"The Haunted House and other Spooky Poems and Tales"

Last night when I was meditating in a semi-dark room a poem came to me called The Erl King about a man whisking his son home on horseback in  a wild storm while the boy talks about a phantom  King who is trying to lure him away. It was from a 45 rpm record & book called The Haunted House and other Spooky Poems and Tales that my brother and I had when we were kids (I was 5, he was 7) and which we played so often I can remember most of the narration verbatim 43 years later. 

After I was done I Googled The Haunted House and was astonished to find it on YouTube courtesy of VintageHorrorSounds. Just seeing that spectacularly 70’s cover art and some of the other titles, like The Cradle that Rocked by Itself and The Kilkenny Cats brought tears to my eyes: I was so overwhelmed I didn’t even listen to them til the next day. I wanted to savor the anticipation. 

When I did I was thrilled to find I could still recite right alongside the narrators for most of the text, so etched in my mind were the images, some scary, some funny:

It isn’t the cough

That carries you off

It’s the coffin

They carry you off in

Phrases I’d had in my head for decades but couldn’t recall the origin of fell into place  like a picture that has left a light space on a wall and is finally replaced. 

Thanks to VintageHorrorSounds for posting this incredible and influential piece of my childhood. Can’t imagine where I got this morbid sensibility….