Trilodroid

On the road leading north from Manchester, in eastern Kentucky, to Booneville, twenty miles away, stood, in 1862, a wooden plantation house of a somewhat better quality than most of the dwellings in that region. The house was destroyed by fire in the year following- -probably by some stragglers from the retreating column of General George W. Morgan, when he was driven from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio river by General Kirby Smith. At the time of its destruction, it had for four or five years been vacant. The fields about it were overgrown with brambles, the fences gone, even the few negro quarters, and out-houses generally, fallen partly into ruin by neglect and pillage; for the negroes and poor whites of the vicinity found in the building and fences an abundant supply of fuel, of which they availed themselves without hesitation, openly and by daylight. By daylight alone; after nightfall no human being except passing strangers ever went near the place.

It was known as the "Spook House." That it was tenanted by evil spirits, visible, audible and active, no one in all that region doubted any more than he doubted what he was told of Sundays by the traveling preacher. Its owner's opinion of the matter was unknown; he and his family had disappeared one night and no trace of them had ever been found. They left everything--household goods, clothing, provisions, the horses in the stable, the cows in the field, the negroes in the quarters--all as it stood; nothing was missing-- except a man, a woman, three girls, a boy and a babe! It was not altogether surprising that a plantation where seven human beings could be simultaneously effaced and nobody the wiser should be under some suspicion.

One night in June, 1859, two citizens of Frankfort, Col. J. C. McArdle, a lawyer, and Judge Myron Veigh, of the State Militia, were driving from Booneville to Manchester. Their business was so important that they decided to push on, despite the darkness and the mutterings of an approaching storm, which eventually broke upon them just as they arrived opposite the "Spook House." The lightning was so incessant that they easily found their way through the gateway and into a shed, where they hitched and unharnessed their team. They then went to the house, through the rain, and knocked at all the doors without getting any response. Attributing this to the continuous uproar of the thunder they pushed at one of the doors, which yielded. They entered without further ceremony and closed the door. That instant they were in darkness and silence. Not a gleam of the lightning's unceasing blaze penetrated the windows or crevices; not a whisper of the awful tumult without reached them there. It was as if they had suddenly been stricken blind and deaf, and McArdle afterward said that for a moment he believed himself to have been killed by a stroke of lightning as he crossed the threshold. The rest of this adventure can as well be related in his own words, from the Frankfort Advocate of August 6, 1876:

"When I had somewhat recovered from the dazing effect of the transition from uproar to silence, my first impulse was to reopen the door which I had closed, and from the knob of which I was not conscious of having removed my hand; I felt it distinctly, still in the clasp of my fingers. My notion was to ascertain by stepping again into the storm whether I had been deprived of sight and hearing. I turned the doorknob and pulled open the door. It led into another room!

"This apartment was suffused with a faint greenish light, the source of which I could not determine, making everything distinctly visible, though nothing was sharply defined. Everything, I say, but in truth the only objects within the blank stone walls of that room were human corpses. In number they were perhaps eight or ten--it may well be understood that I did not truly count them. They were of different ages, or rather sizes, from infancy up, and of both sexes. All were prostrate on the floor, excepting one, apparently a young woman, who sat up, her back supported by an angle of the wall. A babe was clasped in the arms of another and older woman. A half- grown lad lay face downward across the legs of a full-bearded man. One or two were nearly naked, and the hand of a young girl held the fragment of a gown which she had torn open at the breast. The bodies were in various stages of decay, all greatly shrunken in face and figure. Some were but little more than skeletons.

"While I stood stupefied with horror by this ghastly spectacle and still holding open the door, by some unaccountable perversity my attention was diverted from the shocking scene and concerned itself with trifles and details. Perhaps my mind, with an instinct of self-preservation, sought relief in matters which would relax its dangerous tension. Among other things, I observed that the door that I was holding open was of heavy iron plates, riveted. Equidistant from one another and from the top and bottom, three strong bolts protruded from the beveled edge. I turned the knob and they were retracted flush with the edge; released it, and they shot out. It was a spring lock. On the inside there was no knob, nor any kind of projection--a smooth surface of iron.

"While noting these things with an interest and attention which it now astonishes me to recall I felt myself thrust aside, and Judge Veigh, whom in the intensity and vicissitudes of my feelings I had altogether forgotten, pushed by me into the room. 'For God's sake,' I cried, 'do not go in there! Let us get out of this dreadful place!'

"He gave no heed to my entreaties, but (as fearless a gentleman as lived in all the South) walked quickly to the center of the room, knelt beside one of the bodies for a closer examination and tenderly raised its blackened and shriveled head in his hands. A strong disagreeable odor came through the doorway, completely overpowering me. My senses reeled; I felt myself falling, and in clutching at the edge of the door for support pushed it shut with a sharp click!

"I remember no more: six weeks later I recovered my reason in a hotel at Manchester, whither I had been taken by strangers the next day. For all these weeks I had suffered from a nervous fever, attended with constant delirium. I had been found lying in the road several miles away from the house; but how I had escaped from it to get there I never knew. On recovery, or as soon as my physicians permitted me to talk, I inquired the fate of Judge Veigh, whom (to quiet me, as I now know) they represented as well and at home.

"No one believed a word of my story, and who can wonder? And who can imagine my grief when, arriving at my home in Frankfort two months later, I learned that Judge Veigh had never been heard of since that night? I then regretted bitterly the pride which since the first few days after the recovery of my reason had forbidden me to repeat my discredited story and insist upon its truth.

"With all that afterward occurred--the examination of the house; the failure to find any room corresponding to that which I have described; the attempt to have me adjudged insane, and my triumph over my accusers--the readers of the Advocate are familiar. After all these years I am still confident that excavations which I have neither the legal right to undertake nor the wealth to make would disclose the secret of the disappearance of my unhappy friend, and possibly of the former occupants and owners of the deserted and now destroyed house. I do not despair of yet bringing about such a search, and it is a source of deep grief to me that it has been delayed by the undeserved hostility and unwise incredulity of the family and friends of the late Judge Veigh."

Colonel McArdle died in Frankfort on the thirteenth day of December, in the year 1879.

Monday, October 19, 2026

Movie- exorcist 2

I’m not so sure about this one. Beginning is getting on my nerves. The pompous and/or flippant almost mafia style of speech. I mean George C. Scott is always likable but… the others not so much.

Then you get this goofy heaven dream. The Jesus statue eyes are … not respectful but also not creepy. Just goofy.

I guess it will get better. Maybe they want contrasts so the actual creepy parts are more so. The first priest killing was very intense and scary.

I am 30 minutes into it. Let’s see hiw the rest goes.

UPDATE - oh it gets better! Halfway through now So he sees the dead priest in that cell. What the hell is going on? And

UPDATE - the skinny nurse that proclaims “i’m a bitch” after George C. Scott says “very kind of you” is weirdly entertaining.

Crazy man Brad Dourif from Dune and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest is pretty good in this. Over the top crazy works.

Ceiling crawl!!!

Quote “ Well, there I was so awfully dead in that electric chair. I didn't like it. Would you? It's upsetting. There was still so much killing to do, and there I was, in the void, without a body. But then along came - well - my friend. You know. One of them. Those others over there. The cruel ones... the Master. He thought my work should continue.”

Oh, the lightning floor to hell was some crazy special effects. Freeeaky.

The End.

Btw, Pazuzu is a good demon(?) according to the British History Museum guy. He claims Pazuzu was ugly to scare away the evil demon that would ruin(?) childbirths. Says they used his … icon or token or something in a window… if i recall correctly.

Sunday, October 18, 2026

Books to read, novels

We are all Legends by Darrel Schweitzer, 1981.

And maybe his Mask of the Sorcerer.

Amulet; Telamon of stone

https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/reviving-history-the-resurrection-of-the-atlas-statue-to-guard-sicilys-temple-of-zeus

Giant stone telamon.

……vocabulary to use in a campaign game

Scapegrace
Obsequious
Exalted
Giant stone telamon

…..

AMULET - From m-w.com

a small cross made of goat bone was worn in the Middle Ages as an amulet to ward off evil

Some believed that phallic icons served as protective amulets against infertility and evil spirits, thus leading to their incorporation in performances, art, and architecture.— Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Oct. 2026 Additional discoveries include scarabs inscribed with the names of kings and deities, together with amulets for protection, fertility, and strength, reflecting the political and religious structures of the time.— Anne Doran, ARTnews.com, 18 Sep. 2026

Saturday, October 17, 2026

Movie - El Cid, medieval

El Cid 1961

Charlton Heston.

Medieval Spain. Castles. Knights in armor. Hoods. The costumes seem about half right. Armor is pretty good but might have fake chainmail (it doesn’t flow or hang feom ppl like it should).

Time 2:06:06, the studded leather might have helped influence D&D (as some say it isn’t historical). The fur shouldered cape is much like the Nights Watch in Game of Thrones.

LotR movie influences- Time 2:51:09 and much earlier the siege engines, the masked/veiled faces with dark around their eyes . The middle Eastern vibe of the evil men helping Sauron.

I get the impression that Game of Thrones owes much to this movie. The backstabbing and hinted ince5t stuff. Factions. Maybe all history has such.

El Cid being the ultra noble guy no matter what the others do. Eventually exhiled, then returned to grace, etc. It is like Jon Snow.

Dnd names

Hate-field

Hetchfield

Blackpool

Greyrun

Greatriver

Haxt

…

Similar surnames: Corkery, Corkran, Morken, Corgan, Dormer, Coffeen, Colen, Burkeen, Cobern, Coren

Ideas from beCmi and Vietnam war

Viet war, wow, the snake traps in tunnels, the Rattan plant (wait a minute vines) with mega spikes, elephant grass hiding death large and small… https://www.newsbreak.com/war-history-online-1745274/3958900142501-the-natural-and-hidden-dangers-lurking-in-the-vietnam-jungle-that-targeted-american-soldiers

Here is Rob Robvoski Turner’s https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xubdVMdMkYk

Friday, October 16, 2026

Ideas from Liminal Spaces review

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ADjnuKqS09I&t=1144s

Commenter says -

The evil things that plague the Night Land

(The sky is always dark, black pyramid, cycoplean monstrosities)

The Country When Comes the Great Laughter

The Thing that Turns the Doorways in the Night

The Thing That Nods

The Spinning Tree

The Black Mounds

The Slayers

The Silent Ones

AND they say “Voice in the Night” was basis for Japan movie Matango (mushroom ppl).

Also he is an appendix n guy, who also wrote “House on the Borderland”… that’s how we gor the D&D “Keep on the Borderlands” eh? https://appendixnbookclub.com/tag/william-hope-hodgson/

Against the Cult of the Reptile God; Nonplussed - Language

'Reptile God is a fun one, good GM, i like it. We magically put a group of 3 lizard hybrids to sleep when they tracked us underground. Then we charmed the one survivor of those 3, lizard-hybrid-friend gave us info so we could find our captured friend. Upstairs in the bad Inn.

Nonplussed. What a funny word. Two opposite meanings, what's up with that? Here's what Merriam Webster says: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonplussed

1: unsure about what to say, think, or do : perplexed

2. chiefly US : not bothered, surprised, or impressed by something

Note: The use of nonplussed to mean "unimpressed" is an Americanism that has become increasingly common in recent decades and now appears frequently in published writing. It apparently arose from confusion over the meaning of nonplussed in ambiguous contexts, and it continues to be widely regarded as an error.

One of the things that most vexes language purists … is when the meaning of a word changes over time. For example, it appears that the traditional sense of the word nonplussed, "bewildered and at a loss as to what to think," is slowly giving way to a new (and opposite) sense: "unfazed." Even experienced writers are using the new sense.—Paul McFedries

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