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 title theme from the movie Experiment in Terror, featured a drawing of Lon Chaney as a toothy vampire from the "lost" silent horror/mystery film (recently "restored" with still photos, music and title cards on Turner Classic Movies) London After Midnight, while a 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 the same drawing of Lon Chaney's London After Midnight vampire 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.

Last updated November 8, 2022 by George "E-gor" Chastain