Well, outside my window the day is starting to turn to night, as as the light curdles and turns to dark here in London, it feels about the right time for a Halloween-related post.

I actually want to share something quite startling with you, an image which may well make some of you declare “well, that’s just sick“, and turn away from your screen with your hand over your mouth. I’m not looking to shock you for sheer effect, but I think that this is one of the few days of the year when we take a particular pleasure in being frightened. As Clive Barker once wrote, “there is no delight the equal of dread”.

Given that this week’s posts have been quite heavy on the text and links and slightly lighter on the images, I wanted to post this particular picture on the blog, but it did occur to me that it could be rather off-putting for the more sensitive, so – against my initial impulse – I’ve decided to post a link to it, rather than run the risk of someone coming across it by accident and then complaining that it was presented without warning.

Anyway, enough of my explanations, let’s see if we can’t get on with the item in question – an image which I find repulsive at first sight, and yet there’s something vaguely hypnotic about it; as if I’ve made the mistake of looking at Dracula’s eyes, somehow I… just… can’t… seem… to… look…away…

Ready? All right, then. Brace yourself, for the horror of which I speak lurks but a mouseclick away. Tremble, mortals, for the terror is here…

Hey, I did warn you.

*With an admiring tip of the hat to Mr Danny Elfman.