How to Spread Your Bat WingsĬonjure your inner darkness at these gothic stores.īaphomets, goat skulls, and Ouija altar mats at the Glass Coffin Celebrate the store’s reopening at Bat City Antiques & Oddities Market, Oct. Years later, having found a fresh and foreboding haunting location, the Glass Coffin endures, as does Slayne's passion for all things macabre: "I guess you could say I'm still that 11-year-old kid obsessed with vampires." After the loss of his mother in 2016, Slayne says she appeared to him in a dream, encouraging him to pursue opening up the Glass Coffin, a name that came to him once he awoke from the dream. He liked the idea of opening a shop, yet finding a name and direction proved difficult.
But for a long time, he wasn't sure how to integrate that passion into his life. Vampires mean a great deal to Slayne, and always have. Current haunted items include a sealed-off Ouija board (donated by a local gay couple, which both the previous owners and Slayne claim caused knocking noises around the house when used), and a pair of little old boots once owned by a deceased child of the 1800s. And speaking of the occult, the new Coffin also holds within it a séance room, where the two resident snakes – green tree snake Hemlock and nocturnal snake Belladonna – live, as well as the beginnings of a haunted item collection.
While there is much from the original Coffin in the foyer, the checkout room, and the apothecary room – which boasts a display in honor of Slayne's favorite vampire movie since he was 11, The Lost Boys – new additions feature a large parlor/lounge, where Slayne aspires to host vampiric wine and absinthe tastings, as well as classes on bone articulation and different paranormal arts such as tarot or séances. The new location's larger insides also inspired Slayne to think bigger about the Coffin's offerings. Heavily inspired by the dilapidated manor of FX's What We Do in the Shadows' quarreling vampire coven, the Coffin's new interior is rife with red lighting, dark curtains, mysterious corners, and antiques that thread it through with a genuine sense of joie de mort.
Opening a GoFundMe ran counter to his reluctance to ask for help – but in the end, "I just had to swallow my pride." Followers of the Coffin from Instagram, Facebook, and other people in Slayne's community donated, allowing him to put down a deposit and first month's rent on the new tomb. Money, however, proved an obstacle, with vacation spending and reduced income from online sales meaning Slayne faced a tough decision. like my dream of having a shop just came to an end." However, in a romantic twist of fate, Slayne stayed in Bat City after meeting his current partner, and a macabre summer trip through Midwestern and Northeastern spooky haunts refreshed his spirits just in time to see the "now available" sign on a little house off the north I-35 frontage road. "I was really bummed and, you know, I was depressed. "I had actually planned on moving to Chicago after I closed the shop," Slayne said. With the brick-and-mortar site staked through the heart, he kept the Coffin afloat through online sales – but limbo was taking its toll. According to Slayne, about a year and a half previously the landlords of the Coffin's old location on South First sold the property and gave the occupants 30 days to vacate. The Coffin's reanimation starts, as many horror stories do, with an unfortunate (but not permanent) death.
Resurrected this month at a new haunt just off I-35, the final celebratory nail will be hammered in on Halloween with the first Bat City Antiques & Oddities Market: Vendors, music, drinks, and even a special appearance from Baphomet will celebrate the Coffin's grand reopening. Slayne and his shop have gone through a strange and sometimes scary journey, but from its pandemic grave, the Glass Coffin's possessed physical presence has risen – ready to have the time of its afterlife. Joey Slayne, owner of the local vampire parlor, just got the shy boy the day before and he beams as he considers where the figure's final resting place will be within the Coffin's expanded confines. Nosferatu welcomes you into the store (Photos by Jana Birchum)Ī towering Nosferatu, standing almost shyly across the entry room, is what my eyes shoot to the moment I step inside the new Glass Coffin's interior.