Our terrifying week of Halloween tricks and treats continues with a peek into the eldritch horrors of tilt-induced visual illusions.
This postcard shows the Haunted Shack in the “Ghost Town” section of Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. It is undated but was probably created not long after the walkthrough attraction was built in 1954.
This item is part of Hagley Library’s John Margolies collection of travel photographs and postcards (Accession 2017.254). John Margolies (1940-2016) was an American photographer and architecture critic with a fondness for novelty architecture. This is his personal collection of postcards and photographs from across North America.
These materials primarily cover the United States’ most popular tourist spots along with various businesses. There is heavy coverage of the Northeast region of the United States, where Margolies lived most of his life. Postcards are primarily from the first half of the twentieth century, and photographs primarily span circa 1890-1920s.
The postcards in this collection cover a wide range of subjects from famous attractions to local businesses, and photographs are almost entirely local businesses, many being interior views of family-owned businesses with their owners.
A few objects are contained within the collection, including signs from local businesses and a scrapbook from the honeymoon of an unidentified couple. A small number of transparencies and negatives conclude the collection, which were used for the planning of some of Margolies’ books.