The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory manufactured women’s blouses, which were then called ’shirtwaists’. It was located on the eight, ninth and tenth floors of the Asch Builing, built in 1900-1901, which was located in New York City. The company was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris and had been in business since 1900, after the two Russian immigrants met and started the company together. They grew so quickly that soon after they moved into the ninth floor of the brand new Asch building. Later they would expand into the 8th and 10th floors. It was soon one of the largest blouse makers in the city and made the two men very rich. However, they made their money by exploiting their workers.

    There were about 500 employees who worked for the company and most of them were immigrant women. Some of them were as young as 13 or 14 years old! In 1911 a general strike by all of the shirtwaist workers in New York City resulted in better working conditions and pay, that is except for those who worked at the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Blanck and Harris refused to broker a deal so the workers had to work six day work weeks, often for over nine hours a day. They didn’t get any raises like other workers did and their working conditions were still very poor.

    On March the 25th in 1911 at around 4:30pm, as the workers were collecting their meager checks and about to leave work for the day, a small fire was noticed on the 8th floor in a waste bin. Several workers attempted to put it out with water but it spread quickly. Since there were literally tons of flammable material about they were all doomed. A bookkeeper on that floor had time to telephone the 10th floor and tell them to run for their lives but there was no way to contact the 9th floor, since the building did not have an alarm system. So, the people on the 9th floor did not know that the fire was coming until it entered there. There were several ways of escape: two freight elevators, a fire escape and two stairways that went down to Greene Street and Washington Square. The elevators managed to rescue people three different times before they stopped working and others escaped by taking the Greene Street stairs to the roof. This was how the two owners managed to escape death by the way.

     Things started to go terribly wrong. First, the door which lead to the Washington Square stairs was locked on the inside so nobody could escape that way. this lead to a very large crowd of people trying to escape by taking the steel fire escape. It had been poorly constructed and it is thought that is was broken even before the fire started. The weight of all of the people caused it to collapse, sending people one hundred feet down to their death on the pavement below.  Once that was gone all people could do was open the windows and jump to their deaths to avoid being burned by the fire. Firetruck ladders couldn’t reach them so they really had no choice. Over 60 people died in this fashion and it was all witnessed by the crowd of horrified onlookers who had gathered to watch.

    That day 146 people died. Their families, and the public, were outraged that such a disaster was allowed to happen. I saw ‘allowed’ because the owners would regularly lock the stairway doors to supposedly prevent theft. Nine months after the fire both Blanck and Harris were found not guilty by a jury for knowing about this. So, in other words they were totally left off the hook for all of the people who died. Many of the families ended up suing them in civil court and they agreed to pay$75.00 for every person who died. In 1913 Blankc was fined $20.00 for locking the stairway doors once again in his factory during working hours. This tragic event caused fire laws to change and started even more tough regulations when it comes to working conditions. The building is now known as the Brown Building Of Science and is owned by New York University.

Bloofer Lady

    This is a list of places that I think would be nifty to live in. You may not share my opinion about them but by golly Bloofer Lady likes them.

    NORWICH STATE HOSPITAL, CONNECTICUT

    This very peachy-keen looking place is located in Preston, Connecticut and was opened in 1904. Soon after the administrators realized that conditions were becoming overcrowded so they added five more buildings by 1907. Over the years they built over twenty buildings on the 100 acre property but not all of them were used. As a new one opened another would be emptied and abandoned. It was closed in 1996 and now stands empty. Since that is the case why can’t I go move there? There is plenty of space for my things and I would never be bored because I would be surrounded by such fun things as a bowling alley and an auditorium! I could even visit the rooms where they used to duck patients into cold water, or the ones in which they would give them lobotomies. The opportunities are endless!

    THE PANTHEON

    Please do not confuse this beautiful ancient temple with the Partheon, because it actually has a roof and is located in Rome. The original was built in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa but over the next several decades afterwards it burnt down a few times and kept on getting rebuilt. The version we see now was built under the reign of Emperor Hadrian in around 136 AD. It was originally a temple dedicated to all of the Roman gods, until it was consecrated as a church in the 7th century. This building is just so beautiful that Bloofer Lady would have the vapors if she had a chance to live in it. There is one problem though would be the oculus on the top of the dome which lets in light and rain. There is a drainage system in the building to deal with it, but I would have to either camp out on the edge of the interior or come up with some sort of elaborate tarp covering. I’m very creative so I am sure I could think of something!

    THE BRITISH MUSEUM

    The British Museum was started in 1753 and over the years it has expanded into one of the largest museums of its kind in the world. I can hear some people wondering what is so spooky about this place? MUMMIES! There are not one but two rooms dedicated to Egyptian mummies! I wouldn’t sleep in that room in particular because that would be just a little creepy, but I would frequent it quite often and make sure it is dusted on a regular basis. Where would I sleep then? Golly, I’m not too sure since this place is so damn huge! Maybe in one of the ancient Roman artifact rooms since they were so nifty!

    THE TOWER OF LONDON

    The White Tower, the first building on the site was constructed by William The Conqueror in 1078. It developed into a fortress of multiple buildings that has been a royal residence. a prison, an armory and various other things over time. Most of all it has been a place of execution for people such as Anne Boleyn. I have actually been here and I swear the hairs on the back of my neck were raised the entire time I visited. If I could live there I would pick the The Queen’s House which is in the same spot where poor Boleyn was held. The actual building she was held in has been gone for over 500 years but by golly it would be a very spooky experience, wouldn’t it just?

    MOUNTAIN VIEW CEMETERY, OAKLAND

    This is Bloofer Lady’s favorite cemetery in the whole wide world and I used to go there on a fairly regular basis when I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was designed in 1863 by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Central Park and Golden Gate Park. It is a garden style cemetery with lots of paths, old trees and really creepy mausoleums. My favorite area in the whole place is in the photo shown below. It is a line of hillside vaults with iron doors and right inside each entrance are stone benches that you can sit on and take in the atmosphere. They look like something straight out of a Hammer film, especially when the ivy is growing a bit wild. In this cemetery the workers don’t care if you picnic or anything like that so I could quite easily live in one of those really nifty crypts.

Bloofer Lady

    Here is my article on the Wolfman vs. the Mummy on Horror Movie Empire.

Bloofer Lady

    In the year 1900 San Francisco outlawed the construction of new cemeteries due to it being situated on the end of a peninsula and having no room to grow. During the ‘old west’ days bodies quite frequently weren’t even buried in cemeteries there, rather people would just dig a hole into the sand dunes that covered much of the city and throw coffins into them leaving no markers behind. Then in 1912 another law kicked out all of the cemeteries out of San Francisco so that the land that they were on could be used for building homes. The only ones allowed to remain were the ones in Mission Delores, because it was historic and started in the late 1700’s, and the one in the then military base of The Presidio. All the rest of the bodies located in the city, over 200,000, were moved over a period of about 40 years to the cemeteries of Colma.

    Colma is located just south of San Francisco in the county of San Mateo and contains over 17 cemeteries. There are over 1.5 million people buried within it’s city limits and less than 2.000 live people reside there. That’s what I call spooky! It was originally called Lawndale and incorporated in 1924, but changed it’s name in 1941 to Colma when it was discovered that there was already a town with the same name in another part of the state. Many of the people who lived there over the years were employed by the various cemeteries, but over time retail stores and card casinos have crept in fighting for what little space remained.

    The dead from San Francisco were primarily buried in Cypress Lawn Memorial Park and Woodlawn Memorial Park. The rest were moved to the many smaller cemeteries in Colma. Bloofer Lady has been to Colma many, many times and she can honestly say that it is one of the most depressing areas that she has ever visited. Okay, cemeteries aren’t happy places to begin with, but there is an overwhelming feeling of sorrow here that I have never gotten from any of the other cemeteries that I have been to. One time I even went to one  in the middle of the night and talk about unsettling. I think the hair on the back of my neck stood on end the entire time I was there!

    A creepy fact to note is that not all of the bodies from the cemeteries that were supposedly moved were ever dug up. Underneath the Legion Of  Honor museum in the Richmond District  the mummified remains of bodies in their caskets were discovered when the building was being earthquake retrofitted. It is believed that there are over 10,000 bodies underneath the Lincoln Park Golf course and also in Golden Gate Park. From time to time somebody still discovers a coffin while enjoying  a picnic lunch there. How very peachy-keen!

Bloofer Lady

    When people think of evil and horrific Roman emperors they automatically think of Caligula, but in my opinion I find Nero to be just as bad or even worse than his infamous uncle. Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was born in 37 AD and was the last of the five Roman emperors to be born of the Julio-Claudian clan. He inherited the title from his great uncle Claudius, who had adopted him to become heir upon his death. It has been heavily rumored throughout history that it was Nero’s mother, Agrippina, who poisoned Claudius with mushrooms so that a 16 year old Nero could become emperor all the sooner in 54 AD. With such a start like that to his rule as Emperor of the Roman Empire is it any wonder that he turned into such a psycho?

    Nero’s mother was attempting to become the power behind her son and when Nero went against her wishes one particular time she actually attempted to have his step brother Britannicus made Emperor in his place. Before any steps could be taken Britannicus was poisoned and many historians feel that Nero was behind it. After that episode he got sick of his mother and kicked her out of the palace. That was not enough for him though! He then attempted to kill his mother by sabotaging her small boat and having her drown in the bargain. That didn’t work so he then had her executed. If that isn’t showing love for your mother then I don’t know what is!

    After he was done with his mother he started to push his advisers aside and his rule started to become more and more despotic. In 64 AD a great fire burned most of Rome and when it was over Nero decided that he wanted to build what was later to be called The Golden Palace on anywhere from 100-300 acres. This not only pushed a lot of people out of Rome, and made them resent him for being a megalomaniac, it also branded him as extravagant and a wastrel. You see, the Golden Palace was only a ‘party’ house and didn’t contain a single bedroom in the 300 room building! Well, the Roman people started to blame Nero for setting the fire so that he could build the place. So Nero, who needed the support of the people, decided to blame the Christians instead. Nobody for sure knows who really started the fire but by golly Nero wasn’t going to let those pesky Christians get away with it!

    Some claim that Nero not only killed Christians because of the fires, but also because he felt that Christians were a superstitious lot that would bring down the Empire with their evil way of thinking. He ordered some to be sewn into the skins of dogs and then had them pulled apart alive by lions and such. Others were tied to crosses on the premises of The Golden Palace, covered in pitch and then set on fire to serve as torches at night. Some were just more simply crucified, which after hearing about the other ways they were put to death sounds kind of peaceful, doesn’t it?

    Oh, there is yet worse to come! Nero banished and divorced his first wife Octavia because he claimed that she was infertile. The people of Rome loved her though so he was pressured to allow her to return. When she did he immediately had her executed. Next, he married his lover Poppea, who in 65 AD he kicked to death while she was heavily pregnant with his own child because she complained about him coming home late from some chariot races. Some historians don’t believe that he did that to her, but considering how crazy he was becoming I doubt he was a loving and perfect husband! It was also around this time that Nero made one of his advisers, the famous philosopher Seneca, kill himself because he thought he was plotting to kill him.

    In 68 AD the head of the Praetorian Guard, Gaius Sabinus, started to support a new contender to the throne named Galba and this was Nero’s death knell. The Praetorians were the personal guards of the Emperor and without their support he might as well be dead. All of his extravagances, and crazed persecution complex, had finally gotten the better of him and he was abandoned by everybody. While he was still in Rome in his palace he shouted for somebody to kill him and nobody was around at all to hear his cries. You know things are bad when that happens! Then somebody offered Nero the use of a villa that was located outside of Rome. With four servants he arrived there, and not long afterwards a messenger arrived to tell give him a report that the Senate had declared him an enemy of the state and that he was to return to Rome so that he could be beaten to death. During the time of ancient Rome is was quite common for condemned aristocrats to commit suicide because that was though of as an honorable way to go. Well, Nero was a chicken and not that honorable! Only the sound of approaching hooves cause Nero to finally stab himself in the throat and end his reign of terror!

Bloofer Lady

    I love Christopher Lee! He is the only great horror genre actor to still be gracing us with his presence and at the age of 87 the man is still accepting roles and acting his little heart out. The man is multi-talented I tell ya!

    He sings songs about drinking and is surrounded by dancing women!

    He fights Yoda as Count Dooku!

    He IS Dracula!!!

    He plays the evil Comte de Rochefort in the comedy The Three Musketeers(1973)!

    He’s even coming out with an orchestral metal album about Emperor Charlemagne, who he is bad ass enough to be descended from!

    Those are some of the reasons why I think that Christopher Lee is peachy-keen!

Bloofer Lady

All Saints Church

Location: Bishops Park, London SW6 3LA

    All Saints Church was used in the infamous Father Brennan impalement scene in the original The Omen. There is documentation of a church being on this site since the 12th century, but the vast majority of the church as it stands today was built in 1880. Only the tower, which was built in 1440, is old. Our Father Brennan is seen running through Bishop’s Park, which is right next to the church, and then we see the poor man try to open the doors but they are locked. We all know what happens next right? Being impaled with a lightening rod must hurt like the dickens I tell you! The next time Bloofer Lady visits London she is going to make a trek to this location because it seems too spooky to miss!

Bloofer Lady

    Here are my reviews for Delirium and House Of Mortal Sin that I have just put up on Horror Movie Empire. Hooray for European films!

Bloofer Lady

    It wasn’t very easy being a Victorian. It really wasn’t! You were faced with all sorts of real life horrors that you had to deal with on a daily basis. I dare say that some of the things they witnessed would put the most gory horror film to shame. There were scarier things lurking about than Dracula and Mr. Hyde, that’s for certain! I would like to visit that era but I wouldn’t want to live there!

    INFANT MORTALITY AND THE DANGERS OF CHILDBIRTH

    The main reason why Victorian families were often large was because of the fact that three out of ten babies died before their first birthday, not to mention all of the children that died from diseases such as diphtheria, measles, chicken pox and even simple diarrhea. During early Victorian times half of all deaths were of children under the age of five. It’s a wonder than any of us are here now! If you were a woman you had a one in ten chance of dying in childbirth. Sanitation wasn’t like it is now and doctors would often insert dirty hands into the womb to pull a baby or afterbirth out causing infections that couldn’t be treated. Even if you were lucky to live through childhood the chances were good that you would be a poor little motherless thing straight out of a novel by Dickens.

    HORRIFIC LIVING CONDITIONS

    The Industrial Age brought along with it masses of people migrating to the city centers in order to find work. Once they arrived there they found not only a shortage of jobs but a shortage of housing. For example the population grew so rapidly in London that people rented single rooms for their entire families. Often those people would be out of work so they would even rent out corners of the room to other people so that they wouldn’t be evicted. There are cases of THIRTY people living in one room. Not only was their a lack of privacy there was a lack of sanitation. Often old Elizabethan and Georgian houses would be so subdivided that there were rooms that had no windows or fresh air, causing respiratory illnesses to take hold. Also, sanitation was non existent. People would throw their excrement out into the street, polluting water sources which in turn caused death from diseases such as cholera.

    PROSTITUTE OR WIFE

    If you were a Victorian woman you had one of two choices; become a wife or a prostitute. It was pretty much that black and white. Women who were working class and and had jobs in factories or shops frequently did not make enough money to support themselves so they would prostitute themselves on the streets to make some extra cash. This happened mostly to poor women in their early 20’s who were kicked out of the family home because they were too old to support and it was a transition before they usually ended up marrying. Middle Class and upper class women were expected to marry and have a brood of children, which as mentioned earlier, often resulted in the woman dying in childbirth. So you could enter a marriage in which you had no legal control over you life or have more control over your life and screw dirty men. Not much of a choice I’d say! 

    DANGEROUS WORKING CONDITIONS

    Even if you were lucky enough to find a job during the Victorian Era chances were that your working conditions would be deplorable. You were made to work quite often for over 12 hours a day with only Sundays off. There were no enforceable labor laws so frequently you would only get one break for lunch during that whole time. Pay was so low that even if you were a manual laborer you would be lucky to be able to support your growing family. Then there was the whole aspect of child labor. Children were expected to work to help support the family and they were quite frequently killed or maimed during their jobs, especially when they worked around mechanical equipment such as the giant weaving looms that worked nonstop. They would crawl under them while they were going to pick up spare pieces of yarn and then get crushed by the moving machinery if they weren’t fast enough.

Bloofer Lady

    Lee Harwell always wondered what happened to a group of his friends on October the 16th in 1966 that caused all of them to change so radically afterwards. His journey to find out the answers to his questions has many twists and turns and in the end he discovers things that he could have never guessed at.

    BlooferLady wanted to like A Dark Matter so very badly, but even though it is very beautifully written style wise  it meanders so much from its intended path that I had a very hard time finishing it. The plot itself is very interesting, because I easily got caught up in wondering what exactly happened that faithful day to his friends, but I soon lost interest due to where else the book took me. We travel with Harwell as he goes from place to place and person to person trying to figure out everything and get the real story about what happened, but inbetween these glimpses into the minds of his long lost friends we are taken on side trips that really don’t have anything to do with the plot. They serve no purpose in moving the story forward, and instead make it stagnate to the point in which it makes it very difficult to reach the end of each chapter. In other words all of the additional subplots hurt and hinder the story greatly.

    The characters themselves seem kind of empty and flat to me, especially that of Eel who ends up being perhaps the most important figure in the entire story. She is supposed to be loved by all of those who know her, but what is there to love? She comes across as a very cold person that I personally would have a hard time getting to know if she existed in real life. I don’t feel any warmth from her actions, nor from the dialogue that she is given. She is married to Harwell, and I find it very, very difficult to believe that he loves her so much as to stay with her even though she refuses to tell him, for over twenty years, about what happened in that meadow. If you are married to somebody that you really love wouldn’t you tell them about you traumatic experiences, especially one in which caused you to go blind eventually? Her actions make no sense to me at all, so her character seems very unbelievable. As I said before all of the friends end up changing because of their shared experience and I can appreciate the fact that Straub did this, because in order for the event to be deemed horrific enough by the audience the characters had go through some sort of metamorphosis. However, since the characters seem kind of listless, these changes don’t matter as much to me that they could of if these people had more depth to them in the first place.

    As I said, style wise it is very beautifully written. I have no problems with the prose or how it is constructed. It seems out of place with the story itself though. Since I find the story to be weak, the prose seems a little hyperbolic for it. In other words, there is much more style than substance going on here. The only time that the two coalesce enough for me is at the end of the book when we finally find out Eel’s version of what happened that day. That information doesn’t make up for the fact though that I had to wade through almost the entire book before the two separate parts of it came together in a fashion that seemed to work. The payoff wasn’t really worth it to me because of all of that. It was like a distant star that I had to travel to for years and years through the darkness before I reached it.

    Bloofer Lady cannot recommend this book because it doesn’t gel together quite right. The ending is quite good but getting there is far too much work.

Bloofer Lady