Treacherous Tea

Morose and Macabre will be 

hosting "Treacherous Tea" a dark Victorian tea party for creeps and malcontents at The HKan in 

the south side of Pittsburgh on Sunday, June 13th from 6-8:30pm. For more ghoulish details click HERE

Bannerman's Castle falling into ruin

POLLEPEL ISLAND, N.Y. – The castle on the Hudson River is crumbling.

One of the stranger sights on the river, Bannerman's island castle is a high-walled ruin topped with turrets that looks like it was built to repel catapult attacks. In reality, the century-old structure off the river's eastern shore was a warehouse for bayonets, pith helmets, rifles and other military relics.

The island has had a second life in recent years as a summer tourist attraction. Visitors — many who know the castle from their daily train commute to New York City — can take a tour boat or a kayak for guided tours of the island. But hard hats must be worn. Big chunks of the castle tumbled down this winter and more could fall at any time.

"Every year, something deteriorates and comes down on us," Neil Caplan of the Bannerman Castle Trust said as he gave a tour of the island recently.

The castle looks both majestic and precarious, and Caplan and the trust are scrambling to raise money for repairs before it's too far gone. This past winter was especially rough: Two walls fell down, including one facing the river bank with "BANNERMAN'S ISLAND ARSENAL" emblazoned across the top. Vegetation sprouts from the walls and the crenelated top is so degraded it looks like it's missing teeth.

The structure is named for Francis Bannerman VI, who bought the rocky, 6 1/2-acre island in 1900 as a place to warehouse items sold in his war relic store in Manhattan, some 50 miles south. (City fathers did not want him to store munitions locally.) Bannerman was an amateur architect with a touch of P.T. Barnum. He modeled his warehouse after castles in his native Scotland, giving it a siege-ready look with a moat and turrets.

Bannerman also built an island residence much smaller than the warehouse but with the same castle motif. It's on a high spot of land and commands the sort of sweeping view of the Hudson Highlands that hedge fund managers pay millions for.

The Bannerman family enjoyed an island retreat that was a world unto itself. They could spend idle days by the gardens, watch the ferries go upriver or sail. Down the hill was the castle and a separate powder house, which blew up spectacularly in 1920.

Family members continued to frequent the island for decades after Francis Bannerman died in 1918. The island was sold to New York state in 1967, two years before a fire gutted the castle. Left standing were the high walls familiar to Metro-North and Amtrak passengers.

Bannerman Castle Trust formed in 1993 to turn the scenic ruin into a proper attraction. Caplan, a local real estate agent and bed-and-breakfast owner, has headed the trust since the beginning. The pay is modest, but he's passionate. During a recent tour of the island for tourism industry officials and the press, he stopped a couple of times to pull weeds from the winding walking paths and actually shouted once: "This is still important to save!"

Visitors can get close-up looks at the castle ruins, but must stay back because of the threat of a fresh collapse. The tour also includes a ramble through island paths that wind through rehabilitated gardens and to the house.

The residence is scheduled for roof, floor and other stabilization work this summer with the help of donations and state and federal grants. More ambitious — and expensive — work on the castle is still in the future.

Though the island is part of nearby Hudson Highlands state park, the trust is responsible for raising money for its rehabilitation. Caplan praises parks officials as wonderful partners, but the state agency has already closed dozens of parks and has little money to spare. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer has applied for $1 million through the "Save America's Treasures" historic preservation program, but that money, if it comes, is not expected until next year.

The castle could face more danger if the Hudson Valley gets another winter with cycles of freezing and warmer weather — which pretty much describes every recent winter here. There are fears the island's signature feature could become a rock pile. That would leave the trust with an even more expensive choice of whether to reconstruct a faux-castle. Caplan hopes to raise enough money before it gets to that point.

"I just get antsy," Caplan said in the shadow of the castle, "because it can come down at any time."

Dead Man Standing

It was 24-year-old Angel Pantoja Medina wish to stand at his own funeral and when this man was found dead, his grieving family made that wish come true.

After being embalmed, his corpse was propped up for his three day wake in his mother’s living room dressed in his favorite Yankees cap and sunglasses.

The Sutherland Sisters

The Seven Sutherland Sisters lived in Cambria, just outside of Lockport, NY. In the late 1800's they were considered world famous celebrities with their floor length long hair and beautiful singing voices. Their hair products made them millionaires; their spending made them paupers.

For more on the Sutherland Sisters click HERE

The Sounds Of Fear

THIS is my friend Marc's site.
It's cool.
You should follow it.

(you should also be following brutalashell.com but that's beside the point)

Wave-Gotik-Treffen ~ Leipzig Germany

For info in English go HERE   Looks like a fun event!

Haunted Mansion- Tribute Art Show

Opens June 5th and runs through July 3rd.  Plus shopping for all the creepy you desire- all in one place! For more info go HERE

Lucia and Luis

Directed by Niles Atallah, Joaquin Cociña and Cristóbal León.

Condolences

The Process of Death

Moment of Death:
1) The heart stops
2) The skin gets tight and grey in colour
3) All the muscles relax
4) The bladder and bowels empty
5) The body’s temperature will typically drop 1.5 degrees F. per hour unless outside environment is a factor. The liver is the organ that stays warmest the longest, and this temperature is used to establish time of death if the body is found within that time frame.

After 30 minutes:
6) The skin gets purple and waxy
7) The lips, finger- and toe nails fade to a pale color or turn white as the blood leaves
8) Blood pools at the lowest parts of the body leaving a dark purple-black stain called lividity
9) The hands and feet turn blue
10) The eyes start to sink into the skull

After 4 hours:
11) Rigor mortis starts to set in
12) The purpling of the skin and pooling of blood continue
13) Rigor Mortis begins to tighten the muscles for about another 24 hours, then will reverse and the body will return to a limp state.

After 12 hours:
14) The body is in full rigor mortis.

After 24 hours:
15) The body is now the temperature of the surrounding environment
16) In males, the semen dies
17) The head and neck are now a greenish-blue color
18) The greenish-blue color continues to spread to the rest of the body
19) There is the strong smell of rotting meat
20) The face of the person is essentially no longer recognizable

After 3 days:
21) The gases in the body tissues form large blisters on the skin
22) The whole body begins to bloat and swell grotesquely. This process is speeded up if victim is in a hot environment, or in water
23) Fluids leak from the mouth, nose, eyes, ears, rectum and urinary opening

After 3 weeks:
24) The skin, hair, and nails are so loose they can be easily pulled off the corpse
25) The skin cracks and bursts open in many places because of the pressure of Internal gases and the breakdown of the skin itself
26) Decomposition will continue until body is nothing but skeletal remains, which can take as little as a month in hot climates and two months in cold climates. The teeth are often the only thing left, years and centuries later, because tooth enamel is the strongest substance in the body. The jawbone is the densest, so that usually will also remain.

Some Cemetery Humor

Here is a cemetery themed comic from one of my favorite internet comics

(From: xkcd )

Art History Post: Francis Bacon

(Far Left) Study After Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Oil on canvas.1953.

(Left) Painting 1946, Oil on linen. 1946.

Francis Bacon

(28 October 1909 – 28 April 1992)

Bacon was born in Dublin, Ireland to British parents, the second-oldest of five children; growing up, he relocated often between parts of Ireland and Great Britain. As a young child, he was very sickly, and often given morphine to soothe his asthma attacks. In his adolescent years, he was reported to have often cross-dressed in full makeup and regalia, often angering his father.

Although Bacon's family had an illustrious name (linked to Sir Nicholas Bacon, half brother of Sir Francis Bacon the philosopher,) Bacon preferred not to acknowledge it and instead set out to carve a name for himself. Bacon began painting during his early twenties and worked only into his mid-thirties, which was then very sporadic. Prior to this, he earned his living as an interior decorator and designer of furniture and rugs.

His breakthrough came with the 1944 triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion. This style, also present in his other works of the late 1940s, continued into the early 1960s and sealed his reputation as a notably bleak chronicler of the human condition.

Bats Day at Disneyland- The People 2

Pandora Morticia

Szabo the Goth Service Dog in his black and red

Wendy- Gothic Tea Society,  Queenie, Hideousboi

Scarlett Harlott

Who is more Goth than Cruella?

Bats Day at Disneyland 2010- The Hearses 2

We were told this is Paul's hearse.