Mystery of the "Ghost of Frankenstein" Photo

For years, I have seen the below photo here and there of Lon Chaney Jr. as the Frankenstein monster in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). The first time was in an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland from the late 1960s.

The photo had a caption that said something like, "The monster ablaze, he lifts his gaze in agony." (Funny how I can remember stuff like this.)

I have always wondered about the photo and now there's something more to it.

Above, yours truly with Don Glut at a Kong exhibition in 2017.

This morning, I was perusing around YouTube and came upon a clip that was discovered by Don Glut. It is the same scene as the photo that's been floating around for years. As the video states, the photo was originally thought to be a publicity photo, but the footage seems to indicate that it was possibly an alternate ending filmed but not used.



The footage is quite interesting. It really shows the genius of make-up artist Jack Pierce. 

Pig Brains Kept Alive OUTSIDE Their Bodies

This is something that is right up Dr. Frankenstein's (or Dr. Niemann's) alley!

The Daily Mail (U.K.) reported:

Pig brains have been kept alive outside their bodies for the first time as part of a controversial new experiment. 

The brains of hundreds of pigs survived for up to 36 hours after the animals had been decapitated, researchers revealed. 

The radical experiments could pave the way for brain transplants and may one day allow humans to become immortal by hooking up our minds to artificial systems after our natural bodies have perished.

Well, if that should ever happen, the scientists or doctors conducting the transplants had better make sure the blood types match in order for the sensory nerves to be fed. Otherwise, the subject just may end up blind like Frankenstein's Monster (with Ygor's brain) in Ghost of Frankenstein.

"Vot goot iz a brain wit out eyes to see?" - Ygor.

To read more, go here.

Iran's "Old Ygor" Survives Hanging

Above, a publicity still of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff from "Son of Frankenstein."

Sometimes life imitates art.

The Washington Times reported:

A death row prisoner in Iran is to be hanged for a second time once he regains strength after he survived an earlier attempt. 

Alireza M, 37, was “put to death” at Bojnourd prison last Wednesday for drugs, but when his family went to collect his body at the morgue the next day, they noticed he was still breathing, the Daily Mail reported.

This reminds me of the Ygor character played by Bela Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein (1939) and reprised in Ghost of Frankenstein (1942). Ygor was a blacksmith in the village of Frankenstein who was hanged for grave-robbing ("Because I stole bodies, dey said," said Ygor in Son of Frankenstein). Ygor survived the hanging, but with a broken and deformed neck and was refused a burial. His "lifeless" body was thrown into the ruins of Henry Frankenstein's laboratory instead.

The Iranian in question may not be so lucky.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/16/iranian-prisoner-will-be-hanged-again-after-he-sur/#ixzz2hupgTuTH
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter