A lean and athirst housing market

Imagine living in a world where magic exists. What if the supernatural was real?

Our world would be a shambles. It is doubtful civilization would exist. Assuming a civilization could be built against all the interference of hostile entities hours of daily life would be extraordinarily consumed with the trappings of protection against evil forces. All the praying and hexing would barely leave time to eat a meal, much less forage for and prepare it.

Proof of life after death, angels and demons would be as obvious and physically evident as the sun. If those entities existed, eternal war would be the result with humans as pawns or casualties. Millions of people would be taken, killed or possessed by entities hostile to all that was good, shambling through the streets like extras in a George Romero film. Only the insane would act in a manner they know for a certainty would cause torment in limbo or fire as the proof of it would be in front of their eyes everyday and night without misinterpretation. But would the mentally ill or any disease even exist? In a world of magic they would be healed through faith and the laying on of hands or potions the moment symptoms manifested.

Physics as we know it now would be radically different than it is. No mysteries would remain as sensitives prove that they can cast their minds through time and space seeking answers and bringing back irrefutable evidence of the way the universe works. Their talents would not be negated, hindered or defeated by cameras, the nearby presence of unbelievers and double-blind tests. If any of the Woo was real it would not be hidden, it would obvious, verifiable and most of all reproducible. Like science is.

SCIENCE vs. SUPERSTITION

SCIENCE WINS

Non-Euclidian Einstein

"Non-Euclidean geometry was no more than a mathematical curiosity until Einstein applied it to physics."

Uh-Oh. I'd bet all those pieces of Al's brain scattered all over in labs and Universities are still alive (or non-dead) and separately plotting, just waiting to be reunited in order to solve the final proof and summon giant demon dogs through sharp corners to drag us all away as sacrifices to the Old Ones.

You know, this could lead to a story better than when Albert Einstein showed up in the novel Last Son of Krypton.

From the Collection: Dagger of the Mind

Hard to find and out of print, Bob Shaw's Dagger of the Mind is a good blend of science fiction and Lovecraftian horror featuring alien mind-control and murder.

Thought missing, this book was recently rediscovered in a mislabeled box from my storage area. The book was used along with a few others to top off a box before it was sealed.

At the Island of Madness

Other than The Land of The Lost I failed to enjoy a lot of the Krofft television programs mainly due to my age. I was just a bit too old for most of them and the stories were really aimed at an audience several years before my time. My sister, being younger, loved nearly every show they made and the tube was usually reserved for her on Saturday mornings. One show she enjoyed more than I was H. R. Pufnstuf.

While Sid & Marty have always denied the show was one big drug reference (except for the occasional joke) it really did come out as nothing more than an acid trip for kiddies. Each week the Brothers Krofft would take you on a magic carpet ride that alternated between groovy, psychedelic delight and the unbridled terror of a bad flashback. The setting of the show was in a fantastic place called Living Island, where everything was alive, intelligent and anthropomorphic. The rocks, trees, houses, air and in fact any object you could imagine were all animate, awkwardly staggering and shuffling around the landscape. The citizens of the island displayed irredeemably evil or benevolent traits, presumably depending on the quality of the trip the production crew were having that day.

Performer and child star Jack Wild played Jimmy, a boy marooned on the island through the machinations of an evil witch. Each week Jimmy would attempt to escape the island with his friend Freddy, a magic, talking flute coveted by the witch. Jack was was the star of the show and he could sing and dance up a storm. There are a few tunes he performed that I can still remember and they rise to the surface every now and then like the songs from School House Rock are wont to do. While Jack looked okay to me then, another examination by my adult eyes reveals the harsh toll being a child star can be. In many scenes he does not look all that well and often appeared exhausted.

In the episode Book, Flute & Candle (Originally broadcast November 15, 1969) Jimmy is running from the witch after an attack on the peaceful settlement tended by Mayor Pufnstuf (a dragon whose name may have been inspired by the Peter, Paul and Mary tune Puff the Magic Dragon). Lost in the dark forest with the magic flute, Jimmy is attacked by the living trees and mushrooms that serve the witch.

The forest scene from that episode embedded here is pure nightmare fuel the terrifying World of Sid & Marty Lovekrofft. The pitiful, mournful cries for assistance by one of the victims is horrifying. Book, Flute & Candle is a perfect example of a show geared toward children that make you wonder what the producers were thinking. I can't imagine any child of 1969 that didn't scream themselves awake for a month after seeing this.

Decades have passed and my sister still won't knowingly eat mushrooms.

The World of Sid & Marty Lovekrofft

Thanks to the sick feeling of doom I'm experiencing from reading all the Land of the Lost movie news, S&M has been in my mind more than usual of late. I've been thinking about the Sid & Marty Krofft characters all day. I hated that one show about the sea monsters because it was stupid and featured the annoying Johnny Winters. My sister liked it, but looking at it in adult terms it becomes terrifying. I don't know what seaside town Johnny and his pals lived in but I bet it was either Santa Carla or Innsmouth.