McDonald’s Halloween Tape Will Take You Back to the ’90s

McDonald’s tape was only one of literally hundreds of similar releases. They were a necessary ambiance for Halloween parties and trick-or-treat front porches. They were almost always super chintzy, yet with eye-catching cover art that drew kids in. Hallmark released a few infamous ones, like The Sounds of Halloween in 1986. Side one featured a cheesy narrator delivering a poor Bela Lugosi/Dracula impression, followed by bubbling cauldrons, screams, wolf howls, and actors reciting terrible dialogue. But side two was even better, with cheesy covers of the Ghostbusters theme song, “Thriller,” and of course, The Monster Mash.” They just don’t make ’em like this anymore.

In the YouTube era, there are channels dedicated to preserving these retro Halloween recordings, like The Ultimate Halloween Sounds Collection. And we’re glad, because there’s something incredibly charming about these pop culture artifacts. Who actually wrote, recorded, and performed on most of these remains totally lost to time, sadly. Nowadays, the narrators would likely be AI, with little to no human touches involved. So, maybe we should leave these to the last century. But for anyone who grew up from the ’70s to the early 2000s, these compilations will bring back a ton of happy Halloween memories.