Raising Roscoe Parker -- The Necronomicon

One of many images of The Necronomicon

Readers of Dogwoods Blush know that the action in this tale essentially revolves around two titanic battles between the heroic Jeremiah Bronson and the evil Roscoe Parker, both before and after death. I always thought that the idea of anyone returning from the dead for ANY reason was pretty scary. I drank in many old Universal movies starring Bela Lugosi or Lon Chaney that dealt with such plot devices. One in particular ... I don't recall the name of the film ... starred Lon Chaney, Jr. as a killer brought back to life by electricity. As a kid, the idea of an executed killer brought back to kill again was much more frightening than a vampire or werewolf. I grew up in a very rural Colquitt County, Georgia area directly across the dirt road from a church cemetery. I used to imagine ghosts walking around those graves at night and wondered if any of them were angry or hostile. It was this childhood thought process that played a major role in the development of the plot for Dogwoods Blush.

In my last post, I discussed the influence of the "Gypsy Curse" in horror fiction and how that played into Roscoe's return to the land of the living. But there were several ways I debated depicting the rise of the evil Roscoe Parker from the grave beyond Vladimir's lifelong dedication to the black arts. Today I'd like to share with you another version that I toyed with ... the "most evil book ever written ... The Necronomicon!"

Bound in human flesh and inked in blood, filled with demon resurrection passages, this book was never meant for the world of the living!
The Evil Dead (1981)

Thus was such a book described in Sam Raimi's cult horror series, The Evil Dead, starring Bruce Campbell. The book was filled with spells and incantations so vile, they were not allowed to be spoken openly. To do so could bring about the end of the world. But the Necronomicon actually originates with the writings of iconic American horror novelist, H. P. Lovecraft.

If you are even a casual reader of horror or classic American literature, you know all about Lovecraft. His dark tales were woven around the tapestry of a belief in cosmic evil existing in other dimensions ... the "ancient ones, " "Dark Ones," beings of immense power and evil who lurked outside our fabric of human understanding. His acclaimed short stories, especially The Dunwich Horror, kept night lights burning in my childhood home many times. Pressed for insight into the origins of the Necronomicon, Lovecraft later wrote that the book translated the "laws of the dead" and derived from an Arabic word meaning the nocturnal sound of insects, "the howling of demons." YIKES!

While The Necronomicon is strictly a work of fiction, it has become so much a part of common conversation when discussing horror and evil that many persons believe it to be an actual book, a "recipe" for resurrecting or communicating with the dead. It has been a primary plot device in countless movies, TV shows, video games and horror tales. I've even seen hoaxes offering the sale of this book, promoted as a text written by Satan himself. In short, the Necronomicon has become a major player in horror fiction as a book of evil allowing access to the dead in an unholy way.

So how was I planning to use this rich piece of horror history in Dogwoods Blush? In this version, I planned to depict the ill-fated Purvis Hartley as a confused teenager who tinkered with motor bikes and worked part-time for an eccentric old man named Vladimir Buchinsky. The sick and dying Buchinsky had harbored hate for the town of Timmonsville for decades, dating back to an old feud with legendary Sheriff "Big Ben" Spear in the late 40's. Unknown to the townsfolk, Buchinsky had practiced "the black arts" for years but was now too old to bring about his lifetime plan for revenge. So he enticed the outcast Purvis to unwittingly do his bidding by promoting the "power" and "invincibility" of the executed killer and monster, biker Roscoe Parker. Passing an ancient book of "resurrection" to Purvis, the unwitting teen ventured to the grave site of Parker and began reciting a spell "never intended to be spoken by the tongue of man." After stupidly bringing the evil killer back to life, Parker kills Purvis (remember the rule laid down in Dogwoods ... the only way to bring the dead back to life is to exchange an equal life force in return), took his motor bike and made his way to the dying Vladimir, who propelled him on his mission of mass destruction. And the only thing standing in his way? The enigmatic Night Terror ... Jeremiah Bronson ... himself returned from "the other side" on a mission he did not yet comprehend.

Of course, this would lead to a very different battle between Roscoe and Jerry than that depicted in Dogwoods Blush, plus a different resolution to the climatic confrontation that threatened to bring about a "reign of terror over mankind for all time!" It is for this reason that I rejected this version and went with the Gypsy curse. Readers of Dogwoods know what I mean. If you have not read the book yet, what are you waiting for?

Of course, there was a third version I considered for Parker's return. That's what I'll discuss in my next post. Until then, go your local library and see if they have a "flesh covered, blood inked book containing evil spells and incantations never designed to be spoken by man." If they do, don't walk ... RUN away as quickly as you can! And never forget the cryptic words of Lovecraft, quoting from this evil book in his ground-breaking tale about the "Old Ones," The Call of Cthulhu (1928):

That is not dead which can eternal lie;
and with strange aeons, even death may die!