Vincent Price – A Graveyard of Ghost Tales (1973) - OTR Records and Soundtracks

Vincent Price – A Graveyard of Ghost Tales (1973)
Ghost Stories
If you don’t know who Vincent Price is, I find it hard to believe you’re even reading this. Price recorded a number of scary albums in the mid-70’s, and this one is not only the first of the group I discovered, it is my favorite.

Like other ghost story albums Price recorded, AGoGT features classic ghost stories and fascinating insights into the occult. This album features detailed instructions for creating a Hand of Glory or a Magic Candle to find treasure. When he reads the first ingredient for the magic candle … human tallow … well, that’s enough to make you shudder just a bit.

But the stars of the show are the stories. “The Lavender Evening Dress” is a terrific rendition of the classic folk tale of the Vanishing Hitchhiker. It takes about 7 minutes to set up the classic tale, but the last 4 minutes make it worthwhile. “Leg of Gold” is a variant of “The Hairy Toe”. It appears the script for these stories came from various sources published at the time … “The Lavender Evening Dress” appears to have come from the book “Folklore in American Literature” published in 1958, and “Leg of Gold” from “A Book of Ghosts and Goblins” published in 1969. While those are my favorites, all of the stories are a pleasure to hear.

Nobody could read these tales with the earnestness, the eeriness, and the panache that Vincent Price’s voice possesses. (Except maybe Boris Karloff.) You can hear the subtle shudder in his voice when he reaches the conclusion of “Bond of Reunion”, while at the end of “Dress” you almost expect him to launch into his classic sinister laugh. The 20-minute “Ghost Hand of Spital House” is an often amusing tale of a robbery gone wrong.

It might be a little slow and uneventful for some. There are no sound effects, there’s no music … just Vincent Price. Vincent Price reading spooky tales. That’s scary enough for me.

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