Enough people have asked, so we'll see what the interest is like: Who wants a Spates Catalog to go with our Tobin's Spirit Guide?
Here are my ideas:
- Brown leather book with embossing and gold foiling to match the style of Tobin's (as though they are part of a set), though making the book taller and thinner (fewer pages) to add variety and to keep it more in line with the periodic source of this book.
- Spates published articles between 1901 and 1935, but I thought we could expand this a bit, as though the book was revised through several editions into the 60s or 70s so we have more room to play with.
- The style would be more in line with sensational articles (a la the Enquirer) as opposed to the more academic encyclopedic style of Tobin's.
- Topics would be focused more on localized events and apparitions instead of established traditions and histories (again avoiding cross-overs with Tobin's, though I do imagine we could have a few).
- As this is would be shorter in length (and hopefully a quicker project than Tobin's), we're hoping to keep the price quite a bit lower as well. Maybe we could even offer a discount if you've already purchased an edition of Tobin's. I'm kind of hoping to keep it more in the range of $150.
We'll keep track of articles here as we did with Tobin's and people can suggest topics as we develop our Table of Contents.
Kind regards,
Indy
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What follows is a list of proposed articles followed by the [contributor]. If no writer is listed, it's up for grabs. For my own sake, I'm adding a ✔ next to the article which has been completely finished, typeset and included into the main text.
Alicorn [Indy Magnoli] ✔
The Amherst Haunting [bates82] ✔
Amorphous Entities [TheotherJones] ✔
Angel of Moins [ahuntley]
Bachelors Grove Cemetery [jubjub86]
Beast of Gévaudan [Indy Magnoli] ✔
The Bell Witch [13doctorwho] ✔
Bermuda Triangle [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Black Cats [ahuntley] ✔
Blair Witch [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Bughuul [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Chair of Death (Birstall Chair) [bates82] ✔
Christiansen, Terje: "Disappearance of Terje Christiansen"
Cocke County Memorial Building [ahuntley] ✔
Cottingley Fairies [bates82] ✔
Crop Circles et al [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Alistair Crowley [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Crypt Keeper [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Cursed Chest of Drawers [bates82] ✔
Dark Creature of the Night (Batman) [bondoking] ✔
Death (Grim Reaper et al) [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Death Chill Mystery [ahuntley] ✔
Delta Queen [ahuntley] ✔
Devils Footprints [bates82] ✔
Dial of Destiny (Antikythera Device, aka Archimedes Dial) [ahuntley] ✔
The Deep, Dark Woods (Ghostwood Forest) [TheotherJones] ✔
Dybbuk Box [bates82] ✔
Eilean Mor Lighthouse [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Fogarty Castle [Magnoli Props]
Gemstones of Doom [ahuntley] ✔
Gettysburg Hauntings [ahuntley]
Gill-Man [bondoking] ✔
The Goatman [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Green Children of Woolpit [bondoking] ✔
Grimoires [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Haunted Castles [ahuntley]
Haunted Tunnels [jasonw2112] ✔
Hellfire Caves (& Suki) [bates82] ✔
Holy Grail [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Home, Daniel Dunglas [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Hook Man [bates82] ✔
Hueste de Ánimas [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Hydesville Hauntings [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Idulnas [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Immortals [Indy Magnoli] ✔
The Island of Doctor Moreau [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Jumanji [Indy Magnoli] ✔
King in Yellow [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Knocking on Wood (Superstition) [ahuntley] ✔
Koku, Dr: "The Mysterious Dr. Koku" [edspengler] ✔
Lady Ligeia [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Leap Castle [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Lizard People [MacabreFantasy] ✔
Loch Ness (Mokele-mbembe, Ogopogo) [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Mackinac Island [ahuntley] ✔
Magic Rocks (Sankara Stones) [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Majestic Theatre [jasonw2112] ✔
Mediums [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Men in Black [bondoking] ✔
Miracle of the Sun [Indy Magnoli] ✔
El Morcho [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Mor'du [ahuntley] ✔
Mothman [ahuntley] ✔
Münchshofe [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Mysterious Islands [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Mystery of Rudolph Fentz [bondoking] ✔
Nain Rouge [ahuntley] ✔
Number of the Beast [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Ouija Board [bates82] ✔
Overlook Hotel [mikesprops]
Padre Pio [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Ed Parson [toymaker]
Peabody Farm Sighting [bondoking] ✔
Pensacola Light [ahuntley] ✔
Pictish Druids [bates82] ✔
Puca [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Punxsutawney Phil [ahuntley] ✔
Queen Mary [ahuntley] ✔
Rapping Spirits [Magnoli Props]
Rasputin [ahuntley] ✔
The Reanimator: Herbery West [MacabreFantasy] ✔
The Red Ghost [ahuntley] ✔
Robert the Doll [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Roman Curse Tablets [ahuntley] ✔
Roswell Incident [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Snake Handlers (in the American South)
Solomon Grundy [13doctorwho] ✔
Spring-heeled Jack [bates82] ✔
Squonk [ahuntley] ✔
Three Days of Darkness [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Time Slips [ahuntley] ✔
Titanic Mummy [ahuntley]
Tower of London [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Tsavo Lions [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Tunguska Event [edspengler] ✔
Valkenvania [TheotherJones] ✔
Vanishing of Ambrose Bierce [bates82] ✔
Voodoo Dolls [bates82] ✔
Williamson, Orion: "The Vanishing of Orion Williamson"
Witch Bullets [toymaker] ✔
Witches [TheotherJones] ✔
Zugun, Eleanor [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Zuni Fetish Doll [13doctorwho] ✔
(Current page count: 186 pages out of a projected total of 250 pages)
Guidelines for submitting an article:
Articles should be written with a slightly sensational tone, less academic and more over-the-top. If you have troubel with the tone you can use ChatGPT to rewrite your article in the "voice" of H.P. Lovecraft, as an example. The final publication date is 1969, so all articles must pre-date this.
Topics can range from anything supernatural such as ghosts, demons, hauntings, curses, etc to more corporeal entities such as monsters, animals and such. We'll have sections on "Strange and Amazing People", "Unexplained Events", "Magic Artifacts and Relics" as well as "Other Topics" if you have some ideas for something on the fringe. You may provide artwork, illustrations, photographs, etc if you have them but, if not, we can often find something to suit. Below is a rough idea of word count depending on how many pages and illustrations you'll have included with the article:
One page article with single image: 600 words
One page article with no images: 850 words
Two page article with three images: 900-1000 words
Two page article with one large image: 1300 words
Please contact me via PM or e-mail and we can discuss your topic. We cannot guarantee to use everyone's articles and there is a good chance that it'll have to be modified in some way to fit into the sizing of the page. Also, please remember to provide your real name (or at least the name you'd like credited) for inclusion in the in-universe bibliography/acknowledgements.
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