Hi all,
Just wanted to give my huge thumbs up too for the Haunted Generation article... was probably the best thing I've read in Fortean Times recently, and even "Period".
I suppose that might be because like so many of us posting here, it struck a chord with me too.
Reason for posting today is that I stumbled across a truly great example of the whole genre on Mixcloud;
https://www.mixcloud.com/egress/the-stuff-of-nightmares-vol1/
This audio was put together by one Mark Black over 7 years ago, and consists of old ITV channel identity music, mixed with old children's (and adults) television programme sound tracks known for being "spooky", all stitched together by snippets from the 1975 documentary "The Ghost Hunters".
I've found myself truly scared by this, even at 45 years old. it even had me searching out the old "Frisbee lands in an electrical substation and leads to child electrocution" Public Information Film. I wish I hadn't as it gave me nightmares and I kept hearing the girl screaming "Jimmy!!!!" from the advert for days after. In the mix, this is given an extra dimension by being echoed and looped, in the same way that sounds often appear in dreams (to me at least).
This is the published track list at that link;
Tracklist:
Ident 1
The Ghost Hunters 1
Armchair Thriller
Children of the Stones
The Ghost Hunters 2
Chocky
Dark and Lonely Water
Dark Shadows
The Ghost Hunters 3
Doctor Who (Tom Baker Years)
Ident 2
Hammer House of Horror
Into the Labyrinth
The Ghost Hunters 4
Journey into the Unknown
Near and Far
Out of the Unknown
Picture Box
Children Die at Power Stations
Sapphire and Steel
Ident 3
Tales of the Unexpected
The Ghost Hunters 5
The Book Tower
The Frighteners
The Mad Death
The Stone Tape
The Ghost Hunters 6
The Tomorrow People
Thriller
UFO (End Credits)
The Ghost Hunters 7
I still often find it a struggle to listen to it in its entirety without having to switch it off part-way through, as it's so unnerving. Please do give it a try.
Conversely, but in a similar vein, I can't be the only person who often feels reduced to tears of sadness by silly things like hearing the original London Weekend Television Programme ident. music, simply because of the happy, "carefree" memories it evokes when compared to my life as it is now.
I remember reading somewhere a quote like "
With the future unknown, the present so traumatic, is that why we always yearn for the past?"
If you like it enough there are methods to "download" it as a file, or perhaps the author (still active on Mixcloud) will / would make it available if many people contacted them. I could also upload it to Google Drive and share it here, providing there was enough interest and the author was happy.
Regards
James
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