From: palmer.william@sbcglobal.net (Bill Palmer)
Date: Fri, Sep 19, 2003
Right now I am feeling a bit shaky, but I want
to set this story down for you, and fast, while
I still remember all the details.
Pure and simple, it is one of the scariest things
I've ever experienced. I WISH this was a horror
fantasy, but it isn't. In fact, I am going to offer
documentation (at the bottom of the post) so you
can check things out for yourself.
Earlier today I paid a visit to The Old Man's
comic horde, located beneath a deserted grocery
store in one of L. A.'s oldest neighborhoods.
I have written about this old guy in other
posts in alt.slack and in the comics groups.
Making a long story short, he owns the store
and the property it sits on, as well as the
house across the street, where he lives. He
keeps a very large, very valuable comic
collection in a basement under the store.
What does all this have to do with Charles
Manson, you ask?
Well, keep reading and you will soon see, and
if what I tell you leaves you shaken to the
core of your safe and sane existence, so be it.
Anyway, The Old Man was waiting in front of
the store to let me in as usual. (The only
way you can visit him is by pre-arranged
appointment. He had not let me visit for
a few months, but when I phoned him last
weekend, he relented.)
The horde itself probably comprises one of
the world's greatest collections of comics
published from the late 1940's to the
mid-1950's. As some of you know, this era
comes directly after the famous Golden Age
and before the Silver Age of superhero comics.
This was a little known period that, except
for the EC comics, collectors generally
ignore.
That gets into one of the Old Man's hang-ups.
He much resents the fact that for decades
collectors had little respect for his
collection, because most of them wanted
to see Golden Age or at least Silver Age
collections.
Well, today I found myself in the mood to
research crime comics. After all, crime
comics are very hard to find, and are
rarely reprinted, except for the EC's.
Alone in the basement (The Old Man
never goes downstairs with his visitors)
I started thumbing through a stack of
crime comics. The basement, deserted
except for me and the stacks of thousands
of comics seemed weirder than ever. Every
once in a whole, I could hear the boards
above me creak. When you are down there,
you know that The Old Man is watching, though
I have never figured out where he is spying
from.
Taking a closer glance at a comic which
caught my eye, my vision grew blurry, my
knees began to buckle, and I nearly passed
out on the concrete floor.
Featured on the cover of the comic I gaped
at was an unmistakeable depiction of Charles
Manson.
Dressed in a standard hippy costume of
ragged cut-offs and tank top tee shirt,
Charlie crouches in a menacing fashion,
wielding a wicked-looking pocket knife
in his left hand.
Manson's terrified female victim, a
well-endowed young woman dressed in
a house coat which she clutches at
protectively with one hand just below
her bosom, flattens herself against a
wall in sheer terror of the moment.
Her body laguage suggests that she is
edging away from this smirking, murderous
maniac.
I said Manson has a knife in his left
hand, but it is what was in his right
hand that is the most terrible sight
of all.
Tongues. A hideous collection of bloody
human tongues, that's what he proudly
exhibits to his prey.
Gloatingly, Manson warns his victim:
"I know you are a mute, Miss Kimberly.
But even if you COULD yell, the people
downstairs couldn't call the police...
you see, I already cut all their TONGUES
out!"
What is also amazing that the room is the
spitting image of a late-1960's "hippie pad,"
with the burning candle dripping wax over
the wine flask that holds it, etc.
Okay, so you are wondering why Bill Palmer
is so terrified about a comic book featuring
Charlie Manson doing something very Manson-
esque in a hippie pad.
After all, someone as notorious as Manson has
likely been featured on the covers of dozens
of comic books.
No, it was not simply the depiction on the
cover that terrified me. It was much more
than that.
It was the date on the comic book.
1953.
It was that, and the distinct impression that I
could hear The Old Man whispering through some
crack in the boards above me: "That's
Charlie all right, boy."
Feeling like someone trapped in a hideous
time warp, I walked upstairs and staggered
past the leering Old Man. Neither of us
spoke. I walked out the door and headed
home.
Afterwoods, on the way home, I started to
look at all the angles of the thing. One
possibility that occurred to me was this.
Charlie Manson was known to have had a very
troubled childhood and had been in and out
of reform schools and foster homes. Perhaps
at some point of unusual torment, Charlie
stared at that comic cover, and, gripped by
hatred because of the abnormality of his
childhood, determined then and there, "I am
going to be just like that guy with the knife
when I grow up. I'll show all of 'em."
Maybe Dr. Wertham was right after all.
That is only one possible scenario, of course.
There are far more possibilities regarding
that Manson depicition, no doubt.
And you know what? Sitting here reflecting
on this, I'm no longer scared.
I'm terrified.
-----------------------------
If anyone wants to verify the details of my
account, I--a comic book fan/researcher--
distinctly remember the description
of the comic book. It was Charleton/Capital
Stories publication: LAW BREAKERS SUSPENSE
STORIES #11, 1953. I never actually opened
the comic book, so I know nothing about the
story. I don't need to, it is plain enough
that the cover artist--I believe it was Lou
Morales, it looked like Lou's art--was having,
in 1953, whether he was at all aware of it, a
terrifying vision of Charles Manson when he
did that horrifying cover.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Blackout" <blackout@mrsnoidsubgenius.com>
"Bill Palmer" wrote
> I'm terrified.
better turn off your computer and go hide under the bed immediately
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: nenslo <nenslo@yahooX.com>
I knew a guy once who thought it was REALLY SIGNIFICANT
when he heard
of someone who had a name that was the same as or similar
to the name
of some other person he knew or had heard of. He was
kind of a drunk
and dumbass but that's nothing to being scared of a
comic book because
it looks like someone you heard about. I'm glad Palmer
has not lost
his ability to out-stupid himself.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: palmer.william@sbcglobal.net (Bill Palmer)
It's not the least bit funny, Blackout.
In fact, I'm afraid to go to bed, because
of the nightmares that are likely going
to occur...I've never been so shaken.
Getting jumped coming out of that restaurant
in Del Mar was a cakewalk compared to this.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: nenslo <nenslo@yahooX.com>
Getting beaten up is worse than seeing a scary comic
book.
I am actually beginning to pity this fool.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "ghost" <ghost@ghost.net>
"Bill Palmer" <palmer.william@sbcglobal.net>
wrote :
> It's not the least bit funny, Blackout.
> In fact, I'm afraid to go to bed, because
> of the nightmares that are likely going
> to occur...I've never been so shaken.
> Getting jumped coming out of that restaurant
> in Del Mar was a cakewalk compared to this.
You need them Pils®.
Give him some them Pils®.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "ROTC Jeep List" <my-nick-is-my-email-address@that-microsoft-email-that-starts-with-an-h.comma>
Good read, but kind of a letdown ending.
Part of Manson's pop culture appeal is that he's so
stereotypically crazy
looking. It's not hard to imagine that someone drawing
an imaginary crazy
person in the 50s would draw a person like Manson.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Re: CHARLES MANSON PREDICTED IN 1953 COMIC
BOOK!
From: "ghost" <ghost@ghost.net>
Newsgroups: alt.slack,alt.writing,alt.prose
Date: Sat, Sep 20, 2003 10:47 AM
Message-ID: <fMZab.150561$3o3.10783695@bgtnsc05-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>
"Bill Palmer" <palmer.william@sbcglobal.net>
wrote in message
news:13ea6e3a.0309191457.3cb57d5b@posting.google.com...
> Right now I am feeling a bit shaky, but I want
> to set this story down for you, and fast, while
> I still remember all the details.
It's just as likely that Charlie SAW that comic and modelled himself on it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: palmer.william@sbcglobal.net (Bill Palmer)
"ghost" <ghost@ghost.net> wrote:
> "Bill Palmer" <palmer.william@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:
> > Right now I am feeling a bit shaky, but I
want
> > to set this story down for you, and fast,
while
> > I still remember all the details.
>
> It's just as likely that Charlie SAW that comic
and modelled himself on it.
That IS a terrifying possiblity, which is why
I devoted a paragraph to that theory.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "The Old Man" <basement_comix@yahoo.com>
"Bill Palmer" <palmer.william@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:
> Pure and simple, it is one of the scariest things
> I've ever experienced. I WISH this was a horror
> fantasy, but it isn't. In fact, I am going to
offer
> documentation (at the bottom of the post) so you
> can check things out for yourself.
Worst. Story. Ever.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: valeyard1@aol.com (Andrew R.)
I'm more interested in visiting this Old Man's place for research purposes.
Andrew
END OF LINE
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