Dark rides were extremely popular at amusement parks in the mid-20th century. They grew out of the "old mill" rides that were developed at the turn of the century, in which boats cruised by historical scenes (think "It's a Small World"). In the 1920s, Leon Cassidy and Marvin Rempfer made these rides more exciting and cheaper to build by putting people in cars that moved through a building (they called it the Pretzel). The visible scenes became scary vignettes that popped up in the dark when we least expected them, and expanded to include jokes along the way and themes such as Westerns and movie monsters. Collectors Weekly talked to George LaCross, who produced two documentaries on these rides and maintains the site Laff in the Dark.

Collectors Weekly: I read one of the earliest Pretzel stunts was just thread that hit your face.

LaCross: That was really innovative. It seems so simple, but Bill Cassidy—the second owner of Pretzel, the son of Leon—told us before he passed away that that was one of the gimmicks that he was most proud of. It was just a spool of thread. It would hang from a rafter in the ceiling, and it would rub up against people’s faces and creep them out. It’s supposed to be cobwebs, I guess, but it wasn’t an actual web. It was just a string, but you couldn’t see it. You weren’t expecting it. That got a real rise out people back then. It seems to me that just about every dark ride I rode in the 1960s had that. If it didn’t come factory-installed, I’m sure the park owners themselves would tack it up.

Dark rides changed quite a bit over the years, and there are still plenty of amusement parks that have them. Some are high-tech, while others look just as they did 50 years ago. Read about the history of these rides and relive that time you took your high school sweetheart on one, at Collectors Weekly.

(Image credit: Laff in the Dark)

Please don't design your Halloween costume around Miley Cyrus' appearance at the VMAs. Just don't. You might think you are being clever and topical, but if you've actually considered it, you can bet that everyone else in your peer group has also thought of it. There's something to be said for discussing your choice of costume with family and friends before the party. Your grand entrance is not the time to find out you've made a huge mistake. Webcomic artist Liz Climo predicts what may happen at many Halloween parties this year. Don't let it happen to you! -via Daily of the Day

Atlas Obscura continues their 31 Days of Halloween series with a church in the Czech Republic in which a man was buried alive. The Church of St. James the Greater (Kostel Sv. Jakuba Vetsiho) in Prague also has a mummified human arm hanging from the ceiling! How did it get there?

A long time ago, the story goes, probably around the 16th or 17th century, a man entered the church at night. He crossed the same threshold that groups of tourists still cross today, and just like them, he marveled at the beauty of the church. Precious stones and gold glinted in the candlelight, but the jewels adorning an icon of the Virgin Mary caught his eye. Certainly those would be more useful to him than to a statue. He climbed up and pried one loose.

The icon broke her pose and wrapped her cold stone hand around his arm. She kept him there until morning when a group of monks discovered him. They tried to free him. Perhaps they even forgave him. But it was no use. The icon remained unmoved. With all other options exhausted, they were forced to ask the parishioners for help. The church was, after all, near the butchers’ guild.

Yes, they cut his arm off, without anesthesia. The icon then released its grip, and the butchers hung the arm from the ceiling as a warning to others who might consider stealing from the church. What happened to the would-be thief afterward is not recorded. But what about the man who was buried alive in the church? That happened about a hundred years later, and you can read the whole story at Atlas Obscura. 

(Image credit: Flickr user Christian Bredfeldt)

We already have featured some adorable critter Halloween costumes this year, but if you can't get enough, don't miss this great Cute Overload collection of costumed critters. While all the costumes are pretty darn adorable, I just can't get enough of this precious little Ernie bulldog. Just look at that face -it's like he knows how great he looks in costume (or maybe he's just a huge Sesame Street fan).

Of course, don't forget to keep sending in your great pet Halloween costume pics to jill@neatorama.com so you can get your cute critter up on the site as well.

Today's featured costume comes from T.J. Griffin. It's a real groaner!

I usually try to have a Halloween costume that is topical, current and funny.

In 2005, the movie Legend of Zorro came out, starring Antonio Banderas.

I already had a cape and hat and mask, but it didn't seen funny.
Living in Buffalo NY, we are a five minute drive from the Peace Bridge to the province of Ontario in Canada.
Canadian flags and license plates are a common sight in town.
I kept running the movie title through my head, then inspiration struck.

I went to the duty free shop, bought a small patch featuring the Canadian flag,sewed it to a black handkerchief and added it to my costume.

I had business cards printed  up and when people would ask me what I was, I would hand them a card which read:

Zorro, featuring Ontario Bandanas

Ha! I love a good costume pun. Thanks, T.J!

Have you been keeping up with the featured coatume every day at the Halloween blog? Neatoramanauts have some great pictures of memorable Halloweens of the past! You can be a part of it, too -go find a picture of Halloween costume you've worn or made for your kids and send it to us tips@neatorama,com and then look for it on the Halloween blog! Whether it's awesome, funny, embarrassing, or just has a good story behind it, we want to see it. When it gets close to Halloween, we will award Neatorama t-shirts to the best pictures -you can't beat a deal like that!

(YouTube link)

There are fans who enjoy their particular pop culture favorites and like to get together to discuss the finer points of the movie, series, or book. Then there are rabid fans who sink into the universe of their obsession. Strange things can happen when some fangirls take their love of the world of Welcome to Night Vale a little too seriously. Video by fangirl observer OnlyLeigh. -Thanks, Leigh!

I wasn't sure about this video when it was submitted, because I'd never heard of Night Vale and suspected it might be a fictional pop culture thing. But Welcome to Night Vale is a real show, a podcast that is presented as a radio show from the small fictional community of Night Vale. And it has a vigorous fan base! I may have to check it out myself.

Say hello to Tom Barker and the TARDOG. If your pup just can't get enough of Doctor Who (or if you've always just dreamed your pooch was actually a weird reincarnation of the Doctor who will one day sweep you off your feet and take you on a trip through all space and time), then you can't afford not to dress up your pooch as Number 4 or the TARDIS. Better yet, if you have two dogs, you can make them both costumes to recreate the precious scene above.

You can thank Instructables user Iancmaltby for this fantastic photo, but don't get too excited that it's on Instructables because there aren't any details on how to make your own.

Singer/songwriter Jonathan Coulton was previously featured on Neatorama a year ago for his zombie song "Re: Your Brains."

But I'm a softie for romantic ballads, such as Coulton's sweet but sad tale of unrequited love between a mad scientist and a kidnapped damsel, titled "Skullcrusher Mountain."

Especially moving are the heartfelt lyrics of the second verse:

Sheesh. Some women are just never happy, no matter how many abominations against nature that you clone for them.

The featured costume today came from the toy box! Jamie C and Lucas (who were seen earlier in their The Price is Right costumes) dressed for as LEGO bricks for a different Halloween. Here they are, with an bonus look at Jamie posing with Prince.

For us huge Halloween fans, these cool gravestone chair covers would make a cool creepy home decoration we'd be happy to use all year round. For the rest of you though, don't worry, they not only seem pretty easy make, but they also seem easy to remove and store so you can only disturb your guests during October. 

The best thing about Northman's Party Vamps' tombstone chair covers being DIY is that you can write whatever you want on them...which means you could even customize them to fit each person attending a dinner party for an extra creepy surprise for your guests.

I follow makeup artist Katie Alves on DeviantART because her works are always cleverly designed and professionally executed. Her gallery includes eye makeup showing scenes from Disney movies, ponies and expressions of the seven deadly sins.

You may remember her black light firework makeup for Canada Day and the Fourth of July. She works a lot with black light makeup including, most recently, this face showing the Bride of Frankenstein. Shine on ultraviolet light to spark her into life.

This would be perfect for Halloween! You can watch a video tutorial showing you how to make your own here.

Simon Patel, an artist in the United Kingdom, carves beautifully expressive faces into logs and pumpkins. He carved the wood predator in 90 hours of work.

If the predator jack-o’-lantern reminds you of the work of master pumpkin carver Ray Villifane, then you have a good eye. Mr. Patel was heavily influenced by Mr. Villafane.

His entire gallery is worth exploring. There you can find sculptures of Abraham Lincoln, Bob Marley and the Wicked Witch of the West.

-via Obvious Winner

Mindy's little girl wanted to be a house. Not House, M.D. but a real house!

My daughter wanted to be a house (like the kid who wanted to be a table).  So we made her Alice in Wonderland stuck in a house.  It was a coffee maker box we painted. She was three years old then. I can't find any pictures on her own, but this one with her brothers as link and last second robot.

Mindy is the kind of mom who can make anything happen, no matter how implausible. Thanks for giving us our featured costume!

The following is an article from Uncle John's 24-Karat Gold Bathroom Reader.

Who will you encounter after you kick the bucket? The Grim Reaper? Or maybe an entirely different specter? It might depend on where you live, since none of the world's religions seems to agree on who -or what- will be waiting on the other side. Here are some of Death's strangest personifications.

Name: Yamaraj

Origin: Hindu culture

Details: Also known as Dharmaraj, or Yama, for short, his name literally means "the Lord of Death." In artistic depictions, he's a portly man with a mustache and, legend says, skin that's "the color of a rain cloud." He rides the plains of existence on a water buffalo, and upon a person's death, ropes the departed soul with a lasso and carries it to Yamalok, the Hindu underworld. His assistant, Chitragupta, keeps track of all the good and bad deeds of every human on the planet, and after checking the records, Yama determines how each should will be reincarnated. If the person was good, he might return as a tiger. If not: a mosquito.

(Image credit: Papa Ghede by DeviantART member snapesgirl34) 

Name: Papa Ghede

Origin: Haiti

Details: Voodoo practitioners believe that a short, cigar-chomping man in a top hat is waiting of rhtem at the crossroads of Earth and the afterlife. That man is Papa Ghede, who legend says is the living corpse of the first man who ever died. He's aided by four other spirits who handle everything from guarding graveyards to giving voices to the dead during seances. Ghede loves rum and is known for his crass sense of humor and great wisdom, which includes an extensive knowledge of everything that happens in the worlds of the living and the dead. He also reads minds and sometime inhabits humans, inspiring them to make love. If that isn't enough, Ghede is also the patron saint of those who die young. Worshipers offer him rum, cigars, or sacrificed cows to prevent him from taking sick children to the underworld.

(YouTube link)

A Halloween classic from 1982 by Tim Burton, narrated by Vincent Price. -via The Daily Martini