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sound on/off - Opening narration from "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds..."

In 1964 the Disneyland haunted mansion, in the newly completed New Orleans Square, was sitting empty, unoccupied by any of the 999 ghosts.   Problems with the story line, and the distraction of designing Walt Disney's groundbreaking attractions for the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, ("It's a Small World" and "The Carousel of Progress") had postponed the completion of the haunted attraction in Anaheim.

Perhaps to remind the public that the haunted mansion would be opening some time in the future, Disneyland Records released "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House".

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The album was a collection of spooky sound effects from the Disney library of sounds that had been collected after many years of producing movies and cartoons.   If you were a kid in the U.S. during the 60's and 70's, you are probably familiar with the album, or at least with some of the signature sounds that could be heard everywhere.

The album was first released in 1964 with a white sleeve featuring Paul Wenzel's gloomy, mysterious painting of a haunted house (above).   The album was released several more times during the 70's.   Most people will probably remember the orange LP sleeve art from the 1973 release (below).

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Side One of the album had a collection of ten creepy stories narrated by Laura Olsher.   The stories made use of many sound effects, and transported many a child into a realm of supernatural, spooky adventures.

Side Two had a collection of sound effects.   The moans, groans, cats, dogs, creaks, thunder and crashes could be heard in almost every Halloween party and home brewed haunted house display.

Here is a selection from the "Moans and Groans" section of the album. It was taken from the popular 1936 Disney cartoon "Lonesome Ghosts", starring Mickey, Donald and Goofy.

Surprisingly, in the movie the first shriek you hear in this clip is actually a ghostly yawn from one of the comical ghosts!
sound on/off - Lonesome Ghosts "





People who bought the orange "Chilling" record also received a "bonus" of "Spooky Party Hints" that were printed on the paper dust sleeves that held the vinyl record.

In hindsight, the hints were pretty lame, but as a kid they opened up the prospect of Halloween fun, even if Halloween was months away!   Seeing them today, they still spark a little bit of the excitement that I remember experiencing as a child.

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Despite my love for the record, I never owned one myself.   One of my neighborhood buddies had the record (the orange 1973 version) and I would go to his house often to sit in front of the wooden console stereo record player and listen to it over and over again.   Sometimes we would act out the stories, pretending to be walking over the "Unsafe Bridge", or being attacked by "The Martian Monster".

My buddy's dad was famous for his haunted house set up at Halloween, complete with a glowing, flying crank ghost, and the "Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" blaring throughout the neighborhood. In the air was the smell of burning leaf piles, the crunch of dry leaves underfoot, my face, sweaty and cold under a cheap plastic mask; perfect Halloween memories!

Thanks to Ebay I was able to find my own copies of the record.   Even though I have not had a turntable in over 20 years, I get a lot of joy looking at the art on the sleeves the way I did 35 years ago, and I still imagine that I am "a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing", approaching that ominous, dark house on a hill!
Be sure to continue on, to see my
3D recreation of the "Chilling, Thrilling" haunted house. HERE


October 4, 2008
BIG NEWS!
Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House
has been released on iTunes !!!

This is really big news for classic Disney Haunted Mansion fans! Ever since I posted my 3D recreation of the mansion from this classic 1964 album, I have had MANY people ask me where they could find a copy for themselves. Well, at last iTunes has the album available for digital download, just in time for the Halloween season!
You can get it HERE.


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Original artwork copyright © Ray Keim   Email Ray: haunted3d@raykeim.com  
All Haunted Mansion/Phantom Manor/Disney images, sounds, and media copyright © Disney. Website design by Ray Keim.This site is NOT affiliated in any way with the Walt Disney Company, and no rights of usage are implied.