Works of art (The FATE Files: Vol 1. No. 9)

FATE Magazine
9 hours ago
4 min read

Welcome to The FATE Files! Let’s open some manila folders containing original, one-of-a-kind artwork and drool over the glorious pieces within.

Machete Jesus

We LOVINGLY call this first image “Machete Jesus,” however this gorgeous drawing is actually of one of Mexico’s fae-like creatures known as the Alux. They are rumored to thrive on the Yucatan Peninsula and beyond, and have been given regional names like “Sisemite” and “Toyo.”

Dual-threat artist/author Bill Mack not only penned an article about these elusive little guys, he also whipped out the marker and created some striking visuals to go along with it. Like most things involving The FATE Files, we dove way too deep into a rabbit hole trying to figure out who Mack was. We couldn’t find much, but it appears he also co-authored/illustrated this book about surviving in the wilderness.

“Little People of Mexico” appears in FATE’s August 1984 issue.

All my Hexes live in Texas

This might be our favorite drawing of the bunch. It’s a depiction of a “witch” or “healer” from the Rio Grande Valley. The author, Bill Starr, might be this guy? We’re still trying to figure that out.

The article comes in hot and doesn’t let up: “Superstition, witchcraft and various other forms of religious degeneracy feed on ignorance and seem to flourish in heat and humidity.” Starr takes the practitioners to task for preying on the hopes and fears of locals on both sides of the Rio Grade River. One popular grift was to charge parents a fee to perform a spell that would prevent their child from being drafted by the Army or sent to Vietnam.

The image is a solid representation of the “witch” profiled in Starr’s piece, complete with black rings of makeup circling her eyes and a glare that could melt steel.

“Red Carpet for a Texas Witch” appears in FATE’s August 1967 issue.

A new way to pray

A pastor tries to convince the town youths that God is real by organizing a weekly bible study. When that fails to excite them, he leads the group in mind reading and other occult experiments instead. The kids start channeling personal information about each other, but instead of freaking out, they embrace this unconventional method of “getting in touch with God.” It’s possible they got in touch with something, but we’re still not sure what it was.

Like many of these priceless images from the 1960s, the artwork was produced in-house and went uncredited.

“God is Not Dead” appears in FATE’s August 1967 issue.

Haunted church

Apparently the 1930s “were the heyday of phantoms” at St. John’s Cathedral in Fresno, California. After Sister Irenita passed away, her spectral form was seen repeatedly in the hallways of the Catholic church, raising so much concern among the members that they threw holy water around in an effort to drive her off. It didn’t work. When vandals opened her grave in a misguided attempt to subdue the spirit (wouldn’t that only piss it off more?), the main church guy reported that her body was perfectly preserved, lying underneath a tree root that had grown into her coffin.

Many more haunted hijinks ensued across that decade, as the piece by FATE’s own managing editor and paper-saver extraordinaire, Betty Lou White, makes clear. Thanks to Betty, most of The Fate Files exist in the complete format they do today.

“The Ghosts of Fresno” appears in FATE’s August 1967 issue.

Well, well, well

As someone who has zero artistic talent, it blows my mind to watch a collection of small lines, smudges, and shadings come together to form a realistic portrait. Take this picture (again, sadly uncredited), for example.

Artist: “Hmm, I guess I’ll just rub my pencil like this over here, add a few lines on the clothes to indicate movement, scribble violently behind everyone to add depth and voilà!—it’s a complete scene of people removing a well cover in the English countryside to recover the body of a man hidden under a pile of rocks.”

Talk about sorcery.

The above illustration accompanies a story about a pastor plagued by dreams (nightmares?) of someone dumping his son’s body into a hole in the ground. After an interesting series of events, the mystery is solved, and the father’s premonition comes full circle. There’s also a macabre twist to this tale, but to read it, you gotta’ grab the issue.

“Vicar’s Dream Finds a Killer” appears in FATE’s February 1974 issue.

Oh, the horror!

The dilapidated mansion at the corner of Amsterdam Ave and 116th street in New York had such a gruesome history that it was all but guaranteed to harbor some kind of restless spirit.

The original owner, Mr. Roget, was a bit shiesty. He made his money selling bad meat to the Union army and had investments in the General Slocum—the passenger ship that caught fire and killed 1,000 people. After it was learned that the general disrepair of the ship contributed to the tragic loss of life, Roget marched up to the attic of his stately manor and tried to eat a bullet. The home became deserted.

Years later, in 1921, the bound body of a young woman was found brutally beaten and placed in a trunk. With the assistance of a psychic named Julia Murray, the victim and killer were identified. The fascinating story twists and turns along the way to its conclusion, but we’re trying to keep this short, so you’ll have to read the article to find out more. Since it was written by Murray’s nephew, it includes an original photograph taken by his aunt during the investigation. The eerie image appears to capture the woman’s murderer in spirit form.

“The Mary LaClaire Horror” appears in FATE’s July, 1980 issue.