Slightly unsettling old postcard: Dungeon Rock in Massachusetts

I mentioned on Thursday that I had an old postcard of Dungeon Rock in Lynn, Massachusetts, and here it is. The unused postcard was published by The Metropolitan News Company in Boston and made in Germany. The back of those postcard is for the recipient's address only, so it was likely produced prior to March 1907.

Dungeon Rock is located within Lynn Woods Reservation, which is the largest municipal park in New England.

Dungeon Rock's improbable but (mostly?) true history dates to 1658 and involves pirates, treasure, caves, a deadly earthquake, spiritualists, and much more. You can read much more about it at these links:

• Friends of Lynn Woods: Dungeon Rock
• The New England Grimpendium: Dungeon Rock
• Creepy-chusetts, Strange-chusetts blog
• "The History of Dungeon Rock: Completed Sept. 17th, 1856" by Nannette Snow Emerson (a free eBook)

One interesting thing I found in examining this postcard is that there are more people shown that I originally thought. I count at least five individuals, and I probably did not notice the man sitting on the rock until the 10th time I looked at the card. Also, what I originally believed to be a red ribbon tied to a branch is actually a partially obscured woman in a full-length red dress.

Finally, it doesn't take much imagination to see a face (or faces) within the foliage.

Great links: Explore the dark side of New England

For those seeking some spooky autumn travel, J.W. Ocker of Odd Things I've Seen recently put together a piece called "Explore the dark side of New England with these spooky sites" for The Boston Globe.

Ocker's article mentions creepy destinations ranging from the Sarah Winchester's grave to the Graveyard Shift Mill to Dungeon Rock (of which I have a vintage postcard that I haven't written about yet).

One of the sites Ocker mentions is the Walloomsac Inn in Bennington, Vermont, which is pictured at the top of this post. I wrote about that building, with a little help from Ocker, in July 2012 and September 2012.

For many more travel ideas, check out Ocker's full piece in The Globe.

Scary images from "a completely new guide to Gel-Cookery"

Gelatin molds, for some inexplicable reason¹, have remained one of the running themes of Papergreat over the years.²

Today, I'm featuring some questionable images from 1962's Knox On-Camera Recipes, a staplebound book that bills itself as "a completely new guide to Gel-Cookery," as if that's something to aspire to. (Knox is still around today — it's a brand of NBTY (formerly Nature's Bounty) — and you can read about its history here.)

So, with Halloween just around the corner, here are some hellish images and suggestions from the world of gelatin molds. As always, I am NOT providing any of these actual recipes. That would just be too dangerous to the general public.

Green Salad Mold
"A new and deliciously different twist for a popular stand-by — green salad is molded for added pleasure."

Molded Avocado and Tuna
"A dreamy two-layered main dish salad with great eye appeal plus a divine combination of flavors."

Deviled Egg Mold
"Eggs take on airs and the result teams up wonderfully well with sliced cold meats or poultry."

Cottage Cheese and Kidney Bean Salad
"Hearty enough for a luncheon main dish, this salad has a tempting combination of flavors everyone will enjoy."

Gelatin molds were just one part of the Halloween Countdown that was held here two Octobers ago. If you're on the lookout for more odd and creepy ephemera³, here's a recap of that series:

• #1: Nightmare toilets
• #2: Scary elves: Mr. Do and Mr. Don't
• #3: Things you shouldn't put in Jell-O
• #4: Harley-Davidson fashion horrors
• #5: Rupture-Easer: "Unexcelled for comfort"
• #6: A sweater only a mother could love
• #7: Fayd Skin Cream, for unsightly blemishes
• #8: Recipe: Extremely unappetizing shrimp dish
• #9: A knitted dress for which there are no words
• #10: A clown
• #11: A mystery photo that might give you nightmares
• #12: Horrors from a 1967 gift guide
• #13: The horrors of me
• #14: Comic book advertisement: "Live Mystery Egg"
• #15: "Hi There, High School!"

Footnotes
1. Me.
2. Here, for those brave enough, are the links to Papergreat's past gelatin coverage:

• Halloween Countdown #3: Things you shouldn't put in Jell-O
• Horrifying ephemeral images that will haunt you this Halloween
• Partial label from Ecco Tomato Juice and the Tomato Twinkle recipe
• 1952 advertisement for Royal gelatin desserts
• A handy Christmas cape that doubles as a tree skirt
• What's worse than using gelatin in your dinner mold recipe?

3. And I honestly have no idea why you would be.

Thomas's Blanks for Written Spelling, as used in 1895

Here's a relic that was used 118 autumns ago in the classroom. Shown above is the cover of Thomas's Blanks for Written Spelling, a staplebound booklet. According to the inside front cover, the teaching aid was copyright 1890 by Julian P. Thomas of Richmond, Va., and, according to the front cover, it was published and sold by J.L. Hill Printing Company, also of Richmond.

Here's what's written in cursive on the bottom of the cover...

To me, that name looks like J. Brite Tavenner, who was a student at Philmont (Philomont?) School. The date is September 25, 1895.

That could be Jonah Brite Tavenner, a name that appears in the U.S. census in 1880 and 1910. There is also, intriguingly, a 1939 obituary for Mary Garrett Van Sickler, who died in Philmont (Philomont?), Virginia. One of her pall bearers was Brite Tavenner.

Ten pages of the booklet are filled with Tavenner's spelling lessons. Words were read aloud to students and written in the right- and left-hand columns of each page. Misspelled words were then rewritten correctly in the middle column.

The words Tavenner had to learn included apostle, apocrypha, anthracite, anthropology, archangel, auspicious, audacious, attenuate, cochineal, cockroach, codicil, cohesion, concave, concentric, confederacy, constipate, contemporaneous and countermand.

By my quick reckoning, Tavenner correctly spelled 288 of the 300 words that were dictated to him. That's 96 percent. Not too shabby! And these were not easy words. Certainly many of them would not be easy for contemporary grade-school students.

Here's one of the words that he missed and had to write correctly.

Hay llamas! 1950s illustrated map of Catskill Game Farm

Pictured above are the front and back covers of the "Illustrated Map of Catskill Game Farm." Scrawled in pen on the front is "July 1959," which seems about right for the age of this foldout guide.

The zoo was in operation for 73 years, from 1933 to 2006. It was owned and run by members of the Lindemann family (including founders Roland and Kathryn) during that entire time. It was officially recognized as a zoo in 1958, which allowed for it to expand its collection of animals. The entire site spanned more than 900 acres, but the Game Farm itself consisted of about 136 acres that were open to the public from spring through autumn.

I'm sure there are many of you who have fond memories of visiting this New York zoo. I would love for you to share your memories in the comments section below.

Here's an excerpt from the guide:

"Welcome to Catskill Game Farm, greetings our staff and from the thousands of animals and birds in our great wildlife collection. In this folder we show just a few of our many fascinating species and an illustrated map to guide you on your tour through the area. Often we have large herds of kangaroos and llamas; a variety of ostriches, antelopes, wild sheep and water buffalos, rare cranes, colorful parrots, giant tortoises, playful monkeys; many strange forms with stranger names, like the mara¹ and the tahr, the aoudad, wombat and cassowary²; and other interesting and spectacular species of the bird and animal kingdom."

After Catskill Game Farm closed in 2006, a two-day auction that attracted more than 1,000 bidders was held. According to Wikipedia, these were some of the sale prices:

• A 1951 Herschell merry-go-round with aluminum horses sold for $39,500
• More than $12,000 worth of picnic tables and benches were sold
• Ten alligators sold for $1,350
• A white elk sold for $1,950
• A pair of bison sold for $1,925
• A pair of African porcupines sold for $1,220
• Five reindeer fetched $4,725
• Ostriches sold for $900 to $1,200 apiece

Today, there is hope that the Game Farm might have a rebirth in its future. According to a June 2013 article by Claude Haton in Hudson-Catskill Newspapers, "the new owners are looking at a broad plan including establishing an RV park, a petting zoo, and a museum honoring its history."

You can also check out this seven-minute video that examines what has become of Catskill Game Farm since its closure in 2006:



Here are some additional images from the 1950s guide.

(This seems like an extremely bad idea.)

And while we're posting pictures of llamas, here's a photo I took this past summer of a llama named Black Tie Affair leading a herd of alpacas to dinner at Alapacas of York, a farm that generously participates in York County 4-H.

Footnotes

1. I told Joan that I thought a mara (pictured at right) would be a good "starter cavy" before we work our way up to the capybara. She disagrees. "Its legs are too skinny," she said.
2. The cassowary will MESS YOU UP.

Let's get the whole gang together for a picture

This is one of those photographs that deserves to be magnified, as the original (tattered) image is only three inches wide.

There is no information at all on the back.

So we're left to wonder:

• Is this a school class picture?¹
• What year or decade was this taken?
• What did all these children grow up to do?

Unrelated Halloweeny Footnote
1. If you've never read the short horror story “This Year's Class Picture” by Dan Simmons, I recommend that you track it down.

Victorian trade card for Magic Yeast Cakes (plus a creepy bonus)

A colorful bird appears on the front of this Victorian trade card, which is slightly smaller than a standard postcard. According to the reverse side, "The way to get a card like this is to buy a package of MAGIC YEAST CAKES."

It's interesting to think that late 19th century consumers would have been motivated to buy one product over another because of the presence of a picture of a bird. But it's also extremely hard for us to imagine the enthusiasm with which the public of that time embraced and collected these cards.

Magic Yeast Cakes were a product of E.W. Gillett of Chicago. In 1929, E.W. Gillett merged with four other companies to create Standard Brands. And, in turn, Standard Brands become part of Nabisco in 1981.

In doing some other research into Magic Yeast Cakes and Gillett, I came across a creepy piece of ephemera.

A publication called Happy Hours was apparently once distributed free to buyers of Magic Yeast Cakes. And this link shows one of the illustrations that appeared within. Boo!

Poetry excerpts from 1921's "Autumn Leaves" by Samuel C. Frey

Here's one final autumn-themed post before signing off for the day.

Pictured at right is Autumn Leaves, a purple-covered book of verse written by Samuel C. Frey and self-published here in York, Pennsylvania, in 1921. (It was printed by an outfit called Dispatch Print.)¹

Frey's 212-page book has sections titled Concerning Poetry, Patriotic, Religious, At Weber's Dinner, Tributes, Limericks and Miscellaneous. It is dedicated to "all who have music in their souls."

In the preface, Frey writes: "The verses in this book were, with few exceptions, written after the author's sixtieth year — this suggested the title. They were prepared for special occasions, or where something original was called for."

There is a list of roughly 400 "subscribers" whose "pre-publication support" apparently made the printing of this volume possible.

The intriguing list, full of names that are certainly of local historic interest, includes N. Appell, three Dempwolfs, A.B. Farquhar, George Hay Kain, S. Forry Laucks, Geo. W. Pfaltzgraff and six Smalls.

Here are some samples of Frey's verse...

A POEM IN THE MAKING
I thought I'd write a little poem
'Bout autumn leaves, you see;
Because it seem that autumn leaves
Were very much like me.

All summer long they have no cares;
To them time endless seems;
But when Jack Frost comes 'nipping round,
They wake up from their dreams.

WHO IS A PATRIOT?
Who is a Patriot? It's not the man
Who skins the Government whene'er he can;
Who uses a stamp for the second time;—
He's surely subject for warmer clime.

Not he who so craftily falsifies
In making out tax return, and thus tries
To beat the collector, and, when found out,
He claims the benefit of the doubt.

PERSONALS²
Bill Miller and his son-in-law
Are quite a funny pair;
Bill's always busy asking folks
More of his shoes to wear;
While Joe says we all walk too much.
How can we ever please
Two men of such contrary views
And diverse minds as these.

Carl Witmer and young Beitzel, too,
Are financiers of note;
They're taking money all day long,
Just as a thing of rote.
In other ways these two agree;
They both are found of sports.
For Carl doth play piano forte,
And Will on tennis courts.

Wayne G. McFall, he plays baseball,
Just as a recreation;
And while he plays, he umpire baits,
Just as a new sensation.
They make George Leber tired of life,
Wayne and his friend, Sam Ruby,
But when Sam tries to catch some flies,
He looks just like a booby.

LAKE WILLIAMS
Down in old Hopewell township, where
The watersheds divide;
Where little rivulets abound
And through the meadows glide;
two springs, but a few hundred feet
Apart, come bubbling forth;
One Southward to the Deer Creek flows,
The other, to the North.

From East and West come sister streams
And merge in one embrace;
Now smoothly flow through pastures green,
Now rush at rapid pace.
To West they turn; from Winterstown
A tributary flows;
From Hametown and red Lion, too.
The stream in volume grows.

LIMERICKS
Last March, as Winter receded,
The warnings of friends he unheeded;
The temperature fell,
He went to — well,
Where underwear never is needed.

There was a young man from near Etters',
Said his dogs had invisible fetters
For they never would go.
His friend said "That's so;
Because them dogs is both setters."

Two stages ran daily their courses;
Were driven by two different forces;
The Dillsburg tramps
Used acetylene lamps;
East Prospect, a set o' lean horses.

There was a young lady from Dover,
Who walked in a field of new clover.
Her stockings were thin,
The bee's stinger went in;
The girls said "Darn" and moreover.

At a famous hotel called "The Brogue,"
Election day's fights were the vogue.
Or loser or winner,
A saint or a sinner,
There was fighting by good man and rogue.

Footnotes
1. For another post about a York County poet, check out "Piggy Pork: His Odyssey" by Thomas Yost Cooper.
2. Other names mentioned in Personals include Harry McNeal, George Rudy, Joe Radcliffe, Bob Fluhrer, Charles Craumer, Harry Wiest, Charles Kline, Jake Stager, C. Leroy Blair, Joe Wallazz, Lloyd Myers, G. Edward George, Harvey Gross and Luther Melhorn.