A Feud Worthy of a Frazetta Cover

If you have picked up a costume at Frazetta's on South Courtland Street in East Stroudsburg, you have shopped at a business with a Hollywood-sized family story behind it. The shop belongs to Bill Frazetta, son of Frank Frazetta, the painter behind the muscle-bound Conan the Barbarian covers. The family's museum sits beside the family home on their 67-acre estate, at 141 Museum Road off Milford Road.

The theft. After the death of their mother in 2009, the four children started fighting over who controlled the art. On Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009, state police say Frank Jr., 52, of Marshalls Creek, and two other men used a backhoe to break through the museum door. About 90 paintings, insured for $20 million, were being loaded into a truck when troopers arrived. Frank Jr. reportedly said he had permission to get in "by any means," while his father, who was in Florida, said he had not authorized it. Frank Jr. was charged with burglary, theft by unlawful taking and criminal trespass, and held on $500,000 bail. A charge is not a conviction.

The aftermath. In April 2010 the siblings announced that all litigation was resolved and said they no longer wanted to press charges. Family representatives told the Pocono Record that prosecutors would not pursue the case without Frank Sr.'s testimony. He died May 10, 2010, at 82, five months after the break-in. That December, Frank Jr. sued his three siblings, saying they had broken the settlement. He kept the estate museum, reopened it in 2013, and in September 2025 Frazetta's "Conan (Man Ape)" sold at auction for $13.5 million.

So if you stop by the costume shop before Halloween, relax: nobody needs heavy equipment to get in.