Gatlinburg Places of the Past

The Ripley's Believe It Or Not block the way it looked for so many years, with Rebel's Corner next to it and The Seven Gables Haunted House on the Corner. The picture on the left appears to have been taken from the Midtown Lodge Tower that you use to be able to walk up for a dime, but has been closed of for many years. Ripley's use to exit into either Rebel's Corner or the Space Needle arcade in the back, but I can't exactly remember, perhaps it was in Rebel's Corner right by the Arcade where you could walk right in. I remember there being a door to Rebel's Corner in between the restrooms in the billiard room of the arcade, now it's a solid wall. A closer look at the picture on the right reveals Duff's Restaurant where Bubba Gump's now is, before it was the Parkway Pancake House and after it was the Parkway Cafeteria. Also notice the Hotels sign pointing to Airport road. This sign has been gone for a long time. Remember the hole in the side of the wall at Ripley's across from the Ramada In that "Dared you to look into the whole?" When you looked inside it was only a two dollar bill, but everyone walking down the street looked in the hole

The Seven Gables Haunted House - a very cute Haunted House that occupied the corner from the early 80's till the fire in 1992, I just happened to go through this haunted house not long before it burned. Former employee Joey Booth recalls Seven Gables Haunted House:

I worked at the haunted house by Rebel's Corner when it opened. it was called Seven Gables Haunted House, it had 7 gables 3 on each side and one one the corner. I was on the stage dressed in black. I had a chain and a piece of steel I would hit with the chain. when someone came around the corner I would hit the metal plate with the chain and the people would cower in the corner. it was soooo much fun. when it had its grand opening we had a parade down airport road. It started at Misty Falls golf, going down Airport Road to the haunted house. we had limos, and tons of zombies, a makeup artist dressed us all up like in the Michael Jackson Thriller video. The parade was on Friday 13th in October at 12 midnight.

When you went to the Ticket counter we ussualy had the ticket guy dressed as Dracula. We would also hire hawkers to get people to buy tickets. We had odd or different people to do this. We had this one guy who was a member of the smoky mountain wrestling team. He was like 400lbs and 6foot 10. Another guy had only 3 fingers. Sort of looked like lobster claws. And sometimes a little person dressed up. Well anyway you bought your ticket and went into a room behind the counter. It was made up to look like a livingroom with fireplace and stuff. you would then walk up 2 short flights of stairs. the whole Haunted House was a self serve walking tour. We would space the groups of 8 or less by about 3-5 minutes. At 1st we used a radio shack intercom system. Later we advanced to a closed circuit tv so we could tell when a group was coming. The haunted house was made up of plywood coridoors painted with black flame proof paint. Everything had to be flameproof. Every 10-20 feet would be a haunted display. The 1st one was an old jail door with a skeliton behind it and black light painted rats. The next area was 2 coridoors of darkness. I think there was black painted roped hanging from the wall. It was dark so when you walked into it it would scare you. Next scene was Dracula. Next scene was a coffin. It would open and close. More blacklight gauze for webs and a skeleton would pop out of the coffin every so often.. Next you came to a corner you made an L turn to the left to a dead end. When you got to the dead end to another right hand turn. I would beat a chain on a piece of steel plate metal. People would cower on the ground run in all directions. It was so much fun. then they would go down another hall towards me again I would beat on the chain and they would run. Then there was a wavy bridge walkway with handrails it would completely disoriente you while walking in the dark. I would beat on the chain for the 3rd time and they would run out the door into the Arcade. We would wear a black robe with a hood. sometimes we would wear a mask but we really didn't need it.

In the 1960's and 1970's it was Rebel's Corner store. In the 1980's after the Worlds Fair some of the venders from the Worlds fair moved in. The Rebel's Corner store moved to the middle. Downstairs there was a type of mall. Venders had about at 12x12 booth, In the front store there was a place called The Embrassible Zoo, they sold animals that had arms with velcro. they would sort of hug you. Monkeys were their most poplular. Next was an entrance to an Arcade that was upstairs. Next booth was call "Big Chip Cookies" I know that because Me and my 12 year old brother ran it, I was 14 or !5. I know we were young but we worked it night and day. 8 am til 1pm everyday. We baked cookie dough that the "Heidelburg Castle Kitchen" would make for us to our specifications. Next booth was massaging chairs and a few other things. On the other side of the hall was vibrating pillows and shoe inserts. Then a herbalife booth. Then a Sunglass Booth. Then on the outside was a franchise called "Conacopia" It was soft serve ice cream blended with candy or fruit ect. Basically a Dairy Queen Blizzard, but long before they had them. there was also a Petros out there. Like I said several were from the Tennessee Worlds Fair. In the back part was a Fast Service Restaurant with BBQ. The whole upstairs was an Arcade.

This concept lasted about 2 Years. It changed in 1984 I think into a t-shirt Downstairs, Arcade in the Back and 7 Gables Haunted House Upstairs. Jean Conner owns the building. My Father was her Business Manager. He found a Haunted House Company in Cincinati to come and build the Haunted House Upstairs. It was great. Like I said I worked there during the summers. My Father was also the GM of Ober Gatlinburg prior to this. So I remember when they built the New Indoor skating rink and also remember the Black Bear Habitat being built.

By 1992 Rebel's Corner had completely gone with the left side remaining Funtasia and the right side becoming Unique T's II. This is a very rare picture as it did not remain this way but probably a few months as the sign from the new Unique T's II shop would cause a fire destroying the whole building, stopping just short of the Space Needle. Remember for a couple of years before the new Ripley's debuted the block was a construction zone lined with plywood sheets that you had to walk between.

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Ripley's/Rebel's Corner Block