Elvira Pt.1 - They call her 'Big Red'

Get ready to sink your teeth into the riveting life story of Cassandra Peterson, more famously known as Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Join us as we navigate the twists and turns of Cassandra's extraordinary journey from a small-town Kansas girl to a beloved horror icon. From the horrific burns that marked her toddlerhood, the tribulations of her difficult family life, to her rebellious teenage years filled with surprising encounters with famous musicians, we promise you an episode filled with grit, determination, humor, and a love for the macabre.

There's a meaty chapter where we explore Cassandra's survival of burn injuries and abuse, which is inspiring yet deeply moving. We applaud her resilience, as she endured experimental treatments and physical and emotional abuse. There's also a heartwarming detour where we discuss the power of humor in the face of adversity, illustrated by a high school prom event that showed compassion to a terminally ill student. We promise, this episode will make you laugh, cry, and most importantly, inspire you to find resilience in your own life. 

Our final segment is a deep dive into Cassandra's obsession with the horror genre. We share how her love for anti-hero Vincent Price and her involvement in her mom's costume shop shaped her into the Halloween queen we all know and love. From her go-go dancing escapades to her rendezvous with iconic musicians, Cassandra's story is a testament to her fearlessness. So, buckle up for a wild ride as we explore the life of Cassandra Peterson, a woman whose tale is as captivating as the characters she portrays.

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Transcript

Shaun: 0:14

Cassandra Peterson, aka Elvira, mistress of the Dark horror icon and a bit of a real life forest gump, as you'll come to find, nate. What do you know about Cassandra Peterson, or Elvira as she's known?

Nate: 0:25

Forest Gump. Is she having mental problems?

Shaun: 0:28

I don't know, that we're going to stick with that. Yes, we'll learn later about how she sits on park benches and mumbles about life being a box of chocolates.

Nate: 0:38

It talks to random people at the bus. Stop this kid. That was one thing by that movie. It's like who sits there? No matter how nice they are, if someone's telling a life story, I immediately find somewhere else to stand. But anyway, with Elvira, I mean I know who she is. I've never seen any movies or anything that's focused around her. I've seen her in cameos and things like that. And of course, boobs, I mean as a boob guy, that's just. I mean immediately. And I mean that was the point you know about Elvira. It wasn't like she was hiding them, it wasn't like, oh, here's this miss of the dark who happens to have large breasts.

Shaun: 1:20

It's more like, hey, there's large breasts attached to Elvira yeah, there's large breasts attached to this vampire woman Right, yeah, well was she a vampire?

Nate: 1:29

I mean, I'm sure she wasn't a vampire. She was up. Well, yeah.

Shaun: 1:32

I kind of well, we'll get into that later Sort of. Originally she was kind of supposed to be, but it changed a little bit.

Nate: 1:38

Yeah, it's like I always get the felt. I always felt it was implied, but she wasn't yeah.

Shaun: 1:43

Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that later, a lot later actually, because we got to get through her childhood first. But yeah, yeah, yeah, I pretty much know the same thing about you. It was like I remember seeing her movie back in the late 80s and I really liked it, but outside that I never saw her original Leo horror show series where she did movies and any of the other stuff. I just mainly remember that one movie and a whole lot of cameos, especially around Halloween. It was everywhere around Halloween. Are you ready, nate? Are you ready to learn? I'm ready, let's do this.

Shaun: 2:14

Cassandra Peterson was born September 17th 1951 to parents Phyllis and Dale Peterson, in a hospital in the small town of Manhattan, kansas. Cassandra was named after one of her mother's teachers, whom her father had also dated at one point. Figure that one out, got to make sure. You wonder who came up with the idea for the name. Was it the mom being like, hey, we should name it after this teacher I liked? Or was it dad being like, hey, we should name this after the teacher I liked, and they'll find out later, she's like wait a minute. However, cassandra's immediate and extended family actually resided in teeny, tiny, rural Randolph, kansas, some 25 miles away on the family farm that they took over from Cassandra's grandparents. Manhattan was just the nearest hospital they could get to. So that's how small and po-dunk this tiny little town that they grew up in. Was they attempted to grow them?

Nate: 2:59

Oh yeah, I was like oh yeah, kansas is one of those states that you forget exists until you do it yeah. Until someone's mentioned either Wizard of Oz or like you're going down and like listing the states in America Exactly, so I'm sorry for anybody listening. In Kansas, I mean sure it's a lovely state. I'm German through it once it was.

Shaun: 3:17

Yeah, a lot of cornfields, I would guess.

Nate: 3:19

I've just talked about yeah, I've just talked about, for me personally and the people I know I have. Very rarely has anyone uttered the name Kansas outside of Wizard of Oz.

Shaun: 3:28

The main question people ask in Kansas is how to get away from Kansas. The family attempted to grow Milo, a type of animal feed, and failed. They then tried raising livestock, which also failed when a cold snap killed off all their cattle. As everybody that tries it finds out, farming is very difficult and Cassandra's mother was eventually like I don't want to do this farming life. You're getting a real job, sir. So the dad went and got a job in Manhattan at the Singer's sewing machine store back in the day, when you could raise a whole family working in a sewing machine store.

Nate: 3:59

So they left. So they left Kansas. Is that what you're saying?

Shaun: 4:02

No, actually they are still in Kansas right now. How do you?

Nate: 4:06

work in Manhattan.

Shaun: 4:08

Oh sorry, manhattan.

Nate: 4:08

Kansas, oh OK, which thoroughly got you.

Shaun: 4:12

Sorry about that. What? It's? A very sorry family. I've got my work week. I'll be back in a month, jesus Christ.

Nate: 4:21

Like oh, he's a second family, no, no.

Shaun: 4:25

Will I see dad once every five years? Yeah, he just works in Manhattan for reasons. But no, there's actually Manhattan. Kansas, which is also Cassandra calls the Little Apple or the city that always sleeps.

Shaun: 4:35

We fast forward to the first big event in her life, Good Friday 1953. While her father was gone at work and her mother distracted, doing Lord knows what, then 18-month-old Cassandra went into the kitchen and proceed to pull a chair over to the stove or a giant cast iron pot full of boiling eggs with city. Cassandra climbed up on the chair and, I'm guessing an attempt to pull herself up higher, Pulled the giant pot of boiling water down upon her, melting the hair off her head, fusing her eyes shut and giving her third degree burns over a third of her body. Not good times, oh yeah. Her mother heard the screaming and came into the kitchen to see the child writhing in agony on the floor. Her mother proceeded to do the old farmer's trick of dealing with burns by proceeding to slather lard all over Cassandra's body. This actually did far more harm than good, as it resulted in even more skin being pulled off the body. She tried to smear it on. It was like hey, I'm gonna smear lard on here. Oh wait, your skin's coming off, kid. No-transcript.

Nate: 5:27

And of course I mean I complain about boomers all the time, and I think you know Elvira's a boomer but I mean the generation before hers was worse, yeah, yeah, like they were just kind of like. Oh no, timmy died, oh well, well, throw him on the pile.

Shaun: 5:41

Let's go make another one. Yeah, Well, remember I said the nearest hospital was 25 miles away. Well, the mom tosses the kid in the family station wagon off, they go down a bumpy, dirty road the entire drive Like then, conventional wisdom was that if you had third degree burns over 25% or more of your body, then that was the end of you. Infection would spread and take you down in what I assume would be a horrifyingly slow and painful way to go. Now here we have baby Cassandra, well past that 25% mark and even more damage done from the lardening lardening her mom performed. And then the whole. You know long, you know half hour drive from the poedunk town.

Nate: 6:15

Well, either they're dead, or they're either dead or wish they had, or others wish, or this like, or one of those people's like, okay, look, don't look over there because you're throwing, yeah. But like here, oh, here comes all viral, okay, does everyone look down? People like she's, oh, she's very nice, yeah, and just I mean I know it's a terrible thing to say, but everyone knows what I'm talking about there's always that person who came in. I'll never forget, like the first time I saw that in real life, not necessarily a burn victim, but just someone who was, let's say, on the scale of one to 10, will never crack it too. But it's this poor guy. I really didn't feel bad for him. He had the aging disease, and you know, the aging disease of the movies is always like fucking. Robin Williams was like oh, he's 10, but he looks like a 30 year old man. It doesn't look that way. Yeah, they do not look human.

Shaun: 7:07

Yeah, they look like some sort of I feel bad saying that, yeah, you think they were an alien or something that came out of a pod and all that, yeah, yeah.

Nate: 7:15

And so I went to my, the high school prom for my my girlfriend at the time, and she went to another school so I'd never been there. It was Alabama. I went there and there was this poor kid. I mean, he didn't have, you know, he didn't much longer, you know, but it really will. Like I'm stuttering on my because I want to make you know, be nasty, but I will say it was heartwarming. You know, in this little Alabama, phoenix city, alabama, no name whatever like people were really cool with him. He wasn't ostracized Like he was at this prom, like girls dance with him. None of them were his girlfriend, let's not say that, but he, you know, he was actually like not shut.

Shaun: 7:53

He wasn't sent to the bell tower to be locked away during the day.

Nate: 7:57

Yeah, and I really appreciated that. I appreciated that because he was what he was. Was it one of those?

Shaun: 8:04

when, like everybody was at your show and grabbed me back hey, you want to come see the town, freak, come here, come here I mean, that's entirely possible, entirely possible that way.

Nate: 8:12

That's the best thing in this town is the town freak, because I didn't really talk to anybody. I did, yeah, I talked to my date. I didn't know anybody there and I didn't really want to because I knew I was never coming back. You know, it's like you know you go to somewhere where, hey, every single person in this place can die tomorrow and you would never know. Yeah, because it wouldn't impact your life at all, and that's. That's basically what happened. And so I just had that one interaction and I was. It was really heartwarming to see that, but at the same time, like he, he, he was, he was dying a virgin.

Shaun: 8:44

Yeah. That's just that's just how it was, and I, I again, I feel bad saying that if that makes me a monster there is something like that would be easier to get laid if nowadays, with the internet, just put a picture on there and be like hey, you want some of this. Anybody want to try a freak for once?

Nate: 9:01

But here's, yeah, you know what, there's someone for everybody. I mean seriously, there there is someone for everyone. Because I want you to like, just take a look around, even on the internet, and you, you go find the most disgusting, gross person out there and they, you'll have a child. And it's like, and that's the one thing I don't get about in cells. I'm like, okay, that's your fault, it's your fault, look around, there are people out there who look horrific and they're still getting some.

Shaun: 9:29

It's attitude now, oh, it is 100% attitude.

Nate: 9:32

You're an in cell because you're an asshole. Yep, you know. It's just that. Once you get past that, you'll be fine.

Shaun: 9:39

Just stop being an asshole, don't be a dick.

Nate: 9:42

I mean, I this is come from. I'm socially awkward, I admit it, I. But I know my where I am, and I'm socially awkward at first. Once I'm actually like, get comfortable, I'm a lot more social and charming. That being said, there are I am still there always be a little something with social awkward would, because for some reason, I always end up saying something that I think is hilarious. Everyone else thinks it's horrific. So like I'm like oh, hey joke.

Shaun: 10:11

And everyone's like oh my God, or hey you can't say that kind of thing and you're like why? Oh wait.

Nate: 10:18

Yeah, oh, here's this anecdote. Like I thought it was really funny, you know, like I. I remember one time I was in a group and I mentioned oh yeah, there's a, a midget porn actor who looked like Gordon Ramsay, like he would, yeah, like he was. He got killed cause he was in a. What was it? He died in a, a den, or he. He was found dead in a. What was the?

Shaun: 10:42

was it a beaver?

Nate: 10:43

Like not beaver hole. No, no, no, no, no. Like a literal den.

Shaun: 10:46

Like, like a badger, den kind of thing.

Nate: 10:50

Badger. Yes, I was looking for that Badger. He was like I died in a badger den. It's like that's hilarious. It's awful for that guy, but it's hilarious. And no one left. I was the only one that was hilarious. I'm like come on, man, it's Gordon Ramsay midget who got killed in a badger den. What the fuck?

Shaun: 11:08

Did a badger? Did a badger kill him? Did a badger like attack him and drag him in there?

Nate: 11:13

I, I don't. I'll say, I don't remember the story that much, I just remembered that. But he ended up in a badger den. I'm like this. Why am I the only one laughing?

Shaun: 11:20

here he was doing a bestiality video gone wrong. The camera crew was just like oh oh, we can't fix it, oh bye. Oh my God.

Nate: 11:29

This, this uh bestiality video has turned to a snuff. We can charge more for this now Keep rolling, keep rolling.

Shaun: 11:35

Yeah, we're killing two birds with one stone. Here we can make tons of money.

Nate: 11:41

Real quick. I apologize to the listeners. I'm sorry, that's my humor. If you can't, if you can't get on board with that, then I don't know. I would appreciate. I would appreciate you still listening. But this, this, yeah, so she got burned, but I mean, obviously she came out okay. So how, how that?

Shaun: 11:56

well, lucky for everyone involved. This tiny little hospital in Manhattan, kansas, actually had one of the best burn treatment wards and doctors in the U? S at the time, and on top of that they just got access to new experimental penicillin treatment that they thought could do the trick. There's some parental consent was given. They proceeded with the experimental treatments and several touch and go days later they deemed her a survivor Little bit after that she was healthy enough to healthy enough to undergo massive skin grafts, peeling skin from her stomach and thighs to be grafted onto her back, shoulders, neck and ankles. Many weeks she was in the hospital and had to make many follow trips over the next couple of years, but she survived.

Shaun: 12:31

This was actually Cassandra's first taste of fame, as both the injury and the recovery made the newspapers in the area. Uh, inside her book there's actually a little picture section and they actually have a picture of the article in the book. And, uh, they got her birthday wrong. The situation is born on the 18th and not the 17th. Yeah, I was actually looking at the article and I'm like, wait a minute, that's wrong.

Nate: 12:50

And sadly it did bankrupt her family to do it or not? Sally? It was like Sally versus nowadays, not like on darn, it didn't think, you know. It's like. I Mean like sadly for us in the future. It's like that would ruin a family. Back then it's like, okay, he came out with it with we're gonna right.

Shaun: 13:05

Yeah, I'll pick up an extra shift at the Swinger store That'll cover all these medical bills. Yeah Well, she was left alive. She was also left with massive red and purple scars over a good portion of her body. These scars would actually wind up being with her for a fair amount of her life and we're actually kept in mind for the L-virus dress, as it was designed to conveniently cover up the worst of her scarring. As you can guess, these scars that she had led to self confidence issues were which were exacerbated by her fellow students teasing her or treating her differently. However, the worst of the bullying would actually come from Cassandra's, a mostly and physically abusive mother, who would use her scars to belittle her whenever she felt like crushing her daughter's spirits. She'd also make fun of Cassandra's ears, glasses, hairs and would explain in great detail why all the boys didn't like her. That kind of fun emotional abuse.

Nate: 13:51

So what? To what end? I mean, I obviously this is not, she's not the only one that happened to it just to what end? You know? Yeah, why like? Why Bullies?

Shaun: 14:01

got a bully dude, that's all I can think of yeah, I mean, that's pretty much a mature miserable on the inside, gotta make everybody else miserable too, yeah, and when the emotional abuse wasn't working, she'd occasionally slap around Cassandra too. So, hmm, naturally the mom is very charming and fun around other people and family, other families just not her own. However, cassandra and her father, dale, had a great relationship when she was a child Because her father, when she was in the hospital, swore up and down that if she pulled through he would be the best dad forever, ever for her and give her everything she ever wanted, and he would actually do his best to follow through on this too. You know, they would romp and play and go out and do stuff together, lay on the floor, watch gun smoke and the such. To young Cassandra, her father was everything to her. It should be no, though, he was not like a perfect man by any means. He was an alcoholic who swore up a storm and liked to pick fights with pretty much anybody who looked at him.

Shaun: 14:52

Funny, cassandra remembers one time a dude was tailgating her dad really bad down the road. So her dad like pulled over on the side of the road and like did the motion? Hey, pull over to kind of thing. And the dude did. Cassandra's dad just walked up and did that oh you know, roll down your window motion thing. And soon as the guy did, he just started punching the crap out of the guy in the car. That's Cassandra's hit. It's probably a good thing.

Shaun: 15:12

People didn't really carry guns back then. On another note, probably the reason people carry guns nowadays because people like her dad was going around punching people back in the day. So kind of a cycle there. I would think she also remembers one time her dad and uncle got into an argument over a Band leader, lawrence Welk, and that led to a huge fist fight on the side of the road. Literally the dad just pulled over say like I will not hear you slandering band leaders in front of my parents again, and they just got those huge drag-out fight on the side of the highway. Cars driving by, honking, waving, cheering. She's like huh.

Nate: 15:42

Lawrence Welk. Was that? That's his fucking Lawrence, oh.

Shaun: 15:47

You got a hate for Lawrence Welk.

Nate: 15:50

Have you ever seen Lawrence Welk? That's just just awful. I mean Just awful. I was, I was forced to watch. I was forced to watch it. I was a kid, I was forced to watch it. It was just awful, I mean it was. I mean it was pointless. Hey, let's get these people who are, you know, one foot in the grave. Let's have them dance the dance floor. Wow, I don't know some jackass place of music. It's just, oh man, it was like soul train for old white people.

Shaun: 16:19

So train for the World War two generation? Yes, lawrence Welk on soul train would be kind of funny. Also, another upbringing know for Cassandra. Her grandmother was a hardcore Jehovah's Witness who's been much of the time explaining to her how she and everyone she knew is going to hell for awful people. Everybody's going to hell. In that woman's mind this led to Cassandra not being religious person, as it often happens in these situations. Cassandra would also learn that before she was born, that same grandma was also caught exchanging Sexual favors to a pharmacist in exchange for pain pills. This led to grandma getting years of electroshock therapy as a treatment for addiction. 1940s electroshock probably was not fun. I Mean she was lucky shing a lobotomy. Yes, let's be real. This is yeah, yeah, probably lobotomy cost more or something, or the lobotomy guy wasn't in town that week, right, but the traveling lobotomy guy apparently it was only like a very small group of people that did lobotomy Really and you kind of had to like grab one as they're going through town.

Nate: 17:21

Oh yeah, Well, listen that. Uh. Last podcast on the left about lobotomy yeah, definitely, it was like it was a small group people, but they just didn't. They would do on stage. Oh yeah, we're gonna do a full performance of lobotomy.

Shaun: 17:31

Maybe I want bring your kids up here. Got any kids with problems? We'll lobotomize them right here on the spot. That's exactly right. Yeah, it's like I don't like my kid lobotomize him. Let's all watch. We no get on stage. When Cassandra's was in first grade, the entire family decided to pick up and move to Manhattan, partly because that's where the dad worked, but also because the city of Randolph that they were in had been beset by massive flooding that pretty much wiped out the entire town, and the government came in, said we're gonna buy up this, all this property, and turn to a giant reservoir. So everybody got a piton, some money that wasn't even really worth it and took off for new, new homes, new towns, set up new roots again.

Nate: 18:08

Yeah, so clarify Manhattan.

Shaun: 18:10

Manhattan, kansas. Yes. Yeah, we say Manhattan like yeah, yeah, keep correcting me on that too, because we won't be same in that hand Kansas that much anymore after this.

Shaun: 18:20

But She'd never, she'd never left Manhattan, kansas, who we talk about the entire elevator show is filmed from the basement in Manhattan, kansas. It's like a fucking Wayne's World actually, is it almost one year after moving Manhattan that the whole family decided it was time to make a Change of pick up and head to Colorado Springs, colorado, where basically it was the entire extended family living under one roof Cassandra, her parents, her aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents sort of almost like a what's the term I'm thinking of Beverly Hillbilly sort of method, except Kansas hillbilly's, I guess Living in Colorado Springs. Compared to where she grew up, colorado Springs was a huge culture shock. She finally got a seat. Guess what minorities which she, according to her, she didn't really know existed that there's, you know, non-white Christian people around also. Keep in mind, you know, I think she was like four or five when she moved there, so not exactly old.

Shaun: 19:13

Her dad would get a job at the local Sears which entitled him to a 20% discount on appliances and clothes. This meant tacky outfits of plenty for Cassandra and a really neat garbage disposal that was her dad's prized possession. This is kind of a funny story. Whenever a company would come over, he would show off this garbage disposal's power by taking a glass coke bottle, throwing in the disposal, turning on the water and letting the disposal rip. After a few moments of god-awful noise, her dad would open up the garbage disposal basin to reveal that the all that was left was just fine powdered glass from that coke bottle who's an Auzer had by the guests. But her dad would take it one step further and you take that powdery glass paste and smear it all over his Face to show off why.

Shaun: 19:53

Well, it wasn't alcoholic, so it might be that. Yeah, it might. As I do that, even Cassandra was like why did he do that? I don't know. Oh, don't look up in the eye. Yeah, yeah, I don't know. That just kind of feels like that'd be good way to give you skin cancer or something, rubbing glass paste all over your face. Well, her dad was away at Sears. Her mom made some extra money by running a daycare in the house. This mean that matter. There were several screaming infants and toddlers in the house during the day and this, along with an abusive mother, made for her not to want kids as an adult, for Cassandra to not want to have kids as an adult.

Nate: 20:28

Yeah, that would you know, that would do it. Yeah, yeah, like. Oh, my daughter a terrific burns, let's make fun of her. Ah, what a? Why would you give me grant? Yeah, exactly.

Shaun: 20:39

This also meant the Cassandra. Every chance you got you'd go hang out with her. Only real friend. At this point, the neighbor Let neighborhood latchkey kid Marilyn, and together they would read books, ride horses, scrape together money and buy thermometers so they could play with the mercury within fun times in the 50s, right when she yeah, exactly she was like hey, it was cool little balls, you just play with them, roll them around and palm your hand. My dad actually said that he and his friends used to do the same thing back on the day too. So, hmm, oh yeah. Actually, I guess the real danger from mercury is inhaling the vapors more than handling it, because I guess it kind of almost vaporizes Like a little bit above room temperature and if you breathe those vapors that's really what gets you more than handling it.

Nate: 21:16

Oh, yeah, I've never met. I was also like don't mess with it, no, it's still best not to touch it.

Shaun: 21:22

thermometers, yeah. Thermometers like don't break it yeah, most of them have alcohol in them nowadays, though, so yeah, yeah yeah, mercury is not using a thermometers anymore?

Shaun: 21:31

I don't believe so, just alcohol. When she was eight, her cousin Daniel would take her to go see movies on the weekends, and one weekend she saw one of two movies that would change her life forever. This one was the First horror movie she would ever see, the Vincent Price classic house on haunted Hill. The movie terrified her and for weeks afterwards nightmares were caused her to wake up in them, screaming in the middle of the night. This actually got her cousin Daniel in trouble for taking her to see a horror movie. Yeah right, actually.

Nate: 21:59

I watched that I watched.

Shaun: 22:00

The movie is on. It's a free on YouTube if you want to see it, and I flipped it on just like I wonder if there's any good, and actually it kind of is. It's a nice suspenseful movie. It's not like ooh boo-boo, boo-boo, scary, but it's got good dialogue, good story. Ending is kind of cheesy, but I learned that I actually liked it. So I'm about a little over an hour, so not bad investment either. Which was a house on haunted hill, the original Vincent Price one from 1956.

Nate: 22:23

Yeah.

Shaun: 22:23

I haven't seen that. I saw the remade, I saw the remake, to which I actually like the remake as well, even though apparently it is like universally panned and hated, I guess. Hmm, the remake, yeah.

Nate: 22:34

Yeah, I mean, cuz it was cheesy, I mean let's be really yeah, but I still enjoyed it. Oh yeah, I mean yeah, there's the throne cheese Now the haunting a hill house. That's something else entirely. That's really good, but I don't think I've seen that's a Netflix series. It's just a. It's a mini series on Netflix. It's really fucking good oh.

Shaun: 22:53

Interesting. Maybe I'll check it out someday. He said fully intending to never check it out.

Nate: 22:57

Right, yeah, has one. It has what I consider one of the best reveals in a horror like story the murderer was you all along?

Shaun: 23:05

did they hold up like a mirror at the end of like it was you and you're like, ah, my mind's blown and you, like, ran out of room crying. Not quite that good, but still pretty good Much as that movie terrified Cassandra, she couldn't get enough of the horror genre. Some of her favorites included a series of Roger Corman horror movies are very big, loosely Based on Edgar Allen Poe books, but they all had one thing in common they starred her new hero and idol, vincent Price. She loved Vincent. How, listen, let's be real?

Nate: 23:35

if it was, if it was a Corman movie, it was like a parody of my I Think some of the early Corman movies were a little bit.

Shaun: 23:44

He tried a little bit harder, but I'm not positive on that either. So yeah, maybe, maybe never.

Nate: 23:49

First one. I saw a death race 2000. Yeah, it's still a Let it. It's entertaining.

Shaun: 23:55

Well, okay, it was awful. That might have been Roger Corman's. I don't give an F phase. Who knows, who knows, just under loved Vincent how effortlessly he could play the anti-hero in any movie. Be a convincing no, be a convincing villain, no matter the situation. So you would often daydream that she was being chased by a knife wielding Vincent Price throughout the house because hey, what'd be cool? And being killed by the one and only Vincent Price. Yeah, if you were gonna get killed by one horror icon, vincent Price would probably one the cooler ones, because at least you get like a cool monologue out of the deal.

Shaun: 24:25

Yeah, he's pretty, yeah hey, his voice is just like yeah man, that dude can deliver lines really good at the beginning of a house on haunted hill. He has a pretty good monologue and you just hear the disgust for his wife's in his voice.

Nate: 24:37

I'll be honest with you, like I've got just a business price. I'll be honest with you, to find out he was straight surprised me.

Shaun: 24:42

Oh yeah, he's married like three or four times and also released oh yeah, released four cookbooks which I kind of want to check out. Huh, what a thought. Late night horror movies on TV, twilight Zone, outer limits. She couldn't get enough of these things and Halloween quickly became her favorite holiday and, unlike other girls her age who played with dolls, cassandra played with monster figures and she was quickly known around town as that sweet week girl who's kind of weird and plays with monsters instead of dolls and toys. She also really loved what day when she was looking through magazine and she realized those like Monster resin models you get back in the day of, like Dracula and King Kong and the such. Those were her favorite toys in the world. She would demand those every Christmas. Be like I want to build some models. Apparently, some of those are actually worth tons of money nowadays, like the OG ones from the 50s. Oh yeah, she's like. I really wish I had a bunch of those, but her mom threw them away during when the moves, which, as that, tends to happen.

Nate: 25:35

Well, also, that's one of the reasons why they're so yeah.

Shaun: 25:37

That's exactly why all that stuff from that era is worth so much money because people would just like threw it away. Not a thinking it was gonna be worth anything same with that was that, but also pairs or ass.

Nate: 25:45

Yeah, this is for children.

Shaun: 25:46

Yeah, right that throw it away like oh, you just turned 13. We're throwing away all your toys now. We're giving you nothing but guns and porn, just like my father did back in the day.

Nate: 25:59

My father threw away my toys like that.

Shaun: 26:02

toys million dollars yeah well, that's kind of what happened with a lot of the video games. Nowadays, the old NES games are worth a ton of money. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As luck would have it, not long after this new level Halloween formed, cassandra's mom would give up the daycare gig and, along with her sister With a Cassandra's aunt that would be would open up a successful costume shop in town. Now young Cassandra access to the best costumes in town to dress up for Halloween. Other kids got cheap polyester and plastic costumes, but not Cassandra. She got the good stuff. One year she actually put together a costume and dubbed herself the Queen of Halloween for the year. That's so some pretty good foreshadowing there. I feel like Halloween continued to be Cassandra's jam for several years. That is to. Actually, I want to go back real quick because I brought up the sister thing. It's Cassandra did have two sisters growing up with her at this point, so and I mean they're about.

Nate: 26:49

Was she the oldest or she just? I only, I only think she's the oldest. Okay, I only mentioned that because you, when you talk about like this other story, when you know, even when she got burned, you could mention any other kids. Yeah, I mean that that was really pertinent to the story.

Shaun: 27:02

I just yeah, still, no, that's good thing to bring up. I'm pretty sure she's the oldest cuz later in the book she did refer to as her kid sisters, I think. Okay, there's just little side stories with them coming up later. Halloween can send you, continue to be Cassandra's jam for several years, that is until one. The one-two punch of puberty, and Elvis hit her. Along with Bresticles came a new outlook on life. Out went, out went the interest in monsters and in with more adult interests like boys and makeup Vincent Pratt. Out with the monsters, in with the dog. That's yeah. That's basically exactly how that happened. Vincent Price now took a backseat tour. New new hero and Margaret Gone were the fantasies fantasies of being murdered by Vincent Price and now they were placed with fantasies of her being and Margaret being a showgirl and acting alongside Elvis.

Nate: 27:50

I want the fancy murder by Vincent Price. It was a fancy being murdered.

Shaun: 27:58

At the age of 13 she saw Viva Las Vegas with and Margaret, and at that moment that is when she wanted to beam and Margaret she wanted.

Shaun: 28:05

That was her idol and her obsession.

Shaun: 28:07

She watched that movie over and over and over, memorizing every line and dance move in that movie, and she also loved chemistry between and Margaret and Elvis was like I want to be there, I want to be in Elvis's arms.

Shaun: 28:18

Viva Las Vegas also introduced her into the glitzy and glamorous looking world of the Las Vegas showgirl and that was something that she would now think of her as being her dream job. Soon, as she saw Viva Las Vegas, she was like I didn't know, that was a job or he could be a Vegas showgirl, and she just loved the whole pageantry and the you know outfits, the costumes, so on and so forth. So now the Cassandra and her friend had puber baited, they started dressing in skimpy outfits and thankfully by now Cassandra scars had kind of healed to the point where they're no longer bright, red and purple, but she was still quite self-conscious about and would dress around it and Basically make the scars so they weren't quite as so obvious and use makeup to cover it up too. She also made friends with an older 18 year old girl who taught her how to do sexy walks and put on pointy bra Properly, and the such.

Nate: 29:04

What he brought. I'm so glad, Like you see those old fifties and it's like whatever yeah it's just like oh, come on, cones on your chest. Right, I like this. That looks stupid. I mean, that doesn't make it look breast look bigger, that makes you look like a polygon.

Shaun: 29:19

Cassandra and her friends started going to the local music venue the city auditorium Every chest they could to see every band they could. They're really big into music at this time, as most teenagers were. Her friends became adept at sneaking backstage to see bands and get autographs. She met such famous acts as strawberry alarm clock, buffalo Springfield, steve Miller and also the yard birds. Eventually they would upgrade from stalking bands backstage to stalking bands at the hotel rooms before and after shows, and Cassandra is particularly good at this. She says she hung out and made out with a ton of musicians and yet remained a virgin the whole time. Cassandra refers to this as her virgin groupie phase of life. That's actually one of the chapters in the book the virgin groupie.

Nate: 30:00

You know, with most, with both people like they would say that, like oh, whatever. But if Elvira is just saying, yeah, I believe it. Yeah, because you there's, you're with her personality, with you know when her sex symbol status there, she has no Like reason to lie about it.

Shaun: 30:15

No, she's actually pretty Fourth coming in her book, which makes me believe her on a lot of stuff. Good too, because she's flat out like yeah, I screwed up, your, I shouldn't have done that, and stuff and whoo which you gotta respect. Yeah, yeah, exactly. In fact, that band, the Yardbirds I just referenced, very famous band. It had people in there like Eric Clapton, jimmy Page, jeff Beck, a few others. It was kind of like a rotating cast of guitarists. At one point, well, she figured out what hotel they were staring at and made her way up into their room and next thing, you know, she's on a bed with Jimmy Page making out with him, and Jimmy Page would eventually become the lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin. It was also the first penis she ever touched. And she actually says in a book she's like yeah, it was the first penis I ever touched and I remember it feel, remember, thinking to myself, it feels kind of like a worm. And then she apologized to Jimmy Page for saying that in her book.

Nate: 31:06

Yeah, I would imagine, like I don't want to be a compare, like come on man, like at least it's snake yeah.

Shaun: 31:15

Shortly after she touched that penis, Panic said in. She ran out of the hotel, hotel room screaming I'm a fucking virgin, apparently leaving a very confused Jimmy Page in her way. She's like I don't know why I yelled that. It made sense in my mind, I guess, but I was, you know, 13 and confused, or maybe she's like 14 or so.

Nate: 31:33

Even still, she also unintentionally saved him from being a pedophile.

Shaun: 31:38

Yes, this is very true.

Nate: 31:41

I mean, I know, I don't probably know they weren't carding people at the door, but Jesus yeah.

Shaun: 31:45

Yeah also. I mean, there wasn't really bouncers sound like. She was just like hey, I noticed that I saw them like checking in this hotel, so she just like wandered up and just checked floor to floor until she's like, hey, that sounds like a band over there. Let's walk over, knock on door and like hey, what's up?

Nate: 31:59

I'm sure he rolled out a bed, went back in the lobby and found someone else. Oh, absolutely.

Shaun: 32:03

Me or moments later. Right, she actually did have some bad run ins. Um, at the age of 15, a drunken Eric Burton from the animals Uh, basically convinced her to give her a ride back to his apartment and soon as they got back there, he like took the keys from the car and was like you know what you got to do to get these back? Her, her, her. She wisely just started screaming hey, this asshole starts stole my car, help, help, help, through which Eric Burns just got pissed on, like through her keys in the bushes and disappeared.

Nate: 32:32

So, hey, you gotta do. Yeah, please Are the animals kind of a dick apparently.

Shaun: 32:35

Yeah, clearly, but she was smart about it.

Nate: 32:37

I mean she didn't like roll over and give up, and or she didn't you know. Yeah, I mean you know good.

Shaun: 32:45

Yeah, yeah, exactly, uh, cassandra. However, uh was blindsided by one side effect of going through puberty, this kind of a bummer. Right after she got her Tata's, she ran up to her dad after work, hopped up on his lap and gave him a big old hug and kiss, just like she always had when you come home from work. This time she was greeted with an angry shove and a dad growling at her You're too old for that kind of crap, knock it off. This actually devastated her because, if you remember her mom's emotionally, verbally abusive, and now her dad, the boo sound is all of a sudden took away kind of the last bit of parental affection she had. Because I guess it wasn't even like a sit her down like now, honey, here's what happened, but it was just like a bitch, get off me, leave me alone. And he just kind of went with that.

Nate: 33:25

Yeah, that's fucked up.

Shaun: 33:25

Yeah, yeah, there's way better ways of going about that.

Nate: 33:29

Oh yeah, I mean I got three daughters. There is no world out ever yeah right, that's just fucked up.

Shaun: 33:35

All right, we are currently in 1965. And when she was 14, cassandra would freak out a 21 and under nightclub called Hullabaloo where she loved to dance the night away. One nightclub, hullabaloo had a go-go dancing contest, urging teens to dress up in go-go boots and show their stuff for prizes, and prizes for the winners. Yay, cassandra Prices prizes, precisely, yeah, yeah. So Cassandra entered the costume with the best outfit her mom's costume shop could and danced her heart out, only to come in second place to an older girl and her shocking outfit that featured a bear. Midriff, scandalous. The first place got a new wardrobe.

Nate: 34:11

Yeah right Bear. Midriff birth is place to the ground.

Shaun: 34:18

The winner got a new wardrobe from JCPenney and a ride in a parade Neat Cassandra. Second place prize was a job to go dance at a nearby club, a go-go, a 21 and over club, that seems like a better deal.

Nate: 34:31

I mean, I guess Well actually the first.

Shaun: 34:33

The first place. Got the job to, got the gig to gotten off.

Nate: 34:36

Okay, okay.

Shaun: 34:37

That makes more sense I was like, okay, you get a momentary fame versus a job, cassandra jumped at the chance for this gig and had her mom put together some go-go dancing outfits for her and, as of now, during the day Cassandra is attending junior high school and at night she's in a glass cage dancing for middle-aged businessmen.

Nate: 34:56

Again, there's so many problems.

Shaun: 34:58

Yeah, in her book she was like hey, when I was 14, I was like, hey, this is awesome, I'm dancing for middle-aged businessmen, this is cool. And as an adult she was like that wasn't really that cool.

Shaun: 35:07

No no not at all. Yeah, they all, they guys they're. Also gave them a nickname Big Red because of her giant breasts Once again, kind of crazy, because she's 14. Yeah, yeah, apparently she had massive tautas for 14. Like the point where people are, which is 14, people were like are those real? Or you have to give me the number of your doctor for those great fake breasts. She's like they're real. Also, people thought it's kind of. Sometimes people have a hard time believing that you know, a 14-year-old would be dancing at a 21 and over club. I guess, oh, I would too.

Nate: 35:34

Yeah, I mean like what assholes gonna have a 14-year-old dancing at 21 and over club? But apparently them yeah.

Shaun: 35:41

She wasn't the only one either. They're dancing at that age. They ranged anywhere from her being the 14th youngest all the way up to I believe there's like one that was almost 30 working there and everybody was like my God, she's so old here. In between dancing sets, cassandra would also sit and back, light up a cigarette and do her homework while enjoying a white Russian, enjoying the American dream. I guess it was also here a club of go-go that Cassandra would run into. Traveling burlesque actor Tracy Summers, master of the nipple tassels, she had all sorts of elaborate routines of the club. Patrons loved it. You know, spin one tassel, spin the other, spin them in reverse, spin them forward, because give people directions. Yeah, cassandra was mind blown by this new concept and immediately went about practicing this new art. This, at least at first, led to many sore breasts, nipples chafing and some bleeding. Apparently, you got to make sure they are attached properly or you're going to have a bad time. Those are her words. Make sure you use the right glue and tape and this and that.

Nate: 36:36

Yeah, I mean, your breasts aren't really known for being like, really able to withstand a lot of pressure.

Shaun: 36:42

Yeah, yeah, they're more of a precision instrument or something. I don't know what term it is. Were her parents okay with this, nate, you might be asking. Well, actually they, I'm assuming. Yes, not really, but at this point Cassandra was kind of an uncontrollable wild child who was sick of her home life and she was kind of in that I'm going to do what I want phase. So the parents were like, well, at least she comes home at the end of the night. So I guess that's all right, that's something.

Shaun: 37:08

However, that would kind of change shortly before Cassandra's 15th birthday, when her mom got into a huge blowout and the mom smacked Cassandra right across the face. This wasn't unusual, because you know they'll be leading in smacking habit often. But what was unusual this time is Cassandra, who had who had enough by now opened up a can of whoop ass on her mom, knocking her to the floor and confusing everybody involved. This is just grabbed her shit and just moved right on out, started couch surfing between co workers and friends houses and eventually using her go go dancing money to move in with a fellow dancer who is 18 and could sign an apartment lease. So yeah, I mean she had a job.

Nate: 37:44

I mean surely one in a career. But I mean she had a job that had money. I mean arguably, I mean I don't, she probably had enough to move in somewhere herself.

Shaun: 37:55

But she just yeah, she kind of did. She just couldn't sign a lease for an apartment at the age of 14, which is why she had to get with the 18 year old. And also she was like and this lady was 18, so she could actually handle a, you know, a 14 year old, unlike a lot of people, probably. Yeah, so Cassandra was on her own by now, but she didn't really disown her parents or anything like that. She would still go visit them and hang out and occasionally, you know, they would show them go on family vacation with her sisters and this and that. But anytime they hung out for more in a short bit, things would kind of get bad again and be like hey, maybe I could move back up. Nope, nope, nope. This is why I've moved out.

Nate: 38:26

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean good honor for even going back, not cutting off, yeah.

Shaun: 38:31

She didn't like fully disown because she was, like you know, I still love my family. I want to go on and see if we can work things out and stuff and kind of did issue you know, still familiar love there, I guess in a way. I guess, yeah, At the age of 15, club of gogo was out for Cassandra and now she was gogo dancing at Fort Carson army base. Yes, back in those days the government would hire teenagers to gogo dance for the troops and entertain them before being shipped off to war. That means if you paid taxes back in the 60s, you help pay Cassandra's way.

Shaun: 39:01

This job was even more lucrative than the club of gogo because lonely and scared soldiers would throw money on stage and Cassandra and attempt to forget the fact they're about to go off to nom and get murdered. And Cassandra's mind this was kind of a little hypocritical of her because she considered herself a peace loving, war hating hippie. And here she is working in a military base but the money was so good she kind of put a little quabbles to the side and also she kind of made up for a tube by actually like hanging out and consoling the soldiers and listening to them and, you know, helping them through their hey, I'm going to go off to war and die speeches, kind of thing. Because she said, uh, the overwhelming majority of people that knew they were going to be shipped off to Vietnam were not excited about it, obviously.

Nate: 39:41

Yeah, who would be? I'll say, like maybe I don't know a psychopath.

Shaun: 39:44

Like yeah, she said there's a few of them that were like the whole you know I'm gonna go kill me some so and so Isn't that awesome. But she said those were in the great minority and she actually avoided those kind of guys because you know, you know, but I think everyone should avoid those kind of guy. I agree with that. Usually those kind of guys do go off to war and then they realize it's not nearly as cool as they thought it was going to be.

Nate: 40:04

Yeah, yeah. Or you have the stories where I kept her, which was a serial killer, was we got shipped off the knob and end up being in the kitchen, yeah, and they're like oh, oh, where'd it go?

Shaun: 40:15

Kill people? Yeah, yeah, that's. I think that's kind of how you know. You've run into those military guys who tell a lot of really tall stories that don't make any sense and you're pretty sure they're lying. I'm feeling that's because they wanted to go off to battle and stuff, but it turns out they just wound up being on a base cleaning porta-potties around the clock or changing oil and jeeps, because there are a lot of jobs in the military that are literally just jobs.

Nate: 40:38

Yeah, exactly.

Shaun: 40:39

Yeah, yeah, you're not all. Your job isn't always go kill so many. Sometimes your job is to stay at the base and manicure the lawns, because that's a thing at this point she's, that's what needs to happen. Yep, you got to have those nice manicured lawns. Being a hippie, she did smoke a lot of weeds, smoked cigarettes and drink, but this point she wasn't really into much other drugs. She tried cocaine was at this point, but she was so hyper as a kid. Cocaine just kind of made her more annoying and not much else. And also she realized it made her more annoying and annoyed other people. And you know, when you're high on cocaine and you're aware you're being annoying, it's probably a bad cycle to be on. Cassandra also did try smoking opium once at this point and she said that just resulted her in staring at the fish tank for hours and hours and coming up with little like plays for the fish to do in her head.

Nate: 41:21

I will say that was one thing I've never done. I've not always been curious about opium. Yeah, yeah, maybe. Maybe when I'm old and, like you know, the kids are all gone, I'm like sitting there, the old folks home, like, hey nurse, bring me some.

Shaun: 41:34

Yeah, bring me some. Oh, Google opium din online bag. There's a local opium din I can go visit Just one of those where you just lay on a mattress with one of those long pipes like back in the 1800s.

Nate: 41:44

Oh yeah, like this, like old Asian guy stops by yeah 100% old school.

Shaun: 41:51

You know late 1800s opium din, where you just lay there like barely cautious and somebody just loads your pipe again for you and just keeps on like her.

Nate: 41:59

Well, actually, hell, I mean, you know it'd be in the future. Like, okay, instead of staring at the wall, give me opium din, put on like a V.

Shaun: 42:06

Yeah right.

Nate: 42:07

Think of that. I'm flying through space.

Shaun: 42:10

This is amazing. Hey man, if you're retired and done your time for society, fuck it, go for it Right. Also, around this time she did try acid once and it's kind of one of those stories as old as acid is where it's like her friends were like hey, we bought this acid here, hold this for a second. And she's like, eat it, all right. So she took the entire group's dosage in one go, which, um yeah, which also to when she started tripping there, like what'd you do? She's like oh, I took all that acid you gave me there. And basically as soon as she started tripping, everybody realized what she did and they all got really pissed at her because, like, that was all of ours, you dumb bitch.

Shaun: 42:44

Oh, I thought they left her no actually, yeah, Eventually they were like, okay, we're done dealing with you. So they literally took her back to her parents house and dropped her off where she was like that was the worst place to put me Right. Yeah, and uh, I guess, um, yeah, she basically somehow managed to sneak her way past her parents and go hide in the basement where, uh, a dog came up and tried to cuddle with her, and then she looked at the dog and realized the dog didn't have a head in a butt, but two butts instead, and that freaked her out and, uh, ruined the rest of her night. She's like whoo, my dog's coming to come with me. Oh God, it's a freak.

Nate: 43:17

But I mean, I guess two butts worth like oh my God, raise a sharp teeth in the butt.

Shaun: 43:22

Ha. One day, on her way home from working at Fort Carson, Cassandra decided to stop by a local club for the first time the Purple Cow. Here Cassandra would meet a group who had changed her life forever Drag Queens. She loved the showmanship of the Drag Queens. She loved the outfits, the bravado, everything about it, the song, the dance routines. It kind of reminded her of the whole Ann Margaret uh, Viva Las Vegas setup. She would eventually become good friends with the Drag Queens working here and they gave her a side gig dancing there as well, to be on top of her, uh, Fort Carson dancing gig. Well, she was working there. She would learn everything. The drag queens would teach her how to lip sync, how to dance, how to do wigs, how to dress herself and basically, this is where she learned how the Elvira look and because do you?

Shaun: 44:06

really need to learn how to lip sync, I mean actually, yeah, you kind of do, I mean, if you want to do it with the national style.

Nate: 44:14

I guess I mean okay, fine so anyways because of a.

Shaun: 44:17

basically, she was taught all this kind of stuff by drag queen. She considers Elvira a drag act. So if you ever hear Elvira refer to as a drag queen, it's true, not because Cassandra is a man, fair enough yeah. Cause, basically I mean in her mind, drag is not a man dressing as woman's, taking on an alter ego that you perform under which hey works for me.

Nate: 44:37

I mean it works for me and I mean, yeah, I mean it's Elvira. You look at the drag queen, look at Elvira. It's just like there's not much of a leap there. Yeah.

Shaun: 44:45

Yeah, absolutely not. 1968. Cassandra buys her first car with her go-go dancing money, a new 1969 VW Beetle Orange. She would drive this car anywhere and everywhere and would even still have it when she got the Elvira job. She would sell the car shortly thereafter getting the Elvira job, a decision she greatly regrets. She bought it with a check too, just outright with cash. That's how much money she's making a go-go dancer. She's like oh, here's a check. Bye, thanks. 1968 and go-go dancing high schooler Cassandra Peterson uses money she saved dancing for the troops and goes on a school sponsored art history trip to Europe where she would travel and see the sights and think to herself boy, it would be neat to live here before heading back to the States. This is more foreshadowing, and that's going to do it for our first episode on Elvira, mistress of the Dark. Next episode, cassandra starts hobnobbing with the stars and even makes her way to Las Vegas. This and more next week on Offed, off Topic.