The Countdown to Halloween Starts Now! Spook Stuff for Hallowe’en (1960)

Posted : October 1st, 2014

Happy October! Finally, our favorite time of year has arrived and we’re kicking it off with our first post for the annual Countdown to Halloween Blog-A-Thon!

For 2014, we’re going to give the Faces of the Great Pumpkin Art Contest a rest – we may bring it back for 2015, we may not. Instead, for 2014 we’re going to focus on some of our favorite Halloween music, sounds, artists and inspirations.

It’s been many years since fantastic blogs like Scar Stuff and the Mostly Ghostly Music Sharing BLAAAHHHHGGG!!! dug up and offered long out-of-print and forgotten nuggets of Halloween audio gold, but here at the pumpkin patch we downloaded and saved everything they posted and, having done some poking around on the web, have found that many of these vintage albums are simply no longer to be found, and the download links at the blogs listed above (and others) have gone dead. That is a tragedy, and one we can rectify! So with the help of our graphics guru Chad Savage (and his SoundCloud.com account Sinister Sonics), we’re going to (try) to bring you 31 spooky albums of yesteryear – things that have been out of print and unavailable for sale for decades, and that you just can’t find anymore (or, at least, not easily).

First Up: Spook Stuff for Hallowe’en: A Haunting 40 Minutes of Scary, Spooky Stories-In-Sound

It’s classic, it’s vinyl-scratchy, it’s got that great 60’s Halloween vibe and, by the end of it, it’s just a bunch of audio technicians having fun with the sound effects at their disposal (“Hey Diddle Diddle”? Really?). It’s also a lot of fun and a great addition to your October listening!

Click the button in the SoundCloud box above to download the files!

Side One: Prologue: The Ghosts, Goblins and Spooks rehearse for a midnight show. A grouping of eerie sounds…Ghostly Thunderclaps, Weird Screams, Cackling Witches, Spooky Footsteps, Rattling Chains, Creaky Doors and Howling Black Cats

Witches Rehearse For Hallowe’en (Prologue)
Screams
Creaking Heavy Door (Wooden), Open and Close
Creaking Heavy Door (Metal), Open and Close
Heavy Footsteps with Chains
Ghostly Goblin Laugh
Witch’s Cat
Witch’s Cat (Mean)
Witch’s Cauldron with Occasional Cackle
Witches and Goblins Cackling, Laughing
Wolf or Coyote Howling
Tick Tack Followed by Glass Crash
Light Rain
Heavy Rain
Rain with Thunder Claps
Thunder Clap
Thunder Clap (Different)
Heavy Wind
Crickets

Side 2: Spook Stuff for Hallowe’en

Scene 1 The Haunted Mine
Scene 2 A Deserted Prairie Ranch
Scene 3 A Cemetery At Midnight
Scene 4 Hallowe’en At the Haunted Castle
Scene 5 Spooky Zoo Party
Scene 6 Hobgoblins and Space Ships
Scene 7 Hey Diddle Diddle Spook Stuff

Subscribe to the playlist on SoundCloud.com HERE!

This post is part of the Countdown to Halloween!

Please Note: This album is offered under the belief that it is (a) not legally for sale anywhere by its creators and (b) the copyrights to it have effectively expired. If you have knowledge to the contrary, please contact us and let us know!