who collected his first penny arcade machine at the age of 11.  He first put his collection on display at Playland in the 1920’s.  Eventually, it became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and finally moved to its current location in 2002.  It’s still owned and operated by the Zelinsky family.

So what’s so great about a building full of old arcade machines?  Well, they all work.  That’s right.  They all actually work.  In fact, the museum is free to get into but you’ll need coins to operate the machines themselves. 

Among my favorite things during my short visit was a puppet show.  It’s called The Opium Den and once you deposit your coin, you’ll see the horrors of opium addiction in the form of death’s heads and ghosts visiting the Den’s customers.

Check out the picture above.  That’s my friend Will Mason holding my four-year-old daughter up so she can see the “adults only” show.  Don’t worry.  The film loop was a bunch of ladies showing their ankle-length bloomers.  Oh the scandal!  

So seriously, if you find yourself in San Francisco and all of your friends and relatives want to go to the most touristy place around, then you’ll end up at Fisherman’s Wharf.  Let them wander over to the chain stores on the pier.  Tell them you’ll meet up with them in an hour or so and go check out the Musée Mécanique.   It’s a truly great time and a pretty rare experience.

If it’s closed, you could just sit there by the water and read a book.  Might I recommend The Wash?  You can pick it up at my Amazon Author’s page.

Thanks and see you next week!

Horror History Vol. 2 - Fritz Lang's "M" and The Vampire of Düsseldorf

So last week we talked about the movie Freaks and how it was based on Writer/Director Tod Browning’s real experiences in the carnival.  This week, I want to stay in that era but discuss a very different film.   Instead of being reviled like Freaks, this movie was instantly seen as a classic.  I’m talking about Fritz Lang’s superb film M (1931). 

If you’re unfamiliar with it, Peter Lorre stars as a serial killer who preys on children.  He is unable to control his compulsions and eventually becomes hunted by both the authorities and the underworld.  It’s a fantastic film and Lorre gives a truly creepy performance.  Fritz Lang declared it to be his finest work, which is saying something when you consider that this guy also gave us Metropolis (1927), The Big Heat (1953) and the Dr. Mabuse films. 

Even those who are familiar with it may not realize that Lang was influenced by a real life killer who preyed upon Düsseldorf, Germany from February to November of 1929.  I’m talking about Peter Kürten A.K.A. The Vampire of Düsseldorf.   This is one of the more disturbing stories I’ve come across, just because of the ferocity and frequency with which Kürten struck.  It’s even more horrible when you realize how many times Kürten was released from custody and allowed to kill again.  In fact, let’s play a game and count all the times they put him away.

Kürten left school in 1897 and became an apprentice to a molder.  Eventually, he stole everything he could from his employer and disappeared to start a life of petty crime in Koblenz.  It didn’t take long for the police to catch up with him and send him to prison for the theft. 

Custody Count: 1

However, he didn’t stay in long.  By August of 1899, he was out and it was only a few months later that he committed his first murder.  At the time, he got away with it (he confessed years later), but he was picked up by police in 1900 for fraud.  Since it was a second offense and there were some other charges against him including attempted murder of another girl, he got four years in prison. 

Custody Count: 2

In summer of 1904, Kürten was released and drafted into the army.  As soon as he got a chance, he deserted.  This was when he began a string of arsons (he later confessed to 24).  Again, he was captured but this time since he’d deserted, he got more time added to his sentence.  From 1905 – 1913, Kürten was imprisoned and during this stint, his madness really took hold. 

Custody Count: 3

If there was ever a time for the government to say to themselves, “This guy may be a serial criminal” you’d think it would be now.  Unfortunately, no one bothered with that and instead they released him again.  This time though, he was definitely a different animal than when he’d gone in.  During his incarceration, he’d fully embraced the part of him who found sexual pleasure in committing murder. Once back on the street, he didn’t waste any time getting to work.  By May, he’d killed a 9-year-old child while she slept.   The day after the murder, he returned to the area and sat in a tavern listening to the locals gossip about the killing.  Later, he would visit her grave and think fondly of what he’d done.

Two months after that, he killed another girl during the course of a burglary.  He got away yet again, but was later picked up on a separate count of arson and burglary.  He would go to prison yet again and this time would stay there until 1921. 

Custody Count: 4

When he was released this time,he was still twisted but somehow decided to try leading a normal life.  He met a woman, married and took a job as a union official.  In 1925, he and his wife moved to Düsseldorf and during this time, Kürten began having affairs with two different women.  He got away with it for a while, but eventually his wife found out and when she confronted the two women both said Kürten seduced them.  One even claimed he’d raped her.  That charge was dropped but once again Kürten  found himself going to prison.  This time it was for the seduction charge and the fact that he threatened both women when all of this came out.    

Custody Count: 5

It's this fifth stint in the slammer where Kürten snaps completely.  The next time he’s released he wastes no time killing people. His victims ranged from the elderly to the young, men and women.  He did not discriminate and he confessed later that he got a sexual thrill from the murders.  He used scissors, knives and hammers.  He even tried to drink his victim’s blood which is how he earned the "vampire" nickname.  His last victim was found stabbed 34 times. 

Ultimately, Kürten was caught and convicted of nine murders.  He was also found guilty of seven counts of attempted murder.  Apparently in 1930's Germany, the sixth time was the charm.  He was executed by guillotine in July of 1931.

Fritz Lang went on record as saying that Kürten was not an inspiration for his movie, however that's difficult to believe.  For one, Lang was German and was very familiar with Kürten’s case.  He couldn't help but be since it was a sensation in the papers.  Also, the timing is very suspicious because his movie debuted the same year that Lang is finally executed.  This would put Lang writing it not long after the trial and all the press coverage.  

Even if you want to believe Lang was oblivious to all of this, there's no doubt that Peter Lorre’s portrayal of the character was influenced by what he’d read in the papers.  Lorre comes across as the ultimate creeper whose compulsions are overwhelming.  It’s a performance that will still grab you 87 years after its debut.

There’s a morbid side note to all of this.  If you happen to be traveling through Dell, Wisconsin, you have a unique opportunity to actually see Kürten for yourself.  His head rests at the Ripleys! Museum in Dell.  French authorities split the head in half to observe the brain of this twisted killer.  The mummified split head hangs by a chain in a glass case for all to see.

If you love horror, why not check out my Amazon Author’s page.  It’s got a few nuggets of horrific goodness you may just enjoy.

See you next time!