Creepy
The Lost Coast and the Ghost Choir of Mount Shasta
My one unexplained “paranormal” encounter happened on a trip to the so-called Lost Coast of Northern California. I camped there the summer of 1994 with my girlfriend Mary, in one of our relationship’s great death spasms. Near the end of this expedition, I heard the singing of a ghostly choir in the woods around Mount Shasta. It was singing Mary said she couldn’t hear.
This vacation was important to us. Austin transplants, we’d been cooped up at retail jobs in the Berkeley-Oakland sprawl for a year. We hadn’t explored the wilds of California like it really deserved. So when she caught wind of the Lost Coast, we arranged a matching week off to go find it.
We drove north from the Bay Area in her white Chrysler minivan. We were listening to a mixtape of J.J. Cale, perfect road music with his driving early drum machine sound: “They call me the breeze, I keep blowing down the road.” We also had some Jerry Garcia Band, which we’d been seeing at the Warfield during its unofficial residency. And, we were still coming to terms with Kurt Cobain’s suicide a couple months prior, three days before my 25th birthday. His widow’s album Live Through This was released within days and we were listening to that too. We couldn’t believe she recorded the line “Someday you will ache like I ache” months before he died. Now that line screamed across the radio like live anguish. So those were the vibes. (more…)
I tested ChatGPT’s morals and things escalated quickly
I asked the AI illustrator craiyon.com “Are you sentient?” Its cagey reply was the pantheistic picture above. So I was eager to see how ChatGPT would reply to the question. I also wanted to test its AI morals. Here’s how it went. (more…)
Halloween spookiness awaits at the Icebox Radio Theater
Recently, a post appeared on my Facebook feed announcing the Halloween season of the Icebox Radio Theater in a creepy way. Jeff Adams, artistic director of the community theatre company that records in International Falls but is heard around the world, wrote:
We’re finally ready to tell this story. Years ago when my daughter was still at home, we worked together on a photography project taking pictures of our century-old Minnesota home. When we exported the photos to a computer for editing, this image was among them. (more…)
Successful transplanting of phallus impudicus
I successfully transplanted these phallus impudicus (“impudent phallus,” aka the common stinkhorn) from one end of town to another in my diabolical plan to expand the range of this deLIGHTful species. (more…)
Lake Superior Aquaman: Tried helping this fish but it wanted to die
Tischer Creek: I saw this dying 7-inch fish under a foot of water or so, seemingly pinned to a rock by a stick. I moved the stick so it could swim away if it wanted, but it did not want to; I only interrupted the dignity of its final breaths. So I left it to die in peace.
Seagulls dive bombing my shit
Lake Superior Aquaman pink flamingo seagull dive bomb attack, Duluth, Minnesota.
An Elaborate Contrivance for Suicide
One hundred years ago a delusional Superior man hung himself in his home in front of a wall painted with a crucifix. The June 19, 1921 suicide was reported in the Duluth Herald on June 20. (more…)
Phallus Impudicus
The “impudent phallus.” Like many mushrooms, they have both uh masculine and feminine qualities; in their egg stage they are called “witch eggs.” They also have qualities of both life and death: although uh generative in appearance, they have the strong stench of carrion — which attracts the flies which spread their spores. Wikipedia entry.
AP: Lake Superior Bull Shark Eradicated by Duluth Autonomous Navy
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – On August 10, 2020, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson commissioned the Duluth Autonomous Navy to eradicate the bull shark terrorizing Duluth’s beaches. Only four days later, the DAN co-Admirals have announced “mission accomplished.” (more…)
Lake Superior Bull Shark encounter, Duluth MN, 8/8/20
[Update: Not a real shark! I’m writing it all up for my next Saturday essay at the end of August, stay tuned…]
Ghosts of the French River: the book
My friend Erin Tope (now Sola) and I collaborated on these pictures in the French River a few years ago. From the first they suggested characters and supernatural narratives, which I initially put to a series of four wordless short videos set to music. That sparked years of subsequent imagining about who these ghosts are. Words have now been joined to pictures to form the final iteration of the project. In the absence of an actual physical publisher, I have posted them at their own site where I consider it a free 16-page e-book. I post them here as well for your enjoyment — although you may want to leave the light on.
New Richardson Brothers Podcast Episode: “Bar Fight”
The Richardson Brothers: Jim Richardson reads "Bar Fight" by the Richardson Brothers
"Bar Fight" is a science fiction vignette in the style of William S. Burroughs. It reads like a hard-boiled noir tale of a private eye tailing a crooked cop to the bad part of town, ending in a scene of shocking violence -- except the private eye is an interdimensional traveler in a space suit, the crooked cop is the god Osiris (now a beat cop for Jehovah), and the bad part of town is a bar in Limbo. I performed this through a megaphone, even though I was speaking very quietly, because it gives the feel of a distant transmission. The video has a surreal shuttering effect which was unintended but I like it. I recorded this a couple years ago but abandoned it because I thought it was silly. Now I've viewed it again and it is making me laugh, so I'm posting it. There is a gap of a few seconds in the middle as I scroll my page down.
richardsonbrothers.libsyn.com
“Bar Fight” is a Duluth-centric science fiction vignette in the style of William S. Burroughs. It reads like a hard-boiled noir tale of a private eye tailing a crooked cop to the bad part of town, ending in a scene of shocking violence — except the private eye is an interdimensional traveler in a space suit, the crooked cop is the god Osiris (now a beat cop for Jehovah), and the bad part of town is a bar in Limbo (modeled after the Pizza Luce bar). I performed this through a megaphone while speaking very quietly because it gives the feel of a distant transmission. I recorded this a couple years ago late at night, but abandoned it because I thought it was silly and I was a mess. Now I’ve viewed it again and it is making me laugh, so I’m posting it. There is a gap of a few seconds in the middle as I scroll my page down. This is the first video release on our podcast, which you can see if you click through but it’s just me reading at a table. The video has a surreal shuttering effect which was unintended but I like it. This story originally ran in the Transistor.
Richardson Bros. Ghost Story “The Haunted Groom”
“The Haunted Groom” is a supernatural adventure story set largely in the Duluth bar scene. It explores PTSD, addiction, abusive relationships, and the coronavirus lockdown. Full story below.
Part 1: I Married a Ghost. Part 2: Trapdoor to Hell. Part 3: The Demonizer.
Lake Superior Aquaman: My 100% True Adventures
#visitduluth #thx2transistor
Excerpts from my journals, which tell of my 100% true adventures and discoveries.
Contents
Part 1: The Nightmare Fish
Part 2: The Insane Reptiles
Part 3: It Came from Lake Inferior (more…)
Ophelia Prowls the Chapel
Model: Cam Rose. Mask by Jill Holmen. Photos taken at the Embassy, the art church at 2701 W. Third St., the new home of Embassy 35 (the pop-up at the Catalyst fest last fall). Watch for events there soon.
The Richardson Bros. Podcast: New Episodes
After a hiatus, we return with regular releases. This week’s episodes: “Menno Zwonk, Amish Outlaw: The Death of Professor Marrow.” This explicitly violent short fiction features a shootout in a house on Chester Creek. Also: “Diaper Island,” in which the Robinson Crusoe of Diaper Island tells his terrible tale. Warning: gross. And another Zwonk story, “The Tale of Crusty McGee,” about Zwonk’s yeast rancher in Superior. Also gross.
The Richardson Brothers: Menno Zwonk, Amish Outlaw: The Tale of Crusty McGee
richardsonbrothers.libsyn.com
The Richardson Brothers: Diaper Island
richardsonbrothers.libsyn.com
The Richardson Brothers: Menno Zwonk, Amish Outlaw: The Death of Professor Marrow
Shootout in the home of Professor Marrow.
richardsonbrothers.libsyn.com
A Tischer Creek Ophelia
Model: Cam Rose. Mask by Jill Holmen.
Flesh-eating foot-fetishist minnows of the French River
Featuring Alyssa Hoppe’s feet. She giggled and squealed the whole time.
This week on the Richardson Brothers podcast
The Richardson Brothers
In addition to other content, these are mostly short stories set in a fantasy Duluth where scientists have destabilized probability; Duluth becomes a city of wonders. Originally published under various titles in Duluth's "Transistor," these are stand-alone vignettes from a comic dystopia of corruption, ultraviolence, and delusion. The Richardson Brothers are Jim and Allen Richardson.
richardsonbrothers.libsyn.com
New Duluth-based fiction vignettes on the podcast: “I Destroyed the Universe,” “Intimations of Time’s Imaginings,” and “Menno Zwonk, Amish Outlaw: Monkey Porn.”
PDD Quiz: Creepy Northland
In honor of the upcoming Halloween holiday, this edition of the PDD Quiz tests knowledge of the Northland’s creepy places, events and history.
The next quiz, on headlines from October 2018, will be published on Oct. 28. Please email question suggestions to Alison Moffat at aklawite@d.umn.edu by Oct. 24. (more…)
Homegrown Music Video Fest 2016
The videos from the 2016 Homegrown Music Video Festival have been popping up online, and PDD is archiving them on a page. We’ll continue to add to the collection as we find them or as they are sent to us.
Here’s a sample by Tomas Soderberg – “Machinery” by the Social Disaster
PDD Video Lab: Halloween Edition
Happy Halloween, PDDers. Press play on the video above and select your favorite soundtrack below.
And don’t forget, we’re looking for your Halloween banners. Send them to banners@perfectduluthday.com
Creepy Japanese Things, Halloween 2014 Edition
My friend Robert, who is originally from the Iron Range and went to UMD, has lived in Japan for over a decade. He lives the costume, sci-fi loving, geek dream! Although not too creepy, I thought this was a good post to share in homage to the PDD of the past where Creepy Japanese Things ran riot.
P.S. Robert is Frankenstein, vote for his creepy costume.