Cleveland’s James “Human Furnace” Bulloch, we’ll just call him HF for short, is the lead singer for the metalcore band, Ringworm. HF has been active with Ringworm and some other side musical projects since 1990. HF has a passion for metal music to be sure, but he also has a passion for horror films, memorabilia, and collecting – something many of us can relate to. You can tell HF’s love of horror through his music and lyrics. I love when musicians share their love of horror in their musical pursuits either through the lyrics, videos, artwork, or just the music itself.
To say that HF is an avid collector of horror would be putting it mildly. I was told that his home is a veritable shrine to horror films and horror in general. HF was so very kind enough to go through his house and take pictures of his various rooms and collectibles and give Horror Society an exclusive look at his monstrous domain.
HF was good enough to write us a brief article about his prized possessions, in which he describes each of his rooms for us and we have a bevy of pictures to go along with it as well. He calls his Kitchen (Bitchin Kitchen), Dining room (Dying Room), living room (Movie Room), bathroom (Creature of the Green Bathroom). So sit back and enjoy going through HF’s house of horror. Be prepared to drool over his collection of horror memorabilia. I thought I had a lot of horror collectibles but HF’s collection puts most others to shame.
The following article by James “Human Furnace” Bulloch:
Some people just don’t get it. To the untrained eye, being a “collector” to some, is nothing more than being a hoarder. Aaaaand maybe I have some “hoarder” type traits, but for those of us who collect, know different. For me, it started off simple. First as a wee lil kid, it was toys, then comic books and baseball cards, then, it was records, then vhs tapes, then cassettes, then cd’s, then dvd’s, and books and posters, then more toys, more movies, guitars, vintage furniture, original artwork, kick-knacks and all sorts of shit in-between. Before you know it, your house is filled with so much shit, that I can see why someone would think you’re a hoarder. But I just brush that nonsense off. They don’t get it. And when I see something I need for my collection, I usually will try to go out of my way to get it. Above all, most of my life I’ve focused on collecting ancient artifacts (albeit some old and some new) in the horror movie genre. Pretty much every room in my house is devoted and loaded with memorabilia from past decades of horror, art of the macabre and all types of artifacts from horror culture old and new.
Horror Society asked for a quick peek and a little rundown of some of my ever growing collection and I had to oblige. I love to talk horror, be it movies or collectables, so, I tried to grab some photos of just some of my collection for your viewing pleasure. There’s those out there that have more, to be sure. Collecting, is often a rich man’s game, and over the years, there’s been long stretches when I’ve gone without, which sucks, because like all collectors, you’re never done.
Anyway, here’s just some of the stuff I get to look at everyday….
Bitchin Kitchen: My house is over 100 yrs old, so I reckon folks back then did a lot of collecting themselves judging by a the cabinet space. Taking a stroll through the kitchen, I opted to ditch the dishes and fill the cabinets with cool stuff. On the top, I keep some of the pirate swag and some my tiki collection. Like just about everything I collect, there’s really no room for the whole collection to be displayed in its entirety, but what are ya gunna do? I started to collect Kiki and Polynesian stuff back when I was super young as my grandfather was a huge fan and collector of Polynesian and Hawaiian inspired art. I have around 50+ tiki glasses, most vintage, some new, but I can’t help to buy them when I find a face that I don’t have yet. Next, I started jamming some of my authentic 50’s-60’s “Vegas” type stuff in there, along with some modern era universal collectables.
Microwaves are boring. So, I started to put shit that I found on my travels around the world on it. As good of spot as any, I guess. Occult books, Santeria books, Ouija, tarot and handmade Mexican religious art surround most of the kitchen. Maybe it’ll bring me luck,..or curse everything made in the kitchen. Guess I’ll find out. And of course, like every room, I have to find someplace to put a poster, and what better place for a “Last Crusade” poster…
Click on each picture to enlarge:
Dying Room: Walking through you get to the “dining” room. Not like there much dining going on in there. This room is better known as “The Lab” It’s where I do a great deal of my artwork. the wall around my work table is surrounded with original artwork from some of my favorites. (Vigil, Zornow, Away etc.) not to mention, shelfs and shelfs of art supplies, paint brushes, pens, canvas’s I really like to surround myself with inspirational and creative things. Really gets your creative juices flowin. I try not to jam too much stuff into this room, but I still do. Signed 8×10’s from tons of my favorite personalities, cabinets packed with some of my KISS collection, random universal, 80’s horror stuff, another cabinet fueled with about 2-300 vinyl records, vintage antique books, and of course, more posters. A couple of my favorites, ROTLD wall poster and The Beast Within lobby size. Also, scattered around is a lot of my own art. Shown here is The Thing poster I painted, all framed up. But next to my desk, is one of real prizes, my Creature of the Black Lagoon pinball machine from 1992.
Movie Room: Moving on from there, you get to the living room. Here, I do all my movie watchin and couch surfin. And of course I had to hang a few of my favorite posters. More shelves either packed full of Creature stuff or more dvd’s. For years I was hardcore into collecting horror posters. I got to the point where I realized I was up to over 300, whether it be movie, band, or something else. I pretty much had to slow down on that for quite awhile. Unless I lived in a barn, I’d never be able to display them all. And of course, no movie room is complete without a popcorn machine. It gets a lot of use.
Creature of the Green Bathroom: I’ll try to wrap this little tour up a bit. Like it or not, you’re gunna have to see the bathroom. I have a lot of Creature of the Black Lagoon memorabilia. Like, a lot. So what better, room for an aquatic setting for some of my Creature treasures. Here you’ll find a boatload of signed 8×10’s, posters, paintings, figurines, water globes, and more. Oh yeah, of course, some Creature reading material. I conduct a lot of business from this room, so I like to be comfortable in my surroundings.
And finally, here’s a candid shot of me just relaxing with a nice pipe and a good script to read
So, here’s just a small look at some of the things I have layin around the house filling draws cabinets and lining my walls. Never mind the rest of the over 1500 dvds, 300+vhs, 1000+ records, full basement/attic full of more collectibles, and hundreds of more things all over the place.
Part of being a collector, especially a collector of horror memorabilia, is the feeling of being surrounded by cherished things. Constantly being visually stimulated by the creativity and imagination that inspired film or art. I spend a great deal of time at home, doing art of my own, whether it be painting, drawing, writing, building, or musical, being engulfed by all my stuff.
Now you can see the HF’s collection is the stuff nightmares are made of, mine included! You can also tell the HF is a pretty big fan of The Creature From the Black Lagoon, as am I, so we have that in common.
I just want to give a big shout out to Human Furnace for being kind enough to give us a glimpse inside his world. Thanks so much man, I know I really enjoyed seeing your memorabilia, Uncle Forry would be proud.
