October-ganza 4: Eerie Audio

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October 4, 2014 by Bret Kramer (aka WinstonP)

While Erich Zann neglected to leave his sheet music behind, there are certain recordings reputed to have some horrific or occult significances…

The most famous of these is Gloomy Sunday (aka the Hungarian Suicide Song). Written in 1933 and first recorded two years later, the song lyrics about the death of a lover and intimations of suicide combined with (unsubstantiated) reports of more than a dozen suicides connected to the song, have given it an air of mystery and danger. Frankly, it is the only song I can think of that has been performed by Ray Charles, Anton LaVey, the Dead Milkmen, and Bjork. I’m including the Billy Holiday version because, if a song is going to drive you to self-annihilation, it should at least sound pretty.

Yog-Sothoth.com member Graham has suggested there could be drawn some connection between Hastur and “Peace of Mind/The Candle Burn“, a curious piece of psychedelia allegedly discovered in the dumpster behind Apple Records.

If lunatic psychedelia is your bag, how about albums released by a full-blown cult? The Source Family – as discussed by Ken and Robin recently – produced all kinds of wacked out music before Father Yod went for his first and last hang glider ride. Here’s Ya Ho Wha 13’s “Fire in the Sky“.

Though not recorded with the Top 40 in mind, during the Vietnam War the US Army created a recording as part of a psychological warfare campaign called Operation Wandering Soul. The recording, tagged as “Ghost Tape #10”, was designed to convince the Viet Cong that they were hearing the voice of the wandering ghost, a soldier who had died far from home and his family shrine, condemned to walk the earth forever. Apparently it mostly just provoked heavy fire on the specially modified helicopters that played the recording.

Finally, thanks to the internet, we can hear the creepy voices of noted weirdos like Aleister Crowley, Elizabeth Clare Prophet, and this expert on vampires.