Alex & The Haunted Ice Cream Factory by Richard Glenn Schmidt

Doomed Moviethon Records #002

The Story:

On an unseasonably cold Halloween night, freshly licensed security guard Alex is sent to the Squiggle Kone ice cream factory for the 10pm to 6am shift. Bernard, the crotchety old guard shows him around the place but warns him not to listen to the voices that start around midnight and to steer clear of the apparition of the “pretty young lady”. According to him, Squiggle Kone is haunted by the people who have died there since the place was built in 1830. When asked if he’s telling the truth, the old man tells Alex about the free ice cream in the freezer and leaves for the night.

When midnight comes, Alex sees the ghostly presence of a young woman in the window of the offices, beckoning to him. Armed with a can of pepper spray and a billy club, Alex investigates. He meets the ghost of Gwendolyn Squiggle, daughter of the company’s founder. She tells him that the day before she was being forced to marry an aging chocolate sprinkles magnate (in order to solidify a merger between Squiggle Kone and Choochoo Bits LTD), she threw herself into the ice cream vat and either froze to death or drowned.

Gwendolyn warns Alex that he will be visited by more ghosts throughout the night. She clarifies that the factory workers killed while performing their duties are kind, gentle spirits who can protect him from the manager spirits. Supposedly, during especially tough times that the factory went through during the 1970s, a rash of suicides ripped through the management staff. Their tainted souls lurk in the break-room and the restroom, just waiting to carry hapless security guards to hell or training seminars.

As his shift goes into the wee hours of the morning, Alex meets some very kindly spirits in the form of the workers. His proposal that they unionize to combat their unfit working conditions enrages the manager ghosts who leave their hiding places to come looking for him. When certain death and endless torment are on his heels, Gwendolyn offers Alex a choice. He can either become her boyfriend and stay hers forever or become another trapped soul in the factory, forced to go to management effectiveness training, also forever. As dawn approaches, Alex makes his decision.

Alex & The Haunted Ice Cream Factory was recorded on a Tascam DP-004 with a Korg Volca Bass, Korg Volca Keys, Korg Monotron Delay, guitar pedals, and guitar.

Special thanks to Wavley at Eccohollow