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You can’t write or make art without collecting some things now and then, and I have amassed quite the assortment of unique odds and ends… I am an avid junk thrift fiend, and I cannot help but pick things up, especially the more unusual they are. Here are a few glimpses into my art collection of some of my more macabre findings.

assorted figurative pieces from my personal collection

From left to right: a very old doll with those eyes that open and close but with no eyewhites who a friend described as a laudanum addict; a tiny Buddha figure with hands over the face and surrounded by a cobra (if anyone knows what specific deific representation this is please let me know); a photograph by my friend Cindy Royal of her rescued Cedar Waxwing and one of her creatures (I love her creatures so much); a doll I made based on my Unselfie avatar in costume regalia with mirror over the face; and a graphite drawing by Kathy Gomric of a demonic rendition of my friend Cindy

assorted eerie pieces from my personal collection

From left to right: a pair of brass bookends I altered to lose their hands and faces as a found object artwork later shown in response to COVID; a photocopy montage by my friend Jonathan Stangroom of his face with a drawing of an eye Xeroxed on clear and superimposed over his closed eye; Triple Moon Goddess bas relief sculpture by Wild Goose Studio; alien abduction with volcano by Ra De; Baby Metropolis – a Precious Moments head given to me by my friend Cindy and altered by myself

assorted monsters and clowns from my personal collection

From left to right: Gods and Monsters original canvas of Frankenstein’s Bride by my friend Aunia Kahn; Fuggler funny ugly monster plush of Bigfoot with “stolen” teeth; photo of the Berlin Wall graffiti from before the wall was dismantled by Ed Murray; found photo postcard of Frankenstein and his bride superimposed on famous image of Navy sailor and nurse kissing after WWII; clown tipping his hat by Mildred Barone

assorted skeletons and creepy crawlies from my personal collection

Skeleton Key ceramic by myself; Sinister serpent wood staff held by the Grim Reaper by Beth Vannatta; skull painted rock by Jane Wees Martin; blue and white porcelain snake headed man in Asian robe; cultist ceramic commissioned from Clayworks; All Seeing Monkey Paw hamsa with eye on monkey hand by Caitlin Zachow; decorated plaster skull mail art sent by William Evertson and friends; computer mouse crab by Bruce Wood of the Glass Ingot

Duchess Mitsi Posh von Schitz III otherwise known as Da Ting
Duchess Mitsi Posh von Schitz III otherwise known as Da Ting

And the pièce de résistance… a real life taxidermy shih tzu. I kid you not, this was an actual dog, and not a recent under-the-rug China-imported real dog pretending to come from another fur bearing animal, but a prized pet that the inheritors of the estate likely didn’t know what to do with. I found Da Ting at an antique mall and splurged on her for my birthday, much to my mother’s chagrin. (For those of you in the know, these kinds of things aren’t easy to come by; they are often buried with their beloved owners or stay in the family.) I even held a naming contest for her on Facebook which is how she wound up with her name, Duchess Mitsi Posh von Schitz III (otherwise known as Da Ting). Here she models a pastel purple boa; she also borrows my rhinestone princess crown from time to time…

What do you collect? What skeletons lurk in your closet, or even out in the open in the parlor?…

Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.

Jennifer Weigel is a multi-disciplinary mixed media conceptual artist residing in Kansas USA. Weigel utilizes a wide range of media to convey her ideas, including assemblage, drawing, fibers, installation, jewelry, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, video and writing. You can find more of her work at: https://www.jenniferweigelart.com/

Original Series

Lucky Lucky Wolfwere Saga Part 4 from Jennifer Weigel

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Continuing our junkyard dawg werewolf story from the previous St. Patrick’s Days… though technically he’s more of a wolfwere but wolfwhatever. Anyway, here are Part 1 from 2022, Part 2 from 2023 and Part 3 from 2024 if you want to catch up.

Faerie Glen digitally altered photo from Jennifer Weigel's Reversals series
Faerie Glen digitally altered photo from Jennifer Weigel’s Reversals series

Yeah I don’t know how you managed to find me after all this time.  We haven’t been the easiest to track down, Monty and I, and we like it that way.  Though actually, you’ve managed to find me every St. Patrick’s Day since 2022 despite me being someplace else every single time.  It’s a little disconcerting, like I’m starting to wonder if I was microchipped way back in the day in 2021 when I was out lollygagging around and blacked out behind that taco hut…

Anyway as I’d mentioned before, that Scratchers was a winner.  And I’d already moved in with Monty come last St. Patrick’s Day.  Hell, he’d already begun the process of cashing in the Scratchers, and what a process that was.  It made my head spin, like too many squirrels chirping at you from three different trees at once.  We did get the money eventually though.

Since I saw you last, we were kicked out of Monty’s crap apartment and had gone to live with his parents while we sorted things out.  Thank goodness that was short-lived; his mother is a nosy one for sure, and Monty didn’t want to let on he was sitting on a gold mine as he knew they’d want a cut even though they had it made already.  She did make a mean brisket though, and it sure beat living with Sal.  Just sayin.

Anyway, we finally got a better beater car and headed west.  I was livin’ the dream.   We were seeing the country, driving out along old Route 66, for the most part.  At least until our car broke down just outside of Roswell near the mountains and we decided to just shack it up there.  (Boy, Monty sure can pick ‘em.  It’s like he has radar for bad cars.  Calling them lemons would be generous.  At least it’s not high maintenance women who won’t toss you table scraps or let you up on the sofa.)

We found ourselves the perfect little cabin in the woods.  And it turns out we were in the heart of Bigfoot Country, depending on who you ask.  I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen one.  But it seems that Monty was all into all of those supernatural things: aliens, Bigfoot, even werewolves.  And finding out his instincts on me were legit only added fuel to that fire.  So now he sees himself as some sort of paranormal investigator.

Whatever.  I keep telling him this werewolf gig isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, and it doesn’t work like in the movies.  I wasn’t bitten, and I generally don’t bite unless provoked.  He says technically I’m a wolfwere, to which I just reply “Where?” and smile.  Whatever. It’s the little things I guess.  I just wish everything didn’t come out as a bark most of the time, though Monty’s gotten pretty good at interpreting…  As long as he doesn’t get the government involved, and considering his take on the government himself that would seem to be a long stretch.  We both prefer the down low.

So here we are, still livin’ the dream.  There aren’t all that many rabbits out here but it’s quiet and the locals don’t seem to notice me all that much.  And Monty can run around and make like he’s gonna have some kind of sighting of Bigfoot or aliens or the like.  As long as the pantry’s stocked it’s no hair off my back.  Sure, there are scads of tourists, but they can be fun to mess around with, especially at that time of the month if I happen to catch them out and about.

Speaking of tourists, I even ran into that misspent youth from way back in 2021 at the convenience store; I spotted him at the Quickie Mart along the highway here.  I guess he and his girlfriend were apparently on walkabout (or car-about) perhaps making their way to California or something.  He even bought me another cookie.  Small world.  But we all knew that already…

Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.
Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.

If you enjoyed this werewolf wolfwere wolfwhatever saga, feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.

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Original Creations

Costumes – Figure Modeling Highlights with Jennifer Weigel

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You’ve seen me as Theda Bara, a Witch, and a Necromancer already (as well as Cleopatra, Elvis, and Andy Warhol) but here are some more fun costumes I’ve worn while figure modeling for the Friday morning art group at Hutchinson Art Center. The group is switching to Saturdays but hopefully I’ll still be able to make it in from time to time… Life’s a circus, or maybe a magic act in a shamanic ritual with Holly Hobbie… At any rate – beam me up Scotty, I have your missing spaceship part…

Some Costumes with Jennifer Weigel figure modeling
More Costumes from Jennifer Weigel figure modeling

Yeah yeah, so none of that was really all that terrifying. Just another time warp in all honesty. At least there’s still some residual Rocky Horror vibes to be found, but then again, there usually are with me when I get into the identity based costumes.

But in follow up and in the spirit of so much of my other randomness, here’s a music video for Everything Changes by Eytan and The Embassy. Check it out if you want to see some more fun costumes in an immersive homage montage experience unlike any other. (If the video doesn’t load, just follow the link here.) See how many artists you can recognize in this quick change setup. Ready… Set… Go!

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Original Creations

All That Remains, an Afterlife Story by Jennifer Weigel

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Here’s another view of Heaven in this twisted little afterlife story from Jennifer Weigel, titled All That Remains. Trigger warning: religious themes, suggestions of rape & murder.

Aspiring digitally manipulated photo of a spire from Jennifer Weigel's Reversals series
Aspiring digitally manipulated photo from Jennifer Weigel’s Reversals series

I didn’t remember dying.  I only vaguely remembered the thread of my life being weighed at the pearly gates.  And now, here I was, in awe of the splendor of it all.  I looked at the Heaven all around me.  Everything was light and love.  The sunlight sparkled off of the hills and valleys of the clouds, casting everything in a gossamer glow.  Angelic faces shone with mirth and merriment from their depths.  It was the most beautiful visage I had ever seen.

Until he showed up.

“Hey there, glad to see you made it,” Sebastian said.  His words slithered off his tongue, just as they had during the trial.  “I’m here to serve as your guide, to show you around Eternity.”

“But…” I stammered, looking at my feet.  I still felt repulsed by him, couldn’t stand to look him in the eye.  I wanted to strangle him, but I managed to tamp that feeling down by averting his gaze.  “How did you get here?”

“I accepted Christ into my heart, just as you did.  Isn’t it beautiful?”  He grinned.  His red hair bobbed up and down as he nodded.  “Forgiveness is a blessing.”

“One you didn’t deserve,” I muttered under my breath, unsure of the proper etiquette or protocol for engaging with others in this place, or just how and why he would ever have been forgiven for his sins.  “Where is my daughter?”

Sebastian frowned.  “I’m sorry to say she never accepted Christ into her heart, and so she isn’t here,” he answered.

“What?” I seethed, anger bubbling from where it had roiled just below the surface.  “How can this be?”

“Look, I don’t make the rules,” Sebastian spoke.

“But you’re here.  And she’s not.  No thanks to you!”  My voice trembled as it rose.

“I understand your frustration.  But it is what it is,” he replied.

“You’re the one who killed her!” I yelled, no longer able to contain my fury.  No one else seemed to notice, too wrapped up in their own afterlives to care.

“Yes, but that was before.  And I paid for that with my own life.  In the electric chair.  Your justice was served,” Sebastian said.

“I know, but…” I sighed.  “Why isn’t Julianne here?”

“Like I said, she didn’t accept Christ into her heart as we did.  It’s that simple,” Sebastian reiterated.  “We just went through this.”

“Don’t you regret that?” I asked.

“Regret what?  That she hadn’t accepted Christ?  How would I have known?  And it wouldn’t have mattered at that time, anyway – I was a different person then.  Regret is an interesting concept; I never really did get it.”  Sebastian pondered aloud.  “Even after I became a Christian.  I suppose I knew I’d done wrong as far as anyone else was concerned, that I acted from a place of selfishness when I raped and killed those girls…  Inner turmoil.  Let’s call it inner turmoil.  But that was in the past.”

I began to hyperventilate.  This just couldn’t be happening.  My beautiful daughter, her golden blonde hair and blue eyes forever etched into my memory.  My baby girl, so sweet and innocent and naïve.  She never should have hitchhiked that ride.  If only I’d known what she was up to…  She hadn’t even seen her sweet sixteen, she was only fifteen and a half at the time of the assault.

“It doesn’t matter now.  Had Julianne accepted Christ into her heart, she’d be here with us now.  She did nothing else wrong,” he continued, interrupting my reverie.  “I suppose then I’d have done her a favor.”

“Wait.  What?!” I asked, obviously fuming.

“I know now that she hadn’t.  But I would have had no way of knowing that then.  And it was before I converted,” he went on.  “If I regret anything, it’s the two that came after.”

“After what?” I harped at him.  “After my daughter!  You killed four more girls since then.”

“No,” he whispered.  “After I accepted Christ.  I slipped up.  I tried; I really did.  But my needs weren’t being met and I found ways to justify it at the time.”

“You disgust me,” I spat.  “How can you even consider yourself a Christian?”

“I am no less so than you at this point, considering where we are,” he replied.  “We are both here now, are we not?”

“I suppose, but still…” I answered, taking inventory of my surroundings.  I was sure I’d been granted admittance into Heaven, that I passed the test.  I vaguely remembered having done so, and walking through the pearly gates.  Was this all an illusion?

“I am a true Christian, as you are,” Sebastian continued.  “Just as I’m still a Scotsman no matter how I take my tea.  Shall we begin our tour?”

He reached out to me, palm extended in a gesture of grace.  I wasn’t wholly sure of where I was, which version of Eternity I’d landed in.  Everything about this place was still so glorious, peaceful and serene.  And yet…

Hallowed Ground digitally manipulated photo of a spire from Jennifer Weigel's Reversals series
Hallowed Ground digitally manipulated photo from Jennifer Weigel’s Reversals series

If you enjoyed this story, please feel free to check out Heaven (based on the Talking Heads song) and Angels Meeting in the Hallways. And feel free to check out more of Jennifer Weigel’s work here on Haunted MTL or here on her website.

Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.
Portrait of myself with dark makeup and crow skull headdress, backlit by the sun.

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