Ghost Story

This series apparently was supposed to give Rod Serling's Night Gallery a run for its money. The show only lasted a season, but what a season! I first saw this show on an independant VHF channel about 15 years ago, in that age when independent channels had to conceive their own programming, and the result of this UPN and WB network-free environment was the broadcasting of little-known gems like this show. Best episode I remember: Martin Sheen playing a construction worker who, while demolishing an old house, stumbles upon a strange box with a mirrored interior containing a toy horse on wheels. Once the horse is out of the box, all kinds of weirdness ensues! This episode was heavy on symbolism and kinda esoteric--I remember not really understanding the entire episode at the time, although a sorta explanation is given for the horse's being in the box. The whole episode was bizarre and was that much creepier because it wasn't really explained. More challenging than your average anthology show episode. Kinda far out for the seventies.

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.

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.

This show has some interesting guest stars from the era as well as some good stories. Available on DVD and some episodes are on YouTube.

I remember I was only 9 at the time but it was such a scary show and peaked my interest in horror films (which I now loathe). The episode I remember was "Half Dead." A young girls sister died after a brief illness, something about a headache/migraine being the cause..however the creepy part is I remember the little girl crying in pain and consequently dying before the older sister could get home..I see the shadowy steps, the dark yard. how the wind was blowing..and all the while you could hear, "Lisa..Lisa??' It was so creepy. It will forever haunt me. I would love to get a copy of that episode, I have even looked it up on Amazon.com to no avail. Wouldn' t it be wonderful if they could air it on TV land or Sci-Fi channel?