Mark Seifert

Engraved illustration showing a masked groom and heavily veiled bride standing before a clergyman inside a church.

Front page of The Weekly Novelist, Volume VII, dated Saturday, November 8, 1879. The cover features is “Won by Fraud; or, The Marriage of Mystery.” by St. George Henry Rathborne. The page features the same engraved wedding illustration centered within columns of text. Decorative borders frame the newspaper page. The central engraved image features a masked groom and veiled bride standing before a clergyman.

The Weekly Novelist Nov 8, 1879, Vol 7 #19
Won by Fraud; The Marriage of Mystery by St. George Henry Rathborne.

Featuring a clandestine midnight marriage ceremony, two rivals for the affections of the lady, a wealthy father determined to prevent the marriage, and treachery.
#romance #romancelandia

Yeah, really is.

Brief news item titled "A Ghostly Voice." The May 31, 1890 issue of The Argosy reports an anecdote about Thomas Edison rigging one of his phonographs in a clock to prank a house guest into believing the house was haunted.

A Ghostly Voice: The May 31, 1890 issue of The Argosy reports an anecdote about Thomas Edison rigging one of his phonographs in a clock to prank a house guest into believing the house was haunted.

"Twelve o'clock; prepare to die!" #phantomsfriday

*typo there. "gore SPOTS in a house breed ghosts"

#PhantomsFriday A news item from 'The Evening World', New York, November 16, 1888, about a violent ghost haunting an unassuming tenement house at No. 581 Third Avenue.

Quite a headline! Found it on the NY State Historic Newspapers site
www.nyshistoricnewspapers.org?a=d&d=tew188...

The details are equal to the headline.

"Years ago, they say, a poor devil was done to death in the cellar and everybody knows that gore sport in a house breed ghosts." #phantomsfriday

A full-page illustration from Scientific American dated January 1, 1887, showing Moses S. Cole’s experimental aerial vessel. The craft resembles a large, oval balloon or rigid airship with a textured, net-like envelope. Four mechanical propellers extend from arms on either side, and a small gondola hangs beneath the center, equipped with windows and a dangling anchor. Below, a rural landscape is visible with farm buildings, trees, and groups of men and women gathered to watch the airship hovering low above the ground.

Moses S. Cole's "novel form of aerial vessel" on the cover of Scientific American from Jan 1, 1887.

Some believe this design was informative on newspaper illustrations during the UFO craze of 1896/97 in places like Aurora, TX, and Northern CA, among other locations.

For every famous pulp like Weird Tales, there's of course many lesser known titles like this. That doesn't even count the dime novel era titles like the attached, a 1000-issue series that almost no one knows about. I think I have about 10-12 series I collect from that era of around 1000+ issues.

Painted cover of Ghost Stories magazine, April 1929, showing a frightened man kneeling beside an open chest overflowing with gold coins in a dark, candlelit room. Looming above him is a large, translucent ghostly figure, reaching toward the man. The logo “Ghost Stories” is at the top, and at lower right a list of story titles includes “Coins of Doom,” “She Walks in Beauty,” and “Did the Ghost of Bismarck Warn the Kaiser?”

Ghost Stories magazine, April 1929
published by Macfadden

The cover story Coins of Doom involves the search for a dead man's hidden stash of gold coins. It soon emerges that the former owner's spirit has cursed the coins themselves. #phantomsfriday

Political cartoon from The Daily Graphic (New York, August 16, 1879) showing Jefferson Davis as a hunched, cloaked figure sneaking toward a doorway labeled “U.S. Senate.” Davis clutches a document titled “Articles of Secession,” and appears furtive and diminished. Behind him, ghostly skeletal figures carry tattered flags labeled “States’ Rights,” “Treason,” and “Lost Cause,” suggesting the legacy haunting his political ambitions.

The Daily Graphic, Aug 16, 1879

Jefferson Davis creeps up to the U.S. Senate's doorstep, a legion of specters in his wake. Cartoon by Charles Weldon.

A reaction to rising speculation that Davis would run for U.S. Senate from Mississippi, despite being legally barred from holding office

Political cartoon from Yankee Notions (Vol. IV, No. 3, March 1855), showing New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett Sr. as a large, shadowy central figure looming behind other newspaper men at a table. Bennett appears with outstretched arms, his dark silhouette dominating the scene like a menacing presence. A caption beneath the scene reads “Triumph of the ‘Satanic Press.’”

Yankee Notions Vol 4 #3, March 1855
“Triumph of the ‘Satanic Press.’”

New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett Sr as the Prince of Darkness.

Yankee Notions publisher and abolitionist Thomas Strong would likely have despised Bennett for his paper's pro-slavery stance during this era.

Overhead photograph of several small-format booklets. At the top are multiple pink issues of Blood and Thunder Story Paper, with visible mastheads, prices marked “5¢ Copy,” and publication dates from the early 1930s. Below them are two cream-colored issues of Midget Monthly Magazine, showing title blocks, story headings, advertising rates, and publication details from 1930–1931.

In the 1920s-30s, Ohio printer & dime novel fan Frank T. Fries produced small-format unauthorized reprints of material from the 1890s-1900s. He also published #fanfiction, such as the Frank Reade / Nick Carter crossover at lower right here - popular characters from 2 different publishers.

I enjoy listening to YouTube compilations of ghost encounters people have described on Reddit, and this seems to be a pretty common theme to this day.

Ronin (1998, DeNiro) is incredible if you haven't seen it.

Falling Down (1993, Michael Douglas) is precipitated by a traffic jam.

Rush Hour (1998) of course.

Engraved illustration from The Illustrated Police News No. 692, dated January 31, 1880. The scene shows a startled man recoiling from a translucent female apparition seated in a horse-drawn buggy at night. The caption below reads: “A Genuine Girl’s Ghost at New Carlisle, Ind.—What George Brown Says Got into the Buggy with Him and ‘Wouldn’t Stand Hugging.’”

Illustrated Police News #692, Jan 31, 1880

"A genuine girl's ghost at New Carlisle, Ind"
Several people saw the specter of a woman with a star on her chest on a country road in the evenings. Once, she approached a buggy and got in. The man ran away when his arm passed through her. #phantomsfriday

I have often wondered about that! Haha

Originally from Peru, apparently, and it is the source of quinine.

Front cover of Frank Leslie’s Chimney Corner, dated December 25, 1875. The cover illustration shows a supernatural confrontation inside a vast stone temple. At left, a tall, spectral figure in flowing robes stands amid swirling vapor, emitting a ghostly light. At right, a frightened man recoils backward against a column, clutching his coat as he stares in terror at the apparition.

"The ghastly light still radiated from the spectre's breast, and I saw it fix its melancholy eyes on mine with an expression of mingled rage and triumph"

"The Dual Life" is the story of an Englishman who seeks forbidden knowledge, and finds it.

Chimney Corner #552, Dec 25, 1875
#phantomsfriday

Does This Come In Chromium?: Fantastic Four #375 with Fantastic Four: First Steps screenwriters Ian Springer and Jeff Kaplan On this episode Matt and special guest co-hosts Ian Springer and Jeff Kaplan try to figure out why this is not your parents' comics magazine by discussing 1993's FANTASTIC FOUR #375...but really they ...

You know you want to listen to Ian Springer and Jeff Kaplan (screenwriters of FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS) talk about 1993’s FANTASTIC FOUR #375.

They co-wrote the movie and I made them talk about the comic. It’s fantastic!
sites.libsyn.com/601360/site/...

First Superman in Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0 Goes For Record $15 Million The census-topping Action Comics #1 CGC 9.0, once owned by Nicolas Cage, has just sold for an all-time record $15 Million, Metropolis/ComicConnect has announced.

One of the most infamous single comic books in the hobby due to its theft from Nicolas Cage's home in 2000, I've been covering this copy's saga since its recovery by LAPD in 2011. The seller here was not revealed, but we know it had been in Ayman Hariri's collection. bleedingcool.com/comics/first...

GCD agrees that it's Powell (originally: Tomb of Terror #14 www.comics.org/issue/11161/)

I tracked this down online and read through it a bit last night because I wasn't familiar with this title, and it struck me how well Paul Krassner and some others of that era would be able to utilize today's platforms.

Front page of The Boys of New York, Vol. VIII, #386, dated January 6, 1888, with the top banner “Out To-Day! The Holiday Number of The Boys of New York.” Beneath the ornate masthead, a large circular illustration depicts a tense frontier scene in a winter forest. Several human skeletons stand upright, tied to bare trees. At right, two frontier scouts in buckskin clothing come upon the scene in surprise. The scene is titled, “Kit Carson’s Little Scout, by Gaston Garne." Gaston Garne is one of the prolific Francis W. Doughty's pseudonyms.

Boys of New York #386, Jan 6, 1883.

A spooky cover that I like. Gaston Garne is one of Francis W. Doughty's pseudonyms.

In this chapter of this story, Kit Carson and his associate Burke Miller have found the skeletal remains of Burke's family, and vow to take revenge on their killers.

Cover page of Beadle’s Half‑Dime Library, Vol. I, No. 19, published in 1877 by Beadle and Adams. The ornate masthead fills the top of the page above columns of dense text introducing the story “The Phantom Spy; or, The Pilot of the Prairie,” attributed to Buffalo Bill. A large engraved illustration occupies the lower half, showing a dramatic nighttime prairie scene under a full moon. At right, a man stands holding the reins of a rearing horse, turning to look toward a ghostly, semi-transparent rider galloping away on a pale horse. A caption beneath the image reads, “Then heed my warning. Farewell!”

Beadle’s Half‑Dime Library, #19, circa Oct 1877
The Phantom Spy;
or, The Pilot of the Prairie

"Far out upon the prairie and plainly visible in the moonlight, was what appeared to be a specter horse and rider... she seemed to urge her steed on by a mere exertion of her will." #PhantomsFriday

Fantastic.

On the cover of Harper's Weekly of January 6, 1912: A new year's baby driving a 1912 roadster runs 1911 father time off the road.

Harper's Weekly, January 6, 1912

A new year's cover by Power O'Malley, who was born Michael Augustine Power and took the name O'Malley after his stepfather. O'Malley contributed covers to Life, Harper's, and Puck during this period.

Boys of New York #866, March 19, 1892.
published by Frank Tousey

Frank Reade Jr. and his New Electric Air-Ship, the Eclipse
by Luis Senarens

A cover I like.

Full-page comic-style illustrated back cover from Fox’s Illustrated Weekly Doings No. 67, dated July 19, 1884. The page presents depictions of women experiencing various stages of intoxication and distress. The central image shows two fashionably dressed women stumbling arm-in-arm while onlookers laugh or stare. Surrounding panels include a woman collapsed on the floor being assisted by a man, a woman slumped asleep on a sofa, a man sneaking away from a storefront labeled “Drugs,” and women drinking at a counter while one drops to the floor. The illustration is captioned “Woman’s Dangerous Exhilarant,” with a subtitle warning that the use of calisaya bark as a tonic is demoralizing women and enriching drug stores.

Fox’s Illustrated Weekly Doings #67, July 19, 1884.

“Woman’s Dangerous Exhilarant”
"How the use of Calisaya Bark as a tonic is demoralizing the female portion of the community and making drunkards of fashionable women -- the use and abuse of a pernicious drug that enriches the drug stores."

One of my most prized acquisitions of recent years has been the glass plate negatives of the early 1920s Luis Senarens photos previously only available in grainy newsprint versions.

Senarens (1863-1939) is without doubt one of the most important science fiction authors in American history.

Front page from Beadle’s Half-Dime Library, Vol. I, No. 1, published by Beadle and Adams. The ornate masthead spans the top with elaborate lettering. The story title reads “Deadwood Dick, Prince of the Road; or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills.” Among the text columns, a large black-and-white wood-engraved illustration shows a masked character reining in his horse beside a tree bearing a reward poster reading “$500 REWARD—DEADWOOD DICK.”

Beadle's Half Dime Library #1, circa Jan/Feb 1877.
Deadwood Dick by Edward L. Wheeler

First appearance Calamity Jane in fiction, first app. Deadwood Dick, beginning of important 1168-issue series.

Calamity Jane arrived in Deadwood with Buffalo Bill in July 1876, this hit newsstands 7 months later.

Fantastic! Wonderful news!