The Misfortunes of Franky: A Weird But True Tale

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accident, all souls day, alone, baby, child, crib, dark, dead, demon, devil, evil, frightening, ghost, ghost child, ghost story, ghosts, goose bumps, goosebumps, haunted, haunting, honduras, Hondurian Ghost Story, horror, kill, killed, knock, knock on door, lucifer, night, paranormal, priest, satan, scary, scary story, soul, spirit, spirits, spooky, stranger, supernatural, terror, true story

November 1, 1974

That was the date in which this story was told to Manny and April 26, 2010 was the date it was told to me. Franky’s mother, Maria, told this story to Manny one night when he went to visit his friend. Manny, having gone back to Honduras on vacation, wanted to pay his old friend a visit. Unfortunately, Franky was not home and Manny kept his friend’s mother company until he came home. They chatted over some coffee when the conversation somehow took a turn into the supernatural:

Maria was telling me the story of how she had cursed her baby before he was born. She discovered that her husband was cheating on her and kicked him out of the house. Being angry with her husband, she displayed her anger onto the unborn child and wished that the Devil, himself, would take the baby. Of course, she said this out of anger, but deep down inside, she wanted to get rid of the child as she wanted nothing to remind her of her soon to be ex-husband. They proved to be words she would soon regret.

A few months later, Franky was born and on the night of his birth, as he slept in his crib, there was a loud knocking on the front door that reverberated throughout the house. The sound startled Maria. There was an urgency to the knocks that frightened her as well as the fact that it was late into the night.

Hesitantly, Maria approached and opened the front door, thinking that it was someone she knew that was in trouble. When she opened the door, there stood a talk, dark and handsome man dressed with clothing that appeared to be from an earlier time period. He simply looked at her and said, ” I came for what I was promised.”

Maria knew what he meant by that and that she was standing face to face with Satan himself. Quickly, she closed the door and ran to her baby, holding him tight against her chest. “No!” She yelled, “You can’t have my baby!”

The man somehow made his way into the house and, again, stood before her in the bedroom. Maria clutched onto to her baby and prayed. The stranger retrieved a long dagger from his waistband and went to strike Maria with it. In a defensive move to protect her child, she put her hand out to meet the sword where it nicked her finger. The stranger smiled, put his dagger away and exited the house.

Maria looked at her finger which was bleeding and began to swell. She placed Franky back into the crib and went to tend to her wound. After a couple of hours, her arm had swelled massively and she had trouble holding up its weight.

Soon after, she went to visit a priest and recounted the story to him. The priest told her that the Beast would try to take her son’s life in order to obtain what he feels is rightfully his, Frank’s soul, on three separate occasions. Those occasions were at the age of three, seven and twenty-one.

At the age of three, Frank was involved in a bad car accident, just barely surviving. Again, at the age of seven he was involved in another accident. He survived that one as well.

It was at this point that Manny began to get a little nervous, if not, frightened. They have been talking for so long that he failed to look at the clock. He looked at the clock and it read 1:00 AM. His heart pounded against his chest and cold sweat seeped through the pores of his flesh. It was now November 2, 1974, All Souls Day in Honduras, as well as Franky’s 21st birthday.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

There was an urgency to the knocks that came from the front door. Manny looked at Maria who wore a look of expectancy on her face. She waited for this, she knew it would be coming. Calmly she rose from the table to her feet.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Impatience was growing from just outside the door. Manny stood, not knowing what to expect. Maria reached the door and opened it as she did so many years ago letting the Devil into her home, only this time it wasn’t the Devil that stood at her doorstep. Two uniformed police officers stood in front of her. Franky was in a very bad car accident. Franky survived, but his best friend, Julian, was not so fortunate. Maria believes that in the devil’s failed, and final, attempt at taking Franky’s soul was content enough with taking Julian’s instead.

Because the devil failed to take hold of Franky’s soul, some still believe that he is still around and brings misfortune to Franky. As a result of two fail marriages, he is currently on his third. In the first marriage, his wife passed on while giving birth to their baby daughter. Two years later, the little girl died of unknown causes. The second marriage was not any better. Again, he and his wife conceived a little baby girl, but after a few months, again, the child died of unknown reasons. His wife, distraught and depressed, left Franky and 6 months later was killed. Only time will tell what, if anything, would happen to this third wife.

Of course, this story left me with questions. How did the priest know when the devil would try and claim the soul of Franky? What was the significance with those numbers? Why was Franky spared a total of four times?

Is the story true? Manny believes it is. Just retelling me this story caused the hairs on the back of his neck to rise and goosebumps formed throughout his arms. This much is true because I was there to see them. True or not, I thought the story was fascinating and intriguing and definitely made for a good ghost story to tell around a campfire!

Fewdio: You Haven’t Seen Horror Until You’ve Seen Fewdio

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alarming, Bedfellows, bloodcurdling, children, chilling, clown, Creep, creepy, dark, david schneider, daywalt, dead, death, drew daywalt, eerie, Fewdio, fewdio.com, film, Film News, frightening, ghost, ghost child, ghosts, hair-raising, haunted, haunting, horrifying, horror, horror movie, horror movies, horror shorts, late night, micro terror, movie, movie reviews, Movies, night, nightmare, nightmare house, nightmare house vol. 1, paranormal, paul hungerford, Reviews, scary, Short, Shorts!, spine-tingling, spirit, spirits, spooky, Suicide Girl, terrifying, terror, youtube

I was up late one night all alone in my apartment. My wife was out for the night and I thought it’d be great to get myself in the mood and watch something scary as I thoroughly enjoy scaring the shit out of myself (fetish?). Problem was that I’ve seen everything in my collection more than a dozen times and wanted something new, something fresh. What better avenue to take than the internet where the possibilities can be endless.

I watched a couple of shorts that were fairly decent but nothing that gave me any tingling sensations that traveled up my spine. That is, until I stumbled upon a little short called Creep directed by David Schneider and  Drew Daywalt. To give a brief synopsis will not do this justice as this is, afterall, a very short horror film. So, instead, here is the tagline for the short that will explain all with just one line:

Does driving alone at night give you the creeps? It will now.

And indeed it did. This, of course, only lead  me to search for more. Through this short film, I discovered Fewdio, masters of the micro-terror, and have been hooked and impressed with their work, looking up to them and using their work as inspiration. To get a better understanding of the effect that Fewdio shorts will have on its viewers, here is a small list of adjectives that will help to describe what you will expect when watching:

Frightening, terrifying, scary, alarming, bloodcurdling, chilling, creepy, eerie, hair-raising, spine-tingling, horrifying, spooky, chilling…. the list can go on and on. Of course, these are are synonyms of one another, which is needed to be presented as such because no one word can describe the films. Well, maybe not necessarily so because one word can be used universally to describe the movies: Awesome!

From being afraid of driving home alone to giving the Easter bunny a whole new terrifying perspective, Fewdio covers a slew of topics that, as there logo suggests, they create nightmares. Despite the vivid and horrific imaginations of these filmmakers, make no mistake that they have a deep respect for the art and for those who aspire to make films as  theirs.

One such person who is involved with Fewdio is Paul Hungerford who takes on the roles of actor, producer, casting director and sound designer for many of the Fewdio shorts and is a stand-up guy with whom many of you will learn by reading an upcoming entry that features an interview with Paul himself and gives us more insight as to who he is an actor as well as Fewdio. So stay tuned for that coming very soon!

The question now begs to be answered, where can I see their work? Well, for starters you can click on the link here to visit their website where you can get more information on the group as well as their Nightmare House Vol. 1 DVD. Or, you can visit their Youtube page here to check out a good amount of their shorts.

Something tells me you won’t be disappointed!

Here is a Teaser promo for their Nightmare House Vol. 1 DVD:

Fright Night Remake

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Comedy, dark, film, Film News, fright, fright night, hollywood, horror, horror movie, movie, night, remake, remakes, scary, vampire, vampire hunter

Ok, another of Hollywood’s brain fart of ideas comes another victim, the remake of the 1985 film, Fright Night which starred Chris Sarandon, Roddy McDowall and William Ragsdale. For the updated version, Colin Farrell will play Jerry, the sly next door neighbor whom Charley Brewster suspects is a vampire. The remake is slated for a 2011 release.

Bloody Mary: A Legend that is Urban

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alone, bathroom, blood, bloody, bloody mary, bloody mary nursery rhyme, brave, candyman, chant, courage, dark, dead, death, frightening, ghost, ghosts, haunted, haunting, horror, kill, killed, legend, llorona, mary, mary worth, mirror, murder, night, nursery rhyme, paranormal, queen, queen mary, rhyme, scary, spirit, spirits, spooky, stories, story, supernatural, urban legend, urban legends

We’ve all heard of the legend growing up. Say her name three times, or five, in front of the mirror and she will appear. Kind of sounds like Candyman. What she does to you varies. I guess it depends on her mood at that particular time. Some say that she will kill you, others say that she may just scratch at you until your face is disfigured as hers was on her fateful wedding night. But, that is just one version of the story.  It is unclear as to who exactly is Bloody Mary, sometimes referred to as Mary Worth. It is said that Bloody Mary’s, or Mary Worth’s, child was stolen from her which resulted in her committing suicide. In this case, Mary is then the typical, sad and angry spirit who will cast her revenge on just about anyone when called upon.

As much as there are different variations of the stories, there is as much variations on how to summon her. The “ritual” of summoning Mary is often viewed of as a game, usually in sleepovers or slumber parties. The main “ingredients” usually consist of the same: a dark bathroom and a mirror. Any dark room would work, but a bathroom is usually a popular spot. You would go in front of a dark mirror, chant her name three times, five times and maybe one hundred times!

“Bloody Mary.”

“Bloody Mary.”

“Bloody Mary.”

I really hope you didn’t read that out aloud. You can stare into the dark mirror while chanting her name, you can spin after each count, or you can knock on the mirror after each count. In the case of the Mary Worth’s baby has gone missing angle, you would instead say, “Mary Worth, I killed your baby!” If that wouldn’t arise anger into a long-dead spirit, I don’t know what would. Other versions tell that if one chants her name thirteen times at midnight into a mirror she will appear and the summoner can talk to a deceased person until 12:01, when Bloody Mary and the dead person asked to speak to will vanish. Still, other variations say that the “summoner” must not look directly at Bloody Mary (hard to do when she’s standing right behind you), but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the summoner’s future, particularly concerning marriage and children.

As mentioned before, she could do one of the following things: kill you, scratch your face until it is disfigured, gouge out your eyes, torment your life forever by haunting you, bring you back into the mirror with her, cut your head off, scratch your neck causing serious injury or death, etc, etc. Either way, the end result won’t be good for you.

Queen Mary I was also referred to as Bloody Mary. Could she be the real Bloody Mary? The taunting and calling of her name in front of a mirror could be a reference to the many miscarriages and false pregnancies that the queen endured during the course of her life. Could these unfortunate incidents been cause for the queen to have gone mad?

In related news, there is a Brazilian legend  known as “a loira do banheiro”… the blond in the toilet! The way to summon her is exactly like summoning Bloody Mary, except you flush the toilet three times while cursing. She would then manifest herself by rising up from the toilet and kill the invoker. Sanitary!

So does Mary actually exist or is her story told as a testament of bravery? Who will dare do Bloody Mary alone in a dark bathroom? Who will be brave enough to test the legend and her existence? This is the test! The test of bravery and courage. Do you want to know if she exists or will you take the word of others? There’s really only one way to find out. The answer could lie only a few feet away from where you are currently sitting or laying down, in the dark bathroom. So, if you have to use that bathroom in the middle of the night, be sure to glance at the mirror and give her a wink, or don’t. Either way, she may be watching you, waiting for you to call her.

Mary Mary Quite Contrary: origin

Nursery Rhyme Origins & History

The origins are steeped in history… Bloody Mary!
The Mary alluded to in this traditional English nursery rhyme is reputed to be Mary Tudor, or Bloody Mary, who was the daughter of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary was a staunch Catholic and the garden referred to is an allusion to graveyards which were increasing in size with those who dared to continue to adhere to the Protestant faith – Protestant martyrs.

Instruments of Torture!
The silver bells and cockle shells referred to in the Nursery Rhyme were colloquialisms for instruments of torture. The ‘silver bells’ were thumbscrews which crushed the thumb between two hard surfaces by the tightening of a screw. The ‘cockleshells’ were believed to be instruments of torture which were attached to the genitals!

The ” Maids” or Maiden was the original guillotine!
The ‘maids’ were a device to behead people called the Maiden. Beheading a victim was fraught with problems. It could take up to 11 blows to actually sever the head, the victim often resisted and had to be chased around the scaffold. Margaret Pole (1473 – 1541), Countess of Salisbury did not go willingly to her death and had to be chased and hacked at by the Executioner. These problems led to the invention of a mechanical instrument (now known as the guillotine) called the Maiden – shortened to Maids in the Mary Mary Nursery Rhyme. The Maiden had long been in use in England before Lord Morton, regent of Scotland during the minority of James VI, had a copy constructed from the Maiden which had been used in Halifax in Yorkshire. Ironically, Lord Morton fell from favour and was the first to experience the Maiden in Scotland!

Executions!
Another form of execution during Mary’s reign was being burnt at the stake – a terrible punishment much used during the Spanish Inquisition. The English hated the Spanish and dreaded the idea of an English Inquisition. The executions during the reign of Bloody Mary were therefore viewed with a greater fear of the Spanish than the executions themselves – it is interesting to note that executions during her reign totalled less than 300 an insignificant amount compared to the executions ordered by her father King Henry VIII  which are believed to have numbered tens of thousands!

Source for Bloody Mary Rhyme: Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Thanks to Neil Slorance for pointing me to this link!