Mark Harvey is the owner/operator of Nobody Records, Pumpkinland Studios and 13thTrack.com Halloween Radio.
In my world it tends to be Halloween much of the time. Strange most of the time. Busy all of the time. Join in on the fun, leave a comment and enjoy your stay...
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
October 28th, 2026...new DARK RIDE video..."This Night"...from Rain Station's DARK RIDE album
Greetings and salutations,
This Halloween season has been a little "blah". Not sure what that's about, but I was excited and encouraged when Jay created a NEW video for this Season. I've written about Rain Station's DARK RIDE album a lot. After all these years, a little cartoon video can make things "alive" again. I hope your Halloween Season has been fun and filled with all of the magic this time of year has to offer. Enjoy the NEW cartoon and make sure to have a listen to Rain Station's DARK RIDE album this year. I'm sure there's a song on there that will become a Holiday staple for you...promise...
October 26th, 2026...Disney's "The Song and Story from The Haunted Mansion"
Greetings,
Each year I feel the need to pay homage to Disney's Haunted Mansion and how it impacted my life. The aesthetic, music and overall experience is where my "haunter's head and heart" has always gravitated toward. I have never been into gore. Whimsical supernatural is fun. As my friend Brent Ross has always said, "we like old dead, not new dead"...
Disney's "The Song and Story from The Haunted Mansion" is probably one of my favorite records of all time.
As a kid I had a copy, but my Mom - in an attempt to rid our house of all EVIL LPs - threw it out (my poor sisters lost A LOT of LPs...Led Zeppelin, Bad Company...and so many more). It was a phase in my life where celebrating Halloween was OK just as long as you had nothing evil or dark associated with it.
In my adult years I began searching the Internet to see if I could find a replacement copy of Disney's "The Song and Story from The Haunted Mansion". I found a guy named Jeff Baham who was running a little site about Disney's Haunted Mansion. That site has gotten HUGE (here). Jeff suggested eBay and so I surfed over there to see what eBay was all about. Talk about SCORE. I now own several copies of Disney's Haunted Mansion LP, many in pristine condition. I'm so happy to have them in my collection. "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" is an LP that featured a pre-Happy-Days Ron Howard. Recorded in 1969, "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" featured the young Howard as "Mike," a teenager out on a date with "Karen" voiced by Robie Lester. Lester's "Storyteller" album for The Aristocats was nominated for a 1970 Grammy Award. One of her most famous roles was as "Miss Jessica", the schoolteacher who becomes Mrs. Kris Kringle (Santa Claus) in the 1970 Rankin-Bass TV special Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (TV special).
The story is narrated by Thurl Ravenscroft, one of Disney's best-known vocal talents. Ravenscroft is known for being the original voice of Tony the Tiger as well as the the singer of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch," from Chuck Jones' classic cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Disneyland ride's main scenes are represented which makes this an album well worth owning (if you have a turntable). The LP's Ghost Host is voiced by Pete Renoudet. This differs from the attraction's Ghost Host, voiced by Paul Frees. The album contains an 11-page book of illustrations by Disney Imagineer and artist Collin Campbell.
I hope you enjoy what I consider to be the starting point of my love for all things Halloween...Disney's "The Song and Story from The Haunted Mansion"...
We've begun decorating inside the house. Whether or not it'll be completed before Halloween is yet to be known. I enjoy seeing the "things" that have been packed away for a year. Is there a particular item you look forward to seeing every year? I'm thinking about that and will post a photo of an item that I look forward to seeing every season.
Today's track is "Creep" from Pumpkinland II.
Let me know if you like the track and what item you look forward to unearthing every season.
October 24th, 2026...Haunted Castle...Santa Cruz, CA...
Greetings and salutations,
Many years ago, I was quite involved with the haunting community. Recording music for haunted houses, theme parks, putting out CDs...things were fun and inspirational.
One of the cool things I was able to do was walk through the then "new" Ghost Blasters ride at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It is still one of my favorite rides a,nd I am fortunate to live close enough to get to ride it every year or so.
The Haunted Castle, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk's DARK RIDE, features music from my friends, Midnight Syndicate, in the queue and my music inside the ride. Years ago I gave one of my discs to the folks there, and it makes me so happy to hear this track every time I visit.
I hope you enjoy the track, and if you're ever in Santa Cruz, CA, please ride Haunted Castle and Ghost Blasters (and Cave Train)... It's a good time.
