Free Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting by W. Scott Poole

 
     
 
     
“With Monsters in America , W. Scott Poole has given us a guidebook for a journey into nightmare territory. Insightful and brilliant!”
     
— Jonathan Maberry , New York Times bestselling author
of Patient Zero and Dead of Night
     

MONSTERS IN AMERICA
     
OUR HISTORICAL OBSESSION WITH THE HIDEOUS AND THE HAUNTING
     
W. Scott Poole
     
BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PRESS
     

    © 2011 by Baylor University Press
    Waco, Texas 76798-7363
    All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing of Baylor University Press.
     
    Cover Design by Natalya Balnova
    Cover Image © Jim Zuckerman/Corbis
     
      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
    Poole, W. Scott, 1971–
    Monsters in America : our historical obsession with the hideous and the haunting / W. Scott Poole.
    295 p. cm.
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    ISBN 978-1-60258-314-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
    1. Monsters. 2. Ghosts. 3. Ghouls and ogres. 4. Animals, Mythical. 5. Supernatural. 6. Popular culture--United States--History. I. Title.
    GR825.P626 2011
    398.24’54--dc22
            2010053273
     
    Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper with a minimum of 30% pcw recycled content.

     
     
     
Dedicated to Niamh Margaret Carmichael
Who is already learning that monsters are sometimes just shy creatures.

     
     
     
I don’t see any American dream. I see an American nightmare.
—Malcolm X
     
     
     
It’s a perfect night for mystery and horror. The air itself is filled with monsters.
—Elsa Lanchester, The Bride of Frankenstein
     

CONTENTS
     
    List of Photographs
    Acknowledgments
    Preface
    With a Warning to the Unsuspecting Reader
    Introduction
    The Bloody Chords of Memory
    1   Monstrous Beginnings
    2   Goth Americana
    3   Weird Science
    4   Alien Invasions
    5   Deviant Bodies
    6   Haunted Houses
    7   Undead Americans
    Epilogue
    Worse Things Waiting
    Filmography
    A Note on Sources
    Notes
    Index

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
     
    S ometime around the age of eight, my parents banned me from watching Shock Theatre on Saturday afternoons. Shock Theatre brought the black-and-white “famous monsters” of the 1930s and 1940s into the lives of the kids of the 1970s. It also gave me a strange combination of hallucinatory nightmares and intense fascination only matched by my near-religious hysteria over the recent 1977 release of Star Wars.
    Their ban did not last, as evidenced by the endless stream of comic books, TV shows, and movies that soon came into my life. I appreciate my parents’ sometimes-harassed patience and hope this book helps them to understand why these things matter not only to me but also to the culture in which we live. I sincerely thank them for their unflagging pride in me, even when my work and interests go places they do not always understand.
    I’ve become a fanboy of Baylor University Press. I would especially like to thank Carey Newman for his unfailing support and indefatigable enthusiasm for the project. Seldom have I had an editor take such a personal interest in a project, including reading and commenting on early drafts. I also very much appreciate the work of Jennifer Hunt, whose helpful, detailed e-mails regarding the book’s production and design answered my concerns and helped prompt new ideas for photographs and images. Thanks to Diane Smith who quickly and helpfully dealt with all my questions and concerns about matters editorial.
    Numerous friends and colleagues take an avid interest in my work and have expressed excitement about this project. I would like especially to thank Cara Delay. Cara took time out from her own work on nineteenth-century women’s history to discuss this book with me and read some of the later chapters. Her friendship provides much needed workaday encouragement.