Tricks & Treats 09: Voices From Beyond

"Night falls. The forest holds its breath. Everything is still. The blood red moon stares through the trees. Suddenly, the wind blows! The trees... shiver. A bat quivers in the night... and flies away."
Thus begins what I consider to be the best of the"spooky sounds" record. Yes, we all have a favorite. Some claim "The Thrilling Chilling Sounds of The Haunted House" while others claim "Sounds To Make You Shiver" as their favorite. There are tons of these records out there. In fact, McDonalds even got in on the game in the mid 90s when they released a "spooky sounds" cassette with their Halloween happy meal. For my money, the all time grand poobah of these records is "Ghostly Sounds" released on Peter Pan Records in 1975. With its narrator ever present to guide us through Halloween territory, Ghostly Sounds begins with marvelous effects of wailing, cackling witches, and their bizarre spell-casting. Howling wolves and keening cats are heard. All the while, the eerie noise of wind purrs in the background. Many of the album's effects, all untitled, were done on a synthesizer, and those awful canned music machines were seldom used to better effect. The piece de resistance of Ghostly Sounds, though, and possibly of the entire spooky sounds genre, is its "goblins" segment. "From out of their hiding places," the narrator announces, "Goblins step... and laugh... and dance." The deranged, bobbing, giggling, merry/creepy effects used to represent the goblins and their little jig has yet to be transcended on any spooky sounds LP. Put this on as the kiddies are coming up to your door and blast it really loud out the windows so that they can properly enjoy the feel that it gives! Here is "Ghostly Sounds". Enjoy!

Ghostly Sounds