Thursday, November 10, 2011

Unseen Secrets Inside the Carnival Rides!

I <3 carnivals!
I don't <3 rides that make me feel as if I'm about to die at any second. That would include ones like the Zipper, Octopus, Pirate Ship and ANY Rollercoaster. I can take the Ferris Wheel, but don't you DARE rock it. I Mean It! STOP!!!!!
My first rollercoaster memory is from around 8. I got in the front cart with my dad. I had no idea what was about to happen, but I was promised a really fun time. We went "click ...click ...click" up and up and up toward the clouds. OK, it was a little scary, but I was being very brave, plus it looked like it would soon be over since the track was coming to an end. Trouble was, it didn't stop, it just curved over the top and WENT STRAIGHT F**KING DOWN!
The next thing I recall is walking down the midway holding my dad's hand while bawling my head off.
I've only gone on a few since then, mostly in peer pressure High School, but now that I don't mind declaring my daring do shortcomings I'll only risk my life by ingesting the state fair butter dipped fried dough snacks.
The rides I do like are the ones where you sit in your car that's attached to a track in front of the portable buildings entrance. They're brightly decorated structures promising scares a-plenty and individually named Haunted House, Caverns of Terror, Spook Ride, etc., but I'm not sure what they're called collectivity (hence the long description). You bang through the metal sheet doors into the dark unknown clutching your date bracing for whatever horrors are about to light up, shriek, dangle from above or jump right at you.
Unless you were with me, and I was clutching my flash camera instead. Don't expect perfect focus and framing, as I was doing this in the dark, but chances are, you aren't going to see these documented anywhere else (not that there was a general outcry to have these documented anywhere). My favorites? In the era before Halloween supply stores on every other street corner, the more homemade (and insane) the better!
Viewing these photos is not recommended for persons with medical or pregnancy conditions or intoxicated or children under 6 years old!



























10 comments:

  1. Beautiful! You do well in the Dark Mitch.

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  2. In the business, this type of attraction is called a Dark Ride.
    (Great blog,btw...)

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  3. Mitch, this is an awesome bunch of stuff! Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Hi Mitch,great pictures.Unbelievable these
    carton & glue stuff used to scare the shit out of me when i was 8 years old .THANKS

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  5. Your Roller coaster ride had me in tears! Funny thing is my daughter is 8 and we just dragged her on the Aerosmith rollercoaster at Disney Hollywood Studios! Scared to death but loved it when it was over! Love the pics!

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  6. Hi Mitch...one great website with lots of info & pix about dark rides is www.laffinthedark.com

    Keep on rockin! - 'Dead Man' Dave

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  7. Mitch, thanks for stopping by my blog and directing me to these great photos! I love the art in the rides and the photos themselves are awesome art. Capturing dark ride interiors is such a fun challenge. I got to fulfill my dream of walking through a spook house once and I posted the results here... http://irodephantasmagoria.blogspot.com/2007/09/guided-tour.html

    Speaking of art, I'm an enjoyer of yours too!
    Cheers,
    Kirk

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  8. Crap I remember this stuff from the 60's. My Aunt Mary (everyone has at least one crazy Aunt Mary) took me to one in Torrance, CA. Scarred the hell out of me and I still remember how weird it smelled inside. Like old roast beef!

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  9. Great pics! I always got in trouble for using a flash in these rides! A thunderous voice would come over a PA and warn me...scary too! I have the greatest pics of the Spookarama in Coney Island from the mid 80s when the front still had this gorgeous huge painting from the 30s or 40s & had an old pulp quality of maybe Matt Fox and all the way on one side you can see where they painted the "She Creature" in more modern day-glo paint probably in the 60s...I went on it once in the 90s before the clean up just to relive my childhood & it was just like nothing! Hahaha everything was broken...everything!! Just a slow twisty ride to nowhere...

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