Sounds of Darkness

It is easy to justify the reasons for ghost story albums read by the likes of Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Nelson Olmsted. The first two were arguably the most influential actors in the horror genre, and Olmsted narrated his own stories in the NBC radio series “Sleep No More”. But William Conrad? The Fatman of “Jake and the Fatman”? Seems like a stretch.

Turns out Conrad’s voice was featured in some 50’s radio dramas, including “Escape” and “Suspense”. But this album of traditional ghost stories and poems still seems a little out of character for the big fella. Halfway through “The Horny-Goloch”, he finds himself trying an accent of some kind … the result is not pretty. Nor is his wailing during “The Ghost’s Song”.

The album is dominated by a 19-minute folk tale from Africa called “Fereyel and Debbo Engal The Witch”, which is a bit slow-moving and not terribly scary, but is an interesting story. Three other 5-minute stories and an assortment of shorter poems are here, too. The last one is a toughie … very repetitive, and very little payoff. A curious album, but not a necessity.

Spirits and Spooks for Hallowe'en Summoned up by William Conrad