Wax Museums, Haunted Attractions and SPOOKHOUSES!

ProfGriffin · December 07, 2007, 12:07:39 PM

Greetings Night Creatures!

Prof. Griffin here. With the kind permission of General Terry Ingram, I am starting an official thread for the posting of anything having to do with Wax Museums, Dark Rides, Year-Round Haunted Attractions, Fun Houses, and Spook Houses.
PLEASE post memories, pictures, souvenirs...etc.

These places hold a lot of dear memories and have given us nightmares and sometimes blurry images etched in our minds...(many of us traveled through them in our younger days).

I myself simply ADORE these places...for the dimestore cheapness of some of the displays, the colored lights, the sounds, and most of all, a time BEFORE the BIG BOX restructuring of our landscape...when individual attractions like these still glowed like quirky beacons in the night.

Let's begin....

ProfGriffin · December 07, 2007, 12:14:58 PM

For any and all interested in these magic places, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND these websites.
I am a frequent visitor to them, they are wonderful!

http://darkinthepark.com/index.htm

http://www.laffinthedark.com/

Photo is close up of wax Eric, from the Palace of Wax, San Antonio, Texas.

ProfGriffin · December 07, 2007, 12:30:53 PM

I found some images online of the Castle Dracula (the burned down one in Panama City) that started this nonsense of remembering these places....

I have this brochure somewhere in my collection, but mine is burned and crispy around the edges. I like it like that...it looks...well, spooky and old.

Anyway, here it is.

Dr.Terror · December 07, 2007, 04:22:16 PM

I wouldn't be the way I am had it not been for all the wonderful Dark Rides on the Wildwood N.J. board walk. Castle Dracula especially.

Here are a few shots I snapped during it's final season, it would burn down like most N.J. haunted houses that January, 2002. One of the saddest days of my life.

In fact I did a home haunt for a few years (2000-2005) that was inspired by these places. I even named it after one of them. There use to be a ride called "Dr Blood's House of Horrors" I thought that was about the coolest name around but instead of Dr. Blood I changed it to Dr.Terror. I didn't even know the movie existed when I named it. Here is a pic of the flyer I made up for it using old Spookshow clip art etc...by hand mind you no computers here. I even had Doug Higley, Author of the book "Scary Dark Rides" do a grind pitch and some other voices for it. Unfortunately I've never been happy with the way the pictures turned out so all you get is a pic of the flyer.

Anyways I got tired of doing it myself. I built everything, set up everything, Hung flyers and put them in mailboxes, cleaned everything up etc...Maybe one day if I have a more permanent location it may return.

gracebuster · December 07, 2007, 10:50:50 PM

Okay boys... THIS IS MY GREATEST PASSION!

I just don't have any of this scanned. I will try , over the next few days , find some rare fun.

Dr.Terror · December 07, 2007, 11:31:59 PM

Quote from: gracebuster on December 07, 2007, 10:50:50 PM
Okay boys... THIS IS MY GREATEST PASSION!

I just don't have any of this scanned. I will try , over the next few days , find some rare fun.

I can only imagine the wonderful stuff you have archived. I'm getting my mildew and industrial grease candle ready with some scary sounds playing through and old muffled speaker. I'll even have a can of compressed air ready to complete the experience.

The Phantom Creep · December 08, 2007, 06:46:59 AM

Good job on this one guys, Prof. thanks for starting it!!

I'll also try to get some scans coming soon.

Until then here are a few photos...

These are from the Ripley's Museum and Tussaud's Palace of Wax outside of Dallas, Tx.

The Phantom Creep · December 08, 2007, 01:25:45 PM

Toy Ranch · December 08, 2007, 02:04:32 PM

One of my fondest monster memories as a kid came from a spookhouse at the State Fair of Texas. I was probably 5 or 6 years old (1967/1968) and a carny was promoting all the monsters, ALIVE INSIDE! I spent my ticket and basically it was a small room with a low stage and as we passed through, a guy with a flashlight shone it in the face of 5 or so guys in Don Post masks and costumes. The Wolf Man growled at me and I growled back and he ran around a little and it made my whole year. That was the coolest spook show I ever saw... a real Universal sideshow!

gracebuster · December 08, 2007, 08:10:40 PM

The PALACE OF WAX outside of Dallas is wonderful, as you can see in these pics above. Did you guys take any pics of hallway leading up to Frankenstein and the Frankenstein?

Toy Ranch · December 08, 2007, 08:17:02 PM

Quote from: gracebuster on December 08, 2007, 08:10:40 PM
The PALACE OF WAX outside of Dallas is wonderful

They have a spookhouse each year at Halloween there. Part of it is the horror display at the museum, but they have a lot of other stuff the do as well. I've heard about it but never made it over there until this past Halloween. In addition to the haunted house, Gunnar Hansen was making an appearance the night we went. I had no idea until we got there. They do have a great horror display. I have some pics somewhere... just not sure where.

gracebuster · December 08, 2007, 09:55:44 PM

Of the one million wonderful memories I have of my youth, one of the best is my trek North ot see yhe MOVIELAND WAX MUSEUM KONG!

He started life like this.