Greetings family, friends, and neighbors! In the spirit of the Halloween season today's snippet, Spook-A-Rama, takes a brief look at the history of "dark rides", a staple of amusement parks and carnivals since the late 1800's.........Bill
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SPOOK-A-RAMA
Indoor themed “dark rides”, referred to as “scenic railways”” first appeared at New York’s Coney Island and at World’s Fair midways in the late 19 th century. A popular type of dark ride, commonly referred to as an old mill or tunnel of love, featured small boats pushed forward by the force of water wheel for a ride through a darkened tunnel. An Imaginative competitive operator soon came up with an intriguing simulated Trip to the Moon dark ride that introduced the concept of themed scenes and wax figures. The first single-rail electric dark ride was patented by the Pretzel Amusement Park Ride Company in 1928, simplifying construction and significantly reducing the cost and maintenance of the old mill water ride systems. Soon, themed dark rides began showing up in amusement parks and in traveling carnivals across the country with the names like Pretzel, Whacky Shack, and Laff in the Dark.
In 1955, the same year that Walt Disney’s ground breaking theme park opened in Anaheim, California with Mr. Toads Wild Car Ride and Snow White Adventures dark rides, the Pretzel Amusement Ride Company debued the Spook-a-Rama dark ride at Deno’s Wonder Wheel Park on Coney Island, New York. Intrepid riders boarded blood red cars resembling old wooden barrels and entered a large nearly dark room, passing by scarey “stunts” (industry name for scenes and characters) including zombies, an ogre composed of light bulbs, a demon threatening riders with an axe, heads popping out of barrels, and a gruesome electrocution scene. The final stunt that usually eliciting screams before returning riders to the boarding platform, were stringy objects dragging across the riders as the cars exited the ride.
The Halloween season, beginning as early as mid-August, has evolved into the largest and most profitable season for the major theme parks including Disney, Universal, Six Flags, United (formerly SeaWorld) and hundreds of independent amusement park destinations, all of which have roots that can be traced back to the old mill, tunnel of love, and Coney Island’s Spook-A-Rama.
-Bill 10/25
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