Updates

Back when Bill Tracy was building Trimper’s Haunted House in 1964, along with many other attractions, he was lucky to be surrounded by a talented group of sculptors, carpenters, and artists to help bring his ideas to life. But in addition to building a lot of his classic stunts from scratch, he also used mannequins of the time period to help save time and expense. To recap, before Tracy got in to the dark ride business, Macy’s department stores contracted him to design and build window displays and floats for use in their famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Therefore, he was closely affiliated with Macy’s and had access to all types of mannequins which he used in many of his early dark rides. Tracy’s Upside Down Room in Trimper’s Haunted House is home to one such mannequin that has been hanging upside down for nearly six decades. Not much is visible of the damsel in distress from the view of the car while riding, but upon closer inspection, it is truly a classic glamour mannequin of the 50s or 60s that most likely spent time in a department store in her early life. Also commonly used were head and torso mannequins, or hat displays, many of which were manufactured by a company called Greneker.

Above: Damnsel in Distress in Tracy’s Upside Down Room in Trimper’s Haunted House.

Above: Typical 1950s advertisements for mannequin sales, which depict similar if not identical characteristics to the types of mannquins Tracy used in his early displays.

Above: Department store hat display manufactured by Greneker used at the end of the Revolving Barrel in Trimper’s Haunted House.

For many years, a mystery surrounded Tracy’s dark ride at Chapultepec Park in Mexico City. Opening in 1964 and closing in 1994, numerous searches failed to turn up a mention of this ride. Miraculously, an enthusiast contacted us with this rare photo during the pandemic to help us solve one of our biggest curiosities. Case de los Sustos (Scary House) was the name, and because this ride was built only weeks apart from Trimper’s Haunted House, the façade designs were very similar. We also acquired the original packing list for this ride back in 2011, and it’s amazing that we actually have a photo of how this ride turned out.

Well, it’s been over 8 years since our last post and nearly 15 years since we launched. It’s time for a rebirth. We’ve moved our website to a new platform which is mobile-friendly, fixed all photo galleries to 100% working condition (over 1000 photos in total), and have plans to keep the website updated regularly moving forward (as much as time allows). Thanks to our fans and visitors over the past 8 years. Life gets in the way sometimes. Don’t forget… Bill Tracy is not just a name; it’s a way of life. Stay tuned!

Thank you for your continued patronage and interest in The Bill Tracy Project. We’ve taken great pleasure in being able to uncover the many mysteries about such a talented man, and we’re excited at whatever future discoveries are made.

Over the past two years, the project has taken somewhat of a back seat in our lives. The Bill Tracy Project is a hobby of ours, and as Norman Bates in Psycho stated, “a hobby should pass the time, not fill it.” Life has undoubtedly changed over the past few years, and so have our priorities.

For now, we will continue to focus on what is most important in our lives. But, we fully anticipate returning to the dark, mysterious world of Bill Tracy at some point in 2016. Until then, we welcome any contributions, questions, and curiosities in the meantime. We still review our email regularly, and enjoy hearing from fellow fans that enjoy Tracy’s work as much as we.

Thanks for your continued support, and see you soon.

Happy Halloween to all of our Bill Tracy fans. Today, The Bill Tracy Project celebrates its five year anniversary, and we’d like to once again thank you all for your continued support and ongoing contributions to the project. To wrap up our recent series of updates leading up to our anniversary, we’d like to share the only photo that we have ever seen of the entire facade of the Gold Mine walk-thru at Dorney Park. Enjoy!

This creepy night shot shows “The Coaster Clown”, the evil juggling clown that used to stand over the entrance to Dorney Park.

Thanks again to Larry (Bill Tracy’s great nephew) for discovering this rare photo of Bill and his sister Laurabelle as infants.

Check out this vintage photo of the sorely missed Le Cachot at Kennywood Park.

Enjoy this rare look at the loading area of the Haunted House at LeSourdsville Lake Park.

Thanks to Mark from Youngstown, OH for sending us this ad for the Kooky Castle at Idora Park. This ad appeared in the Youngstown Vindicator in the Spring of 1972.

This colorful view of Phantasmagoria at Bell’s Amusement Park shows what this dark ride masterpiece looked like when it first opened in 1973 before the “dip” was removed.

A special thanks to our good friend Al Alven for sharing a classic photo of Tracy’s “Dessert & Stew” stunt as it appeared at Hunt’s Pier in Wildwood, NJ. This famous stunt, which was 10′ long, 4′ deep, and 5′ high, was originally installed in 1962.

Happy Holidays! A special thanks to Chuck Burnham, “The Dark Ride Artist,” for contributing this vintage photo of Camden Park’s Haunted House.

Today marks the fourth anniversary of The Bill Tracy Project, and we’d like to thank you all for your continued interest and support. It means a lot, and it’s greatly appreciated. To celebrate our big day, we’ve redesigned our homepage slightly and are pleased to share an article that was recently published in The Baltimore Sun that features Bill Tracy and one of his flagship attractions, Trimper’s Haunted House. Check out the article.

Stay tuned over the next several weeks as we will be releasing many new updates and interesting finds. Best of luck to our fans who were impacted by Hurricane Sandy. You are all in our thoughts.

Well folks, our last curiosity has just been solved. We have finally discovered that the Bill Tracy attraction at Astro Needle Park in Myrtle Beach, SC was called “Space Monster”. Based on a newly-discovered photo, submitted by Wayne Aiken who runs www.MyrtleBeachRemembered.com, an awesome website dedicated to Myrtle Beach history, it’s clear the attraction had a Hush-Puppy ride system and a beautiful Tracy facade to boot. As seen behind the dip, it included pyschdelic spinning wheels similar to other Tracy rides such as his Whacky Shacks. Although this ride only had a lifespan of about a decade, it surely looks like it would have been quite an experience.

Happy Halloween! We are proud to share that The Bill Tracy Project is three years old today, and with that, we would like to convey some exciting news to celebrate our anniversary.

A few weeks back, a collector contacted The Bill Tracy Project from Oklahoma and informed us he had in his possession several stunts and miscellaneous props from the defunct Bill Tracy ride Phantasmagoria which previously resided at Bell’s Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He had taken ownership of the stunts at an auction a few years back when the ride closed and he was looking for a collector to buy them.

With preservation being the first and foremost goal of this project, it seemed only necessary that these stunts end up in a new home, and preferably, another Tracy ride. As such, we immediately sprang into action.

For the past several weeks, Brandon, also founder of Trimper’s Haunted House Online, has been managing the project, working diligently to coordinate the transaction between the seller and buyer, and has developed a plan for installation of the Phantasmagoria stunts at Trimper’s Haunted House in Ocean City, Maryland. Brandon will be on-site during the installation and will be assisting with restoring and cleaning the stunts before being incorporated into the ride within the next few weeks. The incorporation of these stunts will make Trimper?s Haunted House not only the longest Tracy ride left on the Earth, but the only ride that contains stunts from three Tracy rides in one; Ghost Ship, Phantasmagoria, and of course, the original Haunted House.

We are thrilled about this next chapter of The Bill Tracy Project featuring “hands on” preservation, and we can’t wait to share the outcomes of this endeavor. Stay tuned to The Bill Tracy Project and Trimper’s Haunted House Online for updates regarding this exciting project, and be sure to check out Trimper’s Haunted House next summer for the debut of the new stunts! One of the original Tracy stunts from Phantasmagoria that will be installed in Trimper’s Haunted House can be seen below.

According to the recollections of several individuals who worked closely with Bill Tracy back in the 1960s, Tracy was a very eccentric dresser. Based on memories from Manfred Bass, an artist who worked as a sculptor for Tracy and was instrumental in the development and installation of Jungle Land on Hunt’s Pier in Wildwood, NJ, Tracy would often wear flowered Hawaiian shirts and tan slacks as part of his casual working attire, and pinstripe dark blue suits when meeting with clients. His normal footwear was generally a worn out pair of loafers. Cool, huh?

Randy Skalos of Waldameer Park in Erie, Pennsylvania, had the opportunity to completely restore several stunts in the Whacky Shack this past spring. Needless to say, he did an amazing job of bringing some of Tracy?s classics back to life, along with a few other non-Tracy stunts. Check out a few photo galleries of his work.

• Body on the Barrel
• Joe Ghoul
• Severed Head

Up for your viewing pleasure is a brand new feature presentation:
Salvaging the Wreck: Ocean Playland’s Ghost Ship is Brought to the Surface. Enjoy!

This vintage Palisades Park ad appeared in a 1968 comic book. Casper’s Ghostland is featured in this ad which opened the same year. Palisades Park, located in New Jersey, unfortunately closed only three years later in 1971 and the ride was eventually demolished.