While horror and comedy might seem to be contradictory at first glance, seasoned horror experts know that such a feat is possible. Sure, making a film as funny as it is terrifying isn’t an easy task, but if there was one man for the job, it was Don Knotts.

When Knotts left The Andy Griffith Show, he was leaving a job he had held for about half a decade. Though the actor had grown comfortable on the sitcom, he sought to diversify his acting background. Before The Andy Griffith Show, Knotts had appeared in the 1958 film No Time for Sergeants, reprising his role from the Broadway production. There, Knotts starred alongside his future co-star, Andy Griffith.

But after 1965, Knotts was looking for an opportunity to front his own projects. The actor began starring in a series of popular films like The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964). Afterward, Knotts began a relationship with Universal, starring in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966). There, Knotts played a familiar sort of character as a nervous and bumbling wannabe reporter looking for a big scoop.

Edward Montagne, the producer of The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, explained that the film was fueled by a lack of family-friendly horror in the entertainment industry.

“We looked around at the movies and saw that Walt Disney was the only one producing this kind of film,” said Montagne during an interview with The Jackson Daily News. “So a family-type movie was our aim…If it’s successful, then we plan to work on some more.”