Gregory L. Reece is an independent Alabama-based writer and scholar with special interests in new religious movements and cult beliefs. His previous books include Elvis Religion: The Cult of the King (2006), UFO Religion: Inside Flying Saucer Cults and Cultures (2007) and Weird Science and Bizarre Beliefs (2008), all published by I.B.Tauris. Creatures of the Night.indd 1 27/12/2011 12:52:50 Creatures of the Night.indd 2 27/12/2011 12:52:50 Creatures of the Night In Search of Ghosts, Vampires, Werewolves and Demons Gregory L. Reece Creatures of the Night.indd 3 27/12/2011 12:52:50 Published in 2012 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2012 Gregory L. Reece The right of Gregory L. Reece to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. ISBN: 978 1 84885 385 0 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Typeset in Caslon by JCS Publishing Services Ltd, www.jcs-publishing.co.uk Printed and bound in Sweden by ScandBook AB Creatures of the Night.indd 4 27/12/2011 12:52:51 Contents List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction: Oz the Great and Terrible 1 1 The Holy Ghost and Fire 23 2 It Was a Dark and Stormy Night 55 3 Oh Grandmother, What Big Teeth You Have! 97 4 This Little Piggy 127 5 Speak of the Devil 155 Conclusion: Out of the Whirlwind 189 Bibliography 199 Index 203 Creatures of the Night.indd 5 27/12/2011 12:52:51 Creatures of the Night.indd 6 27/12/2011 12:52:51 This book is for my parents Henry Floyd Reece (1928–1989) and Mary Corinne Fain Reece (1931–2011) Creatures of the Night.indd 7 27/12/2011 12:52:51 Creatures of the Night.indd 8 27/12/2011 12:52:51 Illustrations 1 Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz (1939) 2 2 Dorothy and the flying monkeys in Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 4 3 The cover of Ten Tales Calculated to Give You Shudders (1972) 7 4 Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times (1936) 8 5 A scene from Abel Gance’s J’Accuse! (1919) 10 6 Lon Chaney as The Phantom of the Opera (1925) 11 7 Condie’s door at the University of Montevallo, Alabama 24 8 ‘Fairy Offering Posy of Harebells to Elsie’ (1917) 33 9 Medium Mary Ann Marshall materializes the likeness of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1932) 35 10 The ‘Brown Lady’ of Raynham Hall, Norfolk, England (1936) 38 11 Poster for The House on Haunted Hill (1959) 46 12 Poster for The Legend of Hell House (1973) 47 13 Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980) 48 14 Natasha Richardson and Gabriel Byrne in Ken Russell’s Gothic (1986) 61 15 Vlad Tepes, Dracula, as depicted in a sixteenth-century painting 74 16 Max Schreck as Count Orlok in Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror (1922) 76 17 Christopher Lee and Melissa Stribling in a publicity shot for Dracula (1958) 77 Creatures of the Night.indd 9 27/12/2011 12:52:51