Ghost Story

The pilot episode for Ghost Story/Circle of Fear was titled "The New House" and was the story of a young couple who purchased a house over the site where an innocent girl was hanged. To this day, I remember vividly how everyone in my family was scared to death as the ghost of this girl terrorized the wife, who was pregnant with her first child. It was definitely one of the best scary TV movies, and it is a shame now that it is missing. The end of this movie was so terrifying that I remember we turned on "The Odd Couple" when the movie was over so we could relax and laugh some. The fact that I can still remember this movie so well so many years later is a testament to just how scary it was. I hope one day it can be located again.

The best thing you can say about a show that tells scary stories is whether or not any of the stories, indeed, scared you. And, in this instance, they did.

"Ghost Story" (best known by me as "Circle of Fear"), told some deceptively simple stories about people in frightening circumstances, some deserving it, others not, and all of them were well-mounted in my humble-yet-informed opinion.

Obviously, some talented directors were on hand in their early days (Donner, Moxey, Rich) and some of the stories did indeed frighten the heck out of me, even if I was just seven at the time (maybe THAT'S what's wrong with me now. Oh well...).

The episodes I remember best were as follows: a grandfather who gives his grand-daughter a voodoo-like doll house; a man kills his wife and her lover then sees their bodies rise up on his TV; murder victim seeks revenge through donated body parts already on their recipients... there are more but it freaks me out just remembering them.

Sure, they may have been corny and dumb but they did their job and were effectively scary. And yes, they SHOULD be back on the air (I think some episodes are already in smaller-market syndication); Sci-Fi Channel, are you paying attention? There's money to be made here....

Eight stars for "Ghost Story". Frightful fun - just turn down the lights and grab you popcorn...and maybe a pillow to hide behind.

I liked this series. The one episode I remember best is "Concrete Captain," where the body of an old sailor is entombed in a block of concrete. He was killed by the grandfather of one of the characters in the story (I think it was a mercy killing) by having a harpoon chucked through his heart. The top of the harpoon still sticks out of the concrete. Then the ghost of the sailor comes back to haunt everyone.

I also liked the theme music. I actually recorded it off the TV one night with my first cassette recorder. I still have that tape.

When they changed it to "Circle of Fear," I thought it was a mistake. The theme music was dumb, too.

I loved this too! I was a KID when it first aired, but have always been haunted by the images in that "Concrete Captain" episode. Truly creepy. I just found out the name of the series yesterday - I couldn't remember it for the last 32 years - and it brings back memories. I remember Jodie Foster in one, with an old actor whom I cannot remember; and another episode where there's something moving around in the well in the cellar of a house. Great stuff. They just don't show this stuff on TV anymore; episodic TV like this is thought not to work, and the 70's allowed for more downbeat endings that didn't necessarily need to be ironic. Wish someone would give us a scary series again soon. BUFFY was neat, but not scary.

Oh, yeah - I always thought Sebastian Cabot was perfectly cast. He was quite creepy! Loved him as Satan in THE EVIL.

I remember watching this TV series on occasion back in the 1970s. Unfortunately since it's been 20-25 years since I've seen it, I no longer remember any of the episodes. The only thing I remember clearly is the sound effect that was played whenever a ghost was present. Before reading about this on the IMDB I did not know that it was later re-named Circle of Fear. That was new to me. To me it was always Ghost Story. I remember that I always found the show interesting enough to watch it till the end. If you can find this on video (It's extremely hard to find), I highly recommend it. I did find one source for it on video, some years ago and purchased one episode that starred John Astin and Patty Duke Astin. This episode was from when the series had been re-named Circle of Fear. Very entertaining if you can find it. Maybe some day the Sci-Fi Channel will pick it up. Who knows?