Interest Spates Catalog by Magnoli Props

Just throwing out a couple of suggestions, not sure if either fit the brief but it'd be great to see articles on:

Spring-heeled Jack
Solomon Grundy

Got bored and did some work on SpringHeeled Jack, originally did some bits for the Tobins Spirit Guide that Michael started over a decade ago. I'll see if I still have it and see if Indy wants to use anything :)
 
Just thought, Loch Ness monster anyone, that would be a good article. Not sure how Indy feels about including but for an idea, Villisca Axe house, I'll let him make that judgement.

Bermuda Triangle
 
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Apologies Indy for spamming your thread

How about Spontaneous Combustion amd maybe Ouija boards too?
 
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Just thought, Loch Ness monster anyone, that would be a good article. Not sure how Indy feels about including but for an idea, Villisca Axe house, I'll let him make that judgement.

Bermuda Triangle

Loch Ness, I know is in Tobin's (under the heading Lake Monsters)
 
Some great ideas here guys! I've updated the list with a few of them. For those of you using ChatGPT to help you write it, remember that although we want it to sound more fantastical than Tobin's more academic approach, it should still read like a periodical article and not a novel. This is one of the prompt templates I've been using as a spring board for ideas:

Write an article for a 1930s style tabloid periodical (magazine) in the style of H.P. Lovecraft about *** as though it is an historic event, focusing on the supernatural elements. Keep it within *** words total.

I think the main thing is stressing the article for a periodical part of the prompt as a few articles submitted so far seem to be more of an H.P. Lovecraft short story and less of a report of the subject.

From there you can tweak depending on the results. Most of the time it's overly wordy, so could be better to give it a bigger word count and then trim it down manually. In the end, real research and writing works much better... I think I only used a few AI-generated articles in Tobin's and only one article comes to mind that didn't require heavy editing.
 
mock-up-cover-jpg.1897502


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.
So, who's interested and who would like to contribute?

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
The Amherst Haunting
Bachelors Grove Cemetery
The Bell Witch [13doctorwho]
Bermuda Triangle
Black Cats [ahuntley] ✔
Blair Witch [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Christiansen, Terje: "Disappearance of Terje Christiansen"
Cocke County Memorial Building✔
Cursed Chest of Drawers
Delta Queen [ahuntley] ✔
Dial of Destiny (Antikythera Device, aka Archimedes Dial) [ahuntley]
The Deep, Dark Woods (Ghostwood Forest) [TheotherJones]
Holy Grail [Indy Magnoli]
Gill-Man [bondoking] ✔
The Island of Doctor Moreau [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Jumanji [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Knocking on Wood (Superstition) [ahuntley] ✔
Koku, Dr: "The Mysterious Dr. Koku" [edspengler]
Magic Rocks (Sankara Stones) [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Majestic Theatre [jasonw2112]
Mothman [ahuntley] ✔
Münchshofe [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Ouija Board
Overlook Hotel [mikesprops]
Queen Mary [ahuntley] ✔
The Reanimator: Herbery West
Robert the Doll [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Rosemary's Baby
Roswell Incident
Snake Handlers (in the American South)
Solomon Grundy
Spring-heeled Jack [bates82]
Squonk [ahuntley] ✔
Tunguska Event
Valkenvania
Voodoo Dolls
Williamson, Orion: "The Vanishing of Orion Williamson"
Zugun, Eleanor [Indy Magnoli] ✔
Zuni Fetish Doll

(Current page count: 44 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.
interested in a copy
 
I have finished the Bell Witch article. It's about 1100 words. I need to proofread, clean it up and create the artwork. I had a great time, so I'll take the Zuni Fetish doll. Although, that will be one of the short articles.
 
you could include some of the cults and monsters found in Buffy the vampire slayer. I didn't see any of that in Tobin.
 
Some Buffy monsters would be good (got any specific suggestions?) but the cults should be saved more for Roylance (a possible project for next year!).
The Gentlemen from Hush and the demon Sweet from Once more with feeling come to mind in Buffy.

The X-files would also be a good source for monsters in fact I think . If I recall correctly there were a few episodes where they dealt with monsters from newspapers and tabloids. It's been so long now I can't think of what the episodes were though.
 
Interesting project.

I’m terms of Buffy Monsters, it’s been a few years since I’ve watched Buffy but some interesting points that could be covered is the Gentleman/The Judge/ The Mayor (ascension), Acathla.

a few cults also could be covered for Roylance, The 3, The circle of the Thorn, Order of Aurelius.

There’s also potential a lot of Stephen King subjects that could be covered also. As a lot of his books cover reoccurring incidents. Especially the Overlook (not sure if that was covered in Tobins)
 
This might make an interesting article. If I’ve the time, I might try to tackle it, but if someone else wants to jump on it, be my guest (assuming Indy approves of its inclusion and I didn’t miss it in Tobin’s):

An occult doomsday cult in 1690s Philly

 
I sent the Bell Witch story. I am currently working on the art. Quick question, What format do you want the art in? I'm going to hand draw, then scan. I'll send it in whatever format is easiest for you.
 
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