The Devil’s Muse
a horror fan blog by Sean Zio
-
In a Dark Wood

How They Met Themselves, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, British, 1828-1882 “Rossetti’s drawing How They Met Themselves was a doppelganger image of a young couple meeting their ghostly doubles in a dense wood. Its first version was completed during his honeymoon in 1860 and it was reworked as a coloured version in 1864. Writing of what Dante Rossetti called his ‘bogie picture’, William said: ‘To meet one’s wraith is ominous of death, and to figure Lizzie as meeting her wraith might well have struck her bridegroom as uncanny in a high degree. In less than two years the weird was woefully fulfilled’ (Dante Gabriel Rossetti: his family letters I: 207).”
From The Victorian Web: The Séance Diary of William Michael Rossetti
-
Mask
The reason he continues to have the impact that Michael Myers has is the simplicity of the evil. The enigmatic, faceless, expressionless look of Michael, it projects into that mask every terrifying image we have.
You see, I think we can put all of our fears and concerns and knowledge that evil exists in the world, ’cause evil exists in the world. Put it behind that mask and it can be anywhere anytime, anybody. I think it’s the simplicity of that. That is terrifying.
– Jamie Lee Curtis, 2021
Rotten Tomatoes: An Oral History of Halloween With Jamie Lee Curtis and John Carpenter

-
Happy Horrordays!
The call is coming from inside the house!

-
Spooky History
I cannot recommend the YouTube channel The Museum Guide (@TheMuseumGuide) enough.
The channel provides fascinating guided virtual tours of spooky locations in the UK. The tour guide is clever, thoughtful and very well spoken. Her pacing and the objects she shows are excellent. Even her videos about Tudor history, which are filled with intrigue and murder, are a joy to watch.

