The Mystery Hill Girl

It’s hard to believe, but it’s been eight years since I paid my Farewell Visit to Prehistoric Forest and Mystery Hill out at Marblehead and wrote about it here on the blog.

(Both attractions have been favorite topics here, with my original post about Prehistoric Forest; some vintage postcards and a collection of articles about both attractions; and the aforementioned three-part Farewell series of posts when the attractions closed for good.)

I’ve found a few new Mystery Hill postcards since my last blog post. All were published by Buckhorn Press Inc. of Gatlinburg, Tennessee with photography by Gene Aiken.

Most of the postcards feature the same pretty young girl. She’s wearing the same outfit in each photo so it must have been a busy day of shooting. We’ll call her the Mystery Hill Girl.

Here’s the Mystery Hill Girl on the Mystery Table. I like that knotty pine paneling.

Here she is again. The caption for this postcard was, “DID YOU EVER SEE WATER FLOW UP HILL?”

In this shot, the Mystery Hill Girl has picked up a little buddy. Well, maybe she’s not really a little buddy because she’s taller than the Mystery Girl in one of the photos. (The caption is “NOW SHE IS TALLER, NOW SHE IS NOT!”)

In this shot, the little buddy takes a break from shooting and relaxes in the Mystery Chair.

There are also postcards out there for Mystery Hill attractions in different parts of the country. They feature other models, including some Mystery Hill Adults.

But it’s only the blonde Mystery Hill Girl who is featured on three postcards. I wonder if she gets a kick out of being recognized by postcard collectors everywhere?

Let’s hope she’s still out there somewhere in America, enjoying life as well as her fame.

Prehistoric Forest Revisited in Early 1960s Articles

Vintage postcard of Prehistoric Forest showing original building and tram
(Courtesy of ForwardLook website)

Summer is rapidly drawing to a close, and it's making me wax nostalgic (whatever that means).

It's hard to believe that it's been four years since Prehistoric Forest out near Marblehead closed. You might remember that back in 2010, I blogged extensively about both Prehistoric Forest and its companion attraction, Mystery Hill, back in this post, as well as my multi-part farewell series, and my postcard sampler.

Anyway, mentioning this gives me an excuse to post some vintage Sandusky Register articles about the late, great attraction. They provide a detailed history of the park that isn't available anywhere else.

First up is a short article that appeared in the Sandusky Register on July 13, 1963 – apparently shortly after Prehistoric Forest opened in May of that year.

Next is a collection of articles and photos that appeared about a year later in the Sandusky Register on August 22, 1964. One article introduces the reader to the wonders of Mystery Hill.

Lastly is an article that appeared in the Sandusky Register on October 8, 1965. It was written by Sue Hively, the newspaper's Women's Editor, and explains how James Q. Sidwell constructed and maintained the prehistoric "pets" for his park.

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Wonder whatever happened to all the dinosaurs? As recently as last week, I visited the Prehistoric Forest/Mystery Hill website in preparation for this post, and noticed that the owners were still selling off various dinosaurs and items from the park.

But today, the link is as extinct as their beasts.

Prehistoric Forest Postcards

Here's the vintage postcard I was referring to in my previous blog.

As you can see from my photo from over the weekend, he must have molted or something!

Here's a postcard that I picked up in the office/gift shop at Prehistoric Forest/Mystery Hill last weekend. 

The back of it looks like this. 

At first when I saw the deer, I thought that somehow Deer Park had muscled its way onto the back of the postcard as some kind of cross-promotion. But then I saw the name of the printing company in small print.

I thought it was strange that the postcard only mentioned Mystery Hill and not Prehistoric Forest. But at least I now know the name of the piece of furniture that I was standing on: the Mystery Table!

I wonder if they'll put the Mystery Table up for sale when the attraction closes? I don't know, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to put a lamp on it! Or a bowl of candy.

Farewell Trip to Prehistoric Forest Part 2

The last time I was at Mystery Hill (back in the 1980's), guides stayed with you every step of the way to demonstrate the various mysterious phenomena and entertain you with rehearsed patter. But it's a self-guided tour now, which is fine with me, because you can loiter!

After my brief dizziness spell, we approached the Mystery Shack. Outside, water was indeed running uphill and downhill!

There are signs in each room explaining what mysterious phenomena is taking place and instructions telling you what to do. First up was a chair with its back legs resting on a beam and its front legs suspended in the air.

When you sat in it, it looked something like this. It's a little hard to see, but the front legs of the chair aren't touching the ground!

Next was a strange table on which we were instructed to stand. I climbed up on it for the photo op and here is the mind-boggling result!

This is the classic gag that appeared on several vintage postcards for sale in the gift shop. It's a great illusion!

The rest of our tour of Mystery Hill was fun. Walking through the rest of the shack was a challenge, like walking on a ship that was leaning to one side. Or if you prefer, it felt like being drunk!

There was a display outside where you could roll a tennis ball uphill. Again, a pretty good gag! (I'm a sucker for these examples of good clean, wholesome American Roadside hokum!)

But with the Mystery Hill part of our journey over, it was time for the part that I'd been waiting for: Prehistoric Forest!

Next: Into the Forest!

Farewell Trip to Prehistoric Forest Part 1

Over the weekend, I took a little trip in a time machine. Actually two trips – one to One Million B.C. and at the same time, a shorter jaunt back to about 1965. I'm talking of course about my visit to Prehistoric Forest and Mystery Hill out in Marblehead.

I had mentioned earlier that my family had gone to Prehistoric Forest back in the early 1960's and the visit had left a big impression on me. The attraction had reached mythological status in my mind, and when I found out that it was closing this year, I knew I had to go back one last time. I wasn't disappointed!

When you arrive, you are greeted by the site of a volcano with an impressive waterfall, along with a huge dinosaur (like on a Sinclair Oil Company sign) nearby. Other years, I seem to recall that the volcano was more gaudy-colored, almost pink.

After purchasing our tickets, we waited in a holding area outside (near a giant turtle) to await the arrival of our 'guide' – who turned out to be a boy of about ten years old. (I couldn't resist asking him is there wasn't some sort of child labor law violation taking place.) Our young guide then led us to the Mystery Hill area of the complex.

Mystery Hill is similar to other attractions around the country (with names like the Mystery Spot) where all sorts of strange natural phenomena take place. At these places, the laws of gravity have been revoked; water runs uphill, balls roll uphill etc.

Our young guide enlisted our help in the first demonstration of mysterious happenings by having us stand, facing each other, on two seemingly level short concrete pedestals. (He even put a level on them to prove he was on the level.) The idea was that two people of the same height would actually appear to be different heights depending on which pedestal they were standing on. Unfortunately, since I am taller than my wife, I was taller than her no matter which pedestal I stood on! (I tried to help the illusion by secretly squatting.) Our guide was not amused.

After this demonstration, we were led to the fenced in trail leading to the mystery shack, where we were promptly abandoned by our guide. (Other years, the guides would accompany you the whole way, but now it is a do-it-yourself tour.)

I gotta admit, when we first approached the mysterious shack, I got a little bit dizzy! Maybe this place wasn't for 50-somethings after all!

Next: Inside the Mystery Shack

Prehistoric Forest

If you've ever spent any time out by Marblehead, then you've probably driven by Prehistoric Forest on Route 163. You can't miss it, with its large smoking volcano out front facing the highway.

At left is a vintage postcard showing one of the denizens of the Forest.

My parents took my siblings and me to Prehistoric Forest when we were kids back in the 1960's. I have a fond memory of it, although I don't remember much about it. I remember taking a tram ride around the forest and every so often a dinosaur or other prehistoric creature would lurch into view. I also remember coming home with little plastic dinosaurs like the type you would get in a cereal box back then.

Since that first visit, I've been back once, with my sister about 15 years ago. By then, the tram was gone and you had to hoof it around the forest. There was also another attraction as part of the price, Mystery Hill, where there is a creepy shack in which all the laws of gravity are basically thrown out the window. Mysterious things happen like balls rolling uphill. Actually, Mystery Hill was pretty good!

One of my favorite books, The New Roadside America gave a hilarious description of Prehistoric Forest. Apparently there were two sister Prehistoric Forests, one in Marblehead and one in Irish Hills, Michigan. While the one in Michigan was semi-educational, the one in Ohio was... well, here is the book's description:

At the Prehistoric Forest in Marblehead all pretense of history and education are abandoned. Tram riders are issued miniature M-16 rifles and are instructed to "kill the monsters." A prerecorded tour guide panics repeatedly and screams, "To the left! To the right! Shoot! Shoot!!!" whenever one of the feebly nodding dinosaurs comes into view. The forest echoes with the chatter of toy M-16 fire spraying in all directions. The tram driver remains unaffected by the mayhem, smoking cigarettes and sipping coffee as the tram slowly chugs along.

The book's description makes me wish they still had the tram ride!

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If you're going to pay a visit to Prehistoric Forest and Mystery Hill, then you'd better hurry. They are closing for good after this season. I'm going in a few weeks.

Click here for a nice article about the history of the park that ran in the Chronicle Telegram, and here for Neil Zurcher's take on the topic.