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Your Paracast Newsletter — March 26, 2017


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
March 26, 2017
www.theparacast.com


H.P. Lovecraft and Magickal Traditions Explored on The Paracast

The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.

SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show and we’d love for you listen to it. So for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast free of network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. We also offer a special RSS feed for easy updates of the latest episodes, the Paracast+ Video Channel, episode transcripts, Special Features, Classic Episodes and there’s more to come! We’ve just begun to add podcasts and videos from Paul Kimball’s “Other Side of Truth.” Check out our new lower rates, starting at just $1.49 per week, plus our “Lifetime” membership and special free eBook offers! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.

This Week's Episode: Gene and Chris present yet another subject we haven’t explored with John L. Steadman, author of “H.P. Lovecraft & the Black Magical Tradition,” which explores “the real black magickal organizations that use Lovecraft’s fictional constructs as a basis for their magickal workings; I argue that such constructs can be used in this manner and that the Lovecraftian entities are just as ontologically ‘real’ as traditional gods, goddesses and demons.” John L. Steadman is a scholar of H. P. Lovecraft and western occultism and has been a magickal practitioner for more than thirty years. He is currently a college English professor at Olivet College in Michigan. And, yes, he has had paranormal encounters over the years.

Chris O’Brien’s Site: http://www.ourstrangeplanet.com/

John L. Steadman’s Site: https://www.johnlsteadman.com/

After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on March 26: Gene and Chris discuss the interview on The Paracast with author John L. Steadman, focusing on the works of H.P. Lovecraft, magick, and horror films. Gene mentions last year’s passing of a cultural icon, monster film TV host, John Zacherle at the age of 98. Chris expresses his hopes for digging out more information from Steadman. In response to Gene’s questions, Chris outlines his own studies of magic and mystical traditions over the years, admitting that he has performed thousands of card readings. Gene asks if there’s a way he can demonstrate those abilities to Paracast listeners, and we explore the possibilities.

Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: http://www.theparacast.com/forum/.

About Some Oddball Characters I’ve Met
By Gene Steinberg

Over the years, I’ve encountered more than my share of eccentrics in my travels in and around the world of the paranormal. These people weren’t violent or necessarily crooked. They were just eccentric.

One of them even became a cultural icon with a loyal fan base.

Let me start with someone who might be the tallest UFO contactee ever — one Alexander McNeil. There’s not much to say about his experiences. All I remember is that he was quite thin and over seven feet tall, and his alleged meet-ups with the UFOnauts didn’t exactly make a big splash in the field. Most of the listings for him online actually point back to the May 13, 2012 episode of The Paracast, where my good friend Bob Zanotti, the show’s staff announcer, presented a few recordings from his 1960’s radio paranormal radio show, one of which featured McNeil.

But perhaps the most outrageous character from the old days was Andy Sinatra, best known as “The Mystic Barber.” Sinatra was a real barber, who worked at a shop in the East New York section of Brooklyn, NY. While I visited him there once, I did not choose to partake of his services. He might have been a skilled hair stylist, but I didn’t want to take any chances considering his temperamental demeanor.

When he was off touting his astral projection experiences through the solar system and to the fourth dimension, he would often wear a weirdly designed tin foil helmet of some sort that was designed to ward off negative vibes from the aliens. On one occasion, he took his act to the entrance of the U.N. building, where he actually received some newspaper coverage.

In case you’re wondering, he did claim to be a distant relative of that “other” Sinatra. His patter was also on display on that Paracast episode.

Then there was John Zacherle.

In the 1950s, he appeared in character roles on a live action western series, broadcast from WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, but he was otherwise a mostly unknown actor until the fates intervened.

So in the mid-1950s, Universal decided to license its crown jewel horror films to local TV stations. These included the original “Dracula,” “Frankenstein,” and “The Mummy,” along with many sequels and several dozen lesser films.

Well, to flesh out the TV shows on which these films would be broadcast, some stations would hire local personalities as horror hosts no doubt to provide some corny comic relief. So Zacherle found himself with a gig hosting “Shock Theater.”

He named himself Roland (with the emphasis on the second syllable), and wore a long black undertaker’s coat. He parted his hair in the center and his face was heavily made up to give the illusion of sunken cheek bones. His main schtick was to insert himself into one of those horror films, often providing his unique brand of humorous patter.

He gained national fame as a sometimes fill-in for Dick Clark, who was hosting “American Bandstand” in Philadelphia in those days. I recall seeing him on occasion doing the Roland routine on national TV variety shows, such as the one hosted by singer Pat Boone. Zacherle even made novelty records, one of which “Dinner with Drac,” became a top 10 hit.

When WCAU was purchased by CBS, Zacherle took his act to the Big Apple, where he joined WABC in New York. His character was renamed “Zacherley,” with the “y” added supposedly to make it easier for fans to pronounce his name.

He even entered the literary world briefly, being listed as editor of two collections of horror fiction published by Ballantine Books in 1960. They were entitled, “Zacherley’s Vulture Stew” and “Zacherley’s Midnight Snacks.” I wouldn’t be surprised if he just had his name attached to those books for the promotional value, since he had no obvious reputation as a writer or editor.

Over the years, Zacherle made public appearances in his crazy costume in and around the New York area, and I actually got to meet him a few times. He seemed gracious enough, and was only too happy to meet his fans, talk about horror films, and sign autographs.

The horror film act grew old after a few years, particularly after TV stations ran out of their limited inventories of those old films. So Zacherle brought his rich baritone voice to radio, where he became one of the more famous progressive rock disk jockeys.

So where’s the paranormal connection?

Well, Jim Moseley, of Saucer News was sometimes confused with Zacherle. Go figure. Yes, it’s true, possibly because they were both tall, thin, somewhat undernourished looking and had resonant baritone voices. Jim actually got to know Zacherle and invited him to appear at one or two of his monthly lecture meetings in New York. Yes, Zacherle wore his horror show getup for those occasions.

Since I worked with Jim in the 1960s, I got to talk with Zacherle a few times. He also had at least a casual interest in the paranormal, so I kept him on my mailing list for Caveat Emptor magazine.

Now as a cult figure, Zacherle got a fairly late start. He was pushing 40 by the time he got the Roland gig. He remained healthy enough to continue to make public appearances even when he was in his mid-90s. Maybe there’s something to be said about that connection to the horror genre, and just having loads of loyal fans who were happy to see “The Cool Ghoul.”

The New York Times interviewed him back in 2015, and, based on the photo they published, he face, without makeup, didn’t seem terribly different from the appearance he made when he was hosting all those horror films back in the 1950s and 1960s.

The other day, I wondered what happened to him, and did a Google search.

Well, John Zacherle died on October 27, 2016, at the tender age of 98. Maybe it was good genes, and I hesitate to suggest that he partook of any of the mysterious acts depicted in the films that he hosted.

Now in the early days, when he was hosting horror film shows in New York, I remember disobeying my parents and staying awake after 11:00 PM so I could watch him in action.

His fans continue to honor him with a web site, http://www.zacherley.com, in case you want to learn more about this fascinating character. You can listen to his one-and-only hit record, “Dinner with Drac,” on YouTube at:
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