#haunted Mesozoic

[saralutra]

I plan to continue my Haunted Mesozoic series for Inktober this year. So, prepare Yourself for some Dinosaurs and other critters of the Mesozoic in the upcoming month.

[tyrannoninja]

Island of the Skull - Map

This is a map I made in the program Wonderdraft that shows my personal take on the archetypal "Skull Island" as seen in various pirate- and adventure-themed media.

Unlike some other variations of the trope, my version is located deep within the equatorial Atlantic Ocean and owes its flora and fauna to migrations over the course of at least 150 million years. The island's most iconic megafauna are the dinosaurs and other descendants of Mesozoic migrants. However, later arrivals have managed to eke out their own niches beneath the giant saurians, including monkeys related to New World platyrrhines, gorillas and chimpanzees, elephants of African forest affinity, pantherine cats of mixed leopard and jaguar heritage, and even phorusrhacid "terror birds".

The island's human inhabitants would have arrived from the West African coast sometime before 2000 BC, bringing with them established traditions of agriculture and ferrous metallurgy that allowed them to colonize the treacherous landscape and carve it into numerous chiefdoms and states over the course of centuries. The most famous of these societies, the so-called "Kingdom of the Skull", developed in the rainforest on the windward side of the volcanic "Mountains of Hell", but fell into ruin at an uncertain date, although local traditions attribute its collapse to provoking the wrath of a deity known as the "Flaming Skull". Nonetheless, the islanders remain numerous across the island's breadth, maintaining a rich variety of distinctive cultures and dozens of different languages, albeit all sharing what may be a distant kinship with the Gbe languages of coastal West Africa.

It was in the late 1400s when Portuguese mariners first chanced upon the Island of the Skull and shared their knowledge with other Europeans. Nonetheless, both the mosasaur-haunted waters encircling the island and its own hostile terrain have discouraged large-scale European colonial expeditions, although some daring buccaneers and corsairs have nonetheless succeeded in establishing commerce with indigenous communities on the coast. Many of these swashbucklers covet the fabled riches of the ancient Kingdom of the Skull, but few who have penetrated its interior have come back to tell the tale…

And here's the (admittedly Google-translated) Portuguese version:

[elisaenglish]

Prison Not My Soul

Love. Self-love. Desire. The acre of a wood you’ve yet to climb into the arms of... People claim there’s something to be said for this Mesozoic age of catastrophe. But you don’t know why—wouldn’t even take a haunted dream and cast it out beyond the minuscule to flood. Wouldn’t even know the pooling tide or evidence. You’re not that wise to the cause.

[thetrespasserfrontier]

John Hammond set out with Norman Atherton to clone extinct species from the Mesozoic using new genetic techniques, and to make up the cost by presenting them in a tourist attraction on Isla Nublar. To do this, he needed a second facility to clone and raise them, which he decided to set up on Isla Sorna.

Isla Sorna. Costa Rica lay to the east, a quiet neighbor. To the west, open water and the shipping lanes of the Pacific. Rather than a tourist attraction, Isla Sorna was to be based around a laboratory for the cloning process, and open wilderness for the species to mature and thrive on their own. Dinosaurs do not thrive in captivity. They grow vicious and stop eating, pacing their cages. We had no choice but to release them into the wild. While a holding pens facility was constructed by the lab, it was only for the earliest stages of their development. Soon each new cloned Dinosaur was released, and over time many new creatures were introduced to the Pacific island's ecosystem. By 1998, only some of these species persisted. A local evolution took place, causing some entire lines to perish. Not all the original species survived. In the end, only a few adjusted to the new world. These became dominant. The saurian skeletal remains include Brontosaurus (AKA Apatosaurus) and Allosaurus, yet these animals are no longer to be found. Did the Brachiosaurus thrive better on the local vegetation, or did their theropod adversaries wipe them out? Did the Allosaurs have a genetic defect causing them to be less fit for their environment, or were they outcompeted by the other carnivores in their niche? They did not join the ranks of species to remain on the island.

Through the hardships, several species remained. Hammond described them in his memoire. First explained is the Albertosaurus, who evidently took up whatever niche the Allosaurs failed to fill. They were known especially for their lion-like presence in the Plains. The released version of the game finds them in Industrial Jungle, Ascent, and Ascent 2. Albertosaur. A loner, fast and strong, eking out a living between the seven Tyrannosaur and the three raptor tribes.

What the release game is missing among species is Gallimimus. An ostrich-like Dinosaur, there might have been herds of them, but technical restrictions meant such things couldn't be shown. The carnivores of Sorna had to look elsewhere for game. Gallimimus, "chicken-mimic." Fastest runner on the island, an eater of insects, eggs, and small mammals.

The most abundant animal seen on the island, despite typical predator/prey relationships, is the Velociraptor. Now known to be feathered, Sorna became home to three distinct tribes which each carried a different hide decoration. The famous Tiger Raptor stalks the jungle to the south; a tan and red-patched tribe calls the forest its home; and a black and yellow breed prowls the slopes of Mt Watson. Velociraptor, a small theropod. Native to China and Mongolia. Pack-hunter, quite vicious, and quite intelligent. The fossil record shows raptors living like wolves or lions, hunting in groups. Ours did the same - perhaps a genetically coded social trait.

Next Hammond describes the Brachiosaur The only surviving sauropod, it feeds on high branches and might have used its tail as defense. They are found only in the Beach and Jungle Road, dominating local valleys. Their heavy footsteps shake the ground if you come close. Brachiosaur - oldest of our recreations by 50 million years. The only true Jurassic native. One of the largest creatures ever to live, the brachiosaur moved like planets among the smaller species.

Next is the Tyrannosaurus. The largest predator on the island, they are found in both the jungle and the forest, stalking around trees and facilities. Unlike the other species, they have gender dimorphism: the male is green and the female is brown. Another variant still is the Alpha T-Rex, which haunts an ancient Mayan ruin. Tyrannosaurus Rex. Tyrant lizard, they reigned for 25 million years. We grew 7 of them, the 7 rulers of the island. Despite what we had been lead to believe, the T-rex was not a scavenger after all. We clocked one at 50 kilometers and hour. Finally Hammond examines the Triceratops. Tough herbivores inhabiting Jungle Road and Lab, where two can be found in both levels, possibly mated pairs. In two of these cases they are found battling Raptors, and in another case a T-Rex. Sadly they are rather slow-moving as a result of Trespasser's limitations. Triceratops. With the Tyrannosaur, one of the last dinosaurs to live naturally on our planet.

Beyond this, Hammond neglects to mention two other Dinosaurs, or else Anne has forgotten what he wrote. One of these is Stegosaurus. Possibly Hammond did forget; like Brachiosaurus, it too lived in the Jurassic. What would he have said about them? Some liken their heads to those of horses. The purpose of their plates remains a mystery. And their tails are equipped with spikes for defense.

The other forgotten Dino is Parasaurolophus. A Hadrosaur, it has a long nasal crest which it uses for making calls, for communication, warning, or to attract mates. Their padded feet can be found in various spots on Sorna, but he walks alone as the only herbivore in Industrial Jungle.

On the last day, I stood apart from the rest of them. The helicopters were setting down. Before me the jungle spread out, and I saw taht a savage, prinmal age had begun again.

[ravageknight-eternal]

*”Please keep all hands and in feet inside the ride at all times! Please do not—“*

Conrad and Lucy didn’t pay any attention. The Time Cadillac ride always started the same way. And they were too busy all over each other, submerged as deep in youthful needs as the Cadillac was submerged in deep time. Conrad was already kissing Lucy again, breathless and with too much saliva as the slick, black car slowly rolled over a desolate landscape that would’ve fit Hell or the airless Moon than Earth. Lucy ran her hands through her boyfriends short, combed brown hair, feeling the car lurch a little. Far away came lightning flashing beneath cataclysmic looking clouds all purple, bruised, and furious looking. She caught glimpses jagged landscape burbling, saw the eerie monoliths of volcanic happenstance which poured streamers of superheated gases into impossibly thin air. For a full threat minutes they rode over different variations: fire, ice, black blistering sands— even a sea bottom, flat and dark, with a single earthwide ocean far above.

*Boring.*

Conrad pressed a hand to Lucy’s thigh and she shivered just as they emerged onto land, felt humid air over her skin as kisses pattered themselves on an exposed throat like so much intimate rainfall. This place was disgusting: impenetrable swamps dominated by huge armored vegetable spires, encrusted with moss and lichen, and haunted by sprawling insects so massive that no matter what Father Martin would say it seemed downright ungodly that any Creator worthy of worship could’ve made them. Fingers brushed an innermost thigh, probing, just as their slow passage brought an automobile sized centipede to eye level. Arthropleura rose in undulating waves as cascades of armored legs cracked themselves against its plated sides, a dozen angry red chitinous sides. It was Conrad who yelped in fear, wide eyed and stupid, one hand thrown up against the monster of yesterday. Human hearts beating fast, beating hard.

Apocalypse thrown across supreme desert like a deathly blanket. Lucy just saw bones— miles and miles of bones, discarded skeletons that went on across eerie dark colored dunes. Sharp, ozone tinged air took an effort to breathe. God only knew what lived here. Was whatever had survived even lucky? Could it be considered *luck* to live here, in this silent world, a sun scorched wasteland dominated by the silenced dead? It chilled any motion between them. They huddled close. Quiet. Would this fate befall Man, would the fatal blessing of the atom undo everything.. usher us back into a final, silent world?

Giants sprouted up from ruin. Fast, fleet-footed things that in ample opportunity became behemoths, titans. An age of Olympian reptiles with no bounds. They grew, fought, lived, died. Mountains that walked, shield-faces that battered and slammed, clubbed tails that concussed. Lucy watched the very first flowers bloom: elegant purple splashed over white petals.

Conrad reached.

Something buckled, something bent. No trespassing. A cosmic reprimand that even here in this imaginary space would not and could not be allowed. It all happened in a moment. The Time Cadillac protested just barely, hissing faintly. Then nothing.

They stared. Mesozoic countryside stretched out into warm, evening sunshine. Skyscrapers redwoods loomed above ginkgos, cycads, ferns in majestic immensity, and threw thick shadows on grassless ground. Conrad felt his mouth go dry. Ancient mammalian fear rose from primordial memory.

Something roared in the gloom.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

Resident Evil: Mesozoic

Synopsis: Deep in the jungles of Central Africa, a horror is brewing. An ancient virus virus has awakened, and it’s power has been harnessed by a mad-scientist looking to unleash hell upon the world. Monsters, millions of years in the making haunt the ancient ruins and temples. Rosemary Winters, now a woman grown, must make her way into the jungle to end the threat of the bioweapon and find answers to her own impossible existence.

-

Backstory: Decades ago, paleontologist Stephen Bakker became obsessed with the legend of the Mokele-Mbembe, a mythical creature from the depths of the African Rainforest. Supposedly, a living dinosaur. Bakker dedicated his life to finding it, and eventually he did.

As it turned out Mokele-Mbembe were hippos, infected with an ancient virus preserved in volcanic rock for millions of years that turned them into amphibious sauropod-like creatures. Fascinated by this, he recruited the help of local microbiologist Kiminu Ntumbe to help him study the virus, dubbed the S-Virus, or Saurian-Virus. They spent the next twenty years in a base of their own making, experimenting on the local wildlife, until one fateful day.

Kimi was attacked by one of their experiments and left gravely wounded. The only way to save the woman he’d come to love was to infect her with the S-Virus. Kimi was changed into new being with terrifying control over other creatures infected with the virus.

Shortly after this, Kimi had Stephen infected as well, and they spent the next twenty years building an army of Dinosaurian monsters from both humans and animals, intent on conquering Central Africa and turning it into their personal kingdom.

However, now the BSAA have caught wind of the threat, and are sending in a team headed by Rosemary Winters, who has discovered a possible connection between herself and the S-Virus.

-

Enemies:

Runners: A terrifying mix of leopards and raptors, these creatures are capable of moving on all fours or their back legs. They are fast, deadly, and murderous, often working in groups of three or four. 

Mokele-Mbembes: The original monsters themselves, these creatures keep to deep water. Giant omnivorous sauropod creatures, they will typically attack solo but are devastating opponents to fight.

Niles: Created from crocodiles, these dinosaur-headed monsters are ambush predators, latching on to prey from the mud of riverbanks and tearing off limbs and other body parts. Armored, their only weakness is their eyes.

Fliers: Flying opponents, created by infecting humans with a strain of the S-Virus that contains pterosaur DNA, these creatures range from the size of bats to the size of bears. Will only attack you when out in the open, so don’t think places beyond the trees are safe...

Rexes: Human-Tyrannosaur hybrids, these monsters will kill and eat you at a moments notice. Strong enough to punch through anything, they are blinded by hunger and rage, and will sometimes attack other monsters in their blind hunger.

Raptaurs: Original monsters grown using Kimi’s own DNA, Raptaurs are centaur like creatures with the bottom halves of a great four-legged dinosaur, likely a triceratops, and the upper half of a Rex. These monsters are impossibly strong, fast, and deadly, and best only approached with caution.

Bosses:

General Deathclaw: 

Once a mercenary captain, he and his men were betrayed by their employers and the survivors were driven into the jungle. Determined to keep his men alive, The General encountered the two transformed scientists who offered him a deal: they would help him and his men if they worked for them. Seeing no other option, the General took the deal, and he and his men were turned into Rexes. 

The general has more control than the average Rex, and can exert a certain amount of control over them. When pushed in battle he becomes a massive-Tyrannosaur monster. On some level he understands and hates what he has become.

Lady Nightwing: 

Once a sort of de facto leader of a local village, the Lady found her people getting sick from a poisoned water supply. When she could find aid nowhere else, she was approached by the transformed Kimi and Stephen, who offered her a solution. She reluctantly accepted, and her people were transformed into Fliers. 

The Lady has actually taken to the virus well, and considers herself blessed. A giant pterosaur creature, she flies the skies and takes down any flying threat to Kimi.

Stephen Bakker, a.k.a: King Fang: 

Infected with the S-Virus after using it to save the woman he loved, Stephen became a horrific mix of human, Runner, and Rex called King Fang. He has lost sight of his nobler aspirations, viewing Kimi as a goddess whom he will gladly live and die for. 

The S-Virus has completely corrupted his mind, and he feeds on human flesh to keep himself alive now. He is classified as a Tyrant by the BSAA and will relentlessly hunt Rosemary throughout the game like Mr. X or Nemesis.

Kiminu Ntumbe, a.k.a: Queen of the Tyrants: 

The first human infected with the S-Virus, Kimi became a monster almost without equal. She maintains a powerful psychic hold on all of her “creations”, and considers them her children. Once a simple microbiologist, Kimi now has ambitions to “improve” mankind using the S-Virus. She plans to combine it with Rose’s mold and let it run rampant throughout humanity.

Kiminu looks human throughout most of the game, until her fight where she reveals herself to be a Raptaur creature with Flier wings and a deadly apatite. 

[royalreef]

@howlout​ inquired: He had waited awhile before finding her; one part a dogged fear and another giving her space. When he does its with caution but with a low apologetic soft whine to tell her of his approach. It was a little muffled; between his teeth was a chew toy of some high grade looking like something that could compete with a tire in toughness but had a smooth and finished contour of good craftsmanship. Name brand. It was nothing grandeur or gold like he’s sure she’s been gifted by birth right and by many admirers but it was the best he could find and get.

Instead of coming up to her he settles feet away with the presented gift between them and ducks low on all fours. It was some kind of omega pack behavior and in some cases, common with family oriented predators too. Head low, ears down and tail thumping lowly behind him.

He’s so sorry and absolutely worried but apologizes not in words. He notices she has a like for play and chewing on things was a favorite thing to do maybe. With her teeth size and jaw strength maybe this A grade toy would do? It’s done werewolves pretty well for many weeks and he can shatter bones in a bite.

But,,,?

      Miranda hadn’t meant to freak out on Scott. The guilt alone was eating her up inside, the sheer thought of how her claws had raked against him, kicked out in such a blind terror. The thrashing of her tail, how it could’ve broken bones, even for Scott, even for her. The need to move, to escape, to get down on all fours and just run and run until she was long gone and safe and nothing could touch her.

     Oh yes, she had just panicked. The weight on her body. The sudden restriction to her arms, her body. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t get away. Trapped. Trapped like a minnow in a net, bound tighter and tighter, her limbs pulled close to her body. The more she breathed, the more it hurt. The more she kicked her tail, the more it landed on dead air.

      She knew what butchery came next. Blades sinking into her flesh. Bullets into her forehead. Shrapnel chopping up her organs from the inside. Explosives to peel flesh from bone and send it flying away in the shockwave. 

      When you hold the crown in your hands, everyone wants you dead. There’s no stopping the constant planning of assassins and moves that you can never see nor witness, those that would peck over her body and loot it for everything she had. Even worse, when her own people were the worst offenders. Who else other than Merkingdom royals had the wealth to offer such weaponry, such unlimited numbers in long-standing games?

      Scott hadn’t meant it. He hadn’t meant to scare her, to send her to that dark place, to make her body react before her mind did.

                                         And yet it happened anyway.

             Body went tense at the skitter of claws, the musty smell of fur. 

                                          Oh no, not because she was angry. Not at all.

      Miranda was just afraid at what Scott had seen. What she had done. Rejection. Bitter, crushing bites, better than she deserved for damaging even a stray fur on his sweet frame. She didn’t like slipping back into those old habits, so far away from the kingdom. Not since she was a freshman had she gotten the two confused, and Spooky High was safe. It was away from the Merkingdom. It was away from her title, and her crown, and all her obligations, where she could be what she wanted. She couldn’t bring it back again. She couldn’t tarnish this little slice of perfection, away from the ocean, away from the shores, where she could just be Miranda, and not the Crown Princess.

      And down she looks, upon him. Sitting back on all fours, a chew toy presented as her gift. Tail low, ears down. 

      She’s not a werewolf. She doesn’t know how to respond in the body language of forests and the call of the moon, paws and packs and far more. 

      She is a mermaid. Her blood sings of the call of the ocean, of songs that can be heard and answered back for miles, of fins and dancing lights in the deepest abyss.

               But there’s enough crossover between the two to get the gist of it.

      Miranda stands there for a moment. Not... Not quite like normal. Her back slants forward, a strange gait, diagonal from the ground. With her arms slung low, claws curling below her in midair, she almost looks saurian. Like a Mesozoic ruler, tail swept back, shoulders lowered. Animalistic. And totally silent, even as she twitches the tips of her fins.

      And slowly, steadily, she leans further down. Until her hands touch the ground, and she too is on all fours. To her hips and back, it’s a welcome relief, and as she slowly walks forward, there’s a comfortableness in the motion that... only now is fully understood to be totally lacking before. 

      She’s a marine predator, made for the ocean. Why would walking bipedally come naturally to her?

      The sound, as it’s first heard, is hard to pin down at first --- but the low, deep thrum, a haunting echo of a sound as much like a siren’s call as anything as it surrounds the two, is clearly coming from her. An eerie, and yet... relaxing sound. A calming sound. A soothing balm onto stressed nerves and made to echo of the deeps, with her relaxed fins and lowering of her own head in a mirror of Scott.

          Forgiveness. A shared guilt, so that they need not drag themselves below the other.

      Forward she padded. The textures on her palms making much more sense now, taking her time in approaching the chewtoy. Quality that she would expect more in a chewtoy made by her own people, one to suit their own needs. How much had it cost Scott? How much could attest to that same type of strength? Could he find toys like this so easily up here? She could afford her own enjoyment. True, she still had such an issue of neglecting it, but she wasn’t about to take it from Scott’s own hands.

      Back she rolled it his way. Not out of rejection nor insult. But he didn’t need to apologize, so she didn’t want to take what was his.

[statecryptids]

SHARLIE- IDAHO

Along the western edge of Idaho lie the remains of an ancient island chain that crashed into North America millions of years ago, driven by the inexorable glide of tectonic plates. Over time geological forces squeezed the land, pushing some sections up and dropping others down- a process known as block faulting- to create a range of low mountains through the land that would one day be called Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

The ice came millions of years later, in the Pleistocene. Great glaciers flowed down from the boreal lands, gouging rounded valleys into the buckled terrain. When the ice eventually retreated, its meltwater filled the valleys. forming deep lakes, often dammed at their southern ends by moraines- huge piles of rock piled up by the grinding of the glaciers. One of these watery bodies is Payette Lake, located in Valley County, Idaho and named after Francois Payette, a French-Canadian trapper who wandered this land in the early 19th century.

Native Americans- including the historical Shoshone, Nez Perce, and Tukudeka peoples- inhabited the area around Payette Lake for thousands of years, usually living along the shore in the summer and migrating to other lands in the winter. European-Americans only arrived in the area around 1862 when veins of gold were discovered. This influx of white settlers soon led to the creation of the town of McCall.

Like numerous lakes throughout North America, Payette is said to be home to an aquatic monster. The creature was first sighted in 1920 by a crew of railroad loggers working on the edge of the lake. At first, the men assumed the long, dark shape floating in the water was merely a log. Much to their surprise, however, this “log” began to bob and undulate before swimming away into the deeper part of the lake.

The mystery beast was sighted again in 1944. This time the witnesses got a better look at the creature, describing it as having a saurian head, camel-like humps and “shell-like” skin. This second sighting brought the monster to national attention, even leading to a mention in the August 1944 issue of Time Magazine. Regular sightings continued over the decades, bringing tourists and monster-hunters to the lake.

At first, the beast was dubbed “Slimy Slim”, but local folks soon decided that their resident monster needed a better moniker. In 1954 a national contest was held to rename the creature. The winning name, “Sharlie”, was sent in by Lesle Hennefer Turry of Springfield, Virginia. The name references a catchphrase of comedian Jack Pearl from a radio and TV show that was popular at the time. The show typically had the same formula each episode. Pearl’s character, Baron Munchausen (based on the infamous German folk hero and grand liar) would relate an increasingly outlandish story to his straight man, Charlie. When Charlie inevitably expressed incredulity, Munchausen would respond: “Ah, well, vas you dere, Charlie?”- which, due to the Baron's thick German accent, came out as “Sharlie”.

As odd as this origin may seem, the Payette Lake beast is far from the only cryptid to owes part of its mythology to pop culture.

The Mothman of Point Pleasant, for example, was named in reference to the 1966 Adam West Batman TV series which was immensely popular around the time that the creature haunted West Virginia.

Another, more recent example of a cryptid whose folklore was shaped by pop culture is the chupacabra of Puerto Rica. The appearance of the beast was originally inspired by the H.R. Giger designed alien Sil from the 1995 movie Species.

Then there is the appearance of Grey aliens- the most widely reported type of extraterrestrial in the past several decades and currently the definitive pop culture image of an “alien”. Their iconic large heads and oval eyes were first described in 1963 by abductee Barney Hill who, while under hypnosis, described an encounter he and his wife Betty had had with the beings two years earlier. It’s thought by some that Barney’s description of the beings may have been inspired by the TV series The Outer Limits- in particular, by the creature from the episode “The Bellero Sheild”, which aired a few nights before Barney first hypnosis session. Prior to this session, the Hills described the creatures as being more humanoid with huge “Jimmy Durante” noses and tight-fitting black caps.

Here I’ve illustrated Sharlie as the classic plesiosaur-type lake monster. This modern creature is significantly changed from its Mesozoic ancestors, the biggest divergence being its swan- or periscope-like neck. Despite pop cultural depictions, prehistoric plesiosaurs did not have flexible necks that they held up out of the water. Their necks were rigid and held straight out in front like a fishing pole. This kept the relatively small head far away from the body, allowing the animal to sneak up on fish and other aquatic prey without the wake of its large body alerting them to its presence. Sharlie and other hypothetical lake monsters, however, have more supple, flexible necks.

Another major modification is the set of humps that are a distinct feature of many lake monsters and a sharp contrast to the smooth, keel-shaped backs of Mesozoic plesiosaurs. Perhaps the humps are for fat storage? That would be a distinct advantage in a lake or other enclosed freshwater environment where food is not always as abundant and consistent as in the open ocean.

For this reconstruction, I have imagined Sharlie as a filter-feeder. In 2015 paleontologist F. Robin O'Keefe redescribed Morturneria seymourensis, a fossil plesiosaur from Antarctica that had rows of thin, needle-like teeth that it had apparently used to strain food like a baleen whale (Mortuneria was originally discovered and named in 1984 by paleontologists Sankar Chatterjee and Bryan Small who had also speculated that the Antarctic plesiosaur was a filter-feeder. But these adaptations were not fully confirmed until 2015). Mortuneria is believed to have fed by gulping mouthfuls of seafloor sediment and straining the mud through its cage of teeth to catch tiny crustaceans, worms, and other burrowing invertebrates- a feeding method similar to that used by modern day gray whales. I thought this would be an intriguing feeding behavoir for Sharlie and other lake plesiosaurs, and could also explain why they are rarely sighted since they would be spending most of their time near the bottom of the lake filtering the sediments.

REFERENCES

An article from the McCall Area Chamber of Commerce about the history of Sharlie

Boise Weekly article Travels With Sharlie

Mysterious Universe article about monsters of Idaho, including Sharlie

An article about Mortuneria seymouria, a filter-feeding plesiosaur

An article about the fascinating geology around the Payette Lake area

Another article about the geology of the Payette Lake area

A clip of Jack Pearl as Baron Munchausen delivering the line "Vas you dere, Sharlie?"

[postrock-instrumental]

Post-rock & Post-metal: The 50 Best Releases of 2018 [THE LARGER SHORTLIST OF ALMOST 300]

This coming Monday, 17th of December, we’ll publish our selection of the 50 best post-rock and post-metal releases to come out of 2018. There were over 700 releases on our original list, which was later narrowed down to a shortlist of nearly 300. The upcoming “50 Best” list was culled from this shortlist of nearly 300 releases, which you can see below if you want to use it for some purpose. If you don’t want to miss the upcoming “50 Best” list, you can follow the links below: facebook.com/postrock.instrumental twitter.com/postrock_music facebook.com/arcticdrones twitter.com/arcticdrones --- FULL LIST 1099 – Blindpassasjer 42DE – Fall Of The Moon A Film In Color – They March In Endless Circles A Storm Of Light – Anthroscene A World In Grayscale – The Process Of Passing Time Aesthesys – Achromata Aikira – Light Cut All You’ve Seen –  Synopsis XVI Anatomy Of The Bear – Alysu Antarte – Isole Antorchas – Aphelion April Rain – To Whom It May Concern Arcadian Waves – Above The Mountains Archelon – Tribe Of Suns Ares One – Optimist Arhios – Arhios Around The World In 80 Days – Dissonance Astodan – Ameratat Astronauta Marinho – Perspecta A-Sun Amissa – Ceremony In The Stillness Augure – Omina Aurora Borealis – Goodbye Autumn Creatures – Funeral Garden   Autumn Moonlight – Passangers Babel Fish – Follow Me When I Leave Baikonur – Nihil Per Saltum Bear The Mammoth – Years Under Glass Below A Silent Sky – A View From Afar Beyond The Event Horizon – Far Blanket – How To Let Go Bound – No Beyond BRUIT – Monolith Built-In Obsolescence – Instar Cataya – Firn Cats Never Die – Stay At Home Cavern – Eater Celestial Wolves – Call Of The Void CEVEO – Jordsand Charus – Mundus Cereris Ciempies – Intérprete Del Espacio Circadian Eyes – A Future Nostalgic City Of The Lost – Master Martin Rescue Cloud Anthems – Areté Coastlands – The Further Still Cold, Cold Heart – Arch Craters – Laurentian Abyss Crippled Black Phoenix – Great Escape Crno Dete – Neponovljivo Crows In The Rain — Ashes Of The Past Culak – Oblivion Dan Caine – Nocturne   Darius – Clôture Dark Matter – The Sovereign Night Darker Shapes – Kavik Dawnlit – True North DDENT – Toro Deafheaven – Ordinary Corrupt Human Love   Degree Of Arc – Raptures Dep – We Are The Lights That Will Not Go Out Des Astres – Des Plans Sur La Comète Dios Trio – II Distant Dream – Your Own Story Doomina – Orenda Doppälgängär – Melencholia Dûrga – De Lira Ire Earthholder – There Will Be A Future Edelveiss – Skull   Efrim Manuel Menuck – Pissing Stars Eigengrau – Radiant El Ten Eleven – Banker’s Hill El Tubo Elástico – Impala Elephant Gym – Underwater Elhombreanormal – La Unión De Distintos Vientos Elizabeth The Last – Elizabeth The Last   Empathy Forever Empty – All Monsters Are Human Encircling Sea – Hearken Epic45 – Through Broken Summer Feed Me To The Waves –  Before This Wilderness Consumes Us FERE – Montedor Feroces – Josephine First Came The Shadow – Premonition Flares –  Allegorhythms Floating In Space – Dreamland Follows – Nyctophile For Dummies – For Dummies Forest Mountain – Prisma Foxhole – Well Kept Thing   From Oceans To Autumn – Leave Me Here Future Usses – The Existential Haunting Gespenst – Oblivion Gift Of Blindness – Wasteland Giraffes? Giraffes! – Memory Lame Girih – Eigengrau   Glasir – New Dark Age God Is An Astronaut – Epitaph Grand Tétras – Abiogenèse Grito – Endless Grottos – Тетис / Tethys H A : Z E – Passage Hæster – All Anchors No Sails Halocraft – Chains For The Sea Hammock – Far Cry 5 Presents: We Will Rise Again (OST) Hammock – Universalis Hauste – Leavings Have The Moskovik – Papier Vinyle Heklaa – 1491 Hesperian Death Horse – Živ Hold Down The Ocean – The Symmetry Of Odd Numbers Holy Fawn – Death Spells Hope The Flowers/Pleiades – Gates To Universe HUEY – MA Human Factor – Let Nature Take Its Course Hundred Year Old Man – Breaching Hyedra – Hyedra I Am No Hero – Cyberpunk   I Am Wolves – ABCD IAH – II   If Only The Trees – Drop The Air Il Giardino Degli Specchi – Oltremare Illus Teller – The Backup Imploding Stars – Riverine Indignu – Umbra Infinite Third – Listen(Ing) Ingrina – Etter Lys Inspirative – Inertia Pt.1 Isles – Remnants Isola – Isola ISON – Andromeda Skyline Jean Jean – Froidepierre Jeffk – Inadequate Shelter Jet Plane – Falls Feather John Malkovitch! – The Irresistible New Cult Of Selenium JYOCHO – A Parallel Universe EP JYOCHO – The Beautiful Cycle Of Terminal Kalte Sonne – Ekumen Kaschalot – Whale Songs KHARA – Heaven Can Wait Khöbalt – The Sky Is Dead Kiova – An End In Motion Lake Of Licks – Blue Lang –  There Is No Reply But Sweet Wind Blew Lasitud – Lasitud Last Of Us – Swarm Le Temps Du Loup – Cardinal Le_Mol – Heads Heads Heads Leech – For Better Or For Worse Legendary Skies – Navigation Leonov – Wake Lights & Motion – Bloom Lobo Estepario – Los Que Bailan En Las Sombras Locktender – Friedrich Locomotora – Vuodet, Vuoret Long Distance Calling – Boundless Longlake – Beyond The Sun Loud Exit – Loud Exit Lowercase Noises – The Ironic Distance Macondø – Macondø Magdalena Gornik – Dream Sequence Collapse Man Mountain – Infinity Mirror Mass Culture – Primal | Ephemeral Massa – Walls Medussa –  LA PALABRA HA MUERTO Mesozoic – Earth Alone Message In A Cloud – Anassa Milanku – Monument Du Non-Être & Mouvement Du Non-Vivant Minsk / Zatokrev – BIGOD Modsdive – Four Wet Hands Moe’s – Smiles & Scars Mogwai – Kin Montaña – Coordenadas Morrow – The Weight Of These Feathers Mountaineer – Passages Movement Of Static – Naegleria Murmure – Nos Idées Fantômes Musatov Brothers – Existential Crisis Nautilus – The Oceanwalker Ninth Moon Black – Amaranthine Noorvik – Noorvik Northerner – Northerner Ocean Districts – Doomtowns   Of Two Minds – Of Two Minds Ohgod – The Great Silence Ok Seas – Ok Seas Old Faith – Old Faith Old Seas Young Mountains – Seasons Once Upon A Winter – .Existence Orellana – 52 Orphans Of Doom – Strange Worlds/Fierce Gods Osorezan – Osorezan OTHRS – Broken Dialogue Paraphon Tree – Aura Pershagen – Tarfala Pijn – Loss Planisphere – Into The Known Prune Deer – Chemistry 化學 Raedsel – A Simple Act Of Redirection Rammen – The Echo & The System Raum Kingdom – Everything & Nothing Reaching 62 F – Chronicles Of A Dying Sun Red Apollo – The Laurels Of Serenity Reformat – The Singularity Respire – Dénouement Riah – Autumnalia Rilf – Three Stories For Numbers RLYR – Actual Existence Rocket Miner – The Long Goodbye Roots And Ruins – Die Right Rostres – Les Corps Flottants Sagor Som Leder Mot Slutet – II Sairen – Neige Nuit Sejd – Ben & Hjärta Set And Setting – Tabula Rasa Seul Ocean – Je Fais Revivre Shadow Universe – Speaking For Clouds Ships Fly Up – Dream Maker Sinistro – Sangue Cassia Six Months Of Sun – Below The Eternal Sky Sky Flying By – (Re)Routed Sleep Dealer – Memories So Far As I Know –  Fragments: Disclosure Sojus3000 – Wanderers Soldat Hans – Es Taut SOM – The Fall Sonance – To Possess You Entirely Sondrous – Something Like Serenity Sons Of Alpha Centauri – Continuum Spurv – Myra Standish Hall – Standish Hall   Startle The Heavens – Canyons Straya – Sobereyed Subnoir – A Long Way From Home Summer Effect – Reverie Sunstare – Eroded   Taller Than The Trees – Hubris EP Talons – We All Know Tangled Thoughts Of Leaving – No Tether The American Dollar – You're Listening The Clouds Will Clear – Recollection Of What Never Was The Fog Ensemble – Throbs The Man Within – The Man Within   The Ocean – Phanerozoic I: Palaeozoic The Sun Burns Bright – Through Dusk, Came The Light There’s A Light – A Long Lost Silence This Will Destroy You – New Others Part One This Will Destroy You – New Others Part Two This World Has Bees – Nearer Those Who Dream By Day – Glad To Be... Tide/Edit – All My Friends Tides Of Man – Every Nothing To Those Who Exist – BAIAME Toe – Our Latest Number Tomorrow We Sail – The Shadows Toundra – Vortex Trees Die Standing – Trees Die Standing Triple Deer – Urban Shepherd Trna – Earthcult Tsima – Koniec Twin Speak – Soulss Umber –  This Earth To Another URO – CABBA! Us, Today – Computant Velns Viņu Zin – Posts Versa – Versa Violet Cold – Sommermorgen Trilogy Vorcha – Liberosis Vy Pole – Like You Say Wang Wen – Invisible City WANHEDA – The Cenozoic Implosion Warm Shelter – Reflections Way Station –  The Way Of Minstrel We Made God – Beyond The Pale We Were Heading North – Lightness Weary Eyes – True North Wess Meets West – A Light Within The Fracture Whale Fall – Sondersongs White Lion Parade – Cloudlines   Widek – Dream Reflection Winter Dust – Sense By Erosion Winterlight – The Longest Sleep Through The Darkest Days World’s End Girlfriend – Meguri Wrekmeister Harmonies – The Alone Rush YNICORNS – Intervals Zommm – Reality Is An Illusion 昴宿 Pleiades – 致未來 For The Future

[musiclover2732]

Throwback to a few months ago when I was watching a mini documentary thing called “Bizarre Dinosaurs” and the paleontologists ended up saying that any weird trait that dinosaurs had was most likely there for mating. All that weird ornamentation was the definition of sexy back in the Mesozoic era. Well that and fighting for dominance and lady dinos. At one point a paleontologist legit said “the T. rex’s tiny arms were made for love” and that statement will haunt me forever, but at least I came up with a cute little meme phrase:

💕 Love is stored in the weird adaptations 💕

[man-creates-dinosaurs]

Stop-Motion/Puppet Brontosaurus and Pterodactyl adult/chick from HOUSE II: THE SECOND STORY (1987, Dir. Ethan Wiley). HOUSE II is a bizarre - and IMHO not particularly good - haunted house movie about two dudes who move into a suburban mansion which, somehow, happens to be built on top of an ancient Mayan Temple. Not only does this lead to the house being haunted by ghosts but it also means that at times different rooms in the house turn into gateways to different eras, including at one point a trip back to the Mesozoic.

The dinosaur and Pterodactyl animation was the work of Mark Sullivan and Randy Dutra. Sullivan is best known as a matte painter but has occasionally worked in stop-motion and can be seen in the photos above. Randy Dutra is a name that may be more familiar to readers of this blog since his other credits includes special-effects work on both Phil Tippett’s short PREHISTORIC BEAST (1985) and the Jurassic Park films.

The Pterodactyl chick was a puppet created by Chris Walas who also made the Gremlins for GREMLINS (1984) and worked with Tippett on DRAGONSLAYER (1981) among many other films.

[hollywoodgothique]

Hollywood Gothique encounters ghosts of the old west at Nightmare in Whiting Woods, along with other spooks in Glendale.

Halloween in the Verdugos doesn’t have much of a ring to it. The region – which includes Glendale, Pasadena, La Cañada Flintridge, Altadena, and La Crescenta-Montrose – is home to several Halloween events, but it has yet to establish a unique haunt identity in the public consciousness, perhaps because Glendale’s proximity to Burbank makes the region seem like part of the more well known San Fernando Valley (even though much of Glendale is in the hills, not the valley). The Verdugos is home to Mountainview Mortuary and Cemetery (staging grounds for the Wicked Lit Halloween Theatre Festival) and Descanso Gardens (location for such colorful pumpkin festivals as Carved and Rise of the Jack O’Lanterns). The region also hosts numerous Halloween home haunts which are every bit as entertaining as, if somewhat less famous than, their San Fernando blood-brothers.

On October 31, 2019, Hollywood Gothique embarked on a Halloween Odyssey to the Verdugos, in order to explore several of these less heralded yard haunts: Nightmare in Whiting Woods, 1400 Halloween Display, Catastrophe Cabin, and others. Though it is too late to visit these haunted houses this year (some were open only on Halloween Night), this information may be a useful reference guide next season.

Verdugos Yard Haunts: The Nightmare in Whiting Woods (walk-through) 413 Whiting Woods, Glendale, 91028 2019 Schedule: Halloween Night, 6-11pm

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Located in the hills of Glendale, far north near the 210 Freeway, this one-night-only yard haunt has kept a low profile during its nearly two decades of operation (which began under the name Nightmare on Vista Court before moving to its current location). Nightmare on Whiting Woods is not on the annual So Cal Haunts list; there is no Facebook page, and the closest thing to an official website has not been updated since August 2013. Online visibility consists of photos exchanged among cast and crew on social media, plus an occasional YouTube video or crowdfunding campaign.

Regardless of staying out of the limelight, the Nightmare in Whiting Woods is extremely popular. On Halloween Night, the narrow, winding road below the haunt is crammed with cars; parking is at a premium; and throngs of costumed trick-or-treaters ascend a steep, narrow pathway up a hill to the property.

The official start time is 6pm, but this means only that sound effects begin to kick in one by one, like an overture building to a symphony of shudders. It is unlikely you will enter before 7pm; nevertheless, it is a good idea to arrive while daylight remains, in order to secure your place before the line spills from the pathway onto into the street below; otherwise, your wait time could exceed an hour.

Is The Nightmare on Whiting Woods worth the wait? Only if you enjoy a superlative walk-through on par with the best Halloween home haunts in Los Angeles.

Whiting Woods’ theme for Halloween 2019 was an old western ghost town. The experience was divided into four sections. First, the wait in line set the mood, taking visitors past a hillside festooned with skeletons, graves, and markers sporting groan-inducing joke names (“Upton Leftus”). Second, the walk-through began on a porch with an ax-wielding woman named Lizzie Borden, leading to the interior of a disreputable establishment, with with ghoulish saloon girls. Third, we emerged into the ghost town itself, where we encountered a variety of creepy characters, including scarecrows and restless corpses. Fourth, we entered an old gold mine, who darkness housed even more hungry ghouls.

Nightmare on Whiting Woods clearly has the square footage to accommodate a substantial haunt, and the different environments were all nicely done. The entire trek lasted about five minutes, but it seemed like more because the haunt contained so much: we expected a brief walk through a haunted saloon; the ghost town and the abandoned mine were unexpected bonus features. There were also some good special effects, including a bar girl turning into a skeleton right before our eyes.

Visitors were allowed to enter in small groups: whether you were front, back, or center, there was a monster available to target you. The scare strategy consisted of having multiple actors, sometimes augmented with mechanical effects, attacking simultaneously from different directions, shattering your comfort zone aggressively and repeatedly. The monsters wore masks or makeup, depending on how visible the lighting conditions made them; some were very impressive, such as the wooden cigar-store Indian that suddenly came to life. Best of all was an enormous skeletal horse, white bones aglow in black light, escaping its coral to trot menacingly in our direction.

Attending Nightmare in Whiting Woods presents difficulty: lines are long, and hours are short. Nevertheless, this is a must-see Halloween event – not quite as elaborate as Rotten Apple 907 or Beware the Dark Realm but easily on par with the other high end yard haunts, such as Murder House Productions.

Verdugos Yard Haunts: Happy Haunts 3552 Prospect Avenue, La Crescenta 2019 Schedule: October 5-31

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  Five minutes north of Nightmare on Whiting Woods was this family-friendly Halloween yard display, loaded with tombstons, artificial Jack O’Lanterns, and inflatable figures of Jack Skellington, Frankenstein, and Yoda. The creepiest figure on view was the demented doll-faced character from Trick R Treat, but we’re sure Yoda could use the Force to keep him at bay, and the smiling ghosts and pumpkins were a welcome invitation to even the most timid trick-or-treaters. Favorite visual: a skeleton taking a bath with soapy “bubbles” lit from beneath the surface.

Verdugos Yard Haunts: 1400 Halloween Display 1400 Andenes Drive, Glendale 2019 Schedule: October 26-27 & Halloween Night, 7:30-10p

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About ten minutes south of Whiting Woods, the 1400 Halloween Display seems to have been a joint effort between father and son, both of whom arranged various decorations and effects on the expansive yard of a large corner house in the hills of Glendale, not too far from Opechee Haunt (more on which below). On Halloween Night, the static displays of mannequins, skeletons, and tombstones were enhanced with a few moving figures, including a pressure-activated jumping spider that sprung when we first set foot on the property. Even better was an imposing figure with a glowering Jack O’Lantern for a cranium, which glowed a hot orange color as he spasmodically thrashed about.

There was lots to see here but spread out over the ample acreage, leaving many possible escape routes, so candy-seekers had little reason to be scared, especially since there were no live monsters.

Much smaller in case, though perhaps slightly creepier, was an unnamed yard haunt across the street…

Verdugos Yard Haunts: Pennywise Haunt (yard display) Andenes Drive, Glendale

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This was a small display, but putting Pennywise on the balcony was a brilliant idea, giving the mechanical figure a platform from which to glower down on approaching candy-grabbers, his raspy voice echoing ominously through the night air. Well done!

Verdugos Yard Haunts: Opechee Haunt (haunted show) 1307 Opechee Way, Glendale 2019 Schedule: October 20, 25-27 & Halloween Night, 7-10p spookyscary.wixsite.com/opecheehaunt

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Less than a minute away from 1400 Halloween, the Opechee Haunt was dazzling audiences with its final show before going on indefinite hiatus. The presentation, Jack’s Halloween JamBOOree! 2, was not only a sequel to 2017’s JamBOOree! but also a continuation of their showcase at Midsummer Scream back in August. Guests in groups of twenty watched a 15 minute pre-show before being escorted to a viewing deck for the main event. Unlike the first JamBOOree! – which was open to viewing from anywhere on the street – this one was more private and intimate. The proprietor wanted to create a theatre-like atmosphere in order to surprises the audience without revealing all the magic, which included a mixed usage of animatronics, lighting, sound effects, and live actors to bring the show to life.

The finale provided a bittersweet moment when Jack and Gus, the main Jack O’Lantern characters bid farewell and adieu. For the general audience, it meant merely the end of the story. For those in the haunt community, it means something more permanent.

-Capsule Comment by Warren So

Verdugos Yard Haunts: Catastrophe Cabin (yard display) 1541 Garden Street, Glendale, 91201 2019 Schedule: Halloween Night, sundown-11pm

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Our next stop was considerably father west than the other Verdugos Haunts – about fifteen minutes on the Glendale and Ventura freeways.

Catastrophe Cabin is a yard haunt that does not feel like a yard – it’s too well disguised by its Halloween overlay. On Halloween Night, its display mimicked a walk-through experience. Bathed in eerie red light, the decor and foliage were so thick they created the illusion of entering a little Halloween world as we trekked up the driveway to a tent where we obtained treats and divination cards revealing mystical secrets about our inner nature. A second, equally packed pathway led to the front porch with a spooky photo op for trick-or-treaters courageous enough to brave masked monsters lurking behind densely arranged props and skeletons.

But that’s not all Garden Street in Glendale had to offer this October 31st. Next door to the left, we stumbled upon…

Verdugos Yard Haunts: Jurassic Island (yard display) Garden Street, Glendale, 91201

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As the name informs you, this yard haunt was home to creatures from the Mesozoic Era, resurrected through genetic engineering. John Williams’ memorable theme music from Jurassic Park filled the air as we approached the treat bowl, which was surrounded by various fierce reptiles, both prehistoric and mythical. Since these were mostly in the form of balloons, they were not too intimidating for youngsters, though a couple of detailed rubber heads were considerably more convincing. With no animatronic dinosaurs, Jurassic Island was more a neighborhood trick-or-treat stop than a travel destination, but it was definitely worth a detour on the way to Catastrophe Cabin.

Bonus points for recreating a famous moment in the film by hanging a toy jeep from a tree.

The Verdugos is also home to Forgotten Hallows in Pasadena and the Garden Path of Doom in Altadena, two yard haunts we did not visit this season.

Photographs by Yuki Tanaka and Warren So.

2019 Halloween Yard Haunts: The Verdugos Hollywood Gothique encounters ghosts of the old west at Nightmare in Whiting Woods, along with other spooks in Glendale.