Vincent Price and the Haunting Legacy of "Old Sal's Curse"

Step into the shadowy world of spoken word horror as we explore Vincent Price's captivating 1973 recording "Old Sal's Curse." This gem from the "Coven of Witches Tales" collection showcases Price's unmatched narrative talents, bringing to life the story of a woman condemned as a witch.

Vincent Price's legacy deserves celebration. Born in 1911, this iconic American actor became synonymous with horror, gracing over 100 films and earning two Hollywood Walk of Fame stars for his contributions to both film and television. His distinctive voice brings an unmistakable gravitas to "Old Sal's Curse," demonstrating why he remains beloved by horror enthusiasts worldwide.

#vincentprice #ghoststories #witches

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Melancholy Mentor

Transcript

Fran: 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Melancholy Mentor, where classic literature meets the vibrant world of radio plays. I'm Fran and I'm joined by Evan from Mystery Mythos. Together, we're your guides on this creative journey. During each episode, we'll dive into stories featured on the Melancholy Mentor channel, allowing fresh ideas to flourish, inspiring you to dream big and unlock your creative potential. Get comfy, open your mind and embrace curiosity. Let's get started.

Fran: 0:39

Hello, I'm Fran and I'm Evan. In this'm Evan and in this Melancholy Mentor podcast episode, we're highlighting a radio drama featured on our YouTube channel, melancholy Mentor. So get ready for Old Sal's Curse. I love that Old Sal's Curse, old Sal's Curse. So Old Sal's Curse is a short spoken word piece by Vincent Price.

Fran: 1:07

So I'm going to delve into Vincent Price a little bit. We've talked about him on previous episodes, during because this is our second season now, so during season one we sort of we would have mentioned Vincent Price and he's one of my favourite actors. So Vincent Price was born in 1911. He's one of my favourite actors. Vincent Price was born in 1911. He's an American actor renowned for his performances in the horror genre, often portraying villains. So throughout his career he graced the stage, television, radio and he appeared in over 100 films. That's amazing, I know, absolutely incredible, incredible. He's been recognized for his contributions to entertainment by receiving two hollywood walker fame stars like stars on the hollywood walker fame. So one of them's dedicated to his work in motion pictures and the other to his television achievements. It's amazing, amazing, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely incredible what people achieve. It just never ceases to fascinate me what other people get up to.

Fran: 2:17

The spoiler alert for Old Sal's curse is that Sal was thought to be a witch, that Sal was thought to be a witch. So me and Evan, we're British, so specifically English, and Britain itself has a long history of witches and witchcraft and it was part of British society for centuries. So before Christianity, britain had its own system of beliefs that centered around magic, healing and the supernatural. Don't be coming for me on this, it's just a thing. You know what britain was based on back in the day? Celtic paganism and anglo-saxon paganism, along with later influences from Celtic and Roman beliefs, continue to be part of the core of many British traditions and cultural practices today. So, yes, britain is considered to be shaped by Christianity as such, but before then we had a long history of pagan belief systems and there are still people that practice paganism in the uk today. It's where kind of wicca and wiccan and things like that come from as well.

Fran: 3:36

So some notable british witches there's many of them just going to highlight. I'm going to highlight three of them and I say I say British and you'll realise why in a moment. So we're going to start with mother shipton, so I'm going to highlight the pendle witches, mother shipton and isabel goudy, so in 1962. So we'll start actually with the pendle witches in 1962 it's because I'm getting excited about which is a group of 20 people, mostly women. They were accused of witchcraft in lancashire so I'm on the south coast, like evan and I are on the south coast. Lancashire is up the country next to yorkshire and they were brought to trial in lancaster. 10 of them were actually hanged for their alleged crimes. Making the pendle witch is some of the most infamous in british history.

Fran: 4:34

And mother shipton. I love the story of Mother Shipton. It's why I got a bit sad. I always start with Mother Shipton and then I changed my mind. Mother Shipton actually lived in a place called Knausborough or Knaresborough, I mean it's actually in Yorkshire. She was an English soothsayer and a prophetess renowned for her predictions and is often considered to be a witch. And there's a lot of stories and a lot of history involved in Mother Shipton that I'm not going to delve into right now but by all means, if you're interested and look her up, because there's also some images and things like that to be seen it's absolutely fascinating. I think at one point she lived in a cave and things like that, and and you can visit this in Knaresborough.

Fran: 5:19

And then, moving on, and why I say that we'll include Britain as such is because the next one's actually Scottish. So, although I consider Scottish to be a separate country because we're made up of Scotland, england, ireland, wales it's part of Britain. Made up of Scotland, england, ireland, wales it's part of Britain. So there was a Scottish woman believed to have been connected to a witch coven and a name. Hopefully I'm pronouncing it right.

Fran: 5:44

If you've listened to our previous podcast, you know it's an issue for me pronouncing it. It's not my strong point. I am trying to improve my speech, but it's Isabel Gaudy or gody. I think it's gaudy. Yeah, so it's g-o-w-d-i-e. Isabel gaudy, gaudy, yes. Regarded as one of the most famous witches in scottish history, her confessions and rituals revealed during her trial in the 17th century took place over a period of six weeks and historians consider Gaudi's confessions remarkable due to the vivid imagery and the folkloric details that were involved fascinating part of history or to do with all the witch trials and stuff. I'm going to bring your attention back to the radio drama that we originally started talking about, which is featured on our youtube channel william collie mentor, old south's curse, evan. Do you have any other information to share?

Evan: 6:46

yeah, this was actually recorded in 1973 and it was the second of seven stories included on a coven of witches tales which was like actually produced by cademan cademan hopefully I'm pronouncing that right records. All the stories were narrated by vincent price. We have got some others on our channel, actually, because it was produced on like a vinyl record. I just went and had a quick look, like when I was still was researching. I was like I wonder if there's any any still available and there's still free copies knocking about on the internet wow they start in at the price of 55 pounds.

Evan: 7:25

So actually quite the video itself was filmed by you at Sandbanks in dorset and we've got 47 views on this one okay, be nice to get some more, because I think it's quite a clear recording, isn't it?

Fran: 7:39

because vincent price's voice is. He's just the most exquisite narrator. Yeah, and again, by video we mean that I go around with my tripod on my mobile phone filming the seaside and stuff like that, and then we put the audio of the radio drama I say we it's actually Evan that does it On to the video, so that on YouTube there's an option for either a black screen for sleep or a video of, like, the seaside and stuff like that, like to just highlight what else we're doing. Where else to find us? So I'm actually fran barley, so you can look me up on social media. I'm an nlp coach, so we're starting another podcast, melancholy coaching. So, depending on what time or when you get to listen to this, we may well have launched that already.

Fran: 8:33

Evan is on youtube as mystery mythos, and they also have a radio play and radio drama channel that we will be doing more with in the future, so watch out for that as well. And we've got a group actually on facebook called creative flow and business. So if you see that, that's also us, so, and we're passionate about sharing timeless stories with new audiences and even more. We're passionate about igniting your creativity along the way, which is why we do this. So the coaching is based on self-improvement and and creativity, and we share the radio dramas because it's a it's a creative outlet for us and we love bringing old stories to a new audience. So thank you for joining us and be sure to explore the radio plays and dramas featured on our us at melancholymentorcom.

Fran: 9:38

Until next time, get your minds open and stay curious.