In Search Of: Amityville Horror (1979)

This episode of In Search Of, hosted by Leonard Nimoy, recounts the story of the Amityville Horror as reported by the Lutz family. It includes clips from the motion picture released that same year. Some of the footage from this episode was used the next year in the Amityville episode of That's Incredible, another sensationalistic 70s show.

Gatlinburg, Tennessee: Hauntings Ghostly Adventure

[This post has been updated to reflect the closure of Hauntings in 2015.]
The town of Gatlinburg, in the Smoky Mountains, houses a lot of sidewalk attractions and shops: museums, arcades, custom airbrushed t-shirts, taffy, miniature golf, more airbrushed t-shirts, etc. Several attractions are themed towards the bizarre and supernatural, including Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, Ripley's Haunted Adventure, World of Illusions, Ghost Haunts Tours, and Mysterious Mansion.


I first visited an attraction called Hauntings in June 1991, during a summer trip to Tennessee. The show took place in a small room, dimly lit, with seating for about 20 people. Throughout the show, objects seemed to move by themselves (candle moving across mantle, spirit writing on slate board), noises were heard throughout the room (chains rattling, wolf howling), and an eerie voice narrated. At the end of the show, a figure appeared in the flashing of a strobe light, thrusting a chainsaw menacingly at the audience.

In 2009, I visited the attraction again. It had actually changed very little since 1991, although (unfortunately) the madman with the chainsaw had been removed from the show. Instead, there was something that occurred where a large head was moving toward the audience. I can't remember what that was about, but it managed to catch me off guard. Anyway, the video I posted contains narration from the beginning of the show. Most of it is pretty laughable, including a direct quotation of Rod Serling's opening spiel from The Twilight Zone, and annoying music ripped off from the Halloween theme.



Even though the attraction was pretty cheezy, it was refreshingly quaint. Unfortunately, it closed in 2015. The strip is increasingly being taken over by larger Ripley's attractions. Current Ripley's attractions in Gatlinburg:

Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies
Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum
Ripley's Davy Crockett Mini Golf
Ripley's Haunted Adventure
Ripley's Marvelous Mirror Maze
Ripley's Moving Theater
Ripley's Super FunZone

That's Incredible: Amityville Horror (1980)

I didn't actually see this when That's Incredible! was still on TV, but I knew about the episode because my brother had seen it. For many years I was curious about the episode because it showed the inside of the Amityville house, including the "red room" and the upstairs bedroom with the trademark "eye" windows. I finally found the video on YouTube a few years ago. It was a little surprising that, considering the show's tendency towards sensationalism, the writers of the program chose to document the subject in a straight-forward, objective manner. Rather than playing up the stories of the supposed hauntings, the program consisted mainly of disputing the Lutz's claims and events as reported in the novel. The segment is still a bit spooky, though, and makes for fun Halloween viewing! Also check out the 1979 Amityville episode from the show In Search Of.

That's Incredible: Haunted Toys 'R Us (1978)

This segment from That's Incredible! investigates the story of a haunted Toys 'R Us in Sunnyvale, California. Apparently, the toy store was built on the property where a man died after a wood-chopping accident, and psychic Sylvia Brown claims that this man's spirit is haunting the store. A séance is staged in the toy store for That's Incredible! As Brown attempts to make contact with the spirit, a photographer captures some interesting images.

That's Incredible: Ghost Castle (1981)

That's Incredible! was one of my favorite shows in the 80s because I could always depend on it for tales of strange phenomena. I only remember a handful of segments that could be classified as Halloween-oriented. This particular segment about a haunted castle in New Jersey features testimony about objects being moved around the room and other occurrences. The residents believe the ghost to be William Beatty, the man who built "Castle Utopia" in the 1920s and died in one of the rooms. The current owners of the property have renamed the home Phareloch Castle and are in the process of renovating the structure.

Whaley House hauntings (1991)

The Whaley House, located in Old Town San Diego, is one of the most important historic buildings in the area. Built in 1857, it was at that time the first two-story brick building in San Diego. For a time, the structure served not only as the Whaley residence, but as the county courthouse, San Diego's first commercial theater, and the Whaley and Crosthwaite General Store.

KNSD News played this segment on Halloween 1991. The director of the Whaley House recounts strange occurrences and speculates about who the spirits are that haunt the property.

PM Magazine: Haunted house (1985)

PM Magazine aired this program on 29 October 1985, as part of their "Ghoulies and Ghosts" week leading up to Halloween, with the hosts visiting a haunted attraction aboard the Star of India in San Diego. This segment is about a family living in a house they believe to be haunted. A psychic visits each room in the house, trying to discover who, or what, is causing the disturbances. I videotaped this as a kid and remember being spooked out by it, especially by the point-of-view shot walking down the steps to the basement. The background music, which is spooky in itself, is from the soundtrack to the original Halloween movie.