The 1974 Nightmare Yearbook

Today's Monster Memories are of:
The 1974 Nightmare Yearbook
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Inside cover of the mag.

In the summer of 1974, I was 15 years old. During one of my weekend stays at my Grandma's, I picked up this copy of Nightmare at the drugstore, and one story in it really did give me nightmares. Called "Hag of the Blood Basket," it was an epic tale of fierce determination and refusal to accept fate in the face of hopeless circumstances. The artwork is excellent, and the story compelling (the letterer could have paid more attention to the spelling, though). The heroine, an ugly old hag, goes through hell and back to gain her freedom.

Defiantly, she shakes her fist in Satan's face and demands her rights. A stand-out role model for human rights and a feminist's inspiration, her poverty and ugliness didn't hinder her fight for justice. Hag, we salute you!

Now, that's what you call a raw deal. I read once about a chicken that survived having it's head cut off. The farmer fed it food and water with an eye dropper down it's neck. The farmer and the chicken made the rounds, showing the chicken and making money. But one day he let it get choked on it's mucus and it died, along with his business. True story. Oh, and the dog ate his head too, like in the story. UPDATE NOTE: Headless Mike fans; check out a special post devoted to this amazing avian!

Mike the Headless Chicken lost his head but not his cool. Doing the "Chicken Dance" wowed the crowds.

Here's a short story to conclude with from the same issue, that makes the same point as the first one; once in, there ain't no gettin' out... alive, anyway.

You just can't find good help nowadays.

In a neat coincidence, Karswell also posted today a story about a hag, similar in appearance, who also gets a dirty deal. Great minds and all that? Nah, that would be presumptuous of me, and insulting to him. Chalk it up to synchronicity. Check it on at The Horrors Of It All!