Based on the photos that were posted to Facebook, I knew what I was going to be taking a look at... about 100 issues of Weird Tales pulps along with 40 or so Famous Fantastic Mysteries.  I thought to myself before heading into the store on that Monday, that I was thankful he didn't have one particular pulp title or else I would be in trouble! There was one issue in that group of pictures that he posted that looked appealing to me so I figured I would maybe try to get one or two of these if they weren't already claimed.

When I walked in, they were all displayed right there on the counter and what a site that was!

After taking a few pictures (as posted here), I talked to Mike (the store owner) about where and how he acquired these.  As it turns out, the story is almost as fantastic as these issues and I'll get to that in a little bit.  I asked him if any have sold and he promptly informed me that he had received a few 'feeler' offers but nothing was solidified so as of that moment that I was there in the store, they were all available.  He gave me an offer, which I thought was such a deal... the problem was, I didn't have that kind of money available to spend. 

I had brought in a few books to sell or trade and after viewing this wonderful assortment, I knew I would be simply trading as I was just hoping to get a few copies of these books.  What I had brought in equated to about $100 in trade and so I picked out three copies of Weird Tales.  He said he could do the 3 books for $150 but I didn't really want to spend any cash that day so I put one back and ultimately got these two copies...

The January 1948 copy with the yellow underwater theme was the first one that appealed to me when I first saw this lot, in terms of what I could probably afford.  Now the March, 1933 issue, with the nude wolf woman by Brundage was a bit of a surprise.  It's missing the back cover which was why I was able to include that one in this trade.  The books I got rid of were mostly duplicate modern books along with a couple of bronze and silver books.  Nothing of the type of major keys... maybe semi keys.

Anyways, I was very happy with these two pickups but mostly, I was thrilled to finally have a Brundage cover.  I remembered back to when I was lightly getting into collecting pulps, 11 to 12 years ago, that I really wanted to get a nice Brundage book but they all seemed to be priced a bit too high for me back then.

After I left the store, I sent Rob a text showing him the pictures I took along with telling him the price I was offered for the lot.  I think Rob was shocked as well and recognized that it was a heck of a deal!

But... at the end of the day, that was that and I just continued on, happily having been able to see these great books and hear about the incredible story behind them.

...

...

...

You know, sometimes it's not a good idea to carry around pictures of cool things on your phone.

It makes it way too easy to continually think (obsess) about things. 

The next week began as usual... I've been working Tuesday through Saturdays, so Monday was the last day of my 'weekend'.  We had a few family things to do but once I got home, I looked back on those pictures I took of those pulps I had seen just the day before... especially paying attention to the Brundage covers.  I didn't really know much about this individual and so I did some research and once again was faced with another sad and somewhat tragic story.

Margaret Brundage worked primarily in pastels on illustration board for her numerous Weird Tales covers that she illustrated throughout the 1930's and it's been written that she received $90.00 a cover throughout this time period. 

The alluring covers that graced many of these Weird Tales issues were signed M. Brundage, to hide that fact that a woman was producing these controversial covers in the 30's.  There are a number of books out there that celebrate her work and life and I definitely need to find more material to read. 

This short synopsis gives you the basics...

https://chicagology.com/chicagoartists/brundage/

Her story kind of sparked the same reaction in me as did my research on another female comic artist, Janice Valleau and her stories of being a comic book artist in the 1950's.

https://womenincomics.fandom.com/wiki/Janice_Valleau

Anyways, as I looked more into Margaret Brundage's work, I quickly determined that there was one book that I needed to try and get out of that collection of pulps that I had just seen.  There was just one problem though... Mike, the owner of the LCS where these books were at, loves sets and completed sets.  He was quick to point out to me that out of all of those Weird Tales pulps, there was one complete set in terms of every issue from one particular year and the issue that I really wanted, was a part of that set.

And so...

Monday became Tuesday.

Tuesday became Wednesday.

Wednesday became Thursday...

I kept opening up those damn pictures on my phone and finally, I had driven myself nuts. 

There was just way too much here that was pulling at every conceivable heart string that I have as it related to this collection of pulps. 

The only complete set in this collection signified the last year of Mararet Brundage's continual work with Weird Tales... 1938.  Not only that, but there was the story behind where this collection had come from. If the story was true, and I needed to look into that more if possible, this feeling overcame me which started as a nagging curiosity into a manic desire to get a hold of these issues.

Yes, it took me some time to sort through all of the angles of this collection, seemingly appearing out of nowhere into this local comic shop in Central New York, but once I did... it hit me.

This was an original owner collection!

That was it.  That was the final thread that pulled me in and so...

It started with this.

And here we go again...

I have to pour a glass of this amazing Bourbon Rob got me for Christmas to start off this next post and since we're jumping over to 1938, it's only appropriate to start with this...

So once again, at the start of the new year, I found myself at my favorite LCS, looking for a way to dig myself out of a $1500 hole.

Last year was the Batman #11 that I just wrote about and now here I was faced with the goal of securing those 1938 issues of Weird Tales!  When I sent that text to Mike, the shop owner, I mentioned one book that I had for trade and it was one that I had purchased last year on a bit of a speculative thought as well as a small bidding war.  It was a book that I hadn't mentioned here before and not a major key in the least, but  a very nice book nonetheless as it was a CGC graded pedigree (Bowling Green) copy of Green Lantern #21 with the first appearance of Doctor Polaris. 

Under any other circumstance, this was a book that I would not have parted with but I felt that it was a solid entry point into making a deal for these 12 issues of Weird Tales.

Now once I crossed that line, of parting with a book that I would not have sold or traded under any other circumstance, I decided to dig into my collection for a few more raw books like that to add.  So I pulled out my extra copy of Challengers of the Unknown #3... I figured that if Mike was giving me an awesome story on these pulps, I could try to return the favor with an equally awesome story surrounding the Fantastic Four of which he is a fan of.  I also threw in that Canadian Fantastic Four Annual #2 that I got from the boards here along with a bunch of other semi keys including a CGC graded copy of Avengers #43 at a 4.0 and a solid raw VG copy of Marvel Tales #1.

The Man-Thing books consisted of a complete set of the second series...

The one book that you probably can't make out from this picture is a mid grade copy of Avengers #58 and the origin of The Vision.  So yes, there were books in here that I would not have wanted to get rid of, but under this imagined proposition of trading books, I felt like I could easily replace anything here in this photo, except for the Green Lantern #21 pedigree.  Again, the main goal was securing a solid footing into making a deal for those pulps.

I had to work that Saturday but I had placed all of these books in my car so I could head right over to my LCS right afterwards.

Once I was clocked out, I headed right over to see Mike.  I entered the shop and was kind of amused at how his store was absolutely packed with customers, all digging through long boxes, while those O/O pulps sat on the counter!  I had to stall as I felt that there were other customers in there that could've influenced this prospective deal that I was looking to advance.  Well, after about 15 minutes, I decided it was time to talk to Mike about what I had brought.

I'm pretty certain, somewhere in the back of my mind, this tune played...

Right away I told Mike that I had $200 in cash on me to add to these books in trade, which was something I had mentioned to him earlier in the week as well.  He flipped through the books and I commented that the Green Lantern 21 pedigree was a book I had just picked up last year from Comic Connect.  I also explained that it took over a month for the book to arrive after the auction and that I preferred Comiclink auctions over CC.  Once he got to the Challengers of the Unknown #3, I made a comment about how that book has jumped up in value quite a bit and how it had some to do with the CGC labeling.  I basically retold what I had written here in the journal about that book.  He didn't seem to know what I was talking about so he went to look up some graded copies on eBay and then saw what I was talking about.  He thought that was great and I could tell that he really liked that story.  I mentioned that I had another copy in almost the same condition that I was planning on sending in to CGC soon enough.  How I knew that he hooked on to this book was because he mentioned it to another customer who was standing close by... asking him he knew about this book.  This customer, who is about my age, didn't know about it and how it serves as a Fantastic Four prototype issue. 

The customer then said that he would have to go home and check to see if he had that issue and so it seems that the legend of Challengers 3 continues to grow...

As I mentioned in the last post, I gave Mike a great story in turn for the great story behind these Weird Tales pulps!

Now what happened here next was not what I expected at all and it just makes this whole story even better.  I hadn't really figured a dollar amount on the books that I brought in... I just knew that it didn't equate to $1500.  When dealing with Mike in the past, it seems like 30% is just the right number in terms of what he'll trade or buy books at, relative to his resale price.  There have been times with some books where I've made deals at 50% and not thought twice about it as he's given me so many good deals in the past.  So the inevitable question came up as he asked me what I was looking for on the entire lot of books.  I replied by saying something like, "I was afraid you were going to ask that...".  The truth was that I hadn't gone through and looked at FMV (fair market value) or anything else on these books.  So I looked through them and I think he could tell that I was struggling at coming up with a figure.  I finally gave in and just said that I didn't really know what value to place on them as many books have cooled down all across the board.  He acknowledged the same and then he said this to me... "Well David, how much do you have tied up in these books?"  Well that was an easy question to answer but just to make sure I understood his question, I replied, "As in how much did I pay for all of these?"  

He nodded in the affirmative and so after a minute or so of going through the books twice and adding up what I had paid, I told him that it was around $1000.

So he looked at the books and then said, "Well, you gave me $200 in cash, there's a thousand here... so give me $300 whenever you get around to it.", at which point he went over to the stack of 1938 Weird Tales issues and handed them to me.  I looked at him, shocked!  I replied to him by saying,  "Really, you're okay with this?" He smiled and said it was all good.  The other customer that was standing nearby (who had mentioned the Challengers book) could see that I wasn't too sure of this and said to me "Believe me, if Mike wasn't sure about a deal, he wouldn't give it to you." .  He was also a fan of the Weird Tales pulps but had sold his collection years ago.  He said that he really wanted to get some of the issues that Mike had in this lot but was telling himself that he didn't want to go back into that collection niche. 

He then gave me a knowing look and a half smile as if to say that I had gotten a good deal.

I thanked Mike and told him that I would be back next week.  I brought these books out to the car and was absolutely beaming! 

The first thing I did was send Rob a text...

Later that night, I sat down to bag and board each issue as I went through them  I saw that some were obviously in better condition than others but I soon noticed a pattern while examining each book and it was this observation which went further to support the story of where these came from. 

So what's the story?

Well, apparently in a city about 30 miles to the west of here, a 90+ year old man recently passed away.  A cleanout / rubbish removal company was hired to remove the contents of this house and a neighbor happened to talk to one of the employees at the site.  This neighbor noticed a bunch of comics in the dumpster, underneath other items and asked this worker what he was removing.  The guy told him that he was told to dump these old magazines but the worker then told this neighbor that he could have them if he wanted them.  There were 3 boxes in total.  The neighbor took them and brought them into Mike's shop... he was an older customer of his who figured Mike would want them.  Mike offered him a fair price for the lot and the guy was very happy with what he was paid.  Mike still had the boxes of where these were in and the boxes looked pretty old so at the very least, that part of the story held up.

Now for as large as this collection was, around 145 issues, a majority of them had taped spines which at first I thought was indicative of the damage on all of these but as I saw while going through this 1938 set, the tape wasn't there to repair the books, the (now aged and yellowed) tape had been meticulously placed on all of the books as a protective device. A long vertical strip would cover the length of the spine while a small horizontal piece would be placed across the top and bottom of the spine. This was done on all of the books in the set along with many of the others in this whole collection as can be seen by the pictures I took.  This was more evidence for me that this indeed was an original owner collection based on the age of the tape. 

My first instinct was to remove the tape with the methods I had used on the Fantastic Four #6 book that Rob gave me or by simply pulling off the smaller pieces that had dried. But then, it was like someone had placed their hand on my shoulder and I realized that if these books were that important to this fellow who assembled this collection, so much so that he felt the need to protect them with the materials available to him during those days, then I would recognize that and protect them in the same fashion... after all, the damage had already been done in terms of staining.  The last thing I noticed on all of these books was that on each title page, in pencil there were stories that were underlined and / or check marked. 

Might these have been the owners favorite stories or ones that he read?

Obviously, I'll never know for sure but I am in the process of trying to find out exactly who these might've belonged to... I don't think I'll be able to get a definitive answer but I'm trying.  There's another clue to these books that I'll get to in my next post as there's yet another turn to the story of these pulps.

To be continued...
 

For the time being, I'll call this person Tom Traubert.

...

...

He would've been born in 1925 and lived for 97 years.  At the age of 13, in 1938, he discovered Weird Tales : The Unique Magazine.  The combination of alluring covers and supernatural subject matter was intoxicating to a young teenager's mind.  He sought to find back issues but 3 years later, in 1941, he had to set aside his passion for these pulp magazines and turn his attention to the nation's war effort.  He enlisted with the US ARMY after watching a short movie reel at a local theater which told of the atrocities conducted by the Axis forces all across Europe.

Following the war, in 1947, Tom married the nurse who attended to him (Matilda Madison) at the local hospital he was in as he healed from various war wounds he sustained while fighting in the Ardennes Forest at the Battle of the Bulge during the first few days in January of 1945.  In 1948, he opened up a small local grocery store that he and his wife ran for nearly 50 years.

Throughout the years, Tom continued his search for various pulp magazines and would even scour old bookstores in bigger cities, in search of back issues of Weird Tales and his other favorite, Famous Fantastic Mysteries which featured even more amazing stories.  Following the war, Tom also took a fascination with comic books that featured wildly, colorful, costume-clad heroes performing amazing feats of strength with incredible powers.  His two favorite titles were Action Comics and Detective Comics and he managed to assemble a very impressive comic book collection throughout the late 1940's to the 1960's.

In 2000, his wife of 53 years, Matilda Madison Traubert, passed away at the age of 74.

Tom never fully recovered following the death of Matilda and for the next 22 years, he withdrew from society and kept to himself with his one cat and one dog in his home on Grand Ave.  On occasion, he would pour a Bushmills Irish Whiskey and go back to reread through some of these precious books in his collection, stored in bookshelves, reliving fond memories of his youth and achievements. 

Sadly, Tom's comic book collection didn't survive after he passed away in December of 2022 as they were all tossed in a dumpster. 

His collection of pulp magazines, however, now are held by two collectors in a neighboring city 30 miles away...

Now of course, there's a ton of embellishment there with that last post but it might not be too far off from the truth.  I had told Mike that I would see him the next week to make a payment on the amount I owed but I also wanted to go there to get one particular issue of Weird Tales as well as to look through the Famous Fantastic Mysteries which I had neglected as I was so fixated on the Weird Tales collection.  So once again, on Saturday after finishing up with work , I went up to see Mike.  When I entered the store, I immediately noticed that the collection which had taken up a majority of his counter space was now empty.  I thought to myself that he must've boxed them up somewhere and quickly scanned the floor for any boxes.  My heart was starting to sink a little as all I was seeing was long boxes of comics.  Mike, who was with a customer when I first walked in, came over to me and said that all of the pulps had sold.  I was a little shocked but not surprised.  I asked if one person took them all and he said yes.  He explained that the person who bought them all had come in after I initially saw the collection, thought about buying them all at that point but decided to get a few single issues instead.  Apparently, simultaneously, as I was obsessing over this collection, another individual was doing the same thing and was also trying to find a way to secure the collection.  Mike told me that when this person came back in to buy the entire lot, he asked about the 1938 issues... Mike had to tell him that they had sold a few days prior to this day.

I replied to Mike that apparently I was very fortunate to get the issues that I did, when I did.  I told Mike that I was happy for him that he was able to sell every issue and that apparently he got the dollar amount he was looking for from the onset.  Inside, I was a little saddened that I wasn't able to get this one particular issue.  The reason I wanted to get this one copy wasn't because of the cover or the literary works inside... no, as strange as this may sound, it was because of the taped spine.  A few minutes later, I asked who it was that bought the collection.  Mike told me his name but I couldn't picture who that was.  He told me that I would recognize him by face and probably knew him... still, I couldn't come up with anything. 

So I gave Mike a little bit of money and told him that I would stop by once again, the following week.

Later that afternoon, it was bugging me that I couldn't think of who this person was that had bought the entire lot.  All Mike gave me was his first name but I thought  for a second and decided to go back to his original Facebook post from a couple of weeks back.  There on his post, were 10 or so comments including mine.  I scrolled through the names and then saw one name that was tagged which matched.  I followed that to this person's page and then knew who he was.  Seconds later, I was reading his post detailing this amazing collection of pulps that he had just purchased.

Now this person is a local artist and collector and I knew I had purchased some artwork and collectibles of his in the past.  I thought for a moment and then did something I normally don't do... I sent a friend request.

A short time later, he accepted my request and so I decided to introduce myself through a direct message.  I explained that I had been a customer of his and was told his name by Mike at our LCS.  I explained that I had heard that he had purchased all of the collection and congratulated him on that while mentioning that I would've loved to have been able to get the whole collection as well, but couldn't afford it.  He replied with his thanks and asked if I was the one who purchased the 1938 issues.  I responded and also mentioned that there were 2 other issues that I had purchased before those.  I guess he was under the impression that he was the first one to view the collection as he came into the shop on Wednesday, but I explained to him that I actually went there on Monday morning (2 days earlier) after finding out that Mike was going to be in the store for a few hours as he's normally closed on Monday and Tuesday.  He laughed and joked that it was a pleasure to meet me and that he felt like it was good thing to know his competition.

We shared a few more back and forth messages but before we left the discussion, I asked him if he could send me a picture of that one issue that I wanted to get.  I explained to him that I was really trying to find out who this collection might've belonged to and hoped that maybe the spine of that issue could provide a clue.

In return he sent me these pictures.

This October 1931 copy of Weird Tales was most likely purchased at Midtown Magazine &  Book Shop - 1106 Sixth Avenue

Phone number : BR 9-2397 (Not too clear, but that's what it looks like on my phone)

I'm guessing this would be NYC and at first I thought that this was what would become Midtown Comics, but after a little research, that isn't the case.  That address in Manhattan, looks to be the Bank of America building today but I need to go and find some more information. 

It ought to be interesting...

So that's about the end of this story for now... I'm glad to know that Tom's collection is secured between myself and my new Facebook friend.  I told him that I look forward to possibly seeing him at upcoming shows and events where we can maybe share some more stories on this amazing find. 

Cheers...

Prior to the post about my Christmas meetup with Rob, I was going back to 2011 here on the boards, where I was first taking a notice and appreciation of pulps without knowing too much about them.  As I mentioned before, that interest was short lived as after about a year, I sold the few that I had acquired and started to dive into the underwater books.  There was one pulp in particular though, that I hadn't forgotten and when I sold it on the boards here in 2012, eleven years ago, it was a tough decision to part with back then.  Based on my starting asking price, I must've purchased it for $160 from Jeff ( @Theagenes ) in 2011. 

When I originally purchased it, I was just really drawn to that trade dress and cover illustration... it looked so good and the fact that it was from 1932 just added to the mystique!

Now, ultimately I did sell it but I don't remember if I sold it here, eBay or somewhere else. 

I just knew that I didn't have it anymore.

So as I felt the shift occurring in me and this pulp madness taking root, there was that desire, that need to go and find that issue yet again.  And so I did, surprisingly... almost as if it were meant to be reunited with me.  Not the exact same copy but actually, maybe a slight upgrade.  This copy has a little inside tape repair on the lower, bottom corner but not the heavy cover creasing as the earlier copy.  Of course it was now more expensive, about $100 more than the original copy I bought from Jeff, 12 years ago, but well worth it to me.

October, 1932 : Strange Tales

This is the copy I had back in 2011 / 2012 (the colors look more vibrant in this one although it could be the scanner) ...

I needed to have this one back in my collection as it just kind of feels like this one particular pulp sets the foundation and with that one secured away, I could continue on the strange and wonderful journey I was about to embark on.  It definitely feels good to have this one back! 

"One begins to read between the pages of a book. 

The shape of sleepy music, and suddenly you're hooked"

To your health...

Tonight was one like I'll never forget.

I knew I placed myself here for a reason.

I know... all so cryptic.

I've placed myself in 1936 and yes, it was for a reason but one that I'll get to in time.  The past few days, we've been attending to my mother-in-law, born in 1938, who has taken her last few steps on this plane of existence.  It's been a heart wrenching experience and has weighed on me heavily - not to mention how it's affecting my wife as well.

Sometimes, life is not fair.

Doris Day was her favorite musical artist and one of my fondest memories of elementary / grade school was performing "Sentimental Journey" (1945), in front of parents and relatives as part of our music class holiday special in the mid 1970's. 

So this holds special meaning to me and gets to me emotionally. 

So tonight, I'm watching this great game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Kansas City Chiefs, sipping this wonderful Bourbon from Rob but it's all kind of a blur to me right now.

...

...

I had to stop into our antique shop booth earlier today and drop off a few things but while I was there, I had a revelation... that place is my TARDIS and yes, it is bigger on the inside.  While I was there, I actually found a treasure attached to the name of Thomas Riggs in 1974...

I do think we found this place for a reason and it all ties together somehow which I'm sure I'll write about soon enough.

Anyways...

We step up and we step down.

But all the while (and this is excellent advice)...

Watch your step.

Now as for where I'm heading with this journal?

Well, for obvious reasons, I'm staying in 1936 but at times I'll have to jump time lines.. the TVA are wily.

Here's a hint though...

So here's we we end tonight.

I'm sad... I'm angry and I'm confused.

And so, when nothing else makes sense, we all just throw up our arms and say...

So, to tell you the truth... these past few weeks have been brutal. 

For those that have experienced this (I won't go into detail), you know. 

I wouldn't wish this upon any of you.  It'll mess you up... and your TARDIS might not be able to pull you out of this despair. 

So where do I go from here? 

Well, I gave an indication of where I was planning on going but I feel that historical context is so crucial here. 

Maybe now more than ever. 

Perhaps 1936 wasn't the entry point I needed... I think I may have to go back further.

The Dust Bowl sucked.

The Depression sucked.

Magic and Mystery? 

Well that... ... that might be the way to go.

Perhaps that might be why I was so captivated by this series that seemed to end so abruptly.

Now in that clip, you did see a glimpse of 1936, right?!

Just checking.

And this will pretty much summon up these past few weeks for me...

Ruth Etting from 1928.

I really liked that HBO series and yes, I did feel like it was cut short.  If I remember correctly, the budget on that show was very high which probably contributed to its short run. 

Now, how can production costs be so high on a show set during the Great Depression?

These past few posts probably make no kind of sense...

It's been a very difficult time and I now believe that it's only going to get tougher. 

But... I have stories to tell and discoveries to share. 

I thought 1936 was the entry point but I've determined that in order to fully understand this which I was just starting to identify, I do indeed need to go back a bit further.  Perhaps 1928 - 1929... and I'll add another Ruth Etting number to this post to mark the date.

So it's July, 1929 in Syracuse, NY and I just read this in our local paper, referencing the Judson Radio Program Corporation...

“The greatest organization of its kind in radio,” (July 21,1929, issue of the Syracuse Herald).

So I do believe that this is where the gauntlet was laid down and from where this story actually begins.

1929

When print met radio...

Current timeline... 2023.

This story is amazing!

 Decided to do a little sightseeing...

Ok, I started a few posts back by mentioning having to go further back than the mid 30's and into the late 20's, so let's do that.

In 1925, the Goodrich Silvertown Orchestra started airing a weekly, hour long, late night radio program in New York City. 

B.F. Goodrich were the manufacturers of the Silvertown Tires, hence the namesake of their orchestra. 

Listeners of this show were captivated by the the tenor they heard and letters were sent in asking for the name of this man.  Joseph Knecht, who was the musical director of the Goodrich Silvertown Orchestra came up with the idea to keep this individual a mystery, thus increasing the popularity of the show.  From this, The Silver-Masked Tenor was born and would supposedly wear a mask of silver to keep his identity a secret.  This mystery was kept up for 5 years, from 1925 to 1930, before his identity was revealed as being that of Joe White.  This marketing device was wildly successful for the orchestra and over the course of those 5 years, radio listeners would send in money to fund replacement silver masks for their tenor as it was jokingly stated on air that the mask was wearing out.

In my opinion, this was a genius marketing move and it certainly didn't go unnoticed!

So as the 'city folk' were enchanted by this mysterious tenor across the radio waves, nearly 150 miles away, something else was beginning at a magnificent Coal Breaker near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in Luzerne County.

Yes, that says that in 1928, the Glen Alden Coal Company, now operators of the Maxwell Breaker, came up with a marketing device to apply a blue paint to their Anthracite Coal...

Current timeline... 2023.

After a rough week, it's the end of Rob's Bourbon. 

My stories will continue soon enough, but in the mean time, I just feel at this moment that I should end it with this.

"I never picked a fight in my life - or raised a hand to my wife - or saw my children as things to bully..."

RIP, George.

I've never known where this attraction came from but in a twist or irony, perhaps I'm getting closer to understanding it.  For a number of years, I was all over the underwater books but maybe that's not what I was sensing.  Perhaps, it was underground - not underwater.  If I think about it, I might be able to easily explain this underground attraction simply as what I was exposed to throughout the years. 

Mining is in my family history on my father's side from Poland to France.  My grandmother (again, on my father's side) seemed to be well versed in the quality and types of coal to purchase while raising her children in Paris during the 40's.  Now over the course of the past 35 years, I've traveled a well worn path up and down route 81 from Syracuse, NY through Pennsylvania.  I remember first seeing signs and advertising promoting NEPA's (North East Pennsylvania) coal industry and history in the late 80's and taking more than a glancing notice of it.  Much later, in the early 2000's, I would find an area of Pennsylvania that I would frequent weekly for many years.  Right around Frackville, PA. there was a mall (Schuylkill Mall) that always felt to me like it was a time machine back to the mall heydays of the 80's and of course why wouldn't I be attracted to that, right?  I remember one day in particular that the K-mart there (it was an anchor store) saved my butt after my windshield wipers went out in the semi that I was driving. 

Thank goodness for that K-mart and Rain-X! 

Anyways, this mall contained a coal mining 'museum' along with a fantastic antique mall called Black Diamond.  I spent so much time there over the years. Sadly, the antique mall closed in 2016 and the entire mall was demolished in 2018.  One of the aspects of this antique mall that fascinated me was the amount of vintage mining equipment that was showcased throughout along with the anthracite coal trinkets.  I was captivated by that for some reason.  I can't tell you how many Christmas presents and treasures were found here.  Of course there were a couple of comic book booths in there and yes, I found a lot of books that I flipped here on the boards.   

I absolutely loved that place!  It was also a nice safe haven from many winter storms that would pass through that area as some of you may know.

But it wasn't until later in the 2010's that I realized that there was another pull, very close by to this area, that seemed to grab at me and send shock waves through my being. 

Have you heard of Centralia, Pennylvania?

Here...

Here's a nice picture of this quiet town right in the middle of PA's coal cracking region.

Yes, gamers already know about this as this area of Pennsylvania was where the game Silent Hill was based on.

This is Centralia today (same shot)...

I would encourage any history buff or historical enthusiast to travel here with their GPS on.

On all accounts, it is a real life Ghost Town because this is what your AI overlords... I mean GPS will show you...

But then you'll immediately recognize the severity of the catastrophe that occurred here 61 years ago!  The street names still show on your GPS but there's nothing there. 

Just a memory...

You see, 61 years ago, to sum it up, a basic trash burn pit hooked onto a coal vein and even today,that fire is still burning!

Here's a basic run down of Centralia but I would highly recommend this book by David DeKok called fire Underground - The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire...

https://sometimes-interesting.com/ground-is-smoking-in-centralia-pennsylvania/

Pennsylvania is fascinating to me because of this and I think it always has been.

So for all of those years that I had been crossing the heart of their Anthracite region, I never once was able to view their coal dinosaurs in this area.

What are the coal dinosaurs?

Well, I would call these, their two magnificent breakers, named the St. Nicholas Breaker   ...

... and in addition, (ultimately) the Huber Breaker. 

These are their coal dinosaurs.The Huber, most importantly to me.

I kind of hinted at why the (Maxwell) Huber Breaker was so important in my earlier post but why was that?

Well... marketing.

What exactly was the (D.L. & W.) Huber Breaker known for?

Let me tell you.

We were gathered in the front room,
Round the old RCA
For another episode of mystery and suspense...

Intermission...

Bouncing back into 2023 for a brief moment before the TVA can scan a timeline 'blip'. 

It's kind of funny but all the while, it's absolutely appropriate. 

During my get together with Rob (which feels like it was a year ago), he posed a (maybe rhetorical?) question, which I think is going to prove to be prophetic.  We were sitting at our table and I was kind of giving him the backstory to where I thought this journal would take me, when he responded with this...

"I wonder if this is going to change everything?"

Well...

Yes, Rob.

Yes, it has.

Of course at that time I had no idea what state of mind I would be in just a short month later but here we are.

I did say that I decided to bring myself to 1936, right?  Well, I believe that I've succeeded in that venture based on my latest purchase. 

More on that later...

Anyways, I just wanted to take this time to talk about this amazing Robbie Robertson album that was released in 2019, right before TheEndofTheWorld, or blip, that I said I would refer to it as.  Perhaps this was the seed that was planted in my mind three years ago when I first heard it?  I'm not sure about that but I have to share why this album is so essential to my state of mind at this point in 2023. 

(I have to get this out quick, the TVA are sure to pinpoint my location.)

Released in 2019, this song is from 'Sinematic', which I would rank as tied with his 1991 'Storyville' album... to me, it's that good. 

Now of course there's another aspect to this, which I fully revealed before a quick edit, which only strengthens my attraction to this album but that will be discussed in time.

This song formed the title to his documentary on his time with The Band and I would encourage any musical enthusiast to watch it!

And so, here we are, mere moments before I slip the timelines again and fall (safely) back into the 30's.

The title song to this documentary...

And finally, here's my favorite song of theirs from them but with a twist... sorry, no M. Night here. 

This is The Weight as performed by The Band and then as performed by Robbie with accompanying global musicians (in 2020?).

Ok... got to get out now.

Back to 1936.

Before the crime was committed.

So... what was the Crime that was Committed and how does it relate to the Huber Breaker?!

This has to be the next episode...

2023.

I feel like I'm getting there... the past couple of weeks have been rough, like I stated before but there is an interesting side note to all of this which I'll be able to reveal soon enough. It was through a recent purchase, which kind of illuminated that for me.

Life is strange.

You know, I was just saying this to family member earlier...

The older you get, you start to understand death better and I believe that's because as you age, you understand life better.

Goodnight, Carol...

Rest in Peace.

In the 1930's and 1940's, it was fairly common for businesses to advertise on ink blotters. 

These blotters were used to absorb excess ink from fountain pens but with the arrival of the ballpoint pen in the 1950's, blotters started to become unnecessary.

Speaking of advertising...

For just under $100, this 1936 RCA Victor T10 looks like a good deal.