Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House: Disney's 1964 Halloween Record

The recording session for Learning to Tell Time Is Fun ended at around 11 p.m. According to Tim Hollis and Greg Ehrbar’s history of the label, Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records (University Press of Mississippi), Jimmy Johnson then approached the narrator, Laura Olsher, with another script. “Wouldn’t it be fun if we made a Halloween sound effects record?” he asked. “Sounds like fun,” Olsher answered, “but not at this time of the night!” Everything was already set up, and Johnson insisted, so she read it. The book says she was done fifteen minutes later, and that the record she had just narrated “would become the biggest sales success up to that point” for Disneyland Records (Mouse Tracks, p. 72).

That record was Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House, Disneyland DQ-1257, a mono LP that Discogs dates to August 1964 (Discogs).

How It Was Made

Mouse Tracks credits the concept to Johnson: he “had the idea of collecting sound effects from the studio library and editing them by theme, adding brief narrations for side 1.” Because Olsher was paid a flat fee and the studio already owned the effects, the authors write, the LP “was royalty-free,” and it “sold millions for more than two decades, making clear profit” (p. 72). Discogs lists no producer. The only person Discogs names on any 1964 entry is Olsher, as narrator, and its main 1964 entry credits “Walt Disney Music Co.” with “Recorded By” (Discogs).

Some of the effects started out as jokes. Mouse Tracks says the long scream that bends down into a bass groan is “actually a whimsical ghost yawning and stretching in the 1937 Mickey Mouse cartoon Lonesome Ghosts,” and that the catfight had been heard in Pluto cartoons and the 1952 Donald Duck short Trick or Treat (p. 76).

The two sources disagree on the release month. Mouse Tracks says the LP “was released in May 1964” (p. 76). Every US 1964 entry on Discogs gives August 1964.

What’s on the Record

Side one is ten “stories in sound.” Side two is ten tracks of raw effects with no narration, about eleven minutes in all. Text quoted in the notes of a Discogs entry for DQ-1257 explains the idea: on side one “the narrator sets up the situation and the sound effects take over and tell the story,” and side two’s effects, “grouped by category,” are there so listeners can “create your own stories in sound” (Discogs). That makes side two a ready-made kit for a porch soundtrack; our sound design masterclass covers layering effects like these over a longer ambient bed.

Only the first story is set in a haunted house. The other nine are “The Very Long Fuse,” “The Dogs,” “Timber,” “Your Pet Cat,” “Shipwreck,” “The Unsafe Bridge,” “Chinese Water Torture,” “The Birds” and “The Martian Monster.” The ten run from 46 seconds (“The Birds”) to three minutes (“The Haunted House”). Side two’s categories echo several of the stories: “Screams And Groans,” “Thunder, Lightning And Rain,” “Cat Fight,” “Dogs,” “A Collection Of Creaks,” “Fuses And Explosions,” “A Collection Of Crashes,” “Birds,” “Drips And Splashes” and “Things In Space” (Discogs).

The record carried a warning about small children. “This particular Disneyland record, Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House is not intended for young, impressionable children from three to eight. It is intended for older children, teenagers, and adults” (Discogs). Mouse Tracks says it was the first Disneyland Record to carry a disclaimer (p. 76).

It Came Before the Haunted Mansion

Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion opened in 1969, according to Smithsonian Magazine, five years after this LP. Halloween historian Lisa Morton told Smithsonian that “a lot of the professional haunters will point to one thing, and that’s Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. It’s the start of the haunted attraction industry.” (Our history of the modern haunt industry picks up from there.)

That timeline means the album’s effects can’t have been recorded from the ride. Mouse Tracks says they came from the studio’s library (p. 72).

Whether the record was meant to promote the Mansion is a separate question, and Mouse Tracks calls it open: “A debate continues today as to whether this LP was intended as a tie-in.” The authors write that the cover painting, by the record-cover artist Paul Wenzel, “was originally created as early concept art for the attraction,” and that the LP came out “shortly after the exterior of the Haunted Mansion was completed in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square.” Then they add that the ride’s contents changed for five more years before it opened, so if the record was a promotion, “it would have to stem from an earlier, much darker vision of the Haunted Mansion than the more comedy-oriented version that would eventually materialize” (pp. 72, 76). A 1973 pressing on Discogs also credits “Paul Wenzel” for the painting (Discogs).

The actual Mansion record is a different LP. The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion, Disneyland STER-3947, is dated October 1969 on Discogs, which credits Thurl Ravenscroft as narrator, Ron Howard as Mike and Eleanor Audley as Madam Leota (Discogs). A contributor’s note on the Discogs master page for Chilling, Thrilling Sounds says that background effects it describes as a catfight, storms, winds, thunder and rain, creaking wood and chain rattles are the same ones used on that Mansion album (Discogs). Mouse Tracks documents an earlier reuse: the Pirates of the Caribbean album’s “sound effect montages were borrowed from Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House recording, including screams and the unmistakable Lonesome Ghosts groan” (p. 99).

Pressings, 1964 to 2015

Discogs lists 26 versions of the 1964 program (Discogs):

Year	What Discogs shows
1964	US and Canadian originals. On the US main entry the catalog number sits under a castle on the label, and the jacket front is color with a black-and-white back (Discogs)
1968	US and Canadian represses, including a “white jacket version with color image on back cover” (Discogs)
1971	A US pressing by All Disc Records. Its notes say it “did not include or advertise the ‘Spooky Party Hint’ inner sleeve,” and Olsher’s credit is marked uncredited (Discogs)
1973	About a dozen US entries, some numbered plain “1257.” One front cover reads “Added Bonus Inside… Spooky Party Hints,” and its label misspells the last story as “The Mastian Monsters” (Discogs)
1974	A UK mono edition, DQ 1257, marketed and distributed by Pye Records (Discogs)
2015	A US reissue released September 25, 2015, carrying DQ-1257 alongside Walt Disney Records D0022374-01. Its Discogs notes read: “The Original 1964 Classic Collection of Spooky Sound Effects Available on Vinyl for the First Time in Over 30 Years” (Discogs)

The last story’s title varies from one Discogs entry to the next, “The Martian Monster” on some and “The Martian Monsters” on others, with no pattern by year. Discogs lists no official CD of the 1964 album. The only CD on its master page is flagged “Unofficial Release” (Discogs). If you want to know which of these to buy, our essential Halloween vinyl guide covers that.

The 1979 Record With the Same Name

In August 1979 Disneyland released a second, stereo LP with the same title, catalog number 2507. Discogs’s notes on both albums say that “though identical in title, its content is almost entirely unique” (Discogs). Side one, headed “Frightening Situations,” has seven new stories that open on “Night Creatures” and end in “The Mad Scientist’s Laboratory.” Side two, “Eerie Sound Effects,” has 26 short cuts, from “Thunder & Lightning” through “Rusty Gate,” “Clock Strikes Midnight” and “Tolling Bell” to “Haunting Music.” Discogs credits no narrator or other personnel on it.

The 1979 album is the one on streaming services. Apple Music and Spotify both carry New Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House by “Walt Disney Sound Effects Group”: 33 tracks, 34 minutes, “℗ 1979 Walt Disney Records,” opening on “Night Creatures” (Apple Music, Spotify). When we searched both services, we didn’t find the 1964 program on either. The 2023 translucent smoke LP (Walt Disney Records D004246001) is filed under the 1979 master on Discogs too (Discogs), and Discogs credits no narrator on it.

Sales, Certifications and the Registry

The RIAA’s Gold & Platinum database lists two Disneyland albums titled Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House. One, credited to “Soundtrack,” was certified Gold on December 7, 1972, and the database gives no release date for it. The other, credited to “Various,” was certified Gold on April 11, 1988, with a release date of July 1, 1979. The 1972 certification came seven years before the 1979 album existed, so it must be the Olsher record.

It isn’t on the National Recording Registry. The Library of Congress’s complete list, which runs through the 2026 class, doesn’t include it. Another Disney record from the same year is on the list: “It’s a Small World,” a 1964 single, was added in 2022.

Phish Played Side One

On October 31, 2014, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Phish built its second set on side one of the 1964 album, story by story. The CD release on Jemp Records titles the set “Walt Disney Studios’ Chilling, Thrilling Sounds Of The Haunted House” and lists all ten stories in order after an intro. On the original LP “The Martian Monster” runs 1:41; the band’s version runs 14:08 (Discogs).