Do the dead return? Spooks sit beside you? Wow, a Ghost Show! I’d love to go! It’s even from a theatre in my home town! The only problem is that I’m several decades too late… and a McDonalds sits where the theatre once was. I did, however, get to see a few movies there as a kid though. Annie and Goonies are the ones I remember the most.
The above poster, which Joe and I discovered in a very cool new antique store in Lexington, led me to reading and learning about a part of history I knew very little about. Should I be embarrassed about this? I’m now fascinated! I’ve not been able to find a similar version of this poster from another theatre, which may also be why this was marked at $145. I didn’t buy it, of course… oh but I wanted it really badly. If I had to make a guess, I’d say it was from the 1950s, but I’m not entirely sure. The piece of tape above “Thursday”, is covering what I assume is probably the word “MIDNIGHT”. The store, The Country Peddler, has so many similar posters and banners, including lots of oil painted canvas advertisements (not sure what else to call them) from as early as the 1800s , plus lots of large nostalgic items, like jukeboxes, for example. Check it out if you make it to Lexington.
The Midnight Ghost Show…
The concept of the ghost show was apparently started by Elwin-Charles Peck in 1929. Really it was a stage magic show inspired by the popularity of spiritualism, and the tricks were the same ones used by the charlatans and fraudulent mediums of the time. People (mainly kids and teens) went for the séances, conjuring, flying ghosts that glowed in the dark, terrifying stunts, and audience participation. Often there were staged blackouts, where tricks would then be played on audience members, making them believe there was a “spook” near them.
In the 1930s and 40s these traveling “midnight ghost shows” were very popular in small towns around the country. Peck inspired a generation of copycats, all known as “ghost masters”, that took the ghost show to an all new level in the 40s and the 50s. The most successful of these would be Jack Baker, whose stage name was Dr. Silkini. It is said that humor is what Baker added to the already popular ghost show formula to make it so wildly successful. The concept struggled to keep the attention of an audience through the 60s and 70s, mainly due to the popularity of television. Jack Baker died in 1980.
I’m really bummed that I missed this craze. I bet it was really fun. Were any of my readers fortunate enough to have witnessed any of these shows from the time period? I’d love to hear from you!
Want more info?
The main sources I used for this blog post come from two wonderful articles: Matt Novak’s The Rise and Fall of the Midnight Ghost Shows and Jim Knipfel’s Dr. Silkini’s Asylum of Horrors. I urge you to check these sites out if you want to learn more.
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Psychic Skill Items Revealed!
Psychic Skill Items Revealed! This is a photo I took the evening of the original blog post, and the items have remained in these exact places since then.
For the previous post, where I introduced the exercise, visit Fun with Psychic Skill!
The Brick
The item on the left is a brick from the Lexington High School/Middle School that I, along with several generations of my family, attended in Lexington, Missouri. I actually attended from the fourth to the eighth grade. The school, which was built in 1927, was demolished ten years ago. I was hoping someone would get some energy from this item.
A photo of the demolition of the old school. This view is of the main entrance on the opposite side of the view you see in the black and white photo above.
The Boy with the Fish
The item on the right is a ceramic boy with a fish that was given to me by an uncle when I was little. I’ve always had it somewhere in my room or in my home since then.
So how did you do?
Sam Crust mentioned an award in his description, which makes me wonder if he could have been seeing the shiny gold plate with inscription glued to the front of the brick. He also mentioned a toy (specifically, Huckleberry Hound), which is a standing character (two legs, arms, facial features, etc.) similar to my boy with the fish.
Kevin D’Arcy mentioned “ceramic”, which is a good call. I can also see how he may have gotten a “bobble head type figure” from my boy with the fish.
Paranormalogistically mentioned the characteristics of “square or rectangular” and “box”, which would connect with my brick. I can also see how she could get “bumpy texture like hobnail glass” (which I had to look up to know what it was) with the boy with the fish. She mentioned “keepsake” as well, which I would consider both of these items to be.
Both Phyllis and Brandie Sellers used the word “box” in their descriptions, connecting them to the brick.
Randall Keller listed several colors, which you could argue is represented somewhere in both items. He also used the term “rectangular”, connecting it to the brick, and “smooth textures”, connecting it to the boy with the fish.
Shall we try this again sometime?
I really had fun doing this and I hope you found it interesting… or at least entertaining. I’d love to try it again sometime, would you? And if anyone decides to try this on their own, let me know. I’d love to participate.
To those who practiced their psychic skill for this exercise, thanks so much!
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