Faces of Fear: Vampires

Tonight we debut a brand new feature here in The Vault of Horror, in which we will spotlight various distinguished denizens of our nightmares. For our first edition, we take a look at what is perhaps horror's most iconic monster of all...

 

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A Haunted Day in Connecticut...

A while back, in preparation for Halloween, I decided it would be a capital idea to make my own little “haunted tour” of my local surroundings in Connecticut. Add to the fact that my daughter Zombelina is extremely fascinated by all manner of hauntings and paranormal phenomena (no surprise there), and it really seemed like an obvious thing to do during the Halloween season. So Captain Cruella and I packed up the little ones and made our ghostly pilgrimage.

I selected as our two primary locations, two of the most notorious haunted spots in the entire state: Union Cemetery in Easton and the Remington Arms factory in Bridgeport. It was quite a chilling experience, and the resulting images turned out to be very striking. In fact, the reaction I got from initially posting them to social media led me to (finally_ bring them right here, where they can be enjoyed by all you fine Vault dwellers.

So please proceed, and follow our exploits from that day, if you will…

A portion of the ominous Remington Arms munitions factory on Barnum Ave. in Bridgeport, our first stop...

The fearless Captain ventures down into the factory. I soon followed, and heard some honest-to-goodness footsteps... This, along with the prompt arrival of the Bridgeport PD, led to our hasty departure to a safe distance.

More of the inside, as seen from the street. The factory was run by Remington until 1988, when it was closed down after a series of mysterious deaths. G.E. has since purchases the property and has been planning to tear it all down for years.

See something in there? Yeah, I wasn't sure either. Besides, the decidedly foul neighborhood in which this factory is located left little time for careful inspection.

Although closed off to the public, this doorway seemed to have been forced open, no doubt by some reckless teenagers looking for a spooky time.

Travel Channels' Ghost Adventures show did an episode here at the factory back in 2009, and apparently found "conclusive evidence" of paranormal activity. The footsteps I heard, admittedly, could not be found to have been made by anyone else at the site...

Another view of the vast Remington Arms campus, made up of several buildings in various states of gross disrepair.

Farewell, Remington Arms! And really, is anyone going to check out that tag sale..?

Next, we made the trek through Fairfield, up Route 59 to the posh town of Easton. There we came to Union Cemetery, home of the notorious "White Lady".

Many of the graves here date back to the 17th century. They're largely worn away by weather erosion, but much of the 18th century stones, like this one, still stand.

A closeup of one of the 18th century stones, showing the angelic iconography common to grave markers of the era.

This tree stump shows just how old the place is. And although we caught no sight of the White Lady, we eventually had out fill of the cemetery's general creepiness. The start of a cold drizzle also motivated to head back into the warmth and safety of the car...

There you have it—just a taste of our experiences that day. I’ll never forget those footsteps I heard, nor the very eerie presences palpable at both locations. All in all, I’d call our “Haunted Day” a success, and the perfect prelude to a generally smashing Halloween season!

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Nosferatu at 90: The Many Faces of Count Orlock!

Remember, kids! For more Nosferatu action, come to Bridgeport's Bijou Theatre on Thursday, November 15 and catch the original film as part of "The Count Begins", a BEDLAM AT THE BIJOU double feature also featuring the 1931 Universal Dracula...

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The Many Faces of George Romero's Zombies

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The Many Faces of Hammer Horror

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