Rick Davis

See the effects of a gravitational anomaly!

People lean at odd angles!

People grow or shrink in height!

Water flows uphill!

is it a mysterious force, or strange freak of nature?

see it all here!

Illusion attractions are rare commodity at amusement parks today, but at the turn of the Twentieth-Century they were plentiful and of many varieties. Most capitalized on the minds tendency to misinterpret what it thinks it sees. One of those early disorienting attractions was the “tilthouse” or “mystery shack”, as we know it today. Simply put, they were attractions made to resemble normal houses or other structures on the outside but with a very important difference: The laws of gravity seemed to go awry as soon as the unsuspecting guest step foot into them.

One of the earliest known versions of these was the “Trick House” invented in 1904 and patented in 1905 by Arthur B. Griffen. His version envisioned a small, normal looking house (on the outside), which contained a slanted floor to which perpendicular walls and furnishings were attached. The entrance and exit would be through passageways that blocked the view of the outside world. Likewise, no windows were permitted other than a skylight. The end result was that there were no outside references so guests would be disoriented and have a difficult, but amusing time negotiating the attraction. For many parks (like Kennywood in 1915) a tilt house would be their first illusion attraction.

(Click drawings to see the complete patent drawings.)

In 1923 (patent 1925) Hollis C. Conrad invented his “Amusement house”. While similar in nature to Griffin’s, Hollis added a few new twists to the illusion. In addition to the canted floor, he created convex sections, or dips in it to further confuse people walking across the floor. What he added next led to some of illusions still being done in “mystery shacks” today; objects “rolling uphill.” He added a wire track-way near the floor that zigzagged from one corner of the room to another on which a ball would seem to roll upgrade.

Famed ride builder, John A. Miller created his “Amusement Structure” in 1924 (patent 1926). By adding multiple rooms, he took us one step closer to the mystery shack of today. He also added some walls diagonally within the structure to bewilder and obstruct our confused guests. Going against past practice, he also added small peepholes so people outside the structure could watch the fun and to give people inside the structure the idea that it was the outside world that was strange.

Hollis Conrad improved on his original idea and patented a new version in 1927. He introduced water and created the now standard “water flowing uphill” gag. He also added handrails that created a zigzag pathway that had to be negotiated within the house. For the comfort of the guests he provided seats at various points in the house. Of course trying to stand up from these seats created some considerable amusement for the other guests!

While these attractions were originally designed as standalone attractions, most of these features found their way into funhouses around the country. A simple tilted room could be found in many walkthroughs. Bill Tracy incorporated Conrad’s tilted room with the handrails in many of his walkthroughs, such as the Pirate’s Cove. Tracy used the “water running uphill” gag often also. Not well known, and possibly unique was Tracy’s use of the tilt room in a darkride. Waldameer Park’s (Erie, PA) Whacky Shack has just such a room. According to the park it created a lot of headaches while trying to adjust the car brakes for that room.

While of these tilt houses are long gone from the parks, Arnold’s Park still has one of the last of a dying breed - The Tipsy House. Arnold's Park still has one of the few old Haunted Swings, but unfortunately lost its funhouse years ago.

All of the above mentioned ideas are common features of today’s mystery shacks, so lets take a look at a few on page two. Click below to open the window to page two.

Page Two

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Photography and postcard collection - Rick Davis, unless other wise noted.
This article ©2001 Rick Davis and used with permission.
Photos ©2001 Rick Davis, and used with permission.
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