Chiller Theater in Ohio on WBNS (Channel 10)

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Hi,

I know this is a longshot, but I’m looking for anyone who might have any recordings or memorabilia or, heck, even memories, from the old Chiller Theater double feature broadcast out of Columbus, Ohio, on WBNS (Channel 10) from around 1963 through 1993 (the last 20 years or so were hosted by Fritz the Nite Owl). It was on at 11:30 on Friday nights. Right now, I’m especially interested in the Sixties period before Fritz, and I’m hoping to find someone who might have recorded the early intro on a reel to reel or some other device or have a photo of it. Anything! Thanks for reading this and you can email me at dpollock@roadrunner.com.

29 Responses to Chiller Theater in Ohio on WBNS (Channel 10)

  1. I remember Fritz… what I remember was from the 70’s and 80’s… I loved all the Vincent Price shows. I was a child then so I wasn’t allowed to watch much but I can remember talking my grandparents into letting us watch Chiller while putting up the Christmas tree (I know, what family time… ha ha) Good luck on your quest and I will see if any of my family can help…

  3. How odd, 2 weeks ago I was talking to my father about things I remember from my childhood that he liked. I remembered “The Night Owl Guy”,with the funny glasses.Tonight I thought to search the internet for him and I found alot of info…man how the sound of his voice and image coming out of some movie scene with something cool to say takes me back…I only got to watch him and the movies every so often, when my mom would go out of town and I could stay up with the old man..only knew the last Fritz. I was young, born 1975. Nothing to give you except thanks for keeping ” The Nite Owl” alive in my memory..

  4. Dan Imel hosted Chiller Theater for a while in the 1960's. We used to make fun of him because he wasn't exactly Mr. Personality!! It was always a big treat for us to be able to stay up late and watch it. Mom and Dad would be in bed early and if my big brother agreed to stay up with us, we could watch it. Mom would get us to promise to behave and get in our pajamas before she went to bed. We would make popcorn and be allowed to have a pop or two. This was back in the day when kids didn't drink soda all day! A bottle of pop was a treat for us!

    In my teens, my girlfriend and I would stay up together at my house to watch Chiller. I'd walk her home after the last movie. Depending on the movie we had seen, it could be a little scary walking back home alone after dropping her off at her house!

    I also remember a show on Saturday night on WTVN-TV that tried to copy the success of Chiller Theater. I think it was called "Terror in the Night." I remember they had a corny opening, "Lock your doors, bolt your windows, for there is terror in the night!"

  5. __of the endless unknown,
    from the depths of mans imagination
    creep the formless fears and nameless terrors of ages beyond measure
    to be transfixed for the moment on the macabre stage of
    CHILLER THEATRE
    Best I can remember

  7. I remember Chiller from the 60's, before Fritz. I used to stay at a friend's house on Friday night to watch it. My parents wouldn't let me stay up that late. The part I liked the most was the intro, the swirling mist and the creepy music at the very beginning of show. I wish I could locate a copy of the intro, I would like to play it for my sister. She was a big fan also. I believe the music was an excerpt from the soundtrack of the movie "Experiment in Terror" by Henry Mancini. The name of the cut was "Teenage Hostage". The blood curdling scream was my favorite part, but that is not in the music. I think it was edited in. Maybe WBNS TV has the intro. It would be great if they would make it available to the public!

  8. I remember Night Owl Theater. It's going to be on again Oct. 30 2010.I also remember Chiller Theater. I think the intro was a skull and a candle with a spider next to it. It's hard to remember all of it. I was little when Fritz hosted Chiller Theater.

  9. I well remember: "From the dark, forbidden depths of men's imagination…" My sister can still recite the old intro! It was a big deal to stay up late on Friday nights in the anticipation of getting scared out of our wits by watching good old Chiller Theater! As I recall, my sisters and I (or slumber party guests) would usually fall asleep before the first movie was over!

  10. "From the dark, forbidden depths…of man's imagination…." My sister can still recite the entire introduction to good old Chiller Theater! Great memories as a child, staying up 'really late' only to be scared out of our wits during the movies! As I recall, we usually fell asleep before the first movie was over. Those were fun, simple times…and I miss them!

  11. I keep finding video intros. I'm looking for the one with the words… Does anyone remember how it went? "Out of the swirling mists of the unknown; out of the deep dark recesses of man's imagination, come ……" then I lose it! Doesn't the station have this info???

  12. i watched sometimes and it would start with a smokey screen and it eerily said something like "time for chiller theatre". they had the old dracula and frankenstein movies and i would try to stay up and watch the second feature. i wasn't very sucessful because i was about 10 (about 1964). thats all i remember.

  13. A guy named Earl Garnes hosted Chiller Theater in the 1960s before Fritz the Night Owl. He would have been hosting probably in 1967 or 1968 or so. He was a huge horror film fan, and eventually did appear as "Harker" in a vampire movie (see IMDB).

  14. I remember around 1965, the news on channel 10 would go off and a woman named betty from CTC (what is now COTA) would give the exact time down to the second. Then this smoked filled tv screen would appear. There would be a bloody murder scream, and you would here "Chiller Theater." Then after the first movie they would have "Double Chiller." Those were the day! Wayne Haney

  16. Ah! Chiller Theater, never missed a Fri night with Chiller Theater. Either watching with my brother Dave, who usually conked out after the first show or waiting for Dad to arrive at the end of the second show from his Long drive home from St. Louis every other week. The great thing about CT the classics ie Dracula, Frankenstien, Freaks etc. would be shown with the films such as the Bucket of Blood, the Giant Claw, The Tinngler amoung others. Didn’t matter if it was the 1st or 20th time, I stayed up and watched. It just became more enjoyable with a Massey’s Pep & Mush with a Strohs to wash it down. Even after I left home and joined the Air Force the drive back to Columbus from Forbes AFB I usually caught the last 30 min. of the double feature. I still say CT was cancelled because I had to go SEA and they had no reason to show CT when I was no longer able to watch. I do remember shooting some 8mm film just can’t remember if I shot CT intro with the Wolfman. I have it some where. Bud Brown Whitehall

  17. Here’s how I remember the intro:

    Out from the swirling mists of the endless unknown
    To the dark forbidden depths of man’s imagination
    Creeps the formless fears and nameless terrors of ages beyond measure
    To be transfixed for the moment on the macabre stage of . . .(pause)
    Chiller Theater

    Spoken slowly in a low voice with the smoke and the wavering letters. We had no recording devices in those days except tape recorders. I’m sure that any tapes I might have made are lost in the mists of time.

  18. I remember Hugh DeMoss was the WBNS anchor (WBNS also brought us Flippo The Clown). And I remember the news would go off and that scary, spooky voice would start, and I’d be half scared out of my wits already…loved every minute of it. I left Columbus in 1968 and never saw CT again!

    • I just remember the woman in the Jackie Kennedy dress pointing at the clock on the wall, and saying in her soothing tone “Central Ohio Transit Authority time is……..11:35…..What a great job…..

  22. On a related 1960’s Columbus note, does anyone remember a small amusement park near Bexley on Main St. at Alum Creek called Norwoods ? Love to see some pics or get more info.

  23. I remember Terror In The Night which came on every Friday @ 11:30pm. It was a double feature and being the Horror Movie Diva that I am, I loved watching it! One of my fave’s was the movie Blood Planet about a female vampiress who kills off an entire spaceship full of Astronauts. I have never known it to be in syndication. But I’ll keep looking for it!

  24. Ok you old skool syfy/horror aficionados….I have a huge question regarding one outer space movie that I watched only once on Chiller Theater….I remember a guy falling down into a deep crater, and hypnotic railroad signal thing, and at the end there was a black 7-8′ diameter sphere that would not let the survivors lift off until one guy let it swallow him and he killed it from inside with a machine gun. PLEASE HELP ME WITH THE TITLE OF THIS MOVIE!!!!

  25. Around 1980, when I was eight years old, my best friend invited me to his house for the night. I didn’t expect to stay up all night, but it was worth it. We watched Mysterious Island and Food of the Gods on Double Chiller. After that fateful night, I would stay up every Friday night, even if the movies were terrible, and watch Double Chiller. If the movies were terrible, Fritz’s commentaries during the bumper segments made the movies worth the watch. I also enjoyed being exposed to the music of Isao Tomita, Vangelis, Jean Michel Jarre, Bob James, Miles Davis, Philippe Sarde, and David Bryan (If I left any composers/artists out, let me know. I know I’m missing some.).

  26. I remember Chiller well, in black and white.
    I also remember Jerry Beck late at night, and his Scheonling Little Kings ads, I think Sheonling sponsored him.
    I also remember watching Roller Derby with Bobo Brazil and Ann Cavello.
    And of course, CHATTER. Who remembers CHATTER?

    It is amazing that prime time TV shows have gruesome things like autopsies in graphic detail now. Back then parents were afraid to let kids watch Frankenstein for fear they would have nightmares.
    I am thinking we had something special, we had our imaginations stimulated by them not being tampered with.
    Now kids have no need for imagination, technology can do things beyond what kids imaginations can.

  27. “Out of the swirling mists of the endless unknown, from the dark forbidden debths of man’s imagination, creeps the formless fears and endless terrors of Chiller Theatre!”

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