Updates

This letter to the editor appeared in the July 28, 1962 issue of Amusement Business and was written by William Hunt of Hunt’s Pier thanking the magazine for the story, which included a photo of Bill Tracy taken on the newly-opened and highly-successful Pirate Ship Skua.

Check out an article showing the construction of Castle of Terror at Rocky Point Park that appeared in the August 11, 1962 issue of Amusement Business. This popular attraction was later renamed House of Horrors and survived until the park closed in 1995.

Here is a letter to the editor, written by Bill Tracy himself, that appeared in the January 6, 1962 issue of Amusement Business. Tracy’s sense of humor, brilliance, and creativity is priceless. Nothing like some free advertising to promote your own company!

Happy Halloween! In celebration of the two-year anniversary of The Bill Tracy Project, we are releasing our feature presentation.

Introducing: The 40th Anniversary of Whacky Shack at Waldameer Park

All Bill Tracy enthusiasts should keep an eye out for our two-year anniversary feature presentation set to launch on Halloween! It is guaranteed to be truly WhAcKy!

Check out an article on repairing Celastic that appeared in the April 28, 1962 issue of Amusement Business. The large skull used for demonstration purposes is the same one that appeared on the cover of the 1962 O.D.D. catalog entitled We Work in the Dark. Did the demonstration for this article possibly take place in Tracy’s workshop?

Check out a small advertisement that appeared in the April 11, 1960 issue of The Billboard. As seen in the ad, a Tracy dark ride started at a bargain price of only $12,000!

This photo of Bill Tracy attaching his name tag while checking in at a convention appeared in the April 21, 1962 issue of Amusement Business.

Check out an updated photo gallery of the Haunted House at Camden Park taken in the summer of 2009. This was a joint venture with Pretzel Amusement Ride Company and is one of two surviving Pretzel-built gravity dark rides. Keep an eye out for one of Tracy’s practical jokes in the black and white ghost painting. 

Photos of Ocean Playland’s Ghost Ship are very rare and hard to come by. Thanks to John D., we are excited to add the first color photo that we have ever seen of Ghost Ship to our collection. This photo was taken from one of his father’s slides. 

Thanks to Al Alven, a Wildwood historian and enthusiast, we are pleased to release the full photo showing Bill Tracy standing on the deck of Pirate Ship “Skua”. This photo was taken around the opening of “Skua” and shows Tracy standing at the far right wearing a dark colored shirt. “Skua”, a walk-thru attraction at Hunt’s Pier, opened in 1962 and unfortunately closed in 1989. Click photo to enlarge and enjoy!

We all know Tracy had an incredible imagination when it came to advertisements and promotions. But, this one tops them all. Check out a newly-discovered advertisement from the March 24, 1962 issue of Amusement Business where Bill Tracy is depicted as “Bat Boy.” In this photo, Tracy is standing in front of several of his bat props from Riverside Park in Agawam, Massachusetts. Priceless!+

We are excited to share an image of the original ride layout for Pirates Cove at Waldameer Park in Erie, PA. The layout was drawn by Bill Tracy and is dated November 3, 1971 as a revised copy. Enjoy and be sure to check out other ride layouts!

A few weeks ago marked the 35th anniversary of the fire that destroyed one of Tracy’s most famous attractions, Kennywood Park’s Ghost Ship. This sad and tragic event took place on June 19, 1975 and was determined to have been an “electrical fire”. A website was just discovered that contains an eerie post that disputes the cause of this fire. A man actually confesses to starting the Ghost Ship fire! Read it for yourself and you decide, was this an “electrical fire” or did this man turn one of Tracy’s finest into a pile of burned wreckage? Explore the following three links and try to piece this puzzle together. 1 | 2 | 3

As good photos of Bill Tracy become harder and harder to come by, we are always captivated when a new one surfaces. Check out a great photo of Tracy judging at an event from the March 29, 1953 issue of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Tracy is in the left-hand photo, second in on the left.

Waldameer Park’s Whacky Shack, built by Bill Tracy in 1970, turned 40 this past weekend and we celebrated in style thanks to a great event put on by DAFE. The day of fun included ride time on Whacky Shack and Waldameer’s Pirates Cove, and a behind-the-scenes look of both the rides. We also had the opportunity to speak with two folks at the park who worked with Tracy. It was an interesting day to say the least. A plethora of updates will soon follow, but in the mean time check out photo galleries of Waldameer’s Whacky Shack and Pirates Cove.

Check out an article from the March 1, 1950 issue of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune where Bill Tracy is featured in a photo with some of his ceramic sculptures (left). For more on Tracy’s sculpturing endeavors, read the Early Years section of the biography. Click image to enlarge.

Let’s all wish Bill Tracy’s Whacky Shack at Waldameer Park a Happy Birthday! The famous attraction is turning 40 this year, and just as the park is about to open for the season, the Wine Cellar stunt is undergoing a major refurbishment. Check out a great set of photos contributed by park worker Randy S. who is carefully attempting to bring the stunt back to its original glory.

We are happy to release a full-frontal view of the Haunted House at Trimper’s Amusements in Ocean City, Maryland from the 1970s era before the second-story addition was finished thanks to the Ocean City Life-saving Station Museum website. You will notice that there is no ticket booth, no second story fence, shorter façade roofline, and additional columns near the front of the building (which are actually located near the back of the lobby today). Eat your hearts out; this is true Bill Tracy style!

Take a look at this rare advertisement for the Tracy Parade & Display Co. from the November 26, 1955 issue of The Billboard. This was an extremely remarkable find for us as it is the first marketing publication unearthed from this company.