University of South Carolina Libraries
Occult fans < debate book': By SEAN MCGUINNESS Staff Writer There are several books on the market that contain black magic rituals and ancient conjurings, but none has created quite a stir as the "dread" Necronomicon. The Necronomicon, also known as Al Azif, was first seen in the science-fiction writings of H. P. Lovecraft in the 1920's. According to Lovecraft, wrote it was written in 738 A. D. by a "mad" Arab called Abdul Alhazred. The book itself is, supposedly a 700-plus page volume filled with arcane rituals for invoking powerful and malignant entities from outside the planes of reality. Lovecraft wrote that Alhazred was punisnea ior aar- . ing to print such a ...tn6r( blasphemous tome t h i T16 6 n by being devoured .. by an invisible tlie WOr' monster in front complet oflemfied speed, spe||s jn John Rentiers, a th?n yOU psychology major and reader of the ?? Necronomicon, said, "According to the Lovecraft myths, there are only thirteen copies in the world...if you complete all the spells in the book, then you die." The book was most commonly seen in the "Cthulhu Mythos," a series of stories, written by Lovecraft, about fantastic horrors of mythological proportions originating in outer space. Lovecraft wrote the tales in such detail and with such infinite referencing that some readers believed the Necronomicon really existed. Writer August Derleth worked with Lovecraft long after he author died. In the afterword of his novel The Trail of Cthulhu, Derleth wrote that Lovecraft strictly denied the existence of the occult and the Necronomicon and was writing fiction for enjoyment. This didn't stop large numbers of Lovecraft fans from searching for the text in libraries and bookstores. Rentiers said some people would slip fake index cards into the card catalog of the Library of Congress just to make others think the Necronomicon existed in print. In the Thomas Cooper Library Rare Book Collection, there is a A letter to Dear Mom and Dad, I am writing you this letter because I'm rather sad. There are some things going on that I can't understand. And I've tried to, believe me, I want to so much. Maybe it's just me, but I feel out of touch. Monday in our school newspaper I was astounded. I turned to the editorial section and here's what I found. A column written by our editor in chief at that. It was full of nothing but racism ? against one color, black. The things in his column were disgraceful. And I'm afraid it only gets worse. He had a reason for writing his column. But what was his purpose? His purpose was to stimulate talk that night, at an open forum on race relations. But what troubles me is that it was not to stimulate education. He said it was not his opinion and that it was other Caucasians' views. But then they weren't at the forum. That's the part that leaves me confused. What you think is your own thoughts. I cannot change your mind. Racism was here before us. And it'll be here until the end of time. It can only be done through education. Ignorance will never do. It can only come from the individual. I'm afraid the individual is you. How can a newspaper even hold up it's pride after a column like that? I feel ashamed as a columnist and a person?but I'll never feel ashamed because I'm black. I guess that's because of how you raised me. You taught me that crayon was a color. I guess my editor in chief wasn't. (Better send him a box of Crayolas). But he's not the only one. There's more. I know that he's right. There are people that don't understand me because I'm black ? and I'm not i white. But you know what really hurts? It's the fact that he put it in print. A professional newspaper, a college newspaper. It's the message that was sent. a in ind critics 5 existence copy written in the original Duriac language that was printed with the help of writer L. Sprague de Camp. De Camp wrote in the preface that he was given a copy of the book on his way to India in 1967. He also wrote that three people died mysteriosly while trying to translate the book and their bodies were never found. But Ron Brown, a library technical assistant at Thomas Cooper, said there is no documentation of the Necronomicon's existance predating Lovecraft's time in any history or occult books. "De Camp is a fiction writer; - i-- - " ?:a "a mai s an ne n>, dhjwii saiu. musi likely he made up that story to help sell this book that he wrote." Brown has ( a are only read about and copies in had dealinss i " with aspects of / d... if you the occult for e all the ab?ut 2#/ef and said he the book, knows people die." who use the Necronomicon ??? as a spellbook. There is a paperback version of the Necronomicon available at local bookstores. It was printed in 1980 i- a n 1 Dy AVOIl DUUKS. "The whole thing was created after Lovecraft's death," Brown said. "It's not a historical book, it's a hysterical book." Brown said any copies of the book are well crafted and researched fakes made by people out to "make a quick buck." "I don't believe it's real. It's probably a workable system of magic," said Brown, "You need to L have the proper magical back- ^ ground for this sort of stuff." "Most people who get into the \ Necronomicon are reacting against authority and the Church. This is ^ the same sort of stuff that draws people to Satanism...I don't see * ** - - -1 * !* ?? T*? anyining positive aooui 11, diuwu said. Nevertheless, Brown said the I Necronomicon is good reading for entertainment and is an excellent companion for those familiar with o the "Cthulhu Mythos." b "It doesn't matter if it's true or f not; truth is relative," Brown said, v , "There are a lot better, more posi- d L tive systems of magic." ^ ill V pat cilia ^ tr If the media writes something like that, without showing the other side, ? then they're saying it's O.K. to think like this. The media is America's Gr pride. M< We should be proud of our media. Ga We're one of the few countries with a wc free press. But with things like that cn printed in the newspaper, I'd rather be wa ike the rest. Our job is to inform the public, y< whether it's bad or good. He did his , w job, but failed to show, the other side like he should. Pr( There are all kinds of racism. Yet, he picked only one. Japenese, m< Chinese, Asian?but no. He should tol have shown it all or not at all. UJ I'm not saying there's something no wrong with this. I understand his Fc plight. But I ask you what is correct w? about this. I see nothing right. j0] I am hurt. I'll say that for sure. Our school newspaper will never be the ^ same. A column on racism has made sure of that. Racism has ruined our name. dl I just wish we'd try something dif- St ferent. Why can't we just educate? scl Oh, no! I'm sorry. Let's do what he pl< did. Let's just "stimulate." no Some of my best friends are white. They were offended by this column ?o too. What was really bad is that what stI he wrote some people believe is true. I just hope I never see a column ca like that again. I refuse to run a race ? just to win a prize, for the color of my skin, and the color of my face. 011 Otherwise, I'm doing fine. My Sc grades are very good. I'm coming sh home Thanksgiving. Of course, you knew I would. cc Please, mother and father, don't wl worry about me because I feel rather yt sad. It's just that there are some things t0 going on that I will never understand. de Not Caring If You're White or y Non-white, t Your Loving Daughter, Le'Vaughn Perry irolina! recw Andy Zalkin, owner of the Army-Na' displays this season's wares. ly JENNIFER FULLER finf test. Carolina! Editor . creativ* There's a lot more than uni- everyda forms in the Army-Navy Store. In One addition to camping supplies and most p discounted clothing, you can find for him that perfect Halloween costume. tume w Andy Zalkin, owner of the ginghai Army-Navy store at 1621 Main mal wl St., said the store started by sell- and a ing children's Rambo and G. I. his ere; Joe costumes all year long. Opry." "After the first two Rambo Zalk: movies, business started picking costum up for Halloween. After we saw He woi the success of the military stuff, get lice we began selling medical wear." tumes. Halloween party-goers would stop copy c by the Army-Navy Store to get worth J supplies to dress up as a doctor. The This year, Zalkin helped a cus- Alien i tomer become a "Samurai proctol- 3, on s; ogist." He discussed makeup and Zalk hairstyling with the client and tumes gave him advice about where to "We're fault keeper picks fWhal r r referrin >est season flicks Hallowi Hall. Mm m tion th IQPA drumir mrm review nTfTTTTFTTcT'WWrWI overrat deserve They are scarier than a room full L J ? and t I zomoies, more mueous uian a meaioc lood-sucking vampire and more Tightening than the thought of r16 eS!> /aking up tomorrow with (shud- ?^or j ler) the same hairstyle as Steve S^^,' aneyhill. p ace J scary g ditor was telling We s uth in column diver the editor: My first reaction upon reading To the e< eg Rickabaugh's column in Be for Dnday's edition of The year at 1 inecock was "What in the world neering ] 10 hn thinUinnO 14p mucf hp COlRge C Id lie uiliiA.1115 . lie "?uoi i/v , . izy!" Then I realized what he jly is doing; he was telling the truth! p ^ :s, there is racial disunity at ?gd iC! Yes, .here are prejudices roo sed on race! Yes, we have a aI? .?sti )blem! academic Greg Rickabaugh did what too currjCuiL iny people are afraid to do: he ^ cuPl d the truth about what occurs at C0neoe. >C. You know why there were Studer t a lot of whites at the Open or white rum on Race Relations? They ate a C? :re scared! Scared of being called grow jn . norant, scared of being called At USC ejudiced and scared of being body sh )eled racist. the prob! Look around. There is racial leged the vision all over USC. Minority talk to udent Affairs and race-based different tiolarships are just a few exam- backgroi ;s. Reverse discrimination solves of this 1 - problem. moting r Kacism is uennueiy a 1101 topic ciy. 10 discuss, but it must be dealt with combine ongly. It must end on both sides, you rec is time to smash apartheid on respect mpus. We must resist all preju- word in ces and special privileges based now pro i race. Whether on campus or in importar >uth Africa, the color of your skin evolving ould not matter. nomic v Greg Rickabaugh deserves to be stand thi ngratulated for his courage, and mony ar hether you agree with him or not, ^o n< >u must never try to stop his right disrespei free speech. You may not agree ^e'r ra< ith what he says, but you should ^ se y? ;fend his right to say it. Maybe Prove 1 SC needed this punch in the face ev?lvin{ awaken it. running Wesley Locklair T e wa^ Chapin resident 3111 a Com :end vy Store, ier supplies. ears," he said, try to be a little bit more Horror movie charctei i with stuff you have in Freddy Krueger are ? ty life," Zalkin said. favorites, as are science of the costumes Zalkin is costumes, like Star Trek we roud of is one he created "Anybody who's a eel tself. Zalkin made the cos- there's a possibility that wt ith a pair of bib overalls, a ^0 it," Zalkin said. He had n shirt, cowboy boots, for- tomer recently who wantec lite gloves, a black cloak Rosanne Arnold for the holi phantom mask. He named Zalkin said the store sel ation The Phantom ot the eiities, like body parts, a ssusx&r es in tne Army wavy More ? gaid ?For Vale rks with movie produers to , . . ? used replicas of movie cos- ,wKe hav* h7ea?s/ ? A month ago, he sold a . Although Zalkin sells >f alien costume that was Jlems Year> in -the f 5400 October he heralds the be; store has a replica of an Halloween season b; nask from the movie Alien rating one of the shop w ale for $65. with costumes. This year tl J .U-. II.: ? l 11/inHnu; ic full nf ma?lfC :in saiu mai poiiucai cuswere popular this year. The Army-Navy Store h ; not quite sold out of Perot in Zalkin's family for 44 : horrible monstrosities am I Hellraiser (1987): Bloc g to? My picks for the best sic filled with an interstin; sen flicks of all time. villians. The plot has sonr iween (1978): I had to men- do with a magic box, a ( is one or else I would be brought back to life and < ied out of the "movie lot of monsters called Cent ers' club." This movie is The Cenobites range fr id to be the definitive "spine funny (the fat guy and and, while I think it is a tad whose teeth keep chattc ed, I agree it pretty much demonic (the leader, Pinhe s its praise. ironically enough, has pins plot is not exactly brilliant, his face). When they an he acting varies from screen, the film is indeed re to just plain sucky, but hell, ential elememts of a good Unfortunately, the Cenc film (masked killer, chilling not on-screen all the ti lalf-naked women) are all in most of the human chara and the film delivers the horribly boring. Followec oods. ( ) sequels. ( ) [R I] hould value Gamecock edi se university should resign To the editor: I was ashamed to be a U! 1 or* . e . dent when I read the Oct. e entering my freshman Uon Qf (he Gamecock JSC as a computer engi- a, furious ^ major. I visited numerous Billku<s lener t0 the editor' ampuses. Many are major- ^ b|acks are "an embarrs , others are majority black. tQ themselves and America.' ed one campus in j rea(j Qreg Rickabaugh's c ania where only 4 percent por editor in chief to c came from a non-white my feuow studeni ind. This supposed liber- wor(js which I cannot evei tution may have had the mySelf to repeat is an outn : breadth of a liberal arts an embarrassment to the .m, but it terribly lacked usc community. iral breadth ot a diverse Rickabaugh claims that 1 , . torial's purpose is to "sti its, whether you are black some thought." The only you should really appreci- SUCh comments stimulate ar impus that is willing to an(j jiate j can dismiss a diverse cultural direction. Billiot's letter as ignorant , diversity in the student j^e -g nQt ^ plfSt person t0 ould be the solution, not to college without a brain, b lem. \ ou should teel pnvi- Rickabaugh has a responsil it you are able to meet and ^ stu(jent body to use di students who come from an(j thoughtfulness in w races, religions and social prints. He has acted unpro mds. I feel the universities aj. one too many times a aation are havens for pro- -n Chief. j other stuc acial tolerance in our soci- join with me in calli u know why When you Rickabaugh's resignation. > into Hivorcilv ? ? / llll^llVVl Willi U1 VVIOIIJ', eive understanding and Andrea M ? (nonce I emphas.ze the English sop itellect). Since you have ven you can understand the t xx *x ice of an education in our LiCttCr WFltCS C - and interdependent eco- linfniinflpH rim /orld, you can also under- UlliUUIlUCU Cld e importance of racial harid tolerance in our country. To (he editor. at stereotype scrutinize or , ^ Mr Bi||jol ,s ct outer people because of hjs f jy :e, handicaps, beliefs, etc. . a , T . r \ ? existence, but I disagree a ur unique educations to ' ? hat you are part of our rea.\on , ; intellectual society. Slop Mr Bllllot s P an invisible gauntlet By exlsls ln 11,18 world becaus , if you were wondering ? manner in wh,ch a few mei ck a race behave is ludicrc Derek DeWayne Moore absurd, p. Engineering sophomore ^r- Billiot proposes tl J\] ^ ^ Greg Rickabaugh/The Gamecock His great-uncle started the store in s like 1948, and Zalkin inherited it five mnual years ago. fiction Before then, Zalkin owned an ar. art gallery in Five Points. He was ebrity, an art major at USC and has a i could strong background in theatre and a cus- design. 1 to be Zalkin said the future of his day. business depends on whether or Ir. nAtr fKn PnlnmHio AAmmiinih; \i/ill Id ll\J V ~ il\Jt U1L V^V/IUlliUia WiimiUiiiij *TiM 11 year continue to work with merchants, e your Zalkin cites individual merchants nd him efforts to hold Halloween festivintine's ties inspite of the Five Points Merchants decision not to play these host to Halloween parties, irst of Zalkin asaid he would like to ginning see city merchants and USC work y deco- together to plan Halloween activiindows ties in the future. "If we can coorle shop dinate, then it will be a good time for everybody to let off a little as been steam," he said, years. >dy clas- Creepshow (1983): Ghoulmaster g cast of Stephen King offers five tales of ething to ghastly revenge in this scary, occalead guy sionally humorous film. As with all 1 spooky anthologies, the film suffers some ibites. weak entries, such as the one about om very the creature in the crate that eats the one people, but the stories that work :ring) to will have your heart pounding. ;ad, who, The standout is the last story, > all over involving a really selfish jerk and 2 on the 47,000 cockroaches. Followed by a scary as vastly inferior sequel. ( ) Well, that's it for the Halloween ibites are edition of the "Video Vault." Be me, and kind, rewind and see you next time icters are when Bill Clinton may be the new 1 by two president. Now that's a scary tnougni... tffcr* t0 PreJuchced because a few black youth cut in line and behaved in an unbecoming manner at the State Fair. Well, I for one am REALLY sorry about your oa Str~ Plight, but do you really believe 26 eoi- yOU are the only person to ever wa* have someone cut in line ahead of = ei you? How can an experience such savin0 3 ? as this that involves a few, color issment r . ' , your view of an entire race of peolescribe ^he simple fact of the matter is ts with th*s: the PeoPle lhat cut line I brin*1 ahead of Keith Billiot at the State i?e and ^air coulcl have been white, "entire Hispanic, Chinese or Italian. Keith Billiot, though, overlooked this His edi- small detail and instead chose to imulate use ^ situation as an excuse to things insult and put down black people e anger in general. I, as well as many oth, Keith er students, was angered and rantinc. offended by Billiot's letter, and in make it many cases, his unfounded accusaut Greg tions and slurs, lility to The reality of this "black and scretion white issue" is this: prejudice exists hat he because people of all races have fession- adverse opinions about other races s editor without sufficient knowledge or lents to just cause. If this is an accurate ng for definition, it encompasses everything that Keith Billiot epitomizes. [awkins k'ia T YVil??n homore English freshman !n Editor's Note ? imS The Gamecock has received numerous letters addressing the race rela>rrect in tions forum, Mr. still in Rickabaugh's column and s to the jVfr. Billiot's letter. Today's extended section will be .!p the last section devoted to nbers of th's t0P*c- The Gamecock )us and thanks all students for their submissions. iat it is