When I was around six or seven years old, my brother and I used to listen to a collection of short horror stories on our little Sears record player.  It was a collection of six stories, told by three different narrators, released on a full-size LP and titled Scary Spooky Stories. It was released by Troll records and distributed through Scholastic to schools across the country.  My brother and I must have listened to this record at least a thousand times. We loved it and I still have the original record in my possession today (although it’s chipped badly on one edge, ruining the first story on each side).

Fast forward thirty years.  My six year old son asked me to tell him a story one night.  I usually make up stories for him, but on that night something reminded me of a story from the Scary Spooky Stories collection.  I hadn’t listened to the records in thirty years but I remembered the gist of the story and told it to him…and he loved it.

After he went to bed I did a Google search for the record and found mp3 copies of the collection.  I immediately downloaded and listened to them.  It was like stepping back in time.  The nostalgia was almost overwhelming.  It was strange because I hadn’t heard them for so long, but so familiar I could finish the sentences. Surreal.

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