Most Halloween records are easy to find. The hard part is getting the one you meant. The same title can be a stereo remix or the film’s mono mix, a 1964 album or a 1979 one, the 1977 band or a 2022 re-recording, the 1988 film or its 2024 sequel. The listing rarely tells you which.
So each entry below gives the original release as Discogs catalogs it, a fact or two about the record, and the pressing we’d buy. Where no trustworthy new copy is on Amazon, we say where the label sells it instead. For what to play around these records, our party playlist guide covers the whole night.
Bobby “Boris” Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers, The Original Monster Mash (1962)
Original: Garpax Records GPX-57001, mono LP, US. Discogs dates it September 1962 and notes the first pressing carried “Transylvania Twist” as track B1, a song later pulled from the running order (Discogs).
History.com says Pickett and Leonard Capizzi cut the song “in less than an hour” with a band they called the Crypt-Kickers, that it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 20, 1962, and that BBC Radio banned it as “too morbid.” It “re-charted in August 1970, and then again in May 1973” (History.com). It still charts: Billboard had it at No. 21 on the Hot 100 dated November 15, 2025 (Billboard via Yahoo).
Buy: the 2015 Universal reissue, B0023536-01, on translucent purple vinyl. Its Discogs tracklist puts “Transylvania Twist” back at B1, so you get the first-pressing running order (Discogs). Skip the used 1973 Parrot and London reissues that show up on the same Amazon searches unless you want a used copy on purpose.
The Original Monster Mash (Deluxe LP Reissue on Purple Vinyl)
Universal's 2015 reissue (B0023536-01) on translucent purple vinyl, with the 15-track Garpax program including 'Transylvania Twist' at B1. New, sold through Amazon's buy box, not a used 1973 copy.
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, “I Put a Spell on You” (1956) and At Home with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (1958)
Original single: Okeh 4-7072, a 7-inch 45 released October 1956, with “Little Demon” on the B-side; Okeh also issued it as a 10-inch 78 (Discogs). It’s also the lead song on At Home with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Epic LN 3448, mono, 1958 (Discogs).
Buy: Music On Vinyl’s reissue, MOVLP487, which Discogs lists from 2012 and again in 2022 as a numbered mono edition. Discogs also lists a run of 2011 to 2024 European LPs on labels like WaxTime, Not Now, DOL, Wax Love, Cornbread and Destination Moon. Discogs doesn’t mark those unofficial, but we’d still take MOV, whose 2022 pressing carries Epic’s original catalog number, LN 3448, alongside its own. No new MOV copy had a live Amazon price when we checked, so we’re not carding one. A 2011 UK 7-inch on an “Okeh” label is flagged Unofficial Release on Discogs; don’t mistake it for the 1956 single.
Disneyland Records, Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House (1964)
Original: Disneyland DQ-1257, mono, August 1964, narrated by Laura Olsher. Side one is ten short stories (“The Haunted House,” “The Very Long Fuse,” “The Dogs”); side two is raw effects for you to use yourself. Twenty tracks in all (Discogs). Disneyland kept repressing it through the early 1970s, and reissued DQ-1257 in 2015 (Discogs). How a late-night session produced it, and why it isn’t the Haunted Mansion record, is in our history of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds.
Read this before you buy the smoke vinyl. The 2023 translucent smoke LP (Walt Disney Records D004246001, released August 4, 2023) is not the 1964 album. Discogs files it under a different master: Disneyland 2507, the 1979 version of Chilling, Thrilling Sounds, with 33 tracks that open on “Night Creatures” under a side heading called “Frightening Situations” (Discogs, 1979 master). It’s a fine record for a party, and it’s the one in print. Just don’t buy it for Laura Olsher.
Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House (Translucent Smoke Vinyl)
The 2023 Walt Disney Records smoke pressing. It carries the 1979 program (Disneyland 2507, 33 tracks), not the 1964 DQ-1257 album. New, from the buy box.
The Amazon listing titled “Walt Disney Studios Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House” (B0161R3070) was a used copy when we checked, so it’s not a way to get the 2015 DQ-1257 new.
Disney, The Haunted Mansion (2017 picture disc)
Buy: Walt Disney Records D002506001, a 2017 picture-disc LP. Side A is the whole attraction narration, “The Haunted Mansion,” credited to Paul Frees at 14:00. Side B is the ride’s music: “Ghostly Music Box,” “Otherworldly Concerto,” “Swinging Wake” and “The Graveyard Band.” Discogs notes the art is “courtesy of the Walt Disney Imagineering Art Collection” (Discogs). It’s the only vinyl catalog number on its Discogs master; the 2009 release is a CD (Discogs).
Disney's Haunted Mansion (Picture Disc LP)
Walt Disney Records D002506001 (2017): the full attraction narration on side A and four ride music cues on side B, on a picture disc. New, from the buy box.
Vince Guaraldi, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (special 1966, first album 2018)
The special premiered October 27, 1966. Craft Recordings says Guaraldi recorded the score weeks before the airdate at Desilu’s Gower Street Studio, with Monty Budwig on bass, Colin Bailey on drums, Emmanuel “Mannie” Klein on trumpet, John Gray on guitar and Ronald Lang on woodwinds (Craft Recordings).
Craft says a comprehensive collection “wasn’t released until 2018,” 52 years after the broadcast. That first release was a CD (CR00113, October 12, 2018, per Discogs), and LPs of the same program followed. Without the original reels, Craft says, “many of the cues still contained overdubbed sound effects or were edited down.” The session reels later turned up in boxes labeled “Big Pumpkin Charlie Brown,” and Craft rebuilt the album from them in 2022 as the Original Soundtrack Recording: 24 tracks, seven previously unreleased alternate takes, liner notes by Peanuts historian Derrick Bang (Craft Recordings).
Buy: anything titled Original Soundtrack Recording. The records of the edited program are titled Music From The Soundtrack: the 2019 single-sided etched mono LP (CR00114) and, the one easiest to confuse with the good one, a 2021 orange pumpkin-shaped 12-inch at 45 RPM (CR00450) (Discogs). The 2022 pumpkin-shaped Original Soundtrack Recording plays at 33 1/3. Two pressings of the Original Soundtrack Recording are on Amazon:
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Original Soundtrack Recording), Translucent Orange Pumpkin-Shaped LP
Craft's 2022 pumpkin-shaped 33 1/3 RPM pressing of the Original Soundtrack Recording, cut from the rediscovered session reels. New, from the buy box.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Original Soundtrack Recording), Zoetrope Picture Disc, 45 RPM
Craft's 60th-anniversary zoetrope picture disc, with scenes from the special that animate when you film the spinning record at 30fps, plus a new essay by Sean Mendelson. New, from the buy box.
The zoetrope’s Amazon listing dates it August 7, 2026 and had new copies when we checked. Craft’s own store has it at $37, being restocked, “Expected to ship the week of October 9, 2026” (Craft Recordings).
John Carpenter, Halloween (film 1978, first LP 1982 or 1983)
The first LP was a remix. Mondo, whose Death Waltz label issues the current reissue, says “The first LP album of Halloween, released in 1982, was a remix of the original 16 master by Alan Howarth, with instructions from John Carpenter to re-mix the tracks to represent the best sound of the music” (Mondo).
The sources disagree on the year. Mondo says 1982. Discogs dates the US Varèse Sarabande LP (STV 81176) and the German Celine Records LP (CL 0008) both to 1983, and lists nothing earlier on the album’s master (Discogs). We haven’t found a way to settle it.
What you hear depends on the pressing. The Varèse LP is Howarth’s stereo remix. Death Waltz’s 40th-anniversary edition, DW135, first pressed in 2018 and repressed several times since, goes back to the film. Mondo says Howarth “carefully transferred the film music stem,” which it describes as derived from the “35mm mono tracks,” and put the cues “in chronological order as presented in the movie.” Hunt down a used Varèse if you want the version people knew in the 1980s; buy DW135 if you want the film.
DW135 sells from Mondo’s store at $32 when it’s in stock; it was sold out when we checked (Mondo). The only new copy on Amazon was a 2022 Record Store Day color variant (DW135H) at more than twice that, so we’re not linking it. Wait for a Mondo restock or check a local record shop. Don’t let the search swap in the score to the 2018 Halloween, by John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies, which is a different film and a different album (Discogs).
Goblin, Suspiria (1977)
Original: Cinevox Record MDF 33.108, Italy, 1977. EMI issued it in the UK as EMC 3222 in 1977 and 1978 (Discogs).
Buy: a pressing of the 1977 recording from AMS/Cinevox (the AMS LP 11 line from 2010, or LP OST 042 from 2022 on) or Death Waltz (DW125, 2017 and 2022). The Amazon listing below is a barcode match for the 2023 AMS/Cinevox black gatefold, LP OST 042 (Discogs).
Goblin, Suspiria (Original Soundtrack), Gatefold 140-Gram Black Vinyl
AMS/Cinevox LP OST 042, the 2023 black-vinyl gatefold of the 1977 Goblin recording (barcode 8004644010946 matches Discogs). New, from the buy box.
Watch for the re-recording. Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin: Suspiria (Prog Rock Version) is a 2022 recording for the film’s 45th anniversary, on Rustblade, first pressed in 666 copies (Discogs). On Amazon it sells under titles like “Suspiria (Dark Purple Vinyl)” and, confusingly, “Suspiria (Original Soundtrack)” with Rustblade as the brand. Check the artist line: “Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin” means the new recording. Thom Yorke’s Suspiria (2018) is the score to the remake.
Mike Oldfield, Tubular Bells (1973)
Original: Virgin V2001, UK, released May 25, 1973. Among the sleeve notes Discogs transcribes is the warning “This stereo record cannot be played on old tin boxes no matter what they are fitted with.” Discogs also notes that signals from the nearby Rugby transmitter leaked onto the master tape at The Manor, low and nearly inaudible (Discogs).
Its Halloween credentials come from The Exorcist. In 1974 Virgin issued a US single titled “Tubular Bells (Now The Original Theme From ‘The Exorcist’)” as VR-55100 (Discogs).
Buy: the 2009 Mercury 180-gram LP (0602527035314), which Discogs describes as “The original 1973 stereo album mix” (Discogs). Mercury repressed the same catalog number in 2018, and there’s a 2023 50th-anniversary LP (V2001 50LP) as well. Tubular Bells II, III and 2003 are separate albums; they turn up in the same searches.
Mike Oldfield, Tubular Bells (180g Vinyl)
Mercury 0602527035314, the 180-gram LP of the original 1973 stereo mix. New, from the buy box; a used copy is also offered on the same listing, so check the condition before you add it to your cart.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Original Soundtrack (1975)
Original: Ode Records, 1975; the UK issue is ODE 78332, with Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Richard O’Brien, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell and Meat Loaf, and Charles Gray as the Narrator (Discogs). Discogs counts 173 versions, the latest a 2025 50th-anniversary LP, ODE 00001-50 (Discogs).
Buy: the 50th-anniversary red and gold LP, ODE 00001-50, distributed by The Orchard. Amazon had no live price for it when we checked (B0FCSJX62T), so no card here. Skip the Amazon listings branded “Generic,” which don’t name the pressing, and skip “Rocky Horror Show (Red Vinyl) O.L.C.” on Not Now: that’s the London stage cast, not the film soundtrack.
Danny Elfman, Beetlejuice (1988)
Original: Geffen GHS 24202, US, 1988 (Discogs).
Waxwork’s 2018 edition (WW062) is the collector’s pick: 180-gram “Beetlejuice Swirl” vinyl, “The Complete Soundtrack Re-Mastered,” the two Harry Belafonte tracks, an 11-by-11-inch art print, and art by Justin Erickson of Phantom City Creative. Waxwork’s store lists it at $36 and sold out (Waxwork Records). A third-party Amazon listing for the swirl pressing wanted $89.99 when we checked.
Buy: the plain Geffen/UMe reissue, B0022804-01, released May 12, 2015 (Discogs), unless you can find the Waxwork at close to its $36 list price.
Beetlejuice (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) LP
Geffen/UMe B0022804-01, the 2015 black-vinyl reissue of the 1988 soundtrack. New, from the buy box. This is the first film, not Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
The sequel crowds this search. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) has its own soundtrack and score LPs, some from Waxwork in swirl colors that look a lot like the 2018 edition. If the title says “Beetlejuice” twice, it’s the sequel.
Danny Elfman, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
The soundtrack didn’t reach vinyl until 2003, as a Walt Disney Records picture disc (61008-1). Since then there have been picture discs, colored editions, a Mondo pressing (MOND-132, 2020) and a steady run of black-vinyl repressings (Discogs).
Buy: the standard 2LP, Walt Disney Records D002427401, on 140-gram black vinyl, first pressed in 2016 and given a wide-release repress in 2017 (Discogs). It holds the whole album, “Overture” through “End Title,” across four sides.
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) 2LP
Walt Disney Records D002427401: the full 1993 soundtrack on two 140-gram black LPs. New, from the buy box.
Listings tagged “[Condition-VG+NM]” are used copies.
Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982)
Thriller is in the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry, class of 2007. The Registry essay by Joe Vogel says Jackson and Quincy Jones “sifted through over 600 songs before settling on a final tracklist of nine,” that Rod Temperton’s title track was “originally titled ‘Starlight’,” and that “Current estimates put U.S. sales at close to 35 million, and global sales at over 110 million.” It hears the title track as “dark Gothic robofunk” (Library of Congress).
The single peaked at No. 4 in March 1984. On the Hot 100 dated November 15, 2025, it climbed from 32 to 10, its first top-10 week since (Billboard via Yahoo).
Buy: the standard Epic/Legacy single LP, in print since 2015 (Epic 88875143731 on Discogs). Discogs flags a 2024 LP with the catalog number EPCMJTH40 as an Unofficial Release, along with a string of older Asian and Russian pressings (Discogs).
Michael Jackson, Thriller (Vinyl LP)
The standard Epic/Legacy single-LP reissue of the nine-track album. New, from the buy box, and the least expensive record on this list.
Bauhaus, “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (1979)
Original: Small Wonder Records TEENY 2, a 12-inch 45, UK, August 1979. A demo of “Dark Entries” is on the record but isn’t listed on the sleeve or labels (Discogs). The white-vinyl edition followed in late 1980, “several months after the original release, during which time the release was unavailable due to pressing problems,” and 5,000 copies were made (Discogs).
Buy: The Bela Session (Leaving Records, 2018), the band’s first studio session from January 26, 1979, where the song was recorded. Leaving calls it “the first and only official reissue of ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ on vinyl,” newly mastered by Mandy Parnell from the original analogue tape (Leaving Records). We read “only official reissue” as “first since Small Wonder’s own represses,” which Discogs lists through 1991. Discogs flags a 2015 TEENY 2 on “Small Wonder Records (2)” as an Unofficial Release (Discogs).
Bauhaus, The Bela Session (Vinyl)
Leaving Records LR150: the January 1979 first session, 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' included, mastered from the original analogue tape. New vinyl, from the buy box.
Misfits, Walk Among Us (1982)
Original: Ruby Records JRR 804, US, 1982. Discogs’ earliest entry is a 1981 Plan 9 promo (PL9/01), so you’ll see both years quoted (Discogs).
Buy: a US Ruby R1 79947 pressing (2009 through 2014), Slash’s 2021 remastered R1 79947, the European Ruby 8122-79885-5, or Earache’s MOSH666 (2018 and 2020). No new copy of any of them had a live Amazon price when we checked.
Discogs flagged 47 LP entries for Walk Among Us as unofficial when we checked, and the catalog number alone won’t catch them. Ruby’s own 1988 reissue carried 1-25756 and 9 25756-1, and the bootlegs copy those numbers. What gives them away on Discogs is the label credit “Ruby Records (4)” and an Unofficial Release flag. Italy’s Expanded Music EX 32 works the same way: the 1982 pressing is listed as a normal release, and a 2020 “Expanded Music (2)” pressing with the same number is flagged unofficial (Discogs).
Wendy Carlos, Rachel Elkind and Others, The Shining (1980)
Original: Warner Bros. Records HS 3449, US, 1980. It’s a various-artists LP: Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind’s “Main Title” and “Rocky Mountains,” then Ligeti’s Lontano, Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, three Penderecki pieces, and Henry Hall and the Gleneagles Hotel Band’s “Home” to close (Discogs).
Buy: an original 1980 pressing, used; Warner issued it across Europe, Japan, Canada and Australia the same year. Discogs lists no official LP reissue since. The two recent LPs on its master, a 2021 Hause Records pressing and a 2023 “Overlook Records Inc.” pressing, are both flagged Unofficial Release (Discogs). If you only want the Carlos and Elkind cues, Death Waltz reissued “Main Title” and “Rocky Mountains” as a 7-inch, DW200, in 2021 and again in 2024; one 2021 variant, the red-jacket Mondo webstore exclusive, was limited to 5,000 copies (Discogs).
Checking a Pressing Before You Pay
Search the catalog number or barcode on Discogs and open the exact release, not just the album. A release flagged “Unofficial Release” is a bootleg. Discogs gives look-alike labels their own numbered entries, like “Ruby Records (4)” and “Small Wonder Records (2),” but a number on its own proves nothing (Mondo’s own label is listed as “Mondo (3)”), so go by the flag.
On Amazon, read the condition line, not just the title. When we checked, the page titled “Walt Disney Studios Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House” had only a used copy in the buy box, and so did an AMS Suspiria listing (B00RGY7L7I) at $99.99.
Looking After Them
The Library of Congress’s guidance for home collections is short. Store records in “a cool (room temperature or below), relatively dry (about 35-40% relative humidity or RH), clean, and stable environment,” away from “radiators and vents,” with “no exposure to direct or intense light,” and “upright: discs and reels on edge.” Replace record sleeves with high-density polyethylene ones, keep your fingers off the playing surface, and use canned air to blow away dust (Library of Congress).
For a party, that means the records live on their edge in a cool room, not stacked by the turntable or propped in a sunny window. The same page says records coming out of cool storage should warm to room temperature before you play them. If you’d rather not handle records mid-party at all, play vinyl during the quiet opening hour and move to our originals playlist or the sound mixer when the room fills up.
