Ghost Story watch online HD

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.

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 very much enjoyed watching Circle of Fear. Being only 7 at the time, there was one episode that has stayed with me to date. Thanks to the episode "Dark Vengeance" I still have a small fear of wooden toy horses. The "scary" stuff on TV today does not compare with the horror shows of 70's such as Circle of Fear. I would be overjoyed if copies of these episodes were avaible for purchase.

SPOILERS.

I don't remember it ever being called Ghost Story, so maybe I missed the first few episodes. We called it Circle of Fear. At the beginning they had some mesmerizing circles spinning around. You knew when it was coming on.

There was only one episode that didn't scare me. They were in a twelve-story building and all of a sudden people were headed to the 13th floor. This was Hell. It didn't make much sense, but then I was 8.

I think the first one I saw was the one with the little walnut headed monsters. They made weird noises for communication and didn't like light. Just as the hero was about to save the girl, it was already too late. The walnut heads dragged her into a hole and apparently ate her. The end. Now, time to go to sleep. I couldn't sleep after that! Too freaky.

I remember the Susan Dey episode. That was my favorite, so I'll spoil it for you. Mind you, most of what I remember is pictures, so the plot might not be 100% accurate. Here goes. She inherits a mansion from her grandfather. She stays there all alone, of course, and it was a warm summer day outside. But then she's upstairs by that one odd door and hears noises inside. She opens it. Empty room. She starts to leave. Hears more noises. Opens it again. Instead of a room, it leads outside, and it's snowing. There's a crazy old man near a tree with an axe, a shovel, and a big sack he's burying. I think the crazy old man was her dead grandfather. He looks at her. She freaks and slams the door. It keeps alternating between an empty room and a snowy outdoors throughout the episode and the crazy old man gets closer every time. I don't know why she kept opening the door each time. I wouldn't have. Obviously time didn't work right inside that one door. At the end (ooh, I'm getting goosebumps) the man is gone and she gets the courage to go out and see what he buried by the tree. There's nothing there. Then she sees him come out the same door, lock it, and come at her with an empty sack and an axe. So that means earlier, she was watching him bury her own body after he had already killed her with the axe. That one scared the crap out of me. I think they ended it with a picture of the mansion and a 'For Sale' sign in front. Still got the goosebumps.

I want the whole series on DVD.

Despite, typical seventies TV cinematography, marred by over-lighting, and bland paint by numbers art direction, (the show often looks like an episode of "Qunicy"--hardly ideal for supernatural horror--just imagine, ten years earlier it might have had the glorious monochrome of "Boris Karloff's 'Thriller') this program is, nonetheless, unjustly forgotten. I saw it in its original prime time incarnation and though it can't approach the sophistication of Britain's "Journey to the Unknown," and had more duds than hits, several episodes were standouts, and the entire series needs to again see the light of day.

The pilot, (entitled, "The New House") aired in March, 1972, and featured Sebastion Cabot as the program's host, grandly swaggering about an old world luxury hotel, as he expounds upon his fondness for the glories of earlier times. He then spots Barbara Parkins, (never more beautiful than here--her close-ups are lovely) the protagonist of the teleplay at hand, seated at the bar, and expresses his doubts as to her future happiness (with good reason as you will soon see!) All this serves as the springboard for her saga--a tale of witchcraft--with elements not unlike "Crowhaven Farm". This episode, despite being marred by some excessive lovey-dovey dialog between Parkins and on screen husband David Birney, is effectively rendered, and surprises in the power of its extremely bleak denouement.

The show changed its title to "Circle of Fear" in Jan. 1973, though the stories continued to be supernatural in character. Amongst the better "Circle of Fear"s were:

1) Still lovely Eleanor Parker's riveting performance as a tortured mother in a splendid yarn of spectral siblings, "Half a Death" written by the accomplished Henry Slesar.

2) The Janet Leigh episode, "Death's Head" which contains a deliciously foreboding visit to a seaside carnival gypsy, who later turns up in a woozy nightmare sequence.

3) The story depicting Martin Sheen and Kim Darby as newlyweds coping with a malefic toy horse.

4) The always superb Shirley Knight, (in an outstanding Emmy worthy characterization) as a diffident young typist who finds new meaning in the phrase, "office politics" in "Legion of Demons." This episode is extremely provocative and disturbing in its images and dialog, some of which make it hard to see how it got past the censors--and is arguably the best written of the series.

Unfortunately, the series had more bombs than clicks, which may account for its premature demise. Still, tastes vary, and there are doubtless viewers out there who will enjoy the Helen Hayes, Melvynn Douglas, and Tab Hunter episodes as well. As for the trivia-ites, note that the Jody Foster episode features the Samantha and Darren Stevens house from "Bewitched."

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.

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 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?

I was a child of ten when this came out, and if our family was home on Friday nights, we'd tune into it. We lost interest when it became "Circle of Fear," but I still remember this one fondly, and wish I could get it on video/DVD or whatever.

The basic setup of the show was that Winston Essex (Sebastian Cabot) would invite you into his hotel, and point out a guest that was about to have a very odd experience. The episode then featured that person dealing with whatever supernatural issues they faced for the week. About halfway through the season, Essex disappeared, and the episodes started without any preamble. Unfortunately, neither version of the series caught on, and it only lasted a season, but I still remember some of the more frightening episodes:

The New House: A young couple (David Birney, Barbara Parkins), expecting their first child move into their first home, which happens to be built on the site of a gallows where an innocent girl was hanged two centuries before. Her spirit, however, lives on, and takes a most unfortunate interest in the newborn baby...

At the Cradle Foot: Paul, a recently divorced man (James Franciscus) has a vision of his young daughter, Emily (Lorie Busk) being murdered as an adult (Lisa James). He decides to go to the town he sees in his vision to see if he can stop the murder from happening. During his stay there, he becomes involved with Julie (Meg Foster), the young woman who runs the boardinghouse where he's staying, who just happens to be engaged to Ed, the man (Karl Swenson) who killed Emily in Paul's vision. Tensions heat up between the two, and Paul ends up killing Ed. While on trial, his ex-wife Karen (Elizabeth Ashley) comes to help out. Paul gets off by claiming the killing was accidental. However, just as he is about to leave, Julie informs him that she is carrying Ed's child. Realizing that Julie's child will grow up to be the man who kills his daughter, Paul goes to his car, where Karen is waiting, and grabs a gun. Karen stops him from killing Julie, saying that she and Paul should be able to stay alive long enough to keep Emily from being murdered.

The Summer House: A woman (Carolyn Jones) goes to spend the summer at a vacation house that she and her husband (Steve Forrest) own. She hates the house, and it turns out to be with good cause, as there is a malevolent spirit that lives in the well in the basement. Unfortunately, the spirit causes a time loop, and she and her husband are trapped forever in that house during that summer. What was particularly cool about this episode was that you only got part of the information each time through the loop, and it wasn't until the very end that it became apparent what was happening.

Alter-Ego: Bobby (Michael-James Wixted) is a somewhat sickly boy who loves to play chess. He has just started the fifth grade, and loves his popular teacher (Helen Hayes), so he is especially disappointed when he becomes too sick to attend school early on in the year. A young boy who looks just like him tells him not to worry, that he will go to school in Bobby's stead and teach him everything when he comes back home. Bobby is too sick to do anything other than agree to this arrangement, but the alter-ego quickly takes over, terrorizing the teacher, causing her to retire in disgrace, and ultimately causing her death when she falls on a pair of pruning sheers. He brags about all of this to Bobby who seems to become weaker as the alter-ego becomes stronger. The alter-ego decides that the two should play a game of chess, and whoever wins gets to live out his life as Bobby. The game seems to be going in favor of the alter-ego when the teacher appears telling Bobby what moves to make. The alter-ego complains that this is unfair, but the teacher informs him that he can't finish the game anyway, as he is due to spend eternity in a little classroom with the teacher discussing what he did to her. The teacher and the alter-ego vanish, and Bobby is well again.

Half a Death: A young woman named Christina (Pamela Franklin) comes home to visit her parents. Christina has a twin named Lisa (Pamela Franklin, oddly enough) whom she has never met. She is expecting to meet Lisa once she gets home, but finds, to her disappointment that Lisa has recently died. However, Christina starts hearing Lisa calling for her at night. Pressing her mother (Eleanor Parker) for information about Lisa, she finds that Lisa had severe mental problems, and that when Lisa was sick with a high fever one night, her mother delayed calling the doctor until morning, and by morning Lisa had died. When Lisa calls for Christina again, their mother offers herself to Lisa, dying so that Christina may live.

The episodes were exceptionally well done. The writing was subtle so that often it wasn't until the end that the viewer figured out what was going on. The acting was good. The atmosphere created lent to the sense of unease in the story. All in all, it made for very enjoyable viewing.

It's a shame they no longer broadcast these. Hopefully, a channel will pick them up, or they will be released on video someday. They truly were well crafted, scary stories.

I was 8 when Ghost Story aired and I looked forward to it every week! My 2 favorite episodes:

"Half a Death"(my #1 favorite)- about a girl named Christina whose dead twin comes back to haunt her. It wasn't clear as to the exact cause of death, but it is implied that she was both sickly and disfigured. Things start up when Christina goes back to her parents house to visit. I remember her standing in the back yard and all of sudden the wind started blowing very hard and she would hear this voice whispering her name: Christinaaaa! She looks around but doesn't see anything at first, only hears the voice getting louder and louder.Then in the distance the ghost of her sister appears in a white shroud with her face covered and the wind is blowing all around her-Very creepy!! In another scene, she goes to the cemetery to visit her sisters grave and when she turns back to look she sees an open casket with either her or her sister in it. When they showed a close up of the ghost later on in the story, I remember running away from the TV because I was too afraid to look!

My other favorite was the Concrete Captain, about a sea captain who was harpooned through the heart then covered in cement which became a permanent grave by the sea. The ghost of the captain and his girlfriend come back to haunt the couple who live in their house. The one scene I can remember vividly is the one where the girl living in the house holds up a mirror to look at herself and when tilting it to the side sees the face of the female ghost right behind her!

Some episodes I had forgotten, but was able to remember after reading comments, like the Susan Dey episode. Another was the one where the guy kills his wife and another person and buries them only to see them on his TV digging themselves out of their grave. I also liked the one with the toy rocking horse a family finds in their new home that gets bigger and bigger.

I saw repeats of the show about 10 yrs ago on one of the cable channels, and still found it to be pretty creepy! I wish they would start airing them again!!

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.

This show came on just after "Night Stalker", and became a test of bravery for my two sisters and I, all aged under 10. Best episodes for me include.. putting people in Mason Jars forever! and bricking someone up in a wall.. I believe Susan Dey was in that episode who I was already in love with from Partridge Family. Wish they would show the re-runs!

I barely if any remember this series, but there are two episodes I will never forget. A boy who accidentally created a doppleganger that was always getting him into trouble with his teacher, only to be surprised when a doppleganger appeared of his teacher. A little girl who could control everyone in her house through her dollhouse and then become left to rescue everyone when the dollhouse as well as the real one starts to burn down. This was the Twilight Zone up one on the horror scale as the series tried to legitimately scare you rather than teach us about human behavior. Sebastian Cabot sure made us forget his sappy "Family Affair" role as he lead us into the dark corners of the human mind. This is one show that needs to come back.

I remember watching this show when i was 10 years old. I'm positive it came on Friday nights right after Sanford and Son.

Some of the episodes were very scary and memorable. SPOILERS

the two that stick out in my mind was 1 a toy rocking horse that grew to gigantic proportions. 2 a kid (about my age at the time) gets sick or breaks his arm and has to say out of school. But then he had a evil twin or it was his alter ego or something that actually goes to the school (he is healthy) and pretends to be the kid home sick or something and tries to poison the teacher. Man that was great ! Does anybody remember that one ? My description may be off a little but folks, its been 32 years since i saw it !

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?

I was 8 years old when Ghost Story and Circle of Fear originally aired on NBC.It was 1972-73 i never missed an episode.I thought all the episodes were scary.I think it ran on Friday nights.The one i remember was a guy who had died and lost his eyes.This was a great series and deserves all of the episodes to be released on DVD.

I remember this show from the 70's and it has stuck in my memory as being one of the best shows of my youth. I was 10, however.

At 38, I now would find it very primitive, so I guess I am lucky I haven't seen it since. Better sometimes to live with my memories. I loved the spooky music though.

I remember this episode very well, even though I was only seven years old when it aired, because of subsequent events (scarred for life!).

The reason for the horse growing and terrorizing the couple was fully explained in the story; in enough detail, at least, that a seven-year-old could understand it: The horse was originally one of a pair of toy horses. At some point, its mate was broken and thrown away, and the remaining horse got bigger and bigger, and terrorized people, because it was so upset that its mate was lost.

It wasn't that intelligent, however, so if you showed it its reflection in a mirror, it thought its mate had returned, and it calmed down and shrunk to its original size. The couple discovered this accidentally: the horse was chasing them through the house, and it stopped and began to shrink when they stepped in front of a large mirror. The horse had been kept in the mirrored box, so it would think that its mate was always with it and it would stay calm.

Wow, I'm actually tearing up a little as I'm writing this.

So, the subsequent event: Shortly after we had watched the program, my babysitter accidentally (I'm sure) knocked over and broke one of a set of two wooden horse sculptures that my parents kept on our coffee table. She pretended I(!) had broken it, and waved the other one around saying that it was coming after me because I broke its mate! I was completely terrified. I stayed awake until my parents got home and insisted that they repair the horse that night. They glued the head back on, and peace was restored.

I remember watching the entire run of this on TV when I was 10. It only played about 24 episodes or so but I loved it! I distinctly remember a shot of a ghost that almost had me bolting from the room! There's one episode that stands out though. I'm kind of vague on the details however. A woman is pregnant. She's happily married to a man who (I believe) is a guard at a facility that contains reels of old horror movies. Somehow the monsters come out of the movies and appear to the woman yelling, "Give him to me". They basically want her unborn child! I remember covering my eyes a few times during that one. And one of the producers William Castle does a quick cameo. I don't think I'd like to see it now--it probably wouldn't live up to my childhood memories. But I LOVE being scared and that show really did the trick for me...when I was 10! I give it a 7.

I clearly remember Sebastian Cabot.

The three episodes that really stand out in my (very scared) memories are: 1. The one with the captain buried in the cement 2. The one where someone's TV just turned itself on all the time 3. The one starring Meg Foster where she was in a hospital with transplanted eyes. I never could look at her after that without thinking she had freaky eyes! (Google images of her and have a shiver) Was Karen Black ever in one of these shows... with dobermans? OK maybe I'm now remembering FOUR!! I Googled myself... and found this: TV dot com slash ghost-story slash show slash 8806 slash episode_guide dot h t m l Fascinating! Carol

I was probably 8 or 9 when I saw the episode with Martin Sheen and Kim Darby and the toy horse.

Man it creeped me out and for the next several years I slept with my head under the covers. It took me a long time to watch another scary movie (I liked Night Gallery but it was nowhere as scary as Circle of Fear/Ghost Story.

I don't know why I don't remember any of the other episodes. The descriptions of the episodes sound cool.

I agree that another horror anthology would be good, but historically they don

For a television, network show this series was special, in that it was truly scary and sent my siblings and I to bed each Friday night in the fall of 1972 scared to death. We ranged in ages from 6 to 14 and this was the must see show for all of us.

Seeing it again 45 years later, I appreciate the writing and the cavalcade of stars (both big and small screen) that starred in these episodes. They excelled in crafty horror tales, set in mostly present day '70's, that would wind up the suspense to the very end and just spook the daylights out of any impressionable young person. Eerie soundtrack and all!

Very well timed, great editing and a fabulous narration by Sebastian Cabot who was later abandoned as the show continued in 1973 with a new title and with less ghostly charm.

I have been looking for this show for years. I could only remember bits and pieces of this show as my brother and I watched it with our dad when I was 8.

The two episodes that kept sticking in my mind were the one about the toy horse that grows when it's outside the mirrored box and the other was the story of the brother and sister who find the man living in the empty apartment upstairs who turns out to be an Ax Murderer! For the longest time I have searched for these shows and I kept remembering it as being a painting that the kids went into so I was associating it with "Night Gallery".

Well, I'm glad I stumbled across this post and I just ordered a copy of the show on DVD from Amazon! Can't wait to see these shows again with my brother. I only regret that my dad is no longer with us to watch as well.

Sebastian Cabot starred as Winston Essex, manager of Mansfield House, where he would tell supernatural stories about various guests who had stayed there, or were about to. A great pity he never participated in an episode proper, but the viewer got the feeling that there was a back story to the man we were never privy to...

Sadly, he was dropped as host, and much of the charm was lost, though some fine episodes remained. It was retitled "Circle Of Fear" from "Ghost Story", an unwise change that suggested the studio was trying to fool the audience that it was a different show(in some ways it was!) Spooky title sequence and theme added to the eeriness.

The pilot episode 'The New House' was the best, though only a few of the subsequent episodes ever came close to this quality again. A few duds, but for a one season series, still quite watchable, just better with Sebastian Cabot as host!

I have been trying to find out the name of a movie I saw only a few clips of as a child. I remember a woman coming down a staircase in a flowing blue dress or nightgown and the inference in the movie that I got was she was no longer the same woman--I think she was taken over or possessed or something like that--there was a woman and a man I think that realized something was not right about her as she came down the stairs(I may be totally mistaken on this part though). I'm quite sure she had long, dark hair. I also remember a bedroom and a voice saying "I want your baby, give me your baby." This voice is some kind of ghost or something, it's definitely not another living person. I'm not sure what sequence these things happened in as I was only a child and if I recall correctly I was supposed to be in bed and I kept coming out of my room for a drink because the music was creepy and I could hear bits and pieces and was getting scared in my bedroom. I think the woman came down the stairs not long after the bedroom scene though and I think this was all toward the end of the movie. I'm not sure if it was a made for TV movie or a theatrical release being shown on network TV a few years later or a TV show. I've watched tons of old movies trying to come up with which one it was and have had no luck. For years I worried that one day my mom was going to come down the stairs and not be my mom anymore. I really need to know what movie this is--it's been on my mind for over 30 years--so any help out there would be very much appreciated! If it's from this show please give me the episode title if possible. Thank You.