Post by spookyrider on Aug 20, 2011 10:36:35 GMT -5
I was really interested to see where the new "Tracy torso" that is strapped on the barrel in the Whacky Shack is from, and I found out it was from the guillotine scene in Kennywood's Le Cachot. But the only picture I ever see of that scene is just the skeleton working it. While searching for pictures, I came across an essay that was too long to read, but I scrolled down to the image section, and I found a couple of cool pictures, including the scene. You still can't see the body, but I want to share these with you guys. This essay is from 1995.
[glow=red,2,300]
Guillotine[/glow]
This next one is a picture of the front of The Castle (RIP) at Lake Winnie before yet another facade paint job. This shows the bottom trimming decoration shown in this picture:
[glow=red,2,300]Castle Side View[/glow]
I was just starting to glance through the essay and found info on the Castle:
I'm sorry if that was too much stuff, but I find the pool part interesting! I think there might be more cool things in the essay, so I'm posting a link to that as well:
digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/914/
[glow=red,2,300]
Guillotine[/glow]
This next one is a picture of the front of The Castle (RIP) at Lake Winnie before yet another facade paint job. This shows the bottom trimming decoration shown in this picture:
[glow=red,2,300]Castle Side View[/glow]
I was just starting to glance through the essay and found info on the Castle:
The Kastle at Lake Winnepesaukah Fun Town
The Kastle is a single-level (originally multi-level) dark ride located in Lake
Winnepesaukah Fun Town, Rossville, Georgia (Illustration 5). Built on a wooden pier, it
is situated in the amusement park's former swimming pool. The Kastle's exterior features
a large, plywood front facade elaborately and appropriately painted as a castle in hues of
green, blue and gray; a painted sky, turbulent with colors, alludes to Van Gogh's famous
Starry Night. A ring of fire, decorated with red and yellow electric lights, frames the
ride's name (the exotic spelling suggests the linguistic influence of the park's immigrant
decorative painter). Its sides and rear, unadorned, evidence the wooden plank construction
of the entire building (Illustration 6). Along the base of the structure are green fiberglass
"stones" which the water level reaches when the pool is filled. Along the ride's semienclosed
loading area are two inner plywood surfaces decorated with cosmic imagery: the
lower decorates the antechamber at eye-level and conceals the former second level; the
higher, set behind, adds a dimension of depth. Two sets of swinging doors, set side-byside,
give entrance and exit to the ride.
Twelve plastic and fiberglass cars run the course of an electrified track which
follows the interior perimeter of the structure. Decorating its black walls are paintings of
devils, ghosts, and skeletons; stationed in corners and hung on walls along the route are
three-dimensional paper machd and fiberglass sculptures of skeletons, skulls, and
monsters. Characteristic of dark rides of the 1960s, all artwork is fluorescent and glows under the many blacklights that dangle above the route. Other prominent interior features
include a cavern that makes use of the surrounding water source, a standard "oncoming
truck" gag, and a revolving barrel illusion. Originally designed, created and installed by
the late Bill Tracy of Amusement Display Associates, Inc. in 1969, the Kastle has since
been significantly altered on several occasions by Sergi Danilov, a freelance commercial
artist.
The Kastle now stands within the great concrete swimming pool which was built in
1926 by the park's founder, Carl Dixon. Hailed in a 1940s-era park brochure as "the
South's Largest," the 105 feet by 210 feet swimming pool was the sight of many activities,
promotions, and special events until 1963. By then, no longer a local novelty, the pool
was converted into a motor boat arena. For the 1969 season, the pool became an effective
water-filled context for the park's newly acquired Dentzel carousel (later replaced by one
manufactured by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company) and the Kastle. The dark ride
incorporates this body of water into its design: the pool acts as a moat to surround the
building and physically separate it from the rest of the park, contributing to its sense of
isolation and other-worldliness. The pool also penetrates the ride, forming an interior
cavern. Before substantial renovation, the ride further incorporated the pool as a source of
water for the waterfall curtain that embellished the second level.
The original facade's flourishes included rakish gables and exaggerated spires,
definitive characteristics of Bill Tracy's architectural aesthetic. A promotional flier provides
the only official photograph of the Kastle's front as it appeared in 1969 (the photo was
used in a park brochure in the same year) as well as an itemized list of the ride's main
features:
The Front is primarily fiber-glass with animated units. The Ride contains illusions:
Revolving Barrel, Endless Corridors, Knocker Boards, Jumping Room,
Psychedelic Jail Maze, Spinning Discs, Dips, Falling Barrels, and a Water Curtain
exit, a large central waterfall Cavern, and five animated Display units.
Today, the two-dimensional front is now constructed entirely of plywood. The only
remaining illusion is the revolving barrel which, unfortunately, no longer revolves. All
animated display units have been removed. Six static sculptures, repainted and vandalised
several times over, contain traces of original work, as well as a skull sculpture that forms
an archway for the interior cavern. Significant alterations since 1977 include the
reconfiguration of the track, the removal of dividers and doors between rooms, the sealing
off of the second level, and four complete reconstructions of the facade.
I'm sorry if that was too much stuff, but I find the pool part interesting! I think there might be more cool things in the essay, so I'm posting a link to that as well:
digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/914/