Mysterious Sensation
| Type | Funhouse |
|---|---|
| Park Section | Midway |
| Built | 1926 |
| Opened | 1926 |
| Closed | 1937 (park closure) |
| Manufacturer | Hollis G. Conrad |
| Designer | Hollis G. Conrad |
| Architect | Hollis G. Conrad |
| Frame | Iron |
A funhouse attraction called the Mysterious Sensation opened at Olentangy Park in 1926[1] and operated until the park's final season in 1937. Parkgoers would walk through corridors designed to throw off their balance and distort their perceptions of gravity.[2] The building was built on angles to give an impression that water was running uphill to make you think you were walking downgrade when you were really walking uphill.[3]
The attraction was said to have originated at the park[4], but other instances of the attraction were installed at other parks around the country soon after its invention in 1924, such as Krug Park, White City, and Luna Park.[5][6][7] The Olentangy Park version possibly was the first built entirely of sheet metal inside and out. It was built of 3.5 tons of Armco Ingot Iron 26-gauge 26.5-by-144-inch sheets nailed to two-by-four-inch purlins spaced two feet apart with a two-foot center for siding. No fire insurance was required for the attraction because there wasn't any wood. Hollis G. Conrad was the inventor, designer, and builder.[4]
It was described as having "mingled 45 and 20-degree angle planes."[8] A similar attraction at White City Amusement Park in Chicago and "was likened to Riverview [Park]'s Aladdin’s Castle and a Haunted House mixed together."[9]
When installed at Fair Park in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1927, the description in The Birmingham News[10] described that attraction as:
The interior wass nothing out of the ordinary with the average bungalow, with the exception of the floor, which was unusual in its slight gradient. With none of the usual accessories of the diversified types of "fun houses," the sensation is more peculiar and distinctly pleasing.
Defying the laws of simple gravitation, rubber balls roll up an inclined plane and add to the mystery of the building.
Gallery
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The Cannon Ball Express miniature railway and the Midway with the second Ye Old Mill, Mysterious Sensation, Rifle Range, and the Joy Mill. (c. 1929-1930s)
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The Midway at Olentangy Park with the second Ye Olde Mill, Mysterious Sensation, Joy Mill, and second Dancing Pavilion.
References
- ↑ "Park Has a Mystery." Columbus Evening Dispatch, April 16, 1926. Page 51.
- ↑ Stow, Edgar. 1933. "Dameron Band…Goldfish Show At Olentangy Resort." Columbus Evening Dispatch, July 3, 1933. Page 9.
- ↑ Wentz, Howard E. 1967. "What Our Readers Have to Say." The Columbus Dispatch Sunday Magazine, November 19, 1967. Page 7.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Columbus, Ohio, Amusement Park Sports All Sheet Metal Fun House." American Artisan, United States: Keeney Publishing Company. July 31, 1926. Pages 197-198.
- ↑ "Krug Park Will Reopen Saturday." The Omaha Daily News (Omaha, Nebraska), May 4, 1924. Page 11. Accessed through Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107206927/krug-park-will-reopen-saturday/
- ↑ Advertisement. 1924. Chicago Tribune. May 18, 1924. Pg. 99. Accessed through Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107207159/white-city-ad/
- ↑ "'Mysterious Sensation' To Open at Luna Park." The Houston Post (Houston, Texas), July 11, 1924. Page 16. Accessed through Newspapers.com Clip 1 Clip 2
- ↑ "Variety Club at Olentangy Fiesta." Columbus Evening Dispatch, July 26, 1932. Page 8.
- ↑ Gale, Neil, Ph.D. "White City Amusement Park, 63rd Street and South Parkway (Martin Luther King Dr.), Chicago, Illinois. (1905-1933)." Digital Research Library of Illinois History Journal, April 1, 2017. Accessed 30 July 2022. https://drloihjournal.blogspot.com/2017/04/white-city-amusement-park-63rd-street.html
- ↑ "Mystery House--Just What is It?" The Birmingham News (Birmingham, Alabama), May 15, 1927. Page 92.