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After
stumbling over the moving planks, patrons would navigate
a descending, winding ramp back to the first floor,
where they'd encounter yet another obstacle - three
rows of moving floors. Again, they'd have to hang onto
to handrails, as the whole floor panel would shift backwards
and forwards beneath them. Recognizing that most folks
would have rubber legs after completing this obstacle
course, the park installed benches at the entrance of
the next challenge,
The Arcade. |
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expansive floor of The Arcade accentuated the Fun in Fun House.
For starters, it had a wooden Barrel of Fun and a classic spinning
wheel similar to the Human Roulette Wheel at Coney Island's
long gone Steeplechase Park. Then there was the Toggle Woggle
- an open wooden box from which patrons escaped by teeter tottering
on unbalanced floorboards, and the Turkey Trot - a long and
narrow path with an oscillating floor. The Arcade was overseen
by The Controller, an employee seated in a loft high above |
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the
action. He had the power to lift ladies skirts with blasts of
air or to stop the revolving Barrel of Fun if patrons misbehaved
- simply by pushing buttons on his control panel. Perhaps the
most enjoyable part of The Controller's job was
manipulating the Spinning Wheel. Once patrons were seated on
the wooden disk, he'd set the "game" in motion.
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As
the wheel spun faster, riders, one
by one, lost their grips and slid against the padded walls.
The last person was
in for the shock of his life, literally. A
mild electric shock sent to the handgrips forced the poor soul
to let go and join the others against the padded wall. |
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Of
course, what Fun House would be complete without a Laffing Lady,
distorted mirrors and a slide? Whalom's had all three. The Laffing
Lady was a somewhat heavier relative of the famous Old King
Cole's Laffing Sal. While the origin of Whalom's Lady is unknown,
Whalom patrons fondly remember her gyrating and cackling inside
a display case near the entrance. The steep wooden slide had
patrons make their descent on burlap sacks.
Sadly, the Lady, the mirrors and slide are gone. Only remnants
of the Spinning Wheel and Turkey Trot remain. The Controller
has long since retired - his rusty control box still intact.
The Spinning Wheel no longer spins. It's now occupied by a ghostly
stunt. The Barrel of Fun is the only surviving operating trick
from The Arcade. |
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