Haunted Library - Friday the 13th

Did you know there were a series of Friday the 13th novels? I'm not talking about movie novelizations but brand new stories. You did? Did you know there were three different series of books? I'm not the biggest F13 fan so this was news to me.

The series featured today is the Camp Crystal Lake series from the 1990s. Similar to Freddy's Tales of Terror, I imagine this series was capitalizing on the popularity of the Fear Street and Christopher Pike books. From the cover synopsis, it seems like a different person is possessed by the hockey mask in each book.

 

 Once there was a boy named Jason Voorhees who drowned at a summer camp when the counselors weren't watching. First, his mother got revenge. Then, Jason rose from the grave. And now, everyone knows you can't kill a legend... but a legend can kill you.

Seventeen years after the fourth book ended the series, author William Pattison (aka Eric Morse) released a sequel of sorts on his website for free. This book crosses over the legacy of Jason's mask with the Friday the 13th TV series!

I'm pretty excited to dig into this one! Where most F13 fans were disappointed by the TV series having nothing to do with the movies, I loved it! This just makes so much sense as the show had the characters hunting down cursed objects. You can click the cover to grab this one.

Clicking your Haunted Library card will allow you to check out the original four novels. They are being offered here because they do not appear to be commercially available. You can also borrow, or read online, at the Internet Archive.

Unearth other Countdown to Halloween Crypts by clicking the link below.

Haunted Library - Freddy Krueger's Tales of Terror

Let's keep the Freddy energy rolling into the weekend!

 

From 1994-95, a series of six YA novels were published under the name Freddy Krueger's Tales of Terror. While they sported Freddy prominently on their covers, he only briefly appears in the stories, usually relegated to hosting duties much like on Freddy's Nightmares where he introduces and wraps up the story.

 

These books fit in among teen horror at the time like Fear Street or the works of Christopher Pike. They even had die-cut covers that gave a peek at an image on the first page. On a side note, both Friday the 13th and Halloween Also had YA series around the same time but the killers were actually in them. 

I remember reading these when they came out because I could not get enough Freddy at that time...no matter how tangentially related to the source material it may have been. They're okay if you want that 90s teen horror nostalgia fix, not so good if you're looking for a proper Nightmare story. 

 

The books have long been out of print and used copied go for crazy money. But now you can experience these tales thanks to the Haunted Library! Just click your card to check them all out.

 

 

Be sure to check out the list of Countdown bloggers by clicking below.

Haunted Library - Halloween Horror

Welcome back to the Haunted Library!

I've got a bit of an oddity today, Halloween Horror by Gina Clemen. It seems to be written to aid those learning English. 

 

The story follows teenagers in Salem that have a Halloween party in an old, abandoned house and have a run in with the ghost of a Salem witch. After each chapter, there are some reading comprehension exercises.

As an introductory reading book, I suppose it's a decent spooky Halloween story. It does have a couple parts that might be a little intense for kids. I do have questions for the parents that let their young teens have a Halloween party in an abandoned house until midnight.The kids aren't even sneaking out to do it!

As someone that's close to Salem and knows a little about the witch hysteria, the book is not historically accurate. Which, okay, it's fiction but it portrays the victims as evil witches. There are descendants of the victims living in and around Salem to this day. They would most likely not be happy with this book. Granted none of the names in the book are the names of the actual victims so I have to give credit for that. It also mentions there were 20 hangings. In reality, there were 19 hangings and one person was pressed to death. But again, it's fiction.

You can view/download a copy of the book by clicking the library card. The original copy I found online did not have the Japanese (?) text so the book seemed more like it was aimed at young children.

I'm presuming this is the audio CD that came with the book, minus the educational bits. It's a full cast audio type of thing with sound effects and music. For some reason, the last chapter is a completely different narrator and there are no additional voices, music or sound effects.

 

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Haunted Library - Ghoul's Delight

For our final field trip to the Haunted Library, we've got a very special audio treat for you!

Ghoul's Delight is a 2 CD compilation that was released in 2007, limited to just 1000 copies. I don't remember exactly how I stumbled into it but am I ever glad I did! It pretty much instantly became a holiday (and year round) favorite.

The 33 tracks here are like a pillowcase full of Trick or Treat candy: there's a little bit of everything. You might not like it all but you're sure to find something you do! You can check out the full track list here, just don't be surprised when you don't know any of the bands. I was only familiar with The 3-D Invisibles and I don't know the rest of the bands except from this album.

 

But don't let that stop you from checking it out! Tap the library card and you can give Ghoul's Delight a spin.

Click below to go to the Countdown to Halloween site and visit the other participants!

Haunted Library - Amazing Monster Mazes 1977

 This week we have another devilishly delicious treat for the monster kids at heart.

Amazing Monster Mazes was published in 1977 by Hallmark. I remember going to the Hallmark store in our local mall as a kid at Halloween time and there was just so much cool stuff to see.

While the cover boasts 24 pages of mazes, there are actually only 13 because most of them are two page spreads. But that's okay! Even if mazes aren't your thing, the artwork is worth checking out.

You may find yourself tiptoeing through a mansion of sleeping monsters...

 

or even helping the Headless Horseman get back to Sleepy Hollow!

If you want to get lost in this book, just click on the library card.

Pet the cat to go to the Countdown to Halloween site and visit the other participants!

Haunted Library - Movie Monsters - Monster Make-Up & Shows To Put On (1975)

 Have we got a treat in the stacks for you today! If you're a monster kid of a certain age, this will probably be a nostalgia trip. Even if you haven't seen this particular book before, you likely checked one out just like it from your local library.

I originally got this from the now defunct Retrospace. 

You can view that original post here.

Monster lovers, this Scholastic book has got you covered! The first 28 pages talk about Lon Chaney, Universal Monsters, and even Blacula and Young Frankenstein!

 

The next 33 pages give instructions for recreating your own monster make ups.

The last section has a short stage play and some special effect tricks.

 

 

To check out this book, click your library card below!

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Haunted Library - Best of Halloween Magazine

 Welcome back to the Haunted Library! The doors only open during October so make sure your books are back and you are out before midnight on the 31st!

For your first visit to the library, we have this Best of Halloween magazine from 2000.

It's loaded with tips for decorating pumpkins, party ideas, kids costumes, outdoor decor, and of course, recipes!

Once in awhile, I'll pick up one of these Halloween themed magazines. I don't know why I do because I never attempt anything in them!

Anyway, if you'd like to check out this "vintage" magazine, click the library card.

Click below to go to the Countdown to Halloween site and visit the other
  participants!

Haunted Library - Crestwood Monster Books

 Many a monster kid cut their teeth on these books from the 1970s and 80s in the time before home video allowed you to see classic films. While I did grow up religiously watching the Saturday afternoon Creature Double Feature, I don't remember ever running into these books myself.

If you want to read a little bit more about the books, time travel over to Branded in the 80s 2007 Halloween post here. This is a Haunted Library field trip, not a Haunted History lesson!

I've compiled 22 of these books for you to check out at your leisure. The books come from various online sources. Some started out as image files which I converted to pdf to make them easier to read and compress their size. I'm not going to reveal which books are included to hopefully give you that "just got home from Trick or Treating and dumped your bag out on the floor" feeling.

 

 Click the library card to check out your books and remember all returns are due back by midnight on Halloween!

Be sure to visit all the other houses with their porch lights on by clicking below.

Haunted Library - Welcome to Spooky Towers (1996)

I picked up this up years ago in an Ebay lot and kept meaning to share it during the Countdown. While I was doing some Corona cleaning, I found it again.

This isn't just a book, it's an activity pack!

The whole thing comes inside a folder. In the left pocket is an activity book with jokes, games, and puzzles. The right side has punch out sheets to make a scary skeleton and a monster mobile.

The book has several places where the activity is a two page spread so I scanned it that way to try and make it look nice. If you want to print any of it out, there is a single page scan in the file as well. The skeleton and mobile will probably work best if printed out on something a little sturdier than paper.

Click on the library card to check out the book and remember, all returns are due by midnight on October 31st.

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Haunted Library - Ghostly Giggles (1972)

Welcome to our first outing to the AEIOU and Sometimes Why Haunted Library!

 

Maybe it's the fond memories of the monthly book order forms or the countless titles I've read that they published, but there's just something comforting about picking up a Scholastic book.

Today's visit to the Haunted Library brings you Ghostly Giggles by Ann McGovern, published in 1972. Before we go any further, we have to talk about that cover! I don't know art but I do know that sky just takes me back to 70s/80s books. And how about that skeleton? He is just having the time of his life...er, unlife? What more could you want than tap dancing with a bubble blowing ghost?

The book is packed with jokes, puzzles, magic tricks, and stories. As the book is close to 50 years old, the pages have suffered some yellowing. I am no expert at scanning and color correcting but there are two versions in the download.

One is the original images with no messing around. The other I tried to do a quick fix by slapping a filter on the images to remove the yellowing but this also results in the pages not being consistent in color one to the next.

Click on the library card to check out a copy and don't forget, all returns are due by midnight, October 31st.

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