Winsor McCay's "Hell House"

Winsor McCay was the legendary cartoonist behind the surreal, classic comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland, and an animation pioneer who created short films in the 1910s and 20s that were literally decades ahead of what anybody else was doing. (His 1914 short Gertie the Dinosaur is his best-known work.)

Sadly, Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay news blog now reports that McCay's impressive former home has fallen on very hard times indeed. It is filled with insects and has become such a neighborhood eyesore that locals have dubbed it the "Hell House" and scrawled "WELCOME TO HELL" and "BED BUG PARADISE" on the front of it. The current owners hope to knock this historic building down and build condos on the spot.

(Via Cartoon Brew.)


Got a tip for Monsters and Rockets? Want to contribute to the site? Send us an email.