Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Spooky Skeleton for Halloween!

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post every week.  I started out by publishing only weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding interesting weather vanes from all over New England.  Sometimes these weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are very unique.  Often, my readers tip me off to some very special and unusual weather vanes.

Today's weather vane is from somewhere in Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weather vane #282?  Scroll down to see the answer...

Photo by Sara Campbell

There is an interesting story behind this weather vane!  It is located at the Edward Gorey House museum on Cape Cod.  I've been there because I'm a big fan of Edward Gorey's illustrations.  I've been a fan since I was a little girl and I saw the Gashlycrumb children's books, and later when he did the animated sequences at the beginning of each episode of Mystery! on PBS TV.   In the museum you will find this weathervane on the wall at the foot of a staircase in Gorey's home.  (Yes, that is an upside down doll on the staircase.  There are lots of odd and weird exhibits in this museum)

photo by Vincent Rojo

Why is the weathervane on the wall?  Well, it seems that Gorey had a metalsmith make the original weathervane from his illustration, and he installed it on the barn behind the home.  It was stolen. So he had the metalsmith make a new one, but it was never put back on the outside, and it was found inside the barn after Gorey died on 15 April 2000. 

In 2006 the museum had the metalsmith make a third weathervane, which was auctioned off as a fundraiser.  You can have a weathervane made for yourself if you contact the museum.  The metalsmith, Steven Swain, will make one for you, which arrives with a numbered copy of the print. (See below for contact information)

This weathervane is a black steel, two dimensional skeleton, after the sketch by artist and illustrator Edward St. John Gorey (1925 - 2000).  

This print is for sale at the Edward Gorey Museum website

http://www.goreystore.com/shop/hol06/edward-gorey-skeleton-weathervane-print 

There is a nice story about this weathervane at this link:

http://goreyana.blogspot.com/2012/07/skeleton-weathervane.html   

The Edward Gorey House Museum

8 Strawberry Lane

Yarmouthport, Massachusetts

http://www.edwardgoreyhouse.org/    

email:  edwardgoreyhouse@verizon.net    

Sara Campbell, genealogy blogger at Those Who Came Before Us:

http://rememberingancestors.blogspot.com/

Steven Swain, Steel sculptor- 

http://www.fryingpangallery.com/steve-swain

More photos from inside the Edward Gorey House:

----------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Spooky Skeleton for Halloween!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 26, 2016,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/10/weathervane-wednesday-spooky-skeleton.html: accessed [access date]).