Haunted Toys!

What do you get when you add children, dollhouses and Halloween together? Wacky Haunted Houses. In the 1960's and 70's, toy companies were riding high on sales with girls' dollhouses. They needed to bring those dollars into the boys' market. Their solution? Haunted House games and toys! (I coveted the game by Ideal. I drove my girlfriend nuts by always wanting to unlock the 'little' doors!) Take a walk down memory lane with these examples, then take a walk through my webstore to do some shopping!! ~judy www.justminiaturescale.com

Haunted House by Ideal is a board game from 1962. It’s black; the box is decorated with bats. It’s a dollhouse of sorts: a very shallow Victorian with visible rooms. In its day, it was the only board game that stood upright on a tabletop. Players spin an owl spinner and proceed through the rooms. In each room, a locked door. Stick a plastic key into a door and a message pops out: “Go back to Room B.” Stick a key into another door: “Go to the start.” Another key, another door: a ghost pops out. There’s a prize concealed in the attic: a plastic ruby.  

Vintage Marx lithographed tin toy, called the Hootin Hollow Haunted House from the 1960s. House has various functions which are performed by eight buttons on the side of the house. The house was battery operated and did wonderful things when buttons were pushed:
1. Jumping cat: Black cat jumps out from behind the grass covered fence.
2. Ghost at window: The window near the front door lights up, ghost shadow is seen
3. Front door: The door opens revealing a vampire.
4. Window shade: Image of Dracula behind the window wiggles up and down.
5. Shaking house: The roof moves and shakes
6. Skeleton: Skeleton wearing a hat moves up out of the chimney about 1/2".
7. Spooky sound is heard.
8. Whistling wind is heard.

“Weebles Wobble but they don’t fall down” Hasbro’s Weebles were wildly popular in the seventies. This is their answer to the haunted craze!