Ghost train 'Dracula' figure from White City amusements
Date made: 1970s-1980s
Maker: unknown
Description: This fibreglass figure of Count Dracula in his coffin is a prop from the 'Ghost Train' attraction at White City, a fairground, amusement park on Onchan Head. It would no doubt have scared thousands of visitors as they encountered it during summer visits to the amusement park.
The figure is fibreglass and rests in a crudely made plywood coffin, which has been roughly sprayed with luminous green paint.
Onchan Head had been the site of an amusement park since at least 1908, with pierrot troupes and other entertainments attracting thousands of visitors each summer. The name White City was perhaps derived from the famous London dog track. The burning down of the Onchan Head pavilion in 1962 was perhaps the beginning of the decline and White City closed down at the end of the 1987 summer season. The site was redeveloped for apartments in the 1990s.
Materials: iron, paint: other, plastic/polyester, wood
Object name: amusement arcade figure
Collection: Social History Collection
ID Number: 2007-0175
Subject tags : #MM100COLLECTIONS