I saw an article today that reminded me about a record that Disney put out in the 1960s. The popular Disney “Chilling and Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House” record.
The first release was in 1964 and contained sounds collected by the Walt Disney Studios sound department.
One side of the record was simply ten sound effects that could be played to set the spooky mood.
The flip side had ten stories narrated by Larua Olsher utilizing sound effects. Including stories like “The Haunted House,” “The Very Long Fuse,” “The Dogs,” “Timber,” “Your Pet Cat,” “Shipwreck,” “The Unsafe Bridge,” “The Birds,” “Martian Monsters,” and the “racist” story entitled “Chinese Water Torture.”
While most of the record is not problematic, the one story entitled “Chinese Water Torture” often raises some eyebrows.
You can find the entire album on YouTube. Here is the start of the Disney Halloween”racist” story.
It begins with a story about the Chinese water torture technique and is then followed by the sounds of water dripping. However, at the end of the story, someone starts speaking in gibberish, apparently meant to be “Chinese,” and then Olsher says, “What am I saying? I’m not even Chinese.”
Here is the clip of the “Chinese.”
I have to tell you we picked this up at a vintage store a few years ago. My husband was listening to it in the background, then started laughing and played it back for me.
This would NOT fly today. People keep slamming Disney for its “racist” past, leading to changes like Splash Mountain turning into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
A later version of this record was released in 1979. The newer version has new tracks with different stories, removes the “Chinese Water Torture” from the playlist, and adds many more sound effects.
Currently, you can purchase the 1964 and 1973 versions with the “Chinese Water Torture” story on places like eBay. The 1979 version can also be found. YouTube also has playthroughs of the records.
What do you think? Do you find this offensive?
Comment and let us know!
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