Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House

Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House

A Halloween Special

1964 – Walt Disney Productions

Album Cover Slice

So, yeah this may have been my very first record. If it wasn’t the first, it had to be one of the first. It was definitely the main catalyst that ignited my love for sound effects.

I used to sit by the record player for hours and hours listening to all the creepy tracks just enjoying all the imagery it conjured up in my head.

Of course, growing up in South Florida, my imagination only had to carry me up to the first time I found myself actually walking into Disney’s Haunted House at Disney World. I must have gone to that place 30 times before I was 12-years-old but, I can still remember that moment when I was standing on the front sidewalk of the mansion for the first time and I could hear my record playing. I was like “What the heck?” “That’s track 1 of my album, who?….oh right, Disney.”

The Haunted House – Opening

This is really the greatest opening ever to get you in the mood to be creeped out by an astonishing array of scary sounds. Disney calls them “Sound Stories” and it’s clearly explained on the back side of the album jacket that –

“This particular Disneyland record, CHILLING, THRILLING SOUNDS OF THE HAUNTED HOUSE is not intended for young, impressionable children from three to eight. It is intended for older children, teenagers and adults.”

– Walt Disney Productions

Ah, that explains a lot. I was totally listening to this before eight.

Yeah, this is not for the faint of heart. The record features 20 tracks designed to embody all the things that would scare the crap out of you.

Understand, these are all high quality classic recordings presented in a completely fun way.

The first side is done in typical Disney story fashion by connecting the tracks with narration by Laura Olsher. These “sound stories” make you, the listener, into the protagonist of several short fictional events. Some you survive and some, not so much.

The second side of the album is just a great collection of creepy sound effects. It is also an incredibly useful tool for creating you own “sound stories”, which I completely put to use throughout my childhood and beyond.

Track list

Side One

  1. The Haunted House
  2. The Very Long Fuse
  3. The Dogs
  4. Timber
  5. Your Pet Cat
  6. Shipwreck
  7. The Unsafe bridge
  8. Chinese Water Torture
  9. The Birds
  10. The Martian Monsters

Side Two

  1. Screams and Groans
  2. Thunder, Lightning and Rain
  3. Cat Fight
  4. Dogs
  5. A Collection of Creaks
  6. Fuses and Explosions
  7. A Collection of Crashes
  8. Birds
  9. Drips and Splashes
  10. Things In Space

So, how does this record hold up against the test of time?

Well look, the sound effects on this record are dated, but that’s because they sound so familiar and because they have been used in so many productions that you must have heard them somewhere before.

The album has been updated and rearranged over the years but the original came in two basic flavors –

The original 1964 white jacket.
The 1973 orange jacket release.

Both versions have the first side narration by Laura Olsher and the second side sound effects. My version is the 1973 release, but maybe one day I’ll pick up the ’64 just for the collection.

The sounds say “Disney” and that makes them original and unique. Without question, this record takes me on a journey through time and dumps me right in front of my mom’s fake Victrola phonograph record player and brings back all the magic of being a child. Imagination.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”

– Albert Einstein

From a haunted house to screams and groans and things in space, this is a fun record that exercises the imagination! It’s also a great addition to your classic vinyl collection if you don’t already have one.

Happy Halloween!

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