I used to watch this bit all the time as a kid. It would be my bedtime, but my parents would let me watch the intro to Mystery! before I would trot off to bed, and then they would watch the rest of the show. A few times I managed to watch a couple minutes of the actual Mystery! show afterwards, and always wondered why it was never as cool as the intro itself.
Also, for the record, I never found the moaning woman as especially scary...but the eye in the corner did strike me as creepy
Wow & Thanks Legion 5050. I've missed "Mystery!" so much since it 'went away' from the BBC! Its theme music really warms the cockles of this old heart. Started watching since 1st broadcast here on U.S. side of the pond. Great to find all these clips in U-Toob. Guess I'm a little late on the uptake but better late than never. lol ^_~\\
I used to see the other version of this commonly... and I would be scared to death of it. Now it still scares me a bit inside.. and yet I watch it... HOW SCREWED UP IS THAT? XDD
This would actually make an interesting short film. Get rid off the text, make it a bit longer, and add a plot, and it would actually be a cool looking short film.
This used to make me want to crawl in my own ass as a child; why did this come on right after my kids show lineup? And yet I couldn't stop watching no matter how badly the crying woman creeped the shit out of me.
The mysteries on the show always bored me to death. I was too young to appreciate them. I watched this for the animation on the opening. I don't get why the wailing woman freaks so many people out though. anyway, this brings back great memories. really cool victorian style myteries, somber and grey, yet fun. Love it.
@ccipollini1984 Same here - it had been on from just before I was born to just a few years ago with the wailing woman. I didn't get it...thought it was really weird. For some reason I seemed to like watching it. After I got older I enjoyed watching Poirot and Hetty Wainthrop when they would be on. It's too bad they did away with this theme song and intro and merged it with Masterpiece Theatre...although they pay homage to it by including clips in the new intro.
the moaning woman sounds like she's being nailed by some invisible force, or some sort. I like the drawing style though.. It's art has that kind of gloomy feel that LOOKS like it's badly drawn even though it's actually one of those hidden works of art.
@keithdeweese I know that it's by edward gorey. They even have it in the description box. I just didn't think I needed to point out every single obvious piece of knowledge that I had about the video, and artist to people who already knew about it also.
This was the greatest theme song to the greatest show on TV ever! I miss those Vincent Price introductions, Edward Gorey set pieces and that incredible mood setting music. Mystery on PBS (as I once knew it) is no more.
This used to scare me so much when I was a kid, what with the cryptic music, wailing and brilliant use of black and white! But as I grew older, I learned to appreciate the art in it, and its definitely a unique style that Edward Gorey has. I'm definitely a fan of it. Watching this again brings back so many memories.
A classic!! I DO remember this and I looked forward to it every Sunday night. At such a young and tender age...did I become warped for watching?? I certainly hope so! Long Live Mystery!
Is this the original intro? I remember one with a man with a cape on a balcony and a group of men playing croquet in the rain only to have a piece of a building fall on their ball.
i remember seeing this late at night when i was VERY young probably around 3 or younger but this intro just stuck in my memory ever since then took my a few hours to find it thanks to yahoo answers :D
I use to love watching this intro when i was younger. It was very spooky but I use to always wish that they made of full cartoon of it (instead of turning into a show with real life people). That lady use to crack me up, I always wondered why she didn't just undo the strap from her ankle and get up. :D
@dolantaylor: It looks to me the person who doesn't have shoes on is the person is among the group of four at the beginning carrying umbrellas. The one without shoes is the second from the right in this group.
This certainly scared me as a child...the music was perfect. Everyone seemed freaked out by the woman wailing..however...the gunshots and the guy going headfirst into the lake is what really did it for me.....and by the way, there is one person who doesn't have shoes on in this sequence....can you find him?
I remember this show and this great animated intro by Edward Gorey. It used to air every Thursday night while I was in high school. I had also started reading Agatha Christie around the same time, so Mystery was an added treat. Thanks for posting this video and bringing back some great memories.
@merrywrath Thanks for the information. I did wonder who Derek Lamb was in the credits and now I know. Always good to learn something new every day.:-)
This version is even more funny than the one they show now lol i love that woman she used to scare me but now she cracks me up...every time i see her im like ''get the hell up woman..geez''
i only watch the intro. the intro gets viewers alone.
I used to do the same thing at my old apartment because the people upstairs would be having sex and being loud and she would make those noises, so I'd blast the Mystery theme at the ceiling
@KekoaOnorati I agree! I was looking for this because watching Poriot suddenly reminded me of this intro. But I think there was a different one where the moaning woman was moaning from the top of the tower. That scared the wits outta me! 0_0
@JTeamjesters I know the one you're talking about (and I believe it's actually in the suggested videos on the side there). Up until I saw this video again as an adult I had this slightly skewed memory of it involving the moaning woman being carried in a coffin by the men with flashlights. Obviously my memory was wrong... though not by much.
Wow...I remember being strangely drawn to this intro... I couldn't wait for it to come on, then I'd tune out because the rest was sooo utterly boring! But it did freak me out as a small child...now it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
i definetely remember this. thanks for putting it up : } I'd always watch it for the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series. Funny enough I thought it'd be entertaining if the intro was actually a whole movie or episode of the show
Oh wow! I often remembered this intro and asked my mom about it and she never remembered it...but my 4 year old self did! I love Edward Gorey and now knowing that he animated this makes me like him more...or maybe I like his illustrations because this influenced me as a child? Either way, this and the 1990 version are awesome and creepy intros that set the mood well for the rather boring series. Why didn't he ever have an animated show on Saturday morning children's television? Too scary?
I fell in love with this when I first moved here in '86 - thought it was sooo sexy! I couldn't believe it when I found out years later that my favourite singer, Patti Smith, was possibly the inspiration for it: apparently Mr Gorey befriended her when she was working in a bookstore in the late Sixties and she shared a lot of her childhood memories of imagining creepy things, which in turn gave him some ideas for his art. I can imagine they would have got along :)
Are you frickin kidding me?! Dude, I love Patti Smith and Gorey is one of my favorite artists ever! The very thought that those two were breathing the same air blows my mind!
Ah, my early childhood. When "Mystery" was hosted by Vincent Price and Sherlock Holmes was played by Jeremy Brett. It's because of this that I feel in love with the works of Edward Gorey!
I remember the first time I saw this. I was about two years old, and I was at a day care center. They had turned PBS Kids on for us, but we had to take a nap. However, when I woke up, the lady who ran the day-care had forgotten to turn off the TV, so I woke up to that woman moaning. Scared the shit out of me for about 8 years.
I was just thinking of this show the other day and figured I might find something about it on YouTube. This is the intro I remember most because it was when I first started watching the show. I remember Vincent Price and later Diana Riggs hosting the show. Does anyone know what ever happened to this show and when it last aired?
this evokes wonderful memories from my childhood: laying on the floor watching this, so engorssed. I never knew it was Edward Gorey's animation - fantastic!
Weird... I was just about to get ready to go to bed when I looked out at the moon and remembered this intro... Specifically the part at :30 with that woman's weird moaning and that "All Seeing Eye" in the background that my grandma (who used to watch the show when I was only 3 or 4?) said was the moon... Very bizarre intro!
i think when i was young, i wasn't able to understand what exactly was happening, but that intro used to freak me out, still kinda does. It was actually from this show i learned that corpses always float, that turned out to be useful information later...
The scene at :11 was parodied by Sesame Street on the title card to their "Mysterious Theater" segments in the early 1990s. They even used the same wolf howling sound effect as the one at :43
YUSSS! I always loved this opening.
Edward Gorey rules.
OfShadowandSubstance 1 week ago
This has been flagged as spam show
I used to watch this bit all the time as a kid. It would be my bedtime, but my parents would let me watch the intro to Mystery! before I would trot off to bed, and then they would watch the rest of the show. A few times I managed to watch a couple minutes of the actual Mystery! show afterwards, and always wondered why it was never as cool as the intro itself.
Also, for the record, I never found the moaning woman as especially scary...but the eye in the corner did strike me as creepy
wrecktem 2 weeks ago
does anyone know the name of this theme music?? or is it created for the show~?
TheGypsyKing33 3 weeks ago
I finally found this! God, I've been looking for this for months! Couldn't remember the damn name.
TheHowlingDark 1 month ago
I just remember the woman moaning on the grave. I would always hear it and know my grandparents were watching it.
kathryn0200 1 month ago
Classic :D
flamingmonkays 1 month ago
When I was young this beginning sequence scared the crap out of me.
Ashleyls17 2 months ago
@Ashleyls17 Me too my parents watched it all the time and I was always scared by the intro, lol.
NeverDoubt1 1 month ago
You Know something? When Mystery first started with Gene Shalit, the moaning woman was not there.
Thompsonnw 3 months ago
Childhood memory bliss! And then came DIana Rigg. (I missed the Vincent Price era, alas)
shamelesshussy 3 months ago
Not to mention the eye when see the moaning woman. Scary as HELL!
Thompsonnw 3 months ago
If I was in the intro I would beat the shit out of that moaning woman just to shut her up.
Thompsonnw 3 months ago
God how I remember this ;-p
69RedRooster 3 months ago
Comment removed
wrecktem 4 months ago 3
@wrecktem Yeah my name is William I found that thing scary too. But it scared me shitless.
Thompsonnw 3 weeks ago
Wow & Thanks Legion 5050. I've missed "Mystery!" so much since it 'went away' from the BBC! Its theme music really warms the cockles of this old heart. Started watching since 1st broadcast here on U.S. side of the pond. Great to find all these clips in U-Toob. Guess I'm a little late on the uptake but better late than never. lol ^_~\\
evernetherall 4 months ago in playlist BritMyst: Sev'l. Xcellent Mystreez
Watch this in slowmotion or I have a hunch using a theme to plater so that the sounds are not heard.
Thompsonnw 4 months ago
this is the intro that haunted my nightmares for 12 YEARS!!
lupusastrum7 5 months ago
I LOVE EDWARD GOREY!!!
starkidvizsla 5 months ago 7
what ios mystery intro?
a film?
whaaaaaaaaat!!!!!!!?????
okzigeno 5 months ago
I havn't seen this in ages O_O my Gramps was a pbs/masterpiece theatre/wyes/hercule poirot fanatic, wahaha
MrTheoriginalderek 6 months ago
Hey, Vincent Price!
Daintytwinkletoes 6 months ago
I don't remember the show, just this intro and it used to scare me. We always mimmicked the lady yelling.
Daintytwinkletoes 6 months ago
Eleanor Rigby...
JeffTheNorse 6 months ago
One of the greatest TV show intros to one of the most boring of TV shows. What a contrast ! This is all you need, and it's timeless
TrappedIn1968 6 months ago
I used to see the other version of this commonly... and I would be scared to death of it. Now it still scares me a bit inside.. and yet I watch it... HOW SCREWED UP IS THAT? XDD
BuffyTohru 7 months ago
This would actually make an interesting short film. Get rid off the text, make it a bit longer, and add a plot, and it would actually be a cool looking short film.
MegaOrwell1984 8 months ago 4
Why couldn't the entire show had been like this instead of lame, boring ass crap?
tornoofo17 8 months ago
This used to make me want to crawl in my own ass as a child; why did this come on right after my kids show lineup? And yet I couldn't stop watching no matter how badly the crying woman creeped the shit out of me.
PandoraKyss 8 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Hi Guys - I just finished the intro for my first horror film "Genesis and Catastrophe" on my channel.
If you like it please leave a comment and if you dislike it please don't be rude, I very much appreciate your support!
Desperately in need of funding to carry on all donations are welcome!
HermesTrismegistois 9 months ago
i loved this!! can they please bring this back and get rid of that laura linney crap!!!
Wantango 9 months ago
This intro used to creep me out as a kid.
tagone05 9 months ago
@tagone05 Me too but shitless
Thompsonnw 6 months ago
The mysteries on the show always bored me to death. I was too young to appreciate them. I watched this for the animation on the opening. I don't get why the wailing woman freaks so many people out though. anyway, this brings back great memories. really cool victorian style myteries, somber and grey, yet fun. Love it.
ccipollini1984 9 months ago
@ccipollini1984 Same here - it had been on from just before I was born to just a few years ago with the wailing woman. I didn't get it...thought it was really weird. For some reason I seemed to like watching it. After I got older I enjoyed watching Poirot and Hetty Wainthrop when they would be on. It's too bad they did away with this theme song and intro and merged it with Masterpiece Theatre...although they pay homage to it by including clips in the new intro.
ReuWil 9 months ago
the moaning woman sounds like she's being nailed by some invisible force, or some sort. I like the drawing style though.. It's art has that kind of gloomy feel that LOOKS like it's badly drawn even though it's actually one of those hidden works of art.
xoxfiftyytwo 11 months ago
@xoxfiftyytwo For Heaven's sake! It's the work of the brilliant Edward Gorey! Do some research. Don't they teach that in school any longer?
keithdeweese 8 months ago
@keithdeweese I know that it's by edward gorey. They even have it in the description box. I just didn't think I needed to point out every single obvious piece of knowledge that I had about the video, and artist to people who already knew about it also.
xoxfiftyytwo 8 months ago
same thing...my dad watched every episode, and the intro kinda creeped me out a little, then the rest of the show was dull as hell, lol o.0
and yes...now it's retro kickback flavor, lol =D
rofflemows2 11 months ago
This was the greatest theme song to the greatest show on TV ever! I miss those Vincent Price introductions, Edward Gorey set pieces and that incredible mood setting music. Mystery on PBS (as I once knew it) is no more.
stationranger 11 months ago 2
This used to scare me so much when I was a kid, what with the cryptic music, wailing and brilliant use of black and white! But as I grew older, I learned to appreciate the art in it, and its definitely a unique style that Edward Gorey has. I'm definitely a fan of it. Watching this again brings back so many memories.
KOBossy1 11 months ago
I was stunned when I saw the Arthur cartoon parodying the entire thing. Talk about a parental bonus.
nepomusik 11 months ago
OMG OMG, that vase that has "mobil corporation" written on it is bone chillingly scary. OMG!
honban 11 months ago
Before I even got to the end I figured Vincent Price would have had something to do with this... awesome XD
bostonlove 1 year ago
This brings back soo many memories. Thank you for posting the intro.
fieldmarshal1976 1 year ago
0:23 is really creepy for some reason
pianoboypiano 1 year ago
A classic!! I DO remember this and I looked forward to it every Sunday night. At such a young and tender age...did I become warped for watching?? I certainly hope so! Long Live Mystery!
kimmi307 1 year ago
Pound for pound this has to be one of the coolest shows on tv ever!
Vincent Price and Gorey animation?? RAD! I miss it.
Wrackewn 1 year ago 2
It;s wierd I knew this as a little kid and I was so scared of this opening I literally screamed. But I am now a big Edward Gorey fan. Wierd. 0_0
Rodita1 1 year ago
Is this the original intro? I remember one with a man with a cape on a balcony and a group of men playing croquet in the rain only to have a piece of a building fall on their ball.
tommymarines1 1 year ago
@tommymarines1 You're looking for this one I think.. watch?v=tPlY_7RR1h0
liquidpig 1 year ago
Comment removed
tommymarines1 1 year ago
i remember seeing this late at night when i was VERY young probably around 3 or younger but this intro just stuck in my memory ever since then took my a few hours to find it thanks to yahoo answers :D
Darknight06 1 year ago
I use to love watching this intro when i was younger. It was very spooky but I use to always wish that they made of full cartoon of it (instead of turning into a show with real life people). That lady use to crack me up, I always wondered why she didn't just undo the strap from her ankle and get up. :D
msdogooder 1 year ago
Comment removed
msdogooder 1 year ago
lol the dude scribbling in his notepad
yummymayo 1 year ago
I think that "Mysterious Theatre" kinda hit the nail on the head with their intro. Only this one in a way is a bit more pleasant.
FilmmakeroftheFuture 1 year ago
I hated the show as a kids but loved the opening. I still do (hate the show but love the opening).
MrJtr75 1 year ago
@dolantaylor: It looks to me the person who doesn't have shoes on is the person is among the group of four at the beginning carrying umbrellas. The one without shoes is the second from the right in this group.
vamsm 1 year ago
Woo boy. This intro used to creep me out a lot when I was a kid. Ah,memories of better tv back then.
Dunes 1 year ago
Oh my, this takes me back. I loved watching this intro when I was a little girl. Thanks for posting.
jennyann3388 1 year ago
This certainly scared me as a child...the music was perfect. Everyone seemed freaked out by the woman wailing..however...the gunshots and the guy going headfirst into the lake is what really did it for me.....and by the way, there is one person who doesn't have shoes on in this sequence....can you find him?
dolantaylor 1 year ago
@dolantaylor Oh good eye! I see the shoeless person -- very subtle touch.
geneffects 1 year ago
Here's another one!
pineapple30 1 year ago
What the hell was the crazy lady doing on top that wall wailing away like that?
Darthbelal 1 year ago
I remember this show and this great animated intro by Edward Gorey. It used to air every Thursday night while I was in high school. I had also started reading Agatha Christie around the same time, so Mystery was an added treat. Thanks for posting this video and bringing back some great memories.
RavenHouseMystery 1 year ago
@RavenHouseMystery Derek Lamb did the animation, but Edward Gorey designed all the characters.
merrywrath 1 year ago
@merrywrath Thanks for the information. I did wonder who Derek Lamb was in the credits and now I know. Always good to learn something new every day.:-)
RavenHouseMystery 1 year ago
this reminds me of the video for "Perfect Drug" by NIN. especially the woman in mourning veil sipping wine.
pasowen 1 year ago
This version is even more funny than the one they show now lol i love that woman she used to scare me but now she cracks me up...every time i see her im like ''get the hell up woman..geez''
i only watch the intro. the intro gets viewers alone.
MariIynMonroe 1 year ago
Ha! This REALLY brings me back! Thanks for posting!
SJHFoto 1 year ago
ahh the good old days when Vicent price itnroduced Mystery.
deadman00 1 year ago
I love Edward Gorey!! Wish they made cartoons like this.
latequilera22 1 year ago
ugh, this was so spooky to me when i was little. makes me sad for some reason now, haha.
builthatch 1 year ago
Edward Gorey is amazing!!!
MisterBeaucoup 1 year ago 4
My roomate's girlfriend once made that "whining" noise while they were having sex. I played it for them, and they thought it was hilarious.
basshockey13 2 years ago
I used to do the same thing at my old apartment because the people upstairs would be having sex and being loud and she would make those noises, so I'd blast the Mystery theme at the ceiling
lunarpollen 2 years ago 5
I used to watch this show. I love PBS.
XieYali 2 years ago 2
I love the old intro the best....and uh...why couldn't she untie her feet? Lovin' it.
averyms 2 years ago
oh my god i miss that, i clearly remembered that damsel's whining
quakeroats0316 2 years ago
I've always wondered if Edward Gorey and Charles Addams ever met. They're two of a kind! Does anyone know?
MLEONARDB 2 years ago
,,,I wonder if Peter Cushing ever met Ernie Stovall.
PupuTheClown 2 years ago
Oddly enough, it was the moaning woman on the pillar that scared me the most in this intro as a child.
Even now, she still kind of creeps me out for some reason.
KekoaOnorati 2 years ago 59
She has a cool mystique....
foofwolf22 2 years ago
Actually, the moaning woman did scare me a bit as well...I was around 5 or 6..
misterkiller89 2 years ago
@KekoaOnorati I think it's the eye. For some reason I remember it moving. Glad I see it again and face my fears. lol
soulhunter59 1 year ago
@KekoaOnorati I don't think it's odd at all. She terrified me too.
DukeUniversity08 1 year ago
@KekoaOnorati I agree! I was looking for this because watching Poriot suddenly reminded me of this intro. But I think there was a different one where the moaning woman was moaning from the top of the tower. That scared the wits outta me! 0_0
JTeamjesters 1 year ago
@JTeamjesters I know the one you're talking about (and I believe it's actually in the suggested videos on the side there). Up until I saw this video again as an adult I had this slightly skewed memory of it involving the moaning woman being carried in a coffin by the men with flashlights. Obviously my memory was wrong... though not by much.
KekoaOnorati 1 year ago
@KekoaOnorati very creepy still
noliverk 10 months ago
@KekoaOnorati Same here. How about the eye in the back ground&the corpse sinking in the quick sand 2? This junk used 2freak me out when i was a kid.
MrSlipknot79 9 months ago
@KekoaOnorati Who The Hell Cares? She freaked me out too but shitless.
Thompsonnw 4 months ago
Wow...I remember being strangely drawn to this intro... I couldn't wait for it to come on, then I'd tune out because the rest was sooo utterly boring! But it did freak me out as a small child...now it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!
mariquita767 2 years ago 20
That's exactly how I felt watching this as a child.
chasebizzy 2 years ago
@mariquita767 lol me too good times =)
paleobc65 8 months ago
i definetely remember this. thanks for putting it up : } I'd always watch it for the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series. Funny enough I thought it'd be entertaining if the intro was actually a whole movie or episode of the show
VegimorphtheMovieBoy 2 years ago
Oh wow! I often remembered this intro and asked my mom about it and she never remembered it...but my 4 year old self did! I love Edward Gorey and now knowing that he animated this makes me like him more...or maybe I like his illustrations because this influenced me as a child? Either way, this and the 1990 version are awesome and creepy intros that set the mood well for the rather boring series. Why didn't he ever have an animated show on Saturday morning children's television? Too scary?
sarahisavampire 2 years ago
I think I shrieked like that bird at the beginning from sheer delight upon seeing this again. Thank you!
aplantage 2 years ago
Ohhh yes, from the good ol' days. As the lead-in to Sherlock Holmes, this set the stage. Thanks for uploading.
Larry, Taiwan
TheyCallMeGroucho 2 years ago
ya,i was also afraid of the mysterious theater intro,but now i'm not so scared anymore
mcht50202 2 years ago
Hooray for this!
I loved watching the beginning of Mystery when I was a kid.
PBS Thursday nights at 9...
Bernie3000 2 years ago
I love this from the very bottom of my heart <3
suzylux 2 years ago
the moaning woman is BEST
i used watch this w our baby sitter (family friend and talk boat moaning woman ty
cootmaster 2 years ago
i remember watching just this part of the show after the cartoons were done.
this really brings me back.
and btw...fuck avenged sevenfold
pardon my language.
misledyouth50 2 years ago
Thanks for the memory. My parents watched this show when I was a kid. The opening credits always spooked me, but I watched them every time.
bugloaf 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
1st-put ur hands on ur chest
2nd-think of someone u like...
3rd-2marrow the person will ask u out or say i LOVE u
4th-the catch is to write this for 5 vids
itsTuumeg 2 years ago
They have made this into in to nothing as of late
thegreatactor 2 years ago
OH.. it´s a PERFECt conjunction of lyrics and images! making an mysterious & surreal ambient....que bonito....snf,snf
clementeelagitador 2 years ago
Oh my god It's been ages.
I remember this so well, I love it.
Duendecillo1993 2 years ago
I loved this show, It introduced me to Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown,
Lord Peter Wimsley and so many other classic detective stories.
cha5 2 years ago
reminds me of Avenged Sevenfold for some reason
Gasolineboy 2 years ago
This gave me nightmares when I was a kid... for years I thought it prefaced some gothic nightmare show...
...nope, just some stuffy, dry British Agatha Christie claptrap.
evilwillhunting 2 years ago
I agrre. Real snoozefest. However, it's run for 26 years, so it's doing something right. The titles and amazing, though...
ijustlovetea 2 years ago
OMG, i was forced to watch this when i was like 6-7 years old.... bored to tears every time it came on
sicandbored 2 years ago
Does anyone have a MP3 or know where to get one of this theme? Pls. contact me...
kafka47 2 years ago
were you able to find the mp3? I'm trying to get it also...
eelliiissee 2 years ago 2
Us also. Need theme. Please help. *****
SCODgreenhood 2 years ago
i have the theme but in MIDI sequence... if you want it just message me :)
anadanniel 2 years ago
U gotta love it!
DAYWALKER2370 2 years ago
This intro used to creep me out as a child. But I love it!
mattisdr 2 years ago 3
This just gave me such a flashback...being a kid in the late 70s/early 80s...always loved this intro.
mr3865 3 years ago
Mystery! hosted by Patti Smith! Now that would be beyond comprehension!!!
This show completly spoiled me in my tv viewing. After 20 whatever years I still can't bear the normal crap that passes as entertainment.
hotmonkeyz 3 years ago
Brilliant idea, Hotmonkeyz !
Jojoseahorse 3 years ago
I love the thought that Patti is the swooning girl on the parapet - yum :)
Jojoseahorse 3 years ago
I fell in love with this when I first moved here in '86 - thought it was sooo sexy! I couldn't believe it when I found out years later that my favourite singer, Patti Smith, was possibly the inspiration for it: apparently Mr Gorey befriended her when she was working in a bookstore in the late Sixties and she shared a lot of her childhood memories of imagining creepy things, which in turn gave him some ideas for his art. I can imagine they would have got along :)
Jojoseahorse 3 years ago
Are you frickin kidding me?! Dude, I love Patti Smith and Gorey is one of my favorite artists ever! The very thought that those two were breathing the same air blows my mind!
zenguy22 3 years ago
Ah, my early childhood. When "Mystery" was hosted by Vincent Price and Sherlock Holmes was played by Jeremy Brett. It's because of this that I feel in love with the works of Edward Gorey!
merrywrath 3 years ago 3
Wow. This opening sequence was the bane of my existence when I was four years old.
It's one of the most vivid memories of my childhood. I would frantically hide under cushions and pillows whenever it came on.
The wailing woman was the worst part. You couldn't shut her out. *shiver*
poshzombie 3 years ago 2
I'm actually rather glad I saw it as a kid, it kind of stuck with me and enthralled me- it gave me a lovely sense of thrill and style and wonder.
XYZandTime 3 years ago
My friend. you don't know how right you are. I share you pain. My father would turn it up just to upset me. It was tramatising as a child!!
Beany695 3 years ago
I certainly hope Mr. Gorey is enjoying death as much as he thought he would. Brilliant stuff.
Sardonicus1313 3 years ago
Thank you for posting! Been looking for this a while.
JHand04 3 years ago
Edward Gorey is so cool!
CuteHippoProductions 3 years ago 2
I remember the first time I saw this. I was about two years old, and I was at a day care center. They had turned PBS Kids on for us, but we had to take a nap. However, when I woke up, the lady who ran the day-care had forgotten to turn off the TV, so I woke up to that woman moaning. Scared the shit out of me for about 8 years.
TomD087 3 years ago
this&the creeky door from Mystery Theatre scared the hell outta me.
bigroy38 3 years ago
I was just thinking of this show the other day and figured I might find something about it on YouTube. This is the intro I remember most because it was when I first started watching the show. I remember Vincent Price and later Diana Riggs hosting the show. Does anyone know what ever happened to this show and when it last aired?
johnknoxville07 3 years ago
I've never seen this before. I really love this kind of animation.
azzythehero 3 years ago
The woman at 0:11 they made fun of her on Sesame Street, She was not as creepy and goth looking.
RealDarkInuyasha 3 years ago
Yeah dude, and they made fun of her on Arthur too, I think. That was a long time ago...
TomD087 3 years ago
Vincent Price was the host of MYSTERY! until 1989 when Diana Rigg came on the show.
KikiG1rl 3 years ago
this evokes wonderful memories from my childhood: laying on the floor watching this, so engorssed. I never knew it was Edward Gorey's animation - fantastic!
Thank you for putting this up.
nowherenowhere 3 years ago 6
Weird... I was just about to get ready to go to bed when I looked out at the moon and remembered this intro... Specifically the part at :30 with that woman's weird moaning and that "All Seeing Eye" in the background that my grandma (who used to watch the show when I was only 3 or 4?) said was the moon... Very bizarre intro!
phubans 3 years ago 4
i think when i was young, i wasn't able to understand what exactly was happening, but that intro used to freak me out, still kinda does. It was actually from this show i learned that corpses always float, that turned out to be useful information later...
miirkat 3 years ago 5
My Mom loved this show and it reminds me so much of my childhood and watching it with her. Thanks for the memory!
HuntJumpSC 3 years ago 5
I remember this version from childhood! Aw, such memories :)
pegleg747 3 years ago 5
at ):35 did the girl die or faint?
Tracebebo 3 years ago 4
She fainted.
wiley207 3 years ago
I never saw this version!
hydrophone 3 years ago 3
Me neither.
Milhousefan01 3 years ago
This is the version I remember from when I was a kid. Happy, happy memories.
mightyminimoose 3 years ago 20
The scene at :11 was parodied by Sesame Street on the title card to their "Mysterious Theater" segments in the early 1990s. They even used the same wolf howling sound effect as the one at :43
wiley207 3 years ago 4
Awesome!
Milhousefan01 3 years ago 2