The bizarre tale of how a Disney Halloween album became a cult classic among musicians
The so-called ‘Silver Age’ of the Walt Disney Company is usually associated with beloved family classics like Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, and the Jungle Book. It was also the era of the company’s entrance into the theme park world, as Disneyland opened its gates in Anaheim, California, in 1955. For a surprisingly large number of kids born during this period, though, the most memorable Disney product of the day (for better or worse) was a rather unusual album, first released in 1964, called Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House.
Put out on the Disneyland Records label (later to become Walt Disney Records), Chilling, Thrilling Sounds contained no songs, no famous Disney characters, and not even a clearcut connection to Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion attraction (which didn’t open to the public until 1969). Instead, it was just a series of spooky sound effects—mostly plucked from old movies and cartoons in the Disney library of sound—and brought together in a loose framework of narrated short stories delivered by a sweet-voiced but seemingly bad-intentioned tour guide, Laura Olsher.
Consumers of old-school Disney entertainment will know that the mouse ears weren’t always in the business of making cuddly, non-disturbing programming. Most kids could point to at least one Disney cinema experience that left them terrified or at least emotionally devastated, be it the infamous assassination of Bambi’s mom, the multiplication of murderous brooms in Fantasia, or—if you know the deep cuts—the final ride of the Headless Horseman in the 1949 version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House was a bit more self-aware of its horrifying qualities, at least, as the album was carefully promoted for the listenership of “older children, teenagers, and adults,” rather than little tikes. Of course, this was merely an invitation for older kids to weaponise the record to scare their younger siblings, and so it went.
Full of genuinely spine-tingling and gut-wrenching human screams (mixed in with some howling winds, booing ghosts, hissing cats, barking dogs, creaking old doors, and methodically dripping waterboard torture sounds), this humble 26-minute disc provided the soundtrack to many a Halloween party and trick-or-treat night. It also found its way into the deeper subconsciouses of more than a few Gen X kids, some of whom came along a bit later to the party (a UK version was released in 1974, and an updated US version was introduced in 1979). Some of those children grew up and continued playing the record for their own kids, and by the late 1980s, both the original LP and the ‘79 re-issue had been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America — a rare feat for an album with literally no music or comedy on it.
By the 1990s, the lore of the Haunted House record had only grown, as the record had naturally found its way into the collection of crate diggers in the hip-hop world. Soon, clipped samples of Laura Olsher and her scary tales were popping up on tracks by NWA (‘Quiet on Tha Set’), Ice Cube (‘Jackin for Beats’, and more), and even an early Linkin Park demo tape (‘Fuse’). The best piece of sampling probably goes to Jedi Mind Tricks, though, as they recognised the particularly creepy drip-drop water sounds on the record and put them to use on their 1997 track ‘Chinese Water Torture’.
A bit more recently, in 2014, the album was more directly celebrated by a very different act, as jam band veterans Phish performed a Halloween show in Las Vegas that included their interpretation of the entire first side of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds (more specifically, they offered their own musical accompaniments to the original record’s sound effects).
This was clearly not the future that the folks at Disney imagined for their little sound effect compilation when they cobbled it together 60 years ago. But when autumn’s chill rolls in, cheap spider web decorations return to your neighbour’s front window, and giant bags of chalky sweets start appearing on the endcaps of your local supermarket, you’ll know that it’s time, once again, to dig into the back of your record collection, pull out Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, and give it that one obligatory spin of the year. If you dare…
