Even those of the most passing acquaintance with this publication probably know that to describe our history as ‘rocky’ is akin to saying the ailing Amy Winehouse is ‘at times, a little unprofessional’. The exact origins of the fanzine that was to become Essex Terror! are of course lost to us; having passed into legend in the way all good ghost stories must begin. We do know that it was the brainchild of one David N. Guy, a local to Maldon, Essex, and a man who had grown up on tales of the strange, the unnatural, and the plainly revolting. Having few other creative outlets (circumstance and inherited, crippling debt having put paid to such notions) he took it upon himself to publish a fanzine that celebrated the shadow lore of the South of England. In it, he sought to gather under his banner the rumours, tales, and first-hand sightings of the Outré; even, however melodramatic it might now sound, to map the hinterlands of the Outer Darkness that encroaches on us all — be it when waking in the night to unheard cries, or finding ourselves upon singular and deserted country lanes, and knowing we are not alone.
The initial run of the Essex Terror fanzine ran from July 1989 through to June 1990. It was printed on A4 paper, with a cardstock cover. The layout was quite sophisticated for its time, realised on a Zandy 5000 running what was probably a port of Professional Page, a popular WYSIWYG DTP client of the day. So much for the technology. Concerning the logistics and funding, things begin to get a little murky. We do know that Guy received an inheritance in 1987 after the death of his aunt, and what was not immediately taxed away or used to fend off angry creditors must have been used to launch the fanzine. The initial circulation was tiny, but by the final issue it counted subscribers living as far away as Braintree and Chelmsford. It’s difficult to put a precise number (since the accounting side of Essex Terror is possibly more Occult than the forbidden lore in which it traded) but subscribers must have numbered in the mid hundreds — an incredible achievement for a one-man outfit whose primary means of transport was a Raleigh Grifter. Incredible, that is, until one learns that the publication had become the property of the East Grinstead outlet for the Church of Scientology (there are no records of the sale, but it is listed as an asset in a December 1989 copy of Freedom Magazine). Quite what the Church’s interest in a simple horror fanzine might be has remained a mystery, and more-so, a fact which has dogged those who would remain true to Guy’s original vision.
I was first approached with the idea of relaunching Essex Terror in March of 2007 by a former associate at Fleetway Publications, but unfortunately had commitments to Home and Garden magazine which required I postpone the project. By late in the year however, I was more in a position to take the matter seriously. Arrangements were made and writers hired, mostly through a string of informal, Christmas card correspondences (looking back, things very much took on a life of their own in those early days). Our team was largely made up of former subscribers and word-of-mouth admirers of the original. We were greatly excited, and it’s probably not gilding the lily too much to say that issue one came into being almost overnight. Then came the letters. In no uncertain terms, the Church of Scientology (hereafter referred to as CoS) threatened us with legal action should we go ahead with our publication. We thought we had taken suitable precaution, Essex Terror! being more a spiritual successor to Guy’s Meisterwerke, but in the eyes of the CoS’s lawyers we were in clear danger of gross infringement of intellectual property rights. Naturally Fleetway required we back off, and when the firm passed into receivership a few months later (due by all accounts to matters unrelated to the CoS dispute), it all appeared to be over.
This brings us to the present, with EssexTerror.com. As our planned relaunch was begun primarly as a labour of love, we have decided to continue our project via the Internet as a purely non-profit undertaking. It is to the original voice of Essex Terror that we remain true, and it comes to us in a tone shrill and swollen, as of a birdcall echoing down a chimney.
We assert that Essex Terror! is in no way directly related to Essex Terror, is not a derivative work, and further believe we are in no way infringing on the intellectual properties of the CoS, in that our publication firmly comes under the notion of fair use regarding Guy’s original vision. Whilst we may, from time to time, reference content from the original fanzine, our project is purely an historical and elucidatory one. We are seeking charity status in this endeavor (further updates on request).
