#jeron criswell king

[atomic-chronoscaph]

The Amazing Criswell

[kekwcomics]

CRISWELL PREDICTS ON OUTER SPACE!

[schlock-luster-video]

Happy birthdday psychic, cult celebrity, and Plan 9 From Outer Space star The Amazing Criswell!

Here's some fan art to mark the occasion!

[fakecriswell]

On this date in 1982, Jeron Criswell King left this earthly plane to devote his attentions to the unseen veil twixt life and death. From the other side, I mean.

Please take this day to reflect on your own mortality, my friends!

[hyaenagallery]

Jeron Criswell King (1907 – 1982), born Jeron Criswell Konig, and known by his stage-name The Amazing Criswell, was an American psychic known for wildly inaccurate predictions. In person, he went by Charles Criswell King, and was sometimes credited as Jeron King Criswell. Criswell was flamboyant, with spit curled hair, a stentorian style of speaking, and a sequined tuxedo. He owned a coffin in which he claimed to sleep. He grew up in a troubled family in Indiana with relatives who owned a funeral home, and said that he became comfortable with sleeping in caskets in the storeroom. Criswell said he had once worked as a radio announcer and news broadcaster. He began buying time on a local Los Angeles television station in the early 1950s to run infomercials for his Criswell Family Vitamins. To fill the time, he began his "Criswell Predicts" part of the show. This made him a minor off-beat celebrity in Los Angeles and around Hollywood, and his friendship with old show-business people such as Mae West and rising fringe celebrities such as Korla Pandit made Criswell an entertaining presence at parties. His fame brought him appearances on The Jack Paar Show (1957–1962) which allowed him to publish his predictions in three publications of Spaceway Magazine (February 1955, April 1955, and June 1955), as well as run a weekly syndicated newspaper article. Criswell also appeared in the movies of writer and director Ed Wood. Criswell's predictions were nationally syndicated and he appeared on the television show Criswell Predicts on KLAC Channel 13 (now KCOP-13) in Los Angeles as well as being recorded for syndication. His announcer was Bob Shields, who later played the judge on Divorce Court. Criswell wore heavy makeup in public after his live program was broadcast in Los Angeles. Only selected people were allowed in the KCOP studio during his broadcast. #destroytheday