# 28 Days Till Halloween



## Dinosaur1972 (Mar 28, 2007)

28 Days Till Halloween
10/03/2013

A return to “Ghost Stories”, which is gonna take me awhile here.

*Disney - The Haunted Mansion (1969)*
It’s got all the music and sound effects we’ve grown accustomed to. This one is more of a “third person” tale of two teenages (Mike and Karen) who head into an old house for protection from a storm. The tour guide takes them through the house – patterned after the real Disney attraction. No Paul Frees this time though. This is more of a “story-telling” record than the other Haunted Mansion things I’ve listened to, and it is nice to hear the descriptions of what I might see if I ever actually visited the HM.

*Edward Gorey Stories By Tammy Grimes (1980)*
Haven’t listened to this is a long time. The first track is a hilarious alphabet. “I is for Ida who drowned in a lake … J is for James who took lye by mistake”. The other three tracks are pretty good too.

*Famous Monsters Speak! (1963)*
Oh, I love love love this one. Two imagined soliloquys … one by Frankenstein, one by Dracula. They’re both pretty well done, have terrific sound effects – genuinely spooky old stuff, though the Drac accent (Draccent?) is a little silly at times. And finally, I know where that “Time, time, time, time, time to understand the horror” quote from RJD2’s song “The Horror” comes from. That was bugging me. 

*Greenbrier International - Around The Fire With Uncle Guts (2005)*
More fun ghost stories, though we’re familiar with most of them in one form or another. “The Monkey’s Paw”, “Hitchhiker”, plus retellings of the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, “Dracula”, and “Frankenstein”. I love the “The Monkey’s Paw” – what a classic.

*Halloween Horrors (1977)*
Another classic. Side A of the record is about a man who visits a house he’s inherited … on the road there, he talks about the legends of the ghosts in the house … then while in the house he sees and hears them all. Pretty fun … the voice actor is Michael Bell, who I remember best as Duke on the 80’s G.I. Joe cartoons – he’s a big time voice actor. Peter Cullen is on here too a bit, he was Optimus Prime on the 80’s Tranformers cartoons AND in the more recent movies – and the voice of Eeyore. When the ghostly voice starts saying “My baby … have you seen my baby …” that gave me the shivers. Side B is all sound effects, which are fine. Great cover art.

*Hammer Dracula (1974)*
Must’ve been recorded from an old record. It does not tell the story from the 1958 Hammer film, “Horror of Dracula” … instead, it actually follows the original Bram Stoker story pretty carefully. With music and Christopher Lee’s terrific dramatic reading skills, this was fun to listen to.

*Haunted House Cardbord Flexi (1977)*
I remember this one VERY fondly. We carefully trimmed these records off the back of a cereal box back in the day and played them on our little Fisher Price record player. I remember the “Headless Horseman” story well, and I used to love the “Along this lonely, lonely road” story SO MUCH … I listened to that all the time. Finding these online was such a huge touchdown. I was instantly 5 years old again. Whoever did this did a nice job ripping them to mp3.

*Kraft - A Spooky Sounding Halloween Story (1978)*
Right up there with the Winchell’s Donut House story. Safety, safety, safety.

*Lionel Barrymore - Hallowe'en, A Musical Fantasy (1945)*
This is the weirdest Halloween recording ever. Aside from some old-timey songs, it is probably the oldest recording I’ve got. It’s got a magic hammer. And a laughing bear.

*Little Evil Things (1997)*
Not a bad little set of spoken word tracks. The first, “Transformation”, is a first-person narrative describing what it’s like to turn into a werewolf. “Little Evil Thing” is a hoot. At thought maybe it was for kids, but it gets a little gruesome here and there. Turns out there are 5 of these CDs so I’m going to have to hunt for more – this one is really well done.

*Martha Wentworth - Terror Tales by the Old Sea Hag (1958)*
You’ve heard her distinct voice in Disney’s “101 Dalmatians” and “The Sword in the Stone”. On this record (she was around 69 at the time), she tells some fun and outlandish stories. Good luck finding somebody … anybody …with a witchier voice. She pours herself into these old sea legends – even the ridiculous “Mice From Outer Space”.


----------



## talkingcatblues (Jan 30, 2009)

Dinosaur1972 said:


> And finally, I know where that “Time, time, time, time, time to understand the horror” quote from RJD2’s song “The Horror” comes from.


I like that song (and that lyric), so this is good to know - thanks!


----------

