Horror 2026 Countdown: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), dir. Alan Rafkin, Universal Pictures 

Ending our Universal lookback with something more comedy than horror but eh, it counts.

Luther Heggs (Don Knotts), if you asked him, would tell you he's a reporter. If you asked anyone else, they'd tell you he's a typesetter for the local newspaper. He's also nervous and prone to what could charitably be called hystera. 

He proves this when out driving one night he witness the local drunk (Hal Smith) apparently being beaten to death by a dark figure. Luther spins his car around and races to the police, screaming all the while about murder and the need to form a posse. He's still trying to motivate the obviously bored desk sergeant when the supposed dead man stumbles into the station, complaining that his wife hit him too hard. 

This doesn't exactly do wonders for Luther's reputation. Back at work, Luther fumes down in the basement while actual reporter Ollie Weaver (Skip Homeier) mocks him before meeting with his girlfriend Alma (Joan Stately). Luther also harbors a crush on Alma, something that Ollie also mocks him for. 

While doing his job, Luther makes small talk with Mr. Kelsey (Liam Redmond), the newspaper's janitor. Kelsey steers the conversation towards the old Simmons Mansion, a crumbling old house that is scheduled to be demolished. It would be a shame, he intones, that such a historical landmark would be torn down, especially since if a reporter would spend the night there it might provide the paper with a fantastic article. Maybe even a series of articles, and any reporter doing that would surely be thought of as a brave hero...

So off Luther goes to spend the night in the old mansion. Editor Geoge Beckett (Dick Sargent) joins in the mocking, but lets Luther head in. Of course it's also the twentieth anniversary of the murder suicide of the house's original occupants, but surely a brave reporter like Luther can handle that?

Not really, no. Luther is freaked out by nearly every noise he hears, plus hidden stairs, organs playing by themselves and the mysterious bleeding portrait serve to knock him out cold. When he leaves in the morning, Luther pens an article that gets the whole town in an uproar, Nicholas Simmons (Philip Ober) especially. 

Mr. Simmons owns the mansion and is rather keen to see it torn down. One might call it impatient but regardless, he now has to wait as thanks to Luther, the local spiritual society puts a halt to the demolition. This enrages the older man and when he vows to break Luther, he goes about doing it. Lawsuits and straight up intimidation serve to make Luther an even bigger nervous wreck. 

Can Luther prove his story? Why does Simmons want to tear the house? And what is Kelsey's connection to all this?

Not horrible, but it depends on your tolerance for Don Knotts. If you like him, this is a perfectly funny little jaunt but if you don't, then this is an exercise in annoyance. Luther bugs his eyes out over everything and nearly the entire town treats him like dirt. Either very funny or annoying, your pick.