Halloween Memories: Halloween Horrors

I may be jumping the gun here a bit, but with August rapidly approaching, that means the Halloween season isn't all that far away.  Since I was a little kid, Halloween has always been one of my favorite times of the year.  Once summer had arrived, I would realize that Halloween was getting much closer.  It seems only appropriate to discuss some things related to Halloween from throughout the years.

First, we have a release on A&M Records entitled Halloween Horrors.  I first encountered this on cassette in 1985.  It was the first time I had seen a release like this.  I hadn't known there were Halloween-themed albums for sale.  If I recall correctly, I picked this up right after Halloween.  I was with my parents and found the tape and asked my parents for it.  Thankfully, they bought it for me and I listened to it many times over the years and still listen to it to this day.

Cassette copy I got in 1985

When I got older, I found out more about that tape and even discovered it was also at some point released on CD, in addition to the original record that came out in the '70s.  I have since picked up both the original record and the CD version. 

Side one, "The Story of Halloween Horror", is a simple audio play, much like the old radio shows from before TV came out.  It is the story of a young man who goes to an old mansion he has just inherited.  Not only does he make this journey at night, during a storm, but it is also Halloween.  A bit silly, but you need to get into the spirit of things, I think.  He encounters ghosts, bats, an eerie pipe organ, and more things which I would tend to call classic, but many would call cliché.

Front cover of the original LP

Side two, "The Sounds of Halloween", is a collection of sound effects, ranging from screams, witch cackles, and pipe organ music to guns, creaking boats, and some sci-fi effects. 

Back cover of the original LP

An interesting note about both sides is that one of the voice actors appearing is none other than Peter Cullen, who is most famous as the voice of Optimus Prime on The Transformers.  On side one, he is a gas station attendant that the main character encounters and on side two, he does a brief introduction before the sound effects begin.

I must mention the artwork, which is a major part of the appeal the cassette had for me when I saw it in the store as a kid.  The front cover shows an old, creepy-looking mansion.  In the foreground is a wrought-iron gate, with a muddy road leading up to the house itself.  Mossy trees appear on either side and light shines through one of the upper windows.  When I saw the record and CD versions once I got older, I saw the rest of the artwork which I had been missing out on, as the cassette only showed the front cover art.  The back cover art, featured on both the CD and record, shows a group of witches gathered behind a large cauldron, with black cats to the sides of it.  The smoke rising from the cauldron drifts up toward the top of the image to form a skull shape.  Very Halloween-ish artwork, in my opinion.  Again, it may all be a bit cliché, but I always liked it.

CD edition

To this day, when I take this album out, whether it is the old cassette I got in 1985, the CD version, or the record copy I eventually picked up, it takes me back to my childhood.  It brings back memories of going to K-Mart and Wal-Mart, where I would love walking down the Halloween aisle, looking at the masks, makeup, decorations, and costumes.  To this day, I still remember one store using paper towel rolls to display some of the latex masks on the top shelf.  It also reminds me of getting my Halloween trick-or-treat bag each year.  They came from numerous places: Pizza Hut, the Brach's candy display at the store, etc.  They were simple reasonably thick plastic bags with some Halloween-related illustration printed on them.  Some years, my trick-or-treating was done at the mall, rather than in the neighborhood, although there were a couple of years where I got to go around the neighborhood instead.  This was really in the thick of the paranoia about people handing out treats that they had either poisoned or inserted needles and razor blades into.  I remember there was a dentist's office in the mall and you always got a toothbrush when you went there during your trick-or-treating at the mall.  To be fair, it wasn't really bad.  Lots of people went and there were also games and other activities to keep us kids occupied.  If I remember correctly, my sister won a 7-Up cake one year.  Then, of course, there were employees stationed at the entrances of the various stores to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters and many of these employees were in costumes.  Aside from the fact that it was the mall, so it was quite well-lit, which ruined the Halloween vibe a bit, I did enjoy it.  I got to decide on a costume to wear then dress up for an evening of Halloween fun, and at the end of the night, I went home with my trick-or-treat bag filled with candy.

Back of CD edition

Back of CD booklet, which gives a better view of the smoky skull than the original LP

With albums like Halloween Horrors, all you have to do is turn down the lights, maybe light some candles and put the album on the stereo then you are briefly taken to the Halloween season, any time of the year.