WAVE 3’s Dawn Gee, who will be undergoing surgery for kidney cancer this Halloween, is undeniably “one of us”!
I’m not sure how many of our Louisville Halloween readers are aware of this, but WAVE 3’s News Anchor, Dawne Gee, is a hardcore horror fan and Halloween enthusiast! As some of the singularly unique characters in Louisville born director Tod Browning’s “Freaks” (1932) proclaimed, she’s “one of us.”
I’ve personally bumped into Mrs. Gee on more than one occasion while she was out meeting some of her friends and family on the opening night of some new ghostly thriller at local movie theaters. Her own Facebook page posts some of her extensive horror movie memorabilia collection, and she has created, shot and edited a number of supernatural related stories for WAVE 3 such as her recent Kentuckiana’s Monsters, Myths and Legends series.
In the interest of full disclosure, Louisville Halloween was consulted for the Sleepy Hollow Road segment of that extremely popular series. Off camera, Gee’s enthusiasm for the spooky, the unexplained, the haunted and monstrous is clearly genuine. She spoke excitedly about a segment she had recently shot which found her spending the night in a real haunted house.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Gee will be spending Halloween in the hospital having surgery to remove a tumor on her kidneys and we wish her well for both the success of the operation and during the 4 to 6 week recovery period. This isn’t the first time Gee has fought a battle with tumors. In 2009, she underwent a risky operation to remove a benign brain tumor.
I, for one, appreciate her presence in the local media as a positive role model for horror fans and for those with big imaginations and bigger dreams. When I was a little Phantom, one of my favorite local news journalists was Byron Crawford, who also did a series of investigative segments for WHAS in search of local urban legends, ghosts, haunted houses and Bigfoot-like creatures. In fact, the junior, 10 year old Phantom of the Ville put on a series of “theatrical productions” for my parents and neighbors wearing a fishing hat and a robe that doubled for Crawford’s trench coat. Each production ended with me running off stage in mock terror from some unseen supernatural force or legendary creature.
I think Crawford’s supernatural news segments, combined with Darren McGavin’s 1974 “Kolchak: The Night Stalker” TV series, were probably the primary influences that eventually led to the column you’re now reading on Louisville Halloween, and I truly believe that Dawne Gee’s infectious love of the unusual and her own creepy series of local ghost stories are currently inspiring a new generation of imaginative fans.
Louisville Halloween wishes Dawne Gee a Happy Halloween and a speedy recovery! There are some Charles Dickens-styled Christmas ghost stories awaiting your attention this December!
