Loads of new Two new things for you. First up, my long overdue tribute to the Castle Dracula ride of Wildwood, New Jersey. The legendary amusement went down in a 2002 fire, souring a million memories for a million people. Regardless, it’s the best damn ride of ‘em all, and though I’d planned to hold off on writing this until the Halloween season, I couldn’t help myself. Now that I have closure on the Castle Dracula issue, maybe someday I can go back there.

Also, Strawberry-Falls Punch, a very rare flavor from 1986, has been added to the Kool-Aid Section. This packet isn’t quite like the others — check out why.

I don’t want it to be Monday tomorrow. I’d be more okay with Monday being the day after tomorrow. One of you, snap some fingers.

Monday Edit: Click “more” for a bunch of e-mails I’ve received today in response to the Castle Dracula tribute.

Wednesday Edit: Now with even more Dracula-related e-mail.

Gene: First time I had ever been in it was after my Senior Prom. The girl I was
with freaked out during the beheading. I forgot all about that place. Thanks! Brought back some great memories.

Ian: Great site, really. I spent half my work day just going through all your blogs and the random 80’s nostalgia postings. This is some funny shit. The Atlantic City story is good, and the Castle Dracula really brought back memories. I especially enjoyed the Upstate article and the piece about the “Gizmos & Gadgets” shop. You’ve really got something here, keep it up.

Tim: This is to inform you that, contrary to your opinion, the Castle Dracula “awful music” is none other than J.S. Bach’s Toccata and fugue in D Minor BWV565. This organ work is considered by most to be one of the most compelling and substantive works for organ, almost unique in Bach’s known compositions. Not to mention it has had continual popular success in our contemporary times. It is also mildly controversial, in that it’s unique stylistic elements might suggest that Bach was not the sole author. But if not Bach, who?

Awful music? If you really think it’s awful, what original musical work could you consider sublime? I don’t even want to know…that contaminated Jersey Shore Aire must have shorted out the last functioning musical appreciation neuron in your noodle. All the best…

(Note from Matt: I know what song it is — the article names it. And by “awful” music, I mean “scary.” Yeah.)

Melissa: I LOVED your tribute to Castle Dracula. The place was a mecca of my church youth group trips in the 1970-80s and I have so many fond memories. It was so great to have photos and the “awful music” to add to the sensory experience. Thanks so much.

Johnstarr: I just read your X-E article on the Castle Dracula ride in Wildwood New Jersey and I just had to tell you how close to home it hit. I, too, went to Wildwood every year since I was a baby with the family but have not been able to go for the past four years. I also feared that ride before going on it, but my fear was even more intense. See, we always stayed at the Midtown Hotel which was right next to the pier housing Castle Dracula. So not only did I worry about it when we walked passed it every day on the way to Snow White, but every night when I went to bed I looked out the tiny hotel room windows and stared at the red glowing windows. A cousin of mine walked through the thing each year as a tradition and I admired her so much for it. Finally, one year, my mom and dad decided me and my sister were old enough and we all rode through it on the boat together. They figured that would be less intense than walking through it, and after riding it, I didn’t want to believe them. I never got to walk through the upper areas of the ride but wish that I did. That boat ride scared the piss out of me and reading your article brought back all of those old memories.

Of course, it also brought back a lot of good memories of Wildwood and the boardwalk and makes me pine to go back and waste even more money at Bobby Dee’s Casino Arcade not even a block from where we stayed. It really hurts to read that the place was burned down, but that seems to be a trend in Wildwood. When I was young, the first ride I ever rode was the Keystone Cops. That whole pier burned down much the same way Castle Dracula did. I remember the same burning hate for those fuckers you have when I was only 5. How dare they destroy something, even unintentionally, that brought so much joy and was so pure.

Sorry for the rambling letter, but I had to tell you just how much that article meant to me, and I think it does Castle Dracula justice just to be remembered by the people who loved it like you and me.

Stacey: hey matt – just wanted to say how much i appreciated the castle dracula article! reading it felt like something coming from my own head. my family took us every year, except for that one year we got to go to Disney like all the other kids.. (whooo hooo, we’re going OUT OF STATE for a vacation!). I remember my dad saying “come on, let’s go in this year!” when i was young, but there was no way! finally going in was like conquering the great beast of NJ, it was extremely surreal and such an incredible memory, i’m just glad i have it.

now that i’m 8 months pregnant, i am really sad that i won’t ever be able to experience it with my own kids. my husband is from north jersey, spending summers in LBI, so he never went as a kid either. of course, i drug him there when we started dating, but it’s not the same when you are older…

anyway, if you ever find the asses that torched it, let me know. seriously. something should be done! thanks for the memories!

Brad: Dude, I have been a huge fan of this site for many years now. You never cease to put a smile on my face with your articles dealing my favorite, cartoons, commercials and games from my youth. But I have to say your most recently article is the one that sealed the deal and put you in the category of my favorite website of all time.

I am from and still live in Baltimore, MD. Which is to say that when you went on vacation you were taught to go to Ocean City, MD. But thank goodness I had parents that broke from the norm. They never liked the big city feel of OC so they decided very early on in my life that our family would vacation in Wildwood, NJ. And I thank them every chance I get for introducing me to Morey’s Pier, Hunt’s Pier, Mariner’s Landing, Ed’s Funcade, Mack’s Pizza and countless other Wildwood favorites. But one thing stood above all others. Castle Dracula.

I think I was 24 before I actually stepped foot in the castle and certainly after learning of its demise I’m glad I did. The castle was unlike anything I had ever since before, or since. It was Wildwood for me in a nutshell. Nothing effected me greater than that structure. I was terrified of it.

There is a great story that every now and again my cousins and me force my mom and aunt to spin of the time they went into Castle Dracula the second year it opened. I’ll spare you the details but I will say it is the funniest story I’ve ever heard the tell.

Or course like most family traditions, they end eventually and we stopped going to Wildwood when I was around 14 years old. Since then the old boardwalk had just lived in my memory until 2001 when we decided to round up the family and head to Wildwood. Thank god we did since it would be a year later that the Castle would be destroyed. But it was great re-living all those memories.

I know this e-mail is rambling but as you know things like this tend to get you so excited you do know how to express it. What upsets me the most is not being able to scare the crap out of my daughter just like my parents did me when they walked me past the entrance many years ago.

PS – The internet is a wonderful place. I’m sure you have found these other sites since you yourself loved Wildwood as a destination. but here are two sites that have some great pics of the old rides that haunted the boards many years ago. I only wish I was older and had a chance to ride the Star Wars ride that used to occupy a spot on Morey’s Pier back in the late 70s. I was only like 3 or 4 years old and actually thought I had made it up until I saw pictures of the ride on these sites below. That ride will forever remain a mystery to me.

http://www.mrboardwalk.net/
http://www.funchase.com

Matt: I was so sad to hear it burned down when my sister told me after it happened. We would go to Wildwood every summer, just as your described also. We would dare each other to go on when we were little and make up scary stories about what was inside. I would go on as I got older and make up stories about what was really in the castle to them. Man, those were good times!! Thanks for the article! WATCH THE TRAM-CAR PLEASE!

Greg: I just came across your article on Castle Dracula. I must say that I wa moved by what you wrote. No, I never visited Castle Dracula. Nor did I ever hear anything about I burning down, until tonight. I guess you can probably guess that I didn’t even live in New Jersey, either.

I grew up near Cleveland, Ohio. But like yourself, there were attractions that were very magical to me when I was young. I loved the cheesy haunted rides at carnivals and fairs, no matter how fake the “monsters” were that inhabited the inside or how poorly applied the greasepaint was on the people that ran it from the outside. Those places helped to make our childhoods truly memorable.

One place that I remember was an old “pirate” ride at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. If you haven’t been there, I’m sure you’ve heard of it as they are touted as having the most and some of the fastest roller coasters on the planet (yawn, who cares…). Anyway, I remember in very vivid detail that there was this old one-story attraction that had a pirate theme going on. Not much more than a poor man’s Pirates of the Carribean ride, I still loved it. You basically got in these little guided carts (complete with a skull and crossbones ornament) that took you through these small, but fun little scenes. Pirate mannequins with limited movement would swing swords at you, chase wenches around a tavern, and fire cannon balls directly at you (nothing more than a red bulb flashing inside of the cannon muzzle, of course).

There was even some really great touches which the Disney ride never had. One scene had the cart riding through complete darkness until you came across several items “bobbing” in the water with gaunt-looking pirate survivors clinging to them – obviously their ship had capsized. Whistling wind sound effects blasted out of hidden speakers as a pirate yelled, “Watch out for the whale!” The cart then swerved toward a huge outstretched whale mouth, complete with giant teeth. The cart would then plunge right into the mouth and darkness ensued. On your dimly-lit journey through the whale, you would encounter swallowed pirates playing cards on a large piece of smashed deck and you would also get to see the large, red heart of the whale as a deep “THUMP-THUMP” echoed throughout the darkness. The ending of this ride was a gruesome sight. A pirate was strung up on the gallows with a noose around his neck. As your cart approached this scene, the pirate’s body fell away from his head, leaving little tattered pieces of flesh hanging from his neck. The cart would then burst out through heavy, hinged doors and that was it. End of ride. Ten to fifteen minutes of damn good fun.

This ride didn’t climb to heights of 300 feet. Nor did it reach speeds in excess of 60mph. But, it didn’t matter. I absolutely loved it. It was the first ride that I wanted to jump on whenever my family made the three hour trip to Sandusky (which wasn’t often). I never really enjoyed roller coasters, either. I just didn’t enjoy standing in a line in the blazing summer sun for over a half hour and then spending a mere two minutes having your intestines pushed up your throat. I didn’t get it and I didn’t like it. I enjoyed the pirate ride because I knew that, every single time, I would never be disappointed.

Unfortunately, the pirate ride was demolished to make way for more “extreme” thrills. I believe there is 800 tons of roller coaster track that looms over where the little pirate ride used to be. No, the pirate ride’s fate isn’t nearly as tragic as Castle Dracula’s, but the two rides share much in common. They were bits of history of an era that is quickly becoming extinct.

Theses rides also challenged our imaginations as kids. The big budget corporate rides spare nothing. Everything’s been designed to a flawless tee. There are no spaces to fill using a child’s imagination. It’s all there. Every penny, every dollar. The old rides were cheesy, but that was part of their appeal to us. That whale’s mouth in the old Cedar Point pirate ride didn’t move. It didn’t rise out of the water. It didn’t do anything. But, I could swear that, as a kid, that whale was swimming right at me and it swallowed our entire cart, track and all.

I will miss that little pirate ride and I am sorry to hear what happened to Castle Dracula. I am sorry if this letter seems a bit overblown, but I can certainly appreciate how you feel and I just wanted you to know that there others that feel the same way. Thanks for your time Matt and keep remembering the good old days. They are one of the few things in today’s world that are worth remembering.

Paul: I enjoyed the Castle Dracula article very much! I always love it when you do those kind of articles; so don’t worry about not pleasing the masses.

More added Wednesday…

Tara: I just read your article on Castle Dracula and Wildwood, and I loved it.  I spent some time every summer “down the shore” and had many of the same feelings you had about the Boardwalk.  I didn’t actually get to go into the Castle until I was much older – there was no way my Mom was going in with me!  But I was glad I have some memory of it too.  I used to spend at least a week down there but now I can only squeeze a long weekend out of my husband as he does not share the feelings I have for Wildwood but he is a good sport and humors me for a while.  A lot has changed down there.  Sadly hotels are being knocked down left and right for condos.  But I still get the same feelings I did when I was younger when I see the Boardwalk.
I hope I didn’t bother you with this email just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your article. Thanks!

Alicia:
I don’t normally do this sort of thing, but I  absolutely had to send you kudos on your Castle Dracula article because I feel  the same way about haunted house dark rides, and so few other people do.

My family had a similar tradition, except that  since we live in Utah, our destination each summer was always Lagoon amusement  park–which boasts two haunted house dark rides!  They’re both the type  that send you through in cars, on a track, and have mechanical monsters that  lean out through the windows on the outside of the ride, or tell cheesy jokes to  people waiting in line. Of course, they were always the pinnacle of any  trip to Lagoon, even when I was really young and too afraid to open my eyes once we were inside.

So, when I as a teenager went with my  family to visit a grandparent in New York and he took us down to his summer home  in Wildwood (and therefore the boardwalk). Just like you, I was drawn in  by the music and *had* to go into Castle Dracula.  Unfortunately, only the  walkthrough bit was open; apparently, they were doing repairs on the boat  ride.  But at least, I told myself, I can come back some other time.

Then some asshole kids burned it down.  I  don’t think I have to tell you how disappointed I was when I read about  that.  I’m pretty sure that it was almost directly after we left New  Jersey, too, and that made it all the worse.  I think that, in the same  article that talked about the fire, I also read that Castle Dracula was the  country’s longest-running dark ride.  It was hard to think that I’d been  that close and still never seen the *real* Castle Dracula–the boat ride–when I considered myself such a huge fan of dark rides.

That’s why I’m so appreciative of your article, the  pictures, and the links to the Castle’s page on Dark in the Park.  So few  people appreciate dark rides, anymore.  It’s a dying art, and it’s really  sad to think that when all of these places get too old or get vandalized like  Castle Dracula, nobody’s going to feel that repairing or rebuilding them is worth the effort.

In the meantime, if you ever find yourself in Utah  (well…  pray that you don’t), stop by Farmington and check out  Lagoon.  Admission is about $40, but all rides except  for a free-fall thrill ride and a racetrack ride are free after  that, and like I said, we’ve got two dark rides–which the park seems to keep in  pretty good repair, and even adds new displays amongst the original ones.

Anyway, thanks again for the article, and I’ll keep  reading them so long as you keep writing them.

Dead Dave: hey, matt! first off let me say thanks for the article on the castle, it brings back so many memories of my home for 6 years. I worked inside castle dracula from 1989-1994 and I loved every minute of it. I had very similar feelings about the two teenage boys who set it on fire. I wanted them punished severly and slowly so they could feel the pain they caused all of us. in your artcle you have a picture of one of the family members in the bloody squeeze chamber, that’s my friend charlie snow from high school. any way I can go on forever. thanks drop me a line sometime.

Doug: Thanks for such a great tribute to Castle Dracula!  Your experiences
with the Castle and Wildwood in general were so similar to mine.  If I had the money, I’d invest to rebuild the place, or something with a similar experience (improved, of course and a dungeon not smelling like castle employee piss).  I’m sure you know that The Nickels thought ofre-building it, but will cost too much as they only got $75k for it.  Oh well.  They’re probably still in court with the water park people that hate them.

I’ll be down there in August to pay respects, as I have for almost each year since.  I can’t stay away from the tackiness of Wildwood.  If they can only re-hab the Golden Nugget mine ride, at least something from years past may be saved.

Len: I just wanted to thank you for the great article on Castle Dracula! I
have very similar childhood memories of the place, and of Wildwood in general.  While I miss the ol’ joint, seeing the article and the pictures especially was a breath of fresh air.  Here’s hoping that someday they’ll build something that once again looms over the entire beach and haunts children for years.

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