The haunting sounds you hear on this record come from an old tape found beneath the floorboards of a long abandoned barn, just outside the town of Underwood in rural, Western Ohio. The tape would seem to be from 1965, but the recordings may predate that. Though the “authorship” of this recording, as well as the exact time and place of its making can not be determined, a trip to the Underwood Hall of Records did reveal some possible sources.
“Dad, Mom, Joey, Tommy, Susan and Teddy” would appear to be of the Pleiman family that resided in Underwood from 1958 to 1969. Oddly, in 1969 the Underwood Sentinel reported that the entire family had vanished without a trace and nothing has been heard of them since.
“Maria” credited in “Witch Shenanigans” is slightly more mysterious as there were no known residents of Underwood with that name at any point in the 50s or 60s, though there was a “Maria Uchida” who worked for a short time, from November 1962 until October 1963, as a nurse at the Underwood State Mental Hospital that used to be located on Black Road. The hospital closed in 1979.
The “Mark” credited as the reader of “You Are Going to Die” could be one of many “Marks” that resided in the area at the time. It could possibly be Mark Grogner, who owned & operated the town’s record store from 1961 to 1988 and died of a heart attack in 1995 at the age of 67. Another possibility is one Mark John Picard, but he was already 87 in 1965 and though he lived to be 96 (oldest resident of Mercer County at the time), he is probably not the voice heard in “You Are Going to Die”. It would seem most likely that the man credited as “Mark” would have been Mark Hawley, who lived in Underwood in the 60’s and taught 2nd grade in the elementary school. He is said to also have run the town’s Community Theater for a short time. Town records indicated he stopped paying taxes in the town in 1974, but other than that his fate is unknown.
The names “Cora” and “Lucy” are a complete mystery at this time.
All tracks appear on this record as listed in the original notes found in the tape box, and all efforts have been taken to maintain the sonic integrity and aesthetics of the era. Sound Dewmar hopes you enjoy this record because this was just one tape of many found in the collection, and we intend to release all of them.
