FAMOUS MONSTERS #4 WITH GHOUL'S EYE STICKER

Last Thursday in the early afternoon I logged on to eBay to check out the new auctions for Famous Monsters of Filmland, and staring me in the face at the top of the list was a copy of FM #4 with the Ghoul's Eye sticker!

From time to time I've seen a copy come up for auction, usually in pretty poor condition. This one looked really nice and I was about to move down the list thinking that I wasn't going to torture myself in an auction I could not afford and had no chance of winning. Then I almost fell off my chair when I noticed that the mag was on a Buy-It-Now for $149!!!

Apparently, it had only been just put up for auction less than half an hour before I found it and no one had spotted it yet. I quickly glanced at the pics the seller posted and decided to just go for it. As I hit the "BUY-IT-NOW" button and then the "COMMIT TO BUY" button my hand was trembling and my heart was racing knowing full well that this treasure could disappear before my very eyes if someone was doing the same thing faster than me.

Anyway, I won the auction and received the magazine today. It seems that the seller's friend passed away and his brother had no interest in the magazines so the seller got them. Not realizing the value of FM #4 with the Ghoul's Eye sticker he somehow came up with the $149.00 Buy-It-Now price. (Nostomania lists this issue in FINE + / 6.5, not slabbed at $2,700).

I would give this issue a FINE + / 6.5. It lies perfectly flat (NO spine roll), has some gloss, off-white pages, moderate spine wear-NO splits, tight staples and pages, no rips, cut-outs, etc. The only issue that I can see is that on the back cover a small rubber stamp with the name of a business was stamped on the magazine.

This sort of thing is what makes collecting interesting. You never know what's around the corner during the "hunt." - Mike

After my adrenaline finally subsided and I was able to get control of my bragging over my FM #4 Ghoul's Eye sticker variant, I started to wonder what the actual "Ghoul's Eye" ride looked like.

I found the photo below on the internet. It's not exactly what I expected from the sticker advertisement on the cool FM #4 variant cover.

By the way, the FM #4 cover does not picture a "Ghoul's Eye." I believe it is an artist's rendition of one of the Martians from H.G. Wells' "WAR OF THE WORLDS." - Mike

"THE GHOUL'S EYE" RIDE IN WILLOW GROVE AMUSEMENT PARK, PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, CIRCA 1959