The Creature's Poems
The Creature's Poems
"The Creature" was the disembodied (voice-over) host
of the Creature Features horror movie showcase on
WGN-TV, Channel 9 (Chicago, Illinois) in the
late 1960's through the early 1970's.
The show opening, under Henry Mancini's haunting harpsichord theme
from the movie Experiment in Terror (tune has same name),
featured a drawing of Lon Chaney as a toothy vampire
from the (apparently lost) silent film London After Midnight,
while station announcer read the following poem in
a scary falsetto voice:
Gruesome ghouls and grisly ghosts,
Wretched souls and cursed hosts.
Vampires bite and villains creep,
Demons scream and shadows sleep.
Blood runs cold in every man,
Fog rolls in and coffins slam.
Mortals quake and full moon rise,
Creatures haunt and terrorize.
The poem was printed on a promotional card for the show
which was reproduced
with a brief description of show in issue #3 of Scary
Monsters magazine, p. 9.
The card is illustrated with a drawing of Lon Chaney's
London After Midnight vampire, no doubt the same
one used on the show, and also contains this message
to fans from "The Creature":
Greetings from your Gruesome Ghoul!
I'm glad you took the time to write.
I read your letter every night.
My other friends all thank you too,
but no pictures can we send to you.
And now to fill your heart with glee,
this photo of old scary me!
The Creature.
Go back to Monster Bash Home Page
Last revised March 11, 1997
Address: u0e53@wvnvm.wvnet.edu