A few weeks ago I found myself in a bit of a parking space jam. My apartment building is doing extensive work on the back parking lot where I park my car. So I've had to find an alternative parking method which has ended up being a night parking permit in an area that is a bit of a walk from my apartment.
In my neighborhood finding a parking spot is a luxury and I was able to find a little area that is right near a small park about one mile from my home. This has worked nicely for two reasons. One, it's in a small patch of higher class suburban neighborhood. Two, it has gotten me back to taking nice leisurely walks in the early mornings and evenings.
Many times my walks take place during the dark hours early in the morning or late at night. Many people may feel a bit uncomfortable taking walks during the dark hours. But, for me, it is quite the pleasure.
I enjoy the ghostly shadows of the trees of the park that shimmy and float about during windy weather. There's also a big, dark, gothic home that sits at the end of a dead end street that never seems to have any lights on or any movement going on inside or out. Who or what lives there, I wonder?
There's even a little patch of wooded area that I have to pass along on my daily jaunts. I always wonder what may be looking at me from inside the dark folliage. Is there a little chipmunk in a state of caution ready to high tail it up a tree if I move toward it? Or maybe it's a rabid raccoon that is ready pounce on my face if I move in it's general direction. Or, best yet, what if it is a reanimated corpse, freshly risen from the grave that would ramble on out, grabbing my head and taking a big chomp out of the front of it?
With these dark ideas running through my odd little mind, one may wonder, "Where did this guy's love of the macabre come from? What was the source for his love of all things spooky?"
I've been trying to trace back my love of all things spookarific for a while now and I have to tell you that it goes way back to my love of Saturday morning cartoons as a child.
Oddly, I was never really impressed with the Buggs Bunny, Looney Tunes type shows. I was more into the action, adventure and mystery influenced cartoons.
During the late 60's and early 70's there were a bunch of cartoons that centered around a group of teens and some form of mascot that would hunt ghosts and monsters.
There were a few rules that these shows all followed.
1) The group was always led by a good looking boy and good looking girl. The rest of the group were misfit looking goof balls that were the comedic relief.
2) The group always had some form of mascot character who was usually the main character and namesake of the show. It would usually be some sort of dog or animal. If it were a dog, it had to be able to talk.
3) The group would always drive around in some sort of 70's hot rod type vehicle such as a dune buggy or love van.
The grandaddy and first of the bunch was......
Scooby-Doo, Where are You? - Four teens, Freddy, Wilma, Daphne and Shaggy along with Shaggy's pet Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, go out of their way to discover the most creepy locations to hunt and find ghosts, ghouls and monsters that usually end up being some crook with an elaborate plan to either hide stolen money, steal money, or scheme someone out of money.
Fangface - Here we have yet another group of teens who's "mascot" is one of their own. One of the kids in the group is a werewolf . So whenever trouble ensues, one of the kids shows him a picture of a full moon (if there isn't one in the sky already) and he turns into wolf form and saves the day. See intro HERE!
Scooby-Doo, Where are You? - Four teens, Freddy, Wilma, Daphne and Shaggy along with Shaggy's pet Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, go out of their way to discover the most creepy locations to hunt and find ghosts, ghouls and monsters that usually end up being some crook with an elaborate plan to either hide stolen money, steal money, or scheme someone out of money.
My earliest childhood memories revolve around getting up early on Saturday mornings and watching Scooby Doo. For whatever reason, I loved the hell out of that frackin' show as a kid.
Watch the intro to Scooby-Doo HERE!
After the success of Scooby-Doo, children's Saturday mornings were filled with teens and their wacky mascots solving mysteries. Here are a few of them that pretty much carbon copied Scooby-Doo's characters, plots, outlines, motifs and themes. Let's see which ones you all remember?
The Funky Phantom - Three teens and their bull dog who drive around in a dune-buggy join forces with the ghosts of a colonial gentleman and his pet cat. The group spend much of the episodes chasing other ghosts (who of course end up as crooks in costume). I loved this show as well. Watch the intro to the show HERE!
Goober and the Ghost Chasers - Talk about ripping off Scooby-Doo! This show even stole a lot of the images from the intro. This time it's a group of teens who have a dog that turns invisible when it's frightened. Check out the intro HERE!
Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels - Same concept here, except the three female girls were obviously conceived from the popularity of TV's Charlie's Angels. Oddly, there's no talking dog mascot in this show. Instead the girls hang out with a prehistoric super hero. See the intro HERE!
Fangface - Here we have yet another group of teens who's "mascot" is one of their own. One of the kids in the group is a werewolf . So whenever trouble ensues, one of the kids shows him a picture of a full moon (if there isn't one in the sky already) and he turns into wolf form and saves the day. See intro HERE!
Clue Club - Another bunch of teens. Another dune buggy. This one was a little less spooky and focused more on a group of teens and their two talking dogs that went after less over the top and creepy villains. I do remember one or two episodes where the gang did go after spooks, but it wasn't the norm for this cartoon. See intro HERE!
If you thought my love of the macabre was spawned from only the cartoons on Saturday mornings, you'd be wrong. Children's programing did have its share of live action shows and this next one was one of my all time favorites!
The Ghost Busters - About eight years prior to Bill Murry and Dan Akroyd putting proton packs on their backs, it was two former actors from the TV show "F Troop" and their trained gorilla hunting down ghosts and ghouls with a "Ghost Dematerializer". Every episode was pretty much the exact same story. Ghost Busters go on a mission to hunt a ghost. Ghost Busters go to the same haunted castle from the previous episode. Hi-jinx ensue. They catch the ghost with their big spotlight looking machine. End of story. Take a look at the intro HERE!
Monster Squad - The Ghost Busters wasn't the only live action spookfest that would take place on Saturday mornings. There was also this little gem. On Monster Squad there was a bit of a twist. Instead of a group of teens hunting monsters, it was one teen, named Walt, who controlled the famous monsters The Wolfman, Dracula and Frankenstein's monster. Walt would send them out on missions to take down criminals and other baddies. By day, the monsters would pose as wax figures in a museum. By night, they'd fight crime. Senator Fred "DON'T CALL ME GOPHER!!" Grandy played the roll of Walt. Let's take a little look-see right HERE!
Kids programming changed wildly when the 80's came. Cartoons were half hour commercials for an action figure line. There were no more spooks, no more haunted houses to search and no more dark grey backgrounds to get you into the mood. The bad guys were the same every episode. The days of teen mystery sleuths and their wacky pets and cohorts were dead.
I miss those chilly, fall Saturday mornings where a new crop of cartoons would issue in even more teen mystery shows that gave me my first taste of the macabre.
Zangz.
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