Patrick County has its own full-time resident ‘monster’ family, and one recently was inducted into the Horror Host Hall of Fame.
His surname began as Gimon, and then was changed to Gammon. Eventually an ‘s’ was added to the end to make Gammons. “I added a ‘ter’ because that’s all you had to do to get monster out Gammons. My wife (Melissa) and I are the only two Gammonsters in the world.”
The induction was in 2020, according to Bobby Gammonster, of Claudville.
But he explained he didn’t officially receive the accolade until this year.
“We campaigned in 2019 then COVID came out, so they cancelled Horror Hound in Ohio for two years. It took me that long to be able to go to Ohio and get my award and ceremony and be properly inducted,” he said.
The induction process includes a nomination period where people can submit horror hosts names to be considered. After the top nominations are confirmed, voting is held on the top 8-11 hosts.
Gammonster was inducted for his work on Monster Movie Night, a YouTube series he started in 2010. He currently serves as its host and producer.
He first became interested in becoming a horror host after he and his wife attended their first Monster Bash, a monster convention, in 2008.
“It was basically for old-type monsters – Frankenstein, Dracula, that type of monster genre. When I was there, the only horror host I had seen on TV was Elvira. The only thing before the convention that I knew about horror hosts was what I” read in magazines, he said.
When he was a kid, Gammonster said he equated the horror hosts in magazines to the movie stars that were depicted in the pages.
“You kind of want to try to aspire towards that or you’re not really sure, but between that in that time you hadn’t really heard a lot about horror hosts,” he said.
At the convention, Gammonster said he met horror hosts who worked on local television stations and David “the Rock” Nelson, who “had a camera, just a regular camcorder, and a rubber spider that he went around throwing at people and asking them if they wanted to be in his movie.”
Gammonster said Nelson seemed to be having the time of his life, as were those around him.
I was thinking ‘you know, I’ve got a camera and my wife knows computers and the Internet stuff, I’ve got props.’ So, I was thinking that I could do this thing,” he said.
He was still mulling the idea over during the 2009 convention when he talked to other hosts.
“They said ‘go for it. There’s no money in it but go for it.’ I was looking just to have fun and enjoy myself and share my monsters and things out to a bigger crowd,” he said.
He started the series in 2010. Now, Monster Movie Night is currently on its 13th season and has more than 290 episodes during which Gammonster discusses movies, performs skits, and plays crossover videos in conjunction with other horror hosts.
He also typically has a section in the middle part of each episode called the “Museum Pick of the Week.”
“If I have something that deals with the movie like a mask, book, or prop, I’ll show that to everybody. A lot of people seem to like that,” he said.
Gammonster tries to do themed movies around the holidays such as Thanksgiving being “Fangsgiving,” and Yule/Christmas-themed movies being discussed around Christmas time.
“In the summer, I try to do a movie about vacation or going to the beach if I can find one,” he said.
The YouTube series currently has more than 4 million views.
Given the variety of his collection and affinity for all things monster, it shows no signs of slowing. In fact,
Gammonster said he does know how many monster-related items he has.
“I started one time putting a log down on paper and I was doing magazines first and I got tired after like 1,000. So, I stopped at 1,000 magazines and I’ve got more since then,” he said.
His love for all things monsters came naturally. When he was 5-years-old, “the very first magazine I got was a famous monster magazine, and it had Frankenstein’s monster on the cover. I couldn’t read, but for some reason I was drawn to it, and the word ‘monster’ stuck with me,” he said.
During his childhood, Gammonster collected monster-related paraphernalia and even built coffins and life-sized monsters out of chicken wire with his father.
Now, his home houses the Gargoyle Manor, or “The Monster Museum.” It is 10 rooms filled with more than 10,000 monster-related memorabilia, including masks, figurines, posters, magazines, comic books, DVDs, monster model kits, and other items.
Those interested in a tour may contact Gammonster at (276) 694-6756 or via email at bobbygammonster@yahoo.com.
To watch his series, go to www.monstermovienight.com, or YouTube.com/Bobby Gammonster.