Countdown to Halloween Day 25 - Spooky Sounds

What would Halloween be without a few sound effect records? Probably pretty boring!

I used to obsess about collecting these but there's only so many you can have before you start losing track of what, if anything, makes one better than the other.

I've picked out a few from the collection at random to share with you today.

The first is from Sounds Records. This is one of three Halloween albums released by this company originally in 1962. It has a 4 minute "continuous" track and 9 other tracks which have the sound effects singled out. I'll be posting one of the others tomorrow which has some kicking theremin tracks.

Next is one from the BBC released in 1977. This one's also from a set of three but contains sound effects only. It sports a whopping 91 sound effects! And you have to appreciate that psychotropic, nightmare inducing cover!

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They're waiting for you! 

Countdown to 10/31 - Mansion Madness!

Today, we wind up the (almost) week-long Haunted Mansion madness.

Here's a deck of Haunted Mansion playing cards. Madame Leota is the Joker and the four portraits from the stretch room are the face cards. The logo on the card back is treated to glow in the dark. However, the glowy stuff the card is coated with makes the backs grainy and hard to shuffle.

Our final foray into the boundless realm of the supernatural is an audio extravaganza. It's got loads of sound effects (separated out from the ride soundtrack), alternate takes and dialog recording sessions. Some of the tracks likely popped up in other posts from this week but you can't have too much, eh?

Wizards and witches wherever you dwell, Give us a hint by ringing a bell!

Countdown to 10/31 - Haunted Anniversary

As part of the celebration of the Haunted Mansion's 30th Anniversary, a cd was released in 1999. The first 999 pressings were done with a special green image of the 13 hour clock face found in the Mansion. They also included a bonus 13th track and were signed by Disney composer Buddy Baker and Disney lyricist "X" Atencio, both of whom are responsible for the attraction's "Grim Grinning Ghosts" theme song. These reportedly sold out within a couple hours. I, of course, was no where near the park when these went on sale but I did eventually pick up one of the non-limited, 12 track editions.

You can find detailed info about each track over at Doombuggies.com.

Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween, awaken the spirits with your tambourine!

A little bonus for today: Haunted Mansion model kit ad from DC Comics Ghosts #24, 1974.

Click for larger version

 I like the "Zap/Action" motion features. If I could own one, it would probably be the organist. Nothing says spooky like a pipe organ with skulls on it.

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Countdown to 10/31 - A Day at the Mansion

Welcome, foolish mortals! If you're not a fan of Disney's Haunted Mansion, then you may want to steer clear of AEIOU for the next few days. It's about to get Disney up in here.

I could probably run the entire month of October talking about all sorts of things pertaining to the Haunted Mansion. If you're looking for some like minded spooks, head over to Doombuggies.com. They have a great forum community and loads of info on all the Mansions.

I have a vague memory of the first time I went. I think I was around 6 or 7. After we exited the portrait chamber, they told us to stay close to the wall. I must have already seen too many movies at that age because I did NOT want to stand next to the wall for fear it was going to rotate me around into a hidden room. I was ok for most of the rest of the ride except for when you exit the attic and the buggy goes down the backwards. That freaked me out. And there started a long time love of not only the Haunted Mansion but dark rides too.

Today's creepy old crypt holds the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Unofficial 35th Anniversary Tribute album dug up in 2004. I'm not sure who the internet phantom is that put this together but it's a veritable greatest haunts of the Haunted Mansion.

Click for larger view

In addition to the audio, there's also a scan of the booklet from the 1969 Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion album.

Be sure you've got your Death Certificate if you decide to join us!

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Countdown to 10/31 - Sounds to Make You Shiver

I have a large digital collection of old Halloween records that I've amassed over the years. And while it's nigh impossible to remember what I got from where, I'm pretty sure this one came from Scar Stuff. This was a fantastic resource for Halloween audiophiles for quite some time. And for that, I say the Halloween community as a whole owes a debt of gratitude to its keeper, Jason.

Anyone that's heard Sounds to Make You Shiver no doubt remembers the announcer at the beginning saying "So you want to visit a haunted house, hmmm?" This is probably one of the more popular Halloween albums so a lot of you may have it already. But what you may not have is Harvey Midnight's Shiver Extras which feature remixes of tracks from the album. You can click here to read more about those.

Highlights
The Side 2 sound effects aren't too bad for this type of album.
The Witches Laugh was used in the song Halloween Dance on the album Halloween Hootenanny.
The woman screaming for Screams & Groans sounds pretty tortured.
However, the Moans & Groans track sounds like it was taken from an adult film.
The human made sounds for Cats and Hooting Owl are hilarious.

DOWNLOAD the original and remix

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Countdown to 10/31 - The Haunting

Click to enlarge

There's not much that makes this stand out among the dozens of Halloween sound albums I have. In fact, what it lacks in quality it more than makes up for in its shortness. Wait..what?

I'm presenting this not because it's a grand masterpiece but because if you're around my age you probably saw the ads in comics for this album and never got to hear it. There's also a couple of different versions of the ads included.

DOWNLOAD

You only have until midnight tonight to enter the Trick or Tweet Halloween Giveaway!!

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Countdown to 10/31 - Star Wars Halloween

For most people, the obvious association between Star Wars and Halloween would be costumes. I did, in fact, make a related post last week featuring some vintage Halloween photos.

A few years ago, the sound wizards at LucasFilm produced an 18 minute Halloween audio track. Recently starwars.com has decided to dumb-down..., er, revamp their website and they removed a lot of the cool original material that used to be there. Lucky for you, I'm like a dianoga swimming in a virtual trash compactor of Star Wars odds and ends. Next week I'll have some print out Star Wars masks including original trilogy and prequel flavors.

Download Star Wars Halloween Audiocast

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