Built on a former graveyard, the Carnegie Free Library – and tales of ghosts who purportedly haunt it – will be featured in the Halloween edition of a horror-based TV program.
Preparing for the show, “Dead and Buried Treasures” creator Eric Sprowls traveled the region in search of haunted, spooky and eerie sites.
In addition to the Connellsville library, segments will cover stops at the Mount Washington Tavern and Fort Necessity National Battlefield in Wharton Township, the Buffalo Bill House in Perry Township – all in Fayette County – and the Century Inn in North Bethlehem Township, Washington County.
The Halloween episode will feature the 1972 film “Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride,” starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
The Buffalo Bill House – featured in the psychological horror film “Silence of the Lambs” – is not so much haunted as it is creepy and spooky. It is now a bed & breakfast business.
A college TV production professor by profession, Sprows – in his youth – viewed “Chiller Theatre” as “the most fun ever.”
Bill Cardille – Chilly Billy – served as host of the popular late-night science fiction- and horror-movie program from 1963 through 1984 on Pittsburgh TV station WIIC and its successor, WPXI.
With Eric Sprowls away from teaching and back home in Washington County to care of his ailing father – the late Richard Sprowls – an idea was hatched for a new horror and monster movie program.
From that thought, “Dead and Buried Treasures” was born, Eric Sprows said. It is in its fourth season.
Sailing the seas, pirate captain Calico Drake and his cohorts – including a secret villain – begins on adventures featuring comedy and fright that are revealed during breaks in the movies, Sprows said.
The flicks might be in the public domain but are known to horror and monster fans.
The Pittsburgh-produced classic “Night of the Living Dead” has been on the show, as have movies featuring the likes of Vincent Price and the comedy team Abbot & Costello.
Sprows bills “Dead and Buried Treasures” as “the only show where it’s Halloween all year long.”
Before and during each flick, interludes feature a cast of offbeat characters, real and mechanical, all figments of Sprowls’ imagination, wrapped around a humor-based pirate theme.
Sprows concedes the concept is cheese in its nature but doesn’t pretend otherwise.
Because of that, viewers accept the cheesiness and enjoy the show on a variety of cable and internet sites.
“We make fun of ourselves,” Sprows said. “The heart of the show is making cheese.”
Calico Drake is voiced in an Irish accent by Sprows.
The cast features Jack, a mechanical cockatoo and often the voice of reason, and equally mechanical skeleton navigator Davy Bones. Both are voiced by Sprows – who talks a lot, in and out of character, or characters.
Rounding out the cast are Aleen Isley as the mermaid Mirabella; Chris Pressley as Jasper, the 75-year-old caretaker on the Island of Dead & Buried Treasures; Dana Messino-Cange as Professor Gurdy; and Tom Ryker as Chief Bitterman, the physically imposing chief of security.
Of them, only Isley is a professional actress, perfect for the role because she owns a mermaid costume.
Pressley is a former student, Ryker is a retired cop and Messino-Cange is the wife of Rich Cange, host of “Walk the Plank,” the “Dead and Buried Treasures” preshow.
“I needed a preshow to entice people to watch,” Sprows said.
Sprows has never met Isley in person, and the shows are not produced in a television studio.
“It’s fortunate that TV has evolved in the last 20 years,” said Sprowls, adding portions of the show can be recorded remotely via green screen, as is the case with Isley, who appears to be underwater.
All of the characters use green screen to record their performances and send them electronically to Sprows.
The green screen process works by filming actors in front of large, bright green backdrops, then isolating and removing that green color range and replacing it with a different background.
Through that method, Sprowls is able to create a mermaid tail behind Isley.
Sprows said he writes and edits episodes in his childhood bedroom and a former den, where he creates backdrops and images that fit into each episode’s storyline.
“Light bulbs and chewing gum go a long way with special effects in a cheesy show,” he said.
Sprows said Producer Tom Breaker has created model pirate ships to use on the show.
Dead & Buried Treasures is streamed online nationally on the Vortxx TV Horror Host Network, dbtv.tv and the Monster Channel.
Xx BPTV, Bethel Park public access channel.
Xx CUTV, PennWest California University TV station.
Xx PCTV, based in downtown Pittsburgh.
Xx MCA-TV, based in Moon Township.
Xx It is available on the “Dead and Buried Treasures” Facebook and YouTube pages.
Sprows did more than come up with the “Dead and Buried Treasures” concept. He also serves as its writer, editor and prime producer – and comes to all of those jobs with years of experience.
Over his career, he has taught TV production and newswriting at eight universities, his longest stint – a decade – at California University of Pennsylvania, now known as PennWest California.
While at the former Cal U, Sprowls helped bring CUTV to prominence.
Sprows said he has had practical experience, having worked on a variety of films, including “Silence of the Lambs.”
“I worked on a lot of movies in the Pittsburgh area,” he said. “I worked on ‘The Dark Knight Rises.’
Pittsburgh was among locations for filming of the Batman flick.
Sprows was amazed during the “Dead and Buried Treasures” stop at the Buffalo Bill house.
“It looks like it did when Buffalo Bill was there, just like in the movie,” he said of the bed and breakfast site.
Sprows does not have time to peddle his show, so it is not a money maker for him.
Allen’s Haunted Hayride in Smock is the Halloween episode sponsor and provided free tickets to the attraction – which will be given away to viewers.
“Hopefully, bigger and better things will happen, getting it on WPXI like “Chiller Theater,” Sprows said. “It will be a little bit at a time. I’m a patient person.
“I still do it because it’s fun for me.”
The show has been recognized for excellence, winning or being nominated for a variety of awards.
“Dead and Buried Treasures” received the 2020 Greater Pittsburgh Community Media Award for best entertainment television show produced in Pittsburgh.
It has been nominated for a regional Emmy.
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