# ..'bout a ghost from a wishin' well **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 5, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409 "2000-06-05T03:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drollman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@drollman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drollman)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2000, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/1 "2000-06-05T03:01:18Z")
In “If You Could Read My Mind” Gordon Lightfoot sings: “…Just like an old time movie ‘bout a ghost from a wishin’ well.” Is there such a movie? ---
**Author:** ![MysterEcks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MysterEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysterEcks)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2000, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/2 "2000-06-05T09:54:03Z")
I’d say probably not–no more than “Just like a paperback novel, the kind the drugstores sell” is a reference to a particular book. It just rhymes with “what a tale my thoughts would tell.” Damn good song, though. ---
**Author:** ![Kricket](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f14d63/32.png) [@Kricket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kricket)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2000, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/3 "2000-06-08T06:22:57Z")
There was a movie that had a little girl ghost in a wishing well. I don’t remember the name of it, but I think it was a disney movie. I saw it a long time ago. A little girl ghost got these two kids living in her house to go into the wishing well, and on a ledge in there was one of her dolls. I might be mistaken since it was so long ago, but I have been trying to figure out the title so I could see it again. I want to say it was about the time that escape from witch mountain was out. Pretty sure it has nothing to do with the song, but just wanted to put my two cents in, and maybe someone could help me with the title of the movie. It might also be a way of saying an ungranted wish, or a lost wish. A euphamism? (sp?) ---
**Author:** ![dreamwver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@dreamwver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamwver)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/4 "2022-07-03T04:21:22Z")
There is an Abbott and Costello movie where Lou Costello and a woman character are killed and their bodies are in the bottom of a well. Their spirits rise and commit shenanigans. But I always thought that movie (sorry I forget the name) might be the one Lightfoot was referring to. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/5 "2022-07-03T05:28:28Z")
“The Time Of Their Lives” (1946). ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/6 "2022-07-03T05:40:39Z")
> [@Kricket](#): > > There was a movie that had a little girl ghost in a wishing well. I don’t remember the name of it, but I think it was a disney movie. I saw it a long time ago. > A little girl ghost got these two kids living in her house to go into the wishing well, and on a ledge in there was one of her dolls. That sounds like _Child of Glass_, a made-for-TV movie from Disney. The girl ghost’s dog leads one kid to the ledge in the wishing well, where the other kid and the ghost’s doll are resting. It can’t be the movie referred to in the song, though, as the movie first ran in 1978, and the song was released in 1970, IIRC. I don’t know about the Abbott and Costello movie (_The Time of Their Lives_), but I think it’s likely that the ghost in a wishing well is merely metaphorical and in light of the fact Lightfoot wrote it about and during the break-up of his first marriage, not too hard to figure out. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/7 "2022-07-03T18:01:43Z")
Maybe he saw this painting. > **[Truth Coming Out of Her Well](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Coming_Out_of_Her_Well)** > > La Vérité sortant du puits armée de son martinet pour châtier l'humanité (English: Truth coming from the well armed with her whip to chastise mankind) is an 1896 painting by the French artist Jean-Léon Gérôme. > Beginning in the mid-1890s, in the last decade of his life, Gérôme made at least four paintings personifying Truth as a nude woman, either thrown into, at the bottom of, or emerging from a well. The imagery arises from a translation of an aphorism of the philosopher Democritus, "Of truth w... ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/8 "2022-07-03T18:14:46Z")
Oh, well, if we’re moving away from films… there’s a children’s game called “The Ghost in the Well” which has been documented since the 19th century. [https://twitter.com/AlmanackTweets/status/1451107236982390790](https://twitter.com/AlmanackTweets/status/1451107236982390790) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/9 "2022-07-03T18:27:51Z")
From this site: [Lyrics for If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lightfoot - Songfacts](https://www.songfacts.com/lyrics/gordon-lightfoot/if-you-could-read-my-mind) "I talked to Gordon after a concert at the Front Row Theater near Cleveland in the 1980’s. During the conversation he stated that he liked to write his music while drifting alone in a boat. I mentioned that a phrase in the song reminded me of Abbott & Costello movie where Costello whas a ghost trapped near a wishing well. Gordon confirmed that that moview was the inspiration for the song’s phrase. - Bill Walker, Massillon, Ohio" ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/10 "2022-07-03T18:32:31Z")
> [@dreamwver](#): > > There is an Abbott and Costello movie where Lou Costello and a woman character are killed and their bodies are in the bottom of a well. Their spirits rise and commit shenanigans. But I always thought that movie (sorry I forget the name) might be the one Lightfoot was referring to. Welcome to the straight dope message board. And thanks for reviving an interesting thread with new information. ---
**Author:** ![dreamwver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@dreamwver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamwver)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2022, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/11 "2022-07-04T05:09:32Z")
Yes. I just saw that movie on Creature Features. Thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/12 "2022-07-05T00:12:31Z")
_The Time of Their Lives_ is one of the most interesting, and unusual, of all the Abbott and Costello films. Made during one of the times when their relationship was at its most strained, it deviates from the standard pattern where the boys were a team doing their typical straight man-comedian burlesque routines. Instead, they play independent, unrelated characters and have almost no interaction with each other. Costello’s ghost haunts an old farmhouse, and Abbott’s character is largely unsympathetic. Despite the deviation from their usual formula, it’s an entertaining movie, kind of a refreshing change from the usual A&C schtick. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/13 "2022-07-05T01:30:29Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Despite the deviation from their usual formula, it’s an entertaining movie, kind of a refreshing change from the usual A&C schtick. Bud Abbott liked this film because he had a chance to do a lot of physical comedy. Usually Lou got all of that. This movie was what I thought of when I read the OP, not realizing that it was a zombie. For the record, I’ m certain that we discussed this before on the Board. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/14 "2022-07-05T02:40:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > For the record, I’ m certain that we discussed this before on the Board. > [@"There'll be scary ghost stories" ?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/therell-be-scary-ghost-stories/563637/7): > > I just wanted to add another “Christmas Ghost Story” not yet mentioned (even in the older threads) – Dickens’ last Christmas Book is The Man Who Haunted Himself, a sort of retread Christmas Carol. (One year I read all of Dickens’ Christmas Books. Although I love the original Christmas Carol, it was sheer torture to work my way through the others. ) By the way, a related ghost question – In Gordon Lightfoot’s “If you could read my mind”, he talks about “an old time movie about a ghost from a wis… > [@Songs With Factual Inaccuracies](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-with-factual-inaccuracies/632650/4): > > Gordon Lightfoot in “If You Could Read My Mind”… mentions an “old time movie, about a ghost from a wishing well”. (meaning something sad and gloomy) Unfortunately there are no old-time movies about ghosts in wishing wells. Someone looked this up and the only thing that comes close is a goofy Abbot & Costello movie that would hardly be the inspiration for the song. It’s too bad that there isn’t a real “ghost in a wishing well” movie. Someone should make one. > [@Favorite movies featuring ghosts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-movies-featuring-ghosts/770313/4): > > Bud Abbott claimed this was one of his favorites because he got to do a lot of physical comedy, something he didn’t get enough of in most of the A&C movies. I think of this film when I hear that Gordon Lightfoot song If You Could Read my MInd, because it’s the only story I know of “about a ghost from a wishing well” ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/15 "2022-07-05T13:55:24Z")
It occurs to me that it’s probably also the only Abbott & Costello movie in which we see Lou savagely gunned down by musket fire. I wonder what the kiddies in the matinee audience thought of that? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/16 "2022-07-05T14:35:12Z")
Not many people know that Gordon Lightfoot has the gift of precognition. He foresaw not only the movie Ringu and its American equivalent The Ring, he envisioned a time, perhaps still to come, in which those movies would be considered old-timey. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/17 "2022-07-05T14:40:27Z")
Speaking of old-timey, he just played an old theater in town, and man, did he look, and sound, even older than his 80+ years. Could barely hear him. But that song lives on… Rick Beato analyzed it, and loves it: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/X33YyowZZxQ/maxresdefault.jpg "What Makes This Song Great?™ Ep.94 Gordon Lightfoot") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33YyowZZxQ) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/18 "2022-07-05T14:59:10Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Maybe he saw this painting. > > [Truth Coming Out of Her Well - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_Coming_Out_of_Her_Well) I can’t see that painting without thinking about a nasty Caran d’Ache cartoon that appeared during the Dreyfus Affair, picturing Emile Zola emerging from a toilet, holding a puppet Dreyfus (note the caption). [http://www.hist-chron.com/eu/F/EJ/EncJud\_Dreyfus-affaire-1894-1906-d/013-karikatur-Zola-m-Dreyfus.JPG](http://www.hist-chron.com/eu/F/EJ/EncJud_Dreyfus-affaire-1894-1906-d/013-karikatur-Zola-m-Dreyfus.JPG) > [@solost](#): > > Not many people know that Gordon Lightfoot has the gift of precognition. Did he foresee that [Free](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEX2uouphC4) would come along with a much better song featuring a wishing well? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/19 "2022-07-05T15:03:51Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > _The Time of Their Lives_ is one of the most interesting, and unusual, of all the Abbott and Costello films. Made during one of the times when their relationship was at its most strained, it deviates from the standard pattern where the boys were a team doing their typical straight man-comedian burlesque routines. Instead, they play independent, unrelated characters and have almost no interaction with each other. Costello’s ghost haunts an old farmhouse, and Abbott’s character is largely unsympathetic. > > Despite the deviation from their usual formula, it’s an entertaining movie, kind of a refreshing change from the usual A&C schtick. Lou made a surprisingly good romantic lead and showed he could do pathos. Bud was a villain in the early scenes (set during the Revolution), but was neutral in the modern scenes, and redeemed himself in the end. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2022, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409/20 "2022-07-05T15:37:23Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Did he foresee that [Free](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEX2uouphC4) would come along with a much better song featuring a wishing well? Great tune. I think that and their other hit ‘All Right Now’ is as good or better than anything Paul Rodgers did with Bad Company. Much better song than IYCRMM though? Eh, certainly rockier, but it’s like saying apples are better than oranges. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bout-a-ghost-from-a-wishin-well/21409.md?page=2)