The Mark of Cthulhu

Al Landron of Landron Artifacts brings us this well done Cthulhu pendant.  It has a nicely stylized, almost Meso-American look. 

Miskatonic Alumni Unite!

I'm getting the itch again.

It's been a few years since the original Miskatonic University Prop Project.  I still get emails asking if I have any patches or pins available on a regular basis.  I inevitably reply that another run is coming up "soon".  I think that time has finally arrived.

The motivation for getting things in gear is that I really, really want a nice Miskatonic keychain.  The kind of thing an actual Ivy League alumnus would be carrying around.  Ideally, that means cast metal, or fired enamel (so the keychain doesn't get ruined by scratches) around 1.5 inches in size.  Not too big, but large enough to be impressive. 

As part of the package I'd also like to do a "Mythos Merit Badge".   Long time readers know I'm generally not a fan of the cheesy "Spellcasting 101" approach to the Mythos.  That said, I think it's a fun idea to commemorate the achievements of Lovecraft's protagonists.  In honor of Miskatonic University the first one will be the "Bookworm" badge, honoring those who've delved into eldritch tomes in search of forbidden knowledge.  If it goes over well I'll follow up with "Reanimator" and "I go Mi-Go!" badges

At this point I'm looking to have the complete Miskatonic Alumni package available in May, just in time for graduation season.  I'm aiming for a run of about 100 sets and a price point of $20 to $25.   If you have an idea for something cool to include I'm open to suggestions.

The Necronomicon, Gontier Edition.

The talented Laurent Gontier returns to our pages with this excellent take on the Necronomicon.  In most cases the cover is the highlight of a prop tome, but he's knocked it out of the park by concentrating on the interior pages. 

The Necronomicon, AlexLibris Edition.

It's a bit too pristine for my tastes, but this Necronomicon from AlexLibris is a beautiful piece.  Hand bound in wood, leather, and brass with woven leather closures.

Happy Easter

When I was seven years old I had the most nightmarish Easter of my life.

We lived in the country, about a mile outside town in an already rural area. Traditionally, we would spend the morning hunting down eggs hidden by the "Easter Bunny" the night before. Unfortunately, when my Mom let our dog Peanut out for his morning constitutional he'd decided to go walkabout. That meant we had to wrangle him up before he had a fatal encounter with the highway traffic about a hundred yards from our house.

This turned out to be both good and bad news to my sisters and I for our Easter egg hunt. Bad because our immediate gratification was delayed by hunting down the dog. Good thanks to us being able to sneakily spot all the eggs that had already been hidden in the front yard. Thankfully, after about ten minutes Peanut finally came bounding back from the woods and we could get him on his leash.

We tore through the front yard in about five minutes. I'm sure my parents were secretly amused at our slyness in "discovering" the eggs we'd already marked for recovery during the dog hunt, but much fun was had by all.

Then we walked around the house to tackle the back yard.

Imagine four youngsters, aged 7, 5, 4, and 3, having the time of their young lives searching for eggs hidden by the Easter Bunny. As they come around the corner they see a few less than well hidden eggs and a bunch of...fuzzy stuff...scattered across the yard. Like grey-ish white cotton batting.

Now imagine their faces as they realized what that fuzzy stuff, and the other, rather more bloody pieces scattered across the yard, actually was.

A bunny. The bunny that had been the cause of our dog's early morning disappearance.

The. Easter. Bunny.

That was the last time we had an Easter egg hunt.

Making Barbed Wire

Mike Jenkins sent over a link to an excellent tutorial from Meaghan Jordan on creating faux barbed wire.  It's just the thing for your post-apocalyptic weapon making needs. 

Behold the New Flesh

Morbid Curiosities brings us this disturbingly fleshy VHS tape.  Someone really needs to do a retro-release of "Videodrome" with this kind of treatment.