'Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House'

Nearly three years ago, I spoke briefly with Randy Thornton, executive producer over at Walt Disney Records, about the Disney Company's then-recent decision to re-release some of their classic vinyl as digital downloads. Thornton was pretty excited about the potential of digital distribution as a godsend to fans of the old Disney material, since Disney's cost of distribution was brought down to nearly nothing; just the costs of remastering the material, basically. At that time, he was working on preparing both the 'Story and Song from The Haunted Mansion' and 'Chilling, Thrilling Sounds from the Haunted House,' both of which are seminal recordings to many of us Mansion fans.

I never mentioned this earlier this year, with all the planning for the DoomBuggies anniversary event, but since the Halloween stores are starting to open, it's worth noting: "Chilling, Thrilling' is currently available from iTunes as a remastered digital download. The album hit iTunes early in the year, but with the haunting season upon us, I think it's worth a reminder. All of the tracks are present - even the potentially embarrassing "Chinese Water Torture" track. (You can use the link at the top right sidebar of the blog to check out the album; I've been asked so many times about this record over the years that I decided a permanent link was in order.)

Some 'Chilling' trivia: The howling screech used as a "bumper" to most of the tracks on the album is actually a sound effect taken from the 1936 Mickey Mouse short "Lonesome Ghosts;" and the uncredited narrator of the LP is not Dark Shadows' Grayson Hall, as regular rumors claim - but rather is Laura Olsher, a frequent Disneyland Records collaborator.

Some iTunes releases from the Disney archives have vanished from the store in the past, so if you're interested in the 'Chilling, Thrilling' album, you might keep that in mind - though I don't know if this album will ever disappear or not.

RIP.