William P. Robertson: Photos

Dark trees spread fear through the dawn, their outlines stenciled in grim relief.
ATTACK IN THE ALLEGHENIES, Bill Robertson & David Rimer's second French & Indian War novel, will be sneaking up on you sooner than you think. Stay tuned for regular updates.
Hold onto your topknot. ATTACK IN THE ALLEGHENIES is almost ready to send off to the publisher. (Photo courtesy of Randy Quinn)
New Contest: Guess the location of this mystery photo and win a copy of Bill's audio book CD, UNTIL DEATH DO IMPART. Send your answer to buccobill@mail.usachoice.net. One answer per contestant. Good luck!
TERROR TIME, Bill Robertson's third collection of horror stories, macabre poetry and spooky photos, is now available from Infinity Publishing at www.buybooksontheweb.com or at Amazon.com. For a chilling preview, enter Bill's stairwell of terror.
A demon-possessed alcoholic, blood-crazed bullies, and a drug-pushing witch are just a few of the villains you'll meet in TERROR TIME. Ghosts also abound.
TERROR TIME explores such themes as obsession, revenge, unbridled evil, and debilitating fear.
You contact me with the brain waves of a spook. The phone whispers your breathing, and a fax encodes your heartbeat. In seeps your disease with witch's breath and an e-mail of pestilent nature.
Among family graves. I sob in tin tomb. Frozen on knees. Pray for release. From dead them.
Lauren Watson is no angel when she returns from DARK HAUNTED DAY to wreak havoc on another branch of her family in TERROR TIME's first shocking tale. Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" served as Bill's inspiration for this haunting depiction of evil.
"The Car Wreck" is a rite of passage story with a wicked twist. It is set in the 1970's when a night of rock 'n' roll and drinkin' 'n' drivin' was the norm for teenage boys.
Eerie landscapes haunt TERROR TIME.
Returning from his Bucktail days in the Civil War doesn't end Jimmy Jewett's adventures. In "Dangerous Shadows" the lad embarks on a scary train ride, dogged by his old enemy, Bart Brewer.
Bucky Culp returns to McKean County to become sheriff in another postbellum Bucktail yarn. Unable to thwart Bart Brewer's stagecoach robbery in "The Gold Heist," Bucky tracks the villain into the dense forests below the Kinzua Viaduct.
"Spook"--If I were to sketch you, I'd highlight your hideous hues. Your stare is a fall down a bottomless well. The glint of your teeth frightens the stars from the firmament.
In "Ralph Crossmire Hates My Face," Bill tells the tale of the famous phantom who haunts the McKean County Old Jail in Smethport, Pennsylvania.
"The Long Way Home" came from Bill's own experience when a blizzard turned his twenty minute drive from Bradford to Duke Center into a two hour exodus of terror.
TERROR TIME ends with Bill's first foray into dark fantasy. "Evil Love" relates the trials of an aging Viking enamored with a witch.
Cold is the touch of a cruel crone even when inflamed with passion. Like gangrene, she'll enter your dreams and rot you from the inside out.
Thanks for visiting TERROR TIME. Doug Graves loved the back cover photo.
We have devilishly slippery roads in Western Pennsylvania.
An Author's Snow Day
Bill originally hails from spooky Bradford, PA.
Bill's first horror story collection includes folktales, ghost stories & Gothic terror originally published in magazines worldwide.
Ghost stories are the focus of Bill's second collection of macabre tales. "North Hall Is Haunted" comes from his days at Mansfield State College.
Bill recites, raps, and rhymes his way through his best horror poems on his first audio book project produced by A.J. Curtis, mastermind of the rock group ShadowFox.
On this CD Bill brings the rhymes; ShadowFox--the rock!
Bleak tableaux like the DARK HAUNTED DAY House inspire Bill to write horror.
Strange homes abound in Bill's county.
Stone angels chill Bill's spine.
Wasted trees writhe with rigor mortis.
Snow creates a maze for man and beast.
A house encumbered by the agony of winter
Snow grieves the trees.
A Wintry Annex of Hell
The dam cracked wide to pour eternal sleep on the souls of Austin.
The ruins were overgrown with brambles & briars. Crumbled walls cast shadows in the moonlit gloom & toadstools crunched underfoot.Cold drafts seeped from subterranean vaults.Ghostly lovers embraced like tangled roses.
The GASP! Tree
The Raven Tree grows scaly & sick with plenty of perches for witch birds.
They found her groper stepdad gutted in the barn the day after she left for L.A.
Father's place beneath the sun/Where every horror has begun
Sunlight casts a hellish blaze/Reminding us of long lost days/When Mother still was in her brain/And sunlight drove away the rain
Waters boil bloody when the full moon finally rises,/And fishermen not safe ashore are in for cold surprises.
With the help of co-author, David Rimer, Bill wrote a seven-novel series that traces the entire history of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserves. The regiment is also known as the Bucktails, the 42nd PA Volunteers & the First PA Rifles.
Introduces the boy heroes, Bucky Culp & Jimmy Jewett
Details the hardships of the common Civil War soldier
Most action-packed Bucktail novel
Jimmy gets shot by the Rebels; Bucky by Cupid
The regiment has its most casualties of the war
More heroics at Gettysburg
The Wilderness, Spottysylvania Court House & hell!
Bill first learned of the Bucktails on a sixth grade school trip. Ironically, he attended Lincoln Elementary School.
Billy's sixth grade classmates gather around the Bucktail Monument in Gettysburg to hear the history of the regiment in May of 1962.
Smethport, Pennsylvania, birthplace of the Bucktails
Bucktail Bill a.k.a. William P. Robertson
Many thanks to McKean Co. Company I Bucktail reenactors. From l-r are Kyle Nobles, Sergeant Tom Nobles, John Stengel, Chris Beatty, Sergeant Clarence Walker & Larry Fox.
An actual Bucktail (Courtesy of McKean Co. Historical Society)
Bucktail Company I Private, William N. Maxson, was only 17 when he was killed at South Mountain. (Courtesy of Bob Houben)
Daniel Blett seved as drillmaster for Company K of the original Bucktails. (Courtesy of Dr. Gary Grove)
Photo used to publicize the Bucktail Reunion, Aug. 4-5, 2007 in Smethport, PA
Bill as a Bucktail skirmisher
Like the Bucktails he writes about, Bill is an avid deer hunter. He shot his biggest buck in 2001 up Oil Valley.
In 1978 Bill bagged this eight point down Indian Creek.
Bill shot this de-licious hen with his twelve gauge pump during the fall 2008 turkey season.
Grandpa Paul Robertson also enjoyed hunting. Here, he's dressed for work on the Erie Railroad.
Bill is dressed as a 1750's woodsman to promote the new French & Indian War novel, AMBUSH IN THE ALLEGHENIES, he co-wrote with David Rimer. Order your copy online from Infinity Publishing at www.buybooksontheweb.com.
The cover for AMBUSH IN THE ALLEGHENIES was painted by prize-winning Bradford, Pennsylvania artist, David Cox.
AMBUSH IN THE ALLEGHENIES relates the adventures of four Eastern mountain men caught up in throes of the French & Indian War. Below, reenactor Bob Houbin portrays a typical free trapper of the period.
The heroes of AMBUSH are Lightnin' Jack Hawkins, Bearbite Bob Winslow, Will "Big Cat" Cutler & Alexander MacDonald. Mac is an expatriate Scot who came to America after Culloden. Below, John Stengel models a Scottish woodsman's garb.
Bold Wolf was a vicious Ottawa chief who brutally murdered Will Cutler's father. Below, Brett Meoisko portrays an Eastern Indian warrior like those who spread terror in AMBUSH.
A detailed account of Braddock's Defeat near present-day Pittsburgh, PA is included in Bill & David's F&I War novel. Robert Stray Wolf, Cliff Two Hawks & George Standing Elk demonstrate how the Indians ambushed the British.
The Indians surrounded Braddock's men and picked them off like one pigeon.
The British not shot were clubbed to death or burned at the stake.
As Arron Oliphant demonstrates, the British made great targets decked out in their bright red coats standing in the open in close formation.
Braddock was sent to capture Fort Duquesne held by the French Marines Du Contrecoeur. Reenactors Dave Bybee & Josh Mihalick model the marine uniforms.
Happy Bill at 5 months old
No wonder Bill likes books. His mom, Edith, read to him every night from an early age.
Bill's dad, Paul, encouraged him to study the Civil War by taking him to local historical sites.
Bill visits Ernest Hemingway's home in Key West. Hemingway's book IN OUR TIME had a big influence on Bill's early fiction.
Bill's dad loved to tell ghost stories to him and his cousins, Wade and Gary. Paul also got Bill to explore the works of Poe and Lovecraft.
Bill's grandma, Bernadine Johnson, fueled his imagination with tales of spooks and trolls.
Billy R. flashes a smile WEEKS after seeing THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL.
Long before PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, there were Billy and his girlfriend Norma, scourges of Bolivar Run.
Yeah, I crapped my pants. So what?
Each summer for 20 straight years the Robertsons vactioned at Millsite Lake near the Thousand Islands, NY. Below is Bill (far left) and his sister Jill (front row far right) with the Schulze and Nailor kids.
The Schulze kids help unpack my parents' car for another fun week at Millsite Lake. Front row (l-r): Fritz & Steve. Back row: Heidi, Elsa & Billy (me)
Elsa Schulze, Billy R., and Kully Schulze had lots of fun fishin'. Millsite Lake was loaded with trout, bass, panfish, and northern pike.
Mom & Uncle France stand in front of the cottage in July 1954 at Millsite Lake.
L-R Steve, Bill, Cousin Karen & Kully at Millsite Lake as teenagers in the late 60's.
Millsite Lake 1971 (l-r) Pete, Karen, Unidenified Girl, Aunt Marion, Uncle France & Eric Schulze Row 2 Dad (The Sea Monster) & Fritz Schulze
Aunt Marion & Mom enjoy the sun out in front of our cottage at Millsite Lake.
By the time Bill was a high school junior, he was already writing poetry on a regular basis. His first real poem, "Frank Luke," he wrote in Mrs. Johnston's freshman English class.
Bill in his pouty "Jim Morrison" phase on his high school graduation, June 1968.
Bill graduates from Mansfield State College in May of 1972. Dig the John Lennon glasses.
Bill joined Phi Sigma Pi at Mansfield and attended the fraternity's 1971 National Convention in Washington, D.C. Pictured l-r are brothers Louie Borino, Dan Day & Larry "Pappy" Snyder.
1969-70 Pi brothers (l-r) Jack Wolfe, Bill Funk, Louie Borino, Bill Robertson, Larry "Pappy" Snyder, Rod Cochran (VP), Walter Szott (President), Dan Day, Dan Selvage (Secretary), Bob Gruver (Treasurer), and Dave "Angel" Wilson
Fall 71 Pi pledges R1DaleDunmore AndyPazahannock JohnBersh R2RonWhitney JohnFennel RussMatthews NormWiley R3ScottThomas RickVargo RichStone LloydMyers R 4JoeMcConnon MikeSalem ChrisBernard KennySandoe R5 TomPodlinsky MikeSnell JohnSwanson GeorgeWoodring
(L-R) Pi brothers Dave Saylor, President Dan Selvage, Rich Stone, and Tom Podlinski gather at the Eagle Hotel in Addison, NY, for a 1972 spring meeting.
"There once was a school teacher from way out West. . ."
1972-73 Phi Sigma Pi Officers--seated (l-r) President Mike Salem & VP Charlie Shades; standing (l-r) Tom Taylor, pledgemaster; John Fennel, secretary; Ron Whitney, secretary; Mel "Bing" Wentzel, parliamentarian; Rick Vargo, pledgemaster.
The '73 Pi intramural basketball team was 4-4. Front row: Ron Schambacker, Dave Saylor. Back row: George Penno, Dale Dunmore & Bill Robertson. Bill was a grad student at Mansfield.
Pi brothers John Fennel, Mike Grabko, and Pappy Snyder take a break from chasing pledges on Hell Night, Spring of '73.
Dan Day and his date Sandy enjoy the 1973 Pi dinner dance.
Bill has always been a rock 'n' roller. Here, he heads off for the Bad Company concert at Niagara Falls in June of 1975.
Bill and his pals wait to enter Rich Stadium for Sumerfest '78 which featured Pablo Cruise, Bob Welch, Foreigner & Fleetwood Mac.
ShadowFox plays swamp rock, boogie, and blues on Bill's UNTIL DEATH DO IMPART CD. Below is the band's logo.
ShadowFox Circa 1976: the late, great Bruce Morris, band founder A.J. Curtis & bassist Buzzy Greenman
"Coop" bangs out the beat to cover tunes like Elf's "Hoochie Coochie Lady," Sweet's "Fox on the Run," and the ShadowFox originals, "Rocker" and "Goin' Home."
Bruce & A.J. rock hard!
Bruce & A.J. in NYC to get ShadowFox a PA
After adding Don Carter on bass, Jim Mattern on keyboards, and Jeff Lain on drums, ShadowFox began its recording career in 1983 with this four-song EP.
ShadowFox Circa 1984 (l-r) Bruce Morris, lead guitar; Don Carter, bass/vocals; Jeff Lain, drums; Jim Mattern, keyboards; A.J. Curtis, guitar/vocals
Bill is a frequent guest on the Time-Warner Cable Channel 6 TV show, "Yada, Yada Yada." Willie, the cameraman, host Mary Smith & Kevin Coolidge, author of "Hobo Finds a Home" children's book, are pictured below. "Yada" is a reading motivation program.
After World War II Bill's Uncle Dick Gordon, a.k.a. Rumbrant MacGlob, became a sign painter and cartoonist.
Bill's Uncle Dick Robertson became an historian of McKean County much in demand for his lectures on narrow gauge railroads, the Kinzua Viaduct, historic houses of Bradford, and the Bucktail Regiment.
Bill's sister, Jill, is also very creative. At a young age she wrote a children's book. The book was based on her toy lion she named "Goonest."
Jill edited her brother's poetry collection, GHOSTS OF A BROKEN HEART.
Surviving heartbreak is what this book is all about.
Jill Marie Robertson (Dec. 4, 1959--Jan. 18, 2009) May she rest in peace. . .
My father, Paul W. Robertson Jr., April 1, 1925--May 7, 2009. May he rest in peace.
Another creative member of the Robertson family is Wade. He writes an outdoor column for local newspapers.
Bill fishes, too.
Bill's favorite sport is baseball. In Little League he was backup catcher for the Lincoln School team.
Bill played softball until he was 50. One of his best years was with Stuck's Garage in 1993 when in 60 AB's he hit .550 with 19 singles, 6 doubles, 7 triples, one home run, and 26 RBI. Bill pitched and played outfield.
Bill has been a Pittsburgh Pirate fan since 1960. His favorite all-time player is Maz, and his favorite current player is Steady Freddy.
Bill's mom and dad stand in front of his boyhood home on Bolivar Drive in Bradford.
Paul Robertson was a great hobbist. He especially enjoyed molding and painting lead soldiers of the American Revolution and Napoleonic War periods.
Edith Robertson was a wonderful baker and cook. Her specialites were beef roasts, ham & egg pie, Swedish butter cookies, and sweetheart salad.
Bill's dad was always clowning around with the family.
Bill's humor can at times still be sophomoric. Here's what he looked like during that period of his life.
Bill enjoys the best of both worlds--a fun summer of house painting and his first royalties check from White Mane Publishing.
Bill's author photo for DARK HAUNTED DAY
This is the Robertson's Scottish coat of arms. "Fierce When Roused" is the family motto.