Written by Patti Pauley



If you were alive in the late eighties or early nineties, chances are you remember those cash grabbing hotlines you saw all over T.V. and special paper view events mainly geared towards children. They were everywhere and you couldn’t escape it. Nintendo Power, 1-900 Creep, Warrant– Ummm. Yes the hair band Warrant had a fucken hotline. It was horrifying. And of course, the infamous Freddy Krueger had his own as well.

Oh yes, the thrill of sneaking behind your parents backs and dialing the forbidden 1-900 number caused a rush of weird adrenaline through your tiny body. Well, for me anyway it was the anxiety of what the hell my parents were going to do when they found out; and sure enough that phone bill a month later would secure me a spot in the third realm of Hell in the grounded department. It took me a few times to learn my lesson from that one. All I can say was that it sounded like a good idea at the time to a nine-year old. Chalk it up to good times.

The 900 hotline that was connected to the prime time horror series Freddy’s Nightmares, was like the snake offering Eve the apple. You just couldn’t resist. Well, I couldn’t anyway. I’m weak and plummeted face first into FreddyMania in the late eighties. The number that raped your dad’s wallet, consisted of a new (usually) Freddy tale of terror involving strange occurrences in Springwood and introduced by Krueger himself. Well, if you maintained self-control unlike your author here who feared not of that beastly wooden spoon that taunted me on the walls of our living room, then you’re in for a treat!

The fine horror folks over at Blumhouse recently wrote up an article over on their website sharing a Soundcloud upload by Dwayne Cathey that contains 45 minutes of raw Freddy’s Hotline stories from at the time, a fourteen year-old Taylor Basinger. The young hero to those who never got a chance to listen to Freddy’s telephone tales, used his Darth Vader phone to record his 1-900 Fred sessions. Hear it below!

Thanks little Taylor.

https://soundcloud.com/dwaynecathey/freddys-stories-of-horror-1-900