Friday, July 9, 2010

The Haunted House (1975, Disney's Wonderful World of Reading)

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Pluto explore a spooky old house after running out of gas in this 1975 Disney book, The Haunted House.

And no, this isn't Disneyland's Haunted Mansion... although Mickey visited that in an Oct. 1969 issue of Walt Disney Comics Digest (covered at Doombuggies.com).

This dilapidated old house is perched on top of a hill in a forest of gnarled, leafless trees, spider-webs, and a skyfull of swooping bats.

The trio encounters a portrait with shifty eyes...

...a bat-infested library...

...and a jiggling skeleton...

Buy it here.

10 comments:

Matt-suzaka said...

That's really cool...love the art, especially the haunted house. Being incredibly obsessed with Halloween and horror, I just love stuff like that.

Anonymous said...

So, I've been reading your blog for a little bit and it seems like every childhood book I remember fondly has popped up so far. Very cool. :)

I was wondering if you knew of a book that was an illustrated guide to monsters that was done in a very abstract/cartoonish style. Sort of like mercer mayer (I'm pretty sure it wasn't there are monsters everywhere). It must of been released in the 70's. It was a collection of poems and descriptions about them. The best thing I can compare it to is the book the kids in the show Rugrats (yeah that show. heh) had that showed them pictures of monsters and their habitats.

The only thing I can really remember is that there was one that involved a railroad train track and one story had a taunting little fellow that got gobbled up at the end. :) Just wondering if you knew of it.

Cory said...

Thank you so very much for that rush of forgotten childhood memories. I guess I used to have this book and certain images like the jiggling skeleton and the bats swarming the trio came flooding back to me.

Ormon Grimsby said...

I love coming to check out your blog every so often, there was a lapse there for a while. I am glad you got caught up. Had to rent that Hardy Boys you posted, forgotten memory that really affected me. I had these Disney books too.
Do you recall a book called Lamont the Lonely Monster?
Grew up with that one too.
Loved the Mazes and Monsters,
AND was looking forever to find out what that story was in Boys Life, hahahaha boy that brought back memories too.

Do you remember Weird Worlds?
Have also been trying to find an article that I saw as a kid about building playsets for your super hero figures back in the late 70's, must have been one of them mom magazines from the period.
Keep up the fantastic work!
Ormon

Brother Bill said...

Ormon,

Thanks for the kind words, and for hanging in there during the slow periods (I don't follow a strict posting schedule... )

Unfortunately I don't have any memories of the items you mentioned (Weird Worlds, etc.) but I did spend a lot of time as a kid taping together shoeboxes, etc. to make playsets and spaceships for my Star Wars figures, so would get a kick out of seeing that magazine article.

Paul B. said...

I received a later edition of this book as a gift sometime in the mid-80s. It featured a read-along cassette tape. The book is probably in my parents' attic somewhere, but the tape was misplaced long ago.

Michael said...

Yes! Last year I was feeling very nostalgic and was moved to track down this book and the cassette and buy them from amazon. When I heard those old sound effects and viewed illustrations I haven't been able to conjure for twenty years, I nearly creamed.

no name said...

There was a cassette that came with this book....does anyone have it?

A View Through said...

One Monster After Another - Mercer Mayer

Unknown said...

I was in LinkedIn then out of nowhere this book crossed my mind, I really was in love with the illustrations and atmosphere of the story, does anyone have access to its pdf? I appreciate in advance,