DORK NOTE: I loved this album as a kid!
Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House is an LP album intended for "older children, teenagers, and adults", released by Disneyland Records (now known as Walt Disney Records). The album was mainly composed of sound effects that had been collected by the sound effects department of Walt Disney Studios. The album was released in several different forms. The album was first released in 1964 in a white sleeve, with a second release in 1973 with an orange sleeve. In both versions, the first side contained 10 stories narrated by Laura Olsher (who had previously done voice work for Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, and would go on to narrate other Disneyland record releases such as Learning to Tell Time is Fun and The Little Engine That Could), complete with sound effects. The second side contained 10 sound effects meant for others to create their own stories.
Despite the title, not all the cuts were related to haunted houses or witches or ghostly spirits. Featured were such situations as an ocean liner hitting rocks ("Shipwreck"), a dimwitted lumberjack ("Timber"), a man crossing an unsafe bridge ("The Unsafe Bridge"), someone lighting a stick of dynamite ("The Very Long Fuse") and a spaceship landing on Mars ("The Martian Monsters"). Also, there are tracks with several examples of cats ("Your Pet Cat"), dogs ("The Dogs") and birds ("The Birds"), similar to the soundtrack for Alfred Hitchcock’s film The Birds, becoming enraged for some reason, as well as a skit about Chinese water torture ("Chinese Water Torture").
ARTWORK: The covers of the American albums featured an image painted with acrylics by Paul Wenzel, which he created as concept art for the attraction The Haunted Mansion. The original was 37" x 39" and was purchased at auction in 2001 for US$3,000. The cover of the British release featured an actual photo of the ride, while the 1979 album simply displayed a colored image of a haunted house, ravens and a skeleton in a coffin.
