Comments on: Armchair Field Trip: House on the Rock (read at your own risk)

By: laura

laura — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:42:25 +0000

I went to House on the Rock when I was 8 on a family vacation and actually thought it was pretty cool. The only thing I remember being creeped out by was the carosel of dolls(bc thousands of doll eyes following your every move is very disturbing) and the infinity room. Being afraid of heights I was not too excited to walk to the end of it and gaze out all those windows, but peer pressure from my older sister convinced me to do it…afterwards I saw the picture of it showing that there wasn’t anything holding it up! I was pretty peeved w/my sister the rest of the day. I would love to go back and see it now that I’m older (minus those 2 rooms)

By: Barbara M

Barbara M — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:54:07 +0000

I just found your blog entry, and laughed with delight all the way through it. You have NAILED this place. My husband and our two sons, then age 14 and 18, made a pilgrimage to HotR in summer 2008 because we frequently vacation in that part of Wisconsin (not just the Dells, but Baraboo) and had all just read and become entranced by Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods.” We can’t imagine going there multiple times, because a lot of the fun is the sheer shock at the bizarreness and the enormous scale of it, but we’re sure glad we went! It was an experience unlike anything else we’ve ever had.

I had already visited the place once when I was a kid growing up in Chicago, but there was a lot less of it then (this was when the founder was still alive). At that time, HotR was still claiming that everything in it was antique and authentic. In fact, a huge amount of the stuff is cobbled together from spare parts of other stuff to create fantasy objects. You’re never quite sure what is real and what isn’t. HotR now lauds this aspect as part of the fun, but it also gives the entire place a sense of creeping unease.

The entire place is saturated with Death, in detail after detail. As you saw, the Streets of Yesterday are dotted with gruesome coin-op scenes. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse loom grinning over the Doll Carousel. The (inauthentic) armor is displayed in huge dioramas of slaughter. A music room plays an arrangement of the Waltz of the Sugarplum Fairy that turns it into a Danse Macabre. (I was enchanted and played this over and over.) Even most of the Burma Shave signs are morbid!

Tthen there’s what my sons dubbed The Carousel From Hell. The animals are mostly not unaltered original carousel animals but ghastly fabricated chimeras. Like a centaur swinging a spike-studded mace. And the only exit from the room is through a medieval-style Hell Mouth.

Neil Gaiman’s description is spot on, but even his genius can’t convey the full creepiness of HotR.

By: Mary H.

Mary H. — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 23:31:14 +0000

Did you not read up on the history of the man who built this house? It is not creepy at all but rather an extreemly interesting collection of artifacts. I have gone twice and enjoyed myself imensly both times. It not a house full of crap but intead the biggest collection of antiquities I have ever seen.

By: johnd

johnd — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 01:30:35 +0000

A creepy fact about the house is that when the found of the house died they sprinkled his ashes on top of the roof. Also everything that he has in the house he got for free. he didnt pay anything for that stuff. people just gave it to him

By: Joanna

Joanna — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:56:20 +0000

My family visited in the 80’s when we went on a family trip to the Wisconsin Dell’s. We all thought it was strange. I agree with the creepy description, although I don’t think that was the intent of its creator. I think he was just fascinated by all the stuff.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:45:09 +0000

As a Wisconsin resident I grew up going to THOTR every few years. Yes, it’s creepy, kind of along the line horror movies are creepy, but I think that’s part of the fun. As many have already stated the carousel is a sight to see. I still remember the first time I saw it. I really did feel like I stumbled into a horror movie. I kept waiting for someone or something to jump out and get me. As for the Streets of Yesterday we have a similiar exhibit by the same name here at the Milwaukee Public Museum which is equally creepy and I love it. Although as a child my mom would threaten to drive me there and leave me there when I was bad. That pretty much got me in line right quick.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:54:41 +0000

I’ve been there 3 times. Love it! Shows Americana – collections of our lives. Interesting items. Not creepy! Ripley’s has collections and displays of “weird” things. Why do you put this down? Just had recommended this destination to a group of friends and one looked it up and sent me your article.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 17:41:54 +0000

You really did choose the least creepy tour. I certainly didn’t have nightmares about the rooms that you saw. The organ room and the carousel room, however… I will just say that I remember the four horsemen of the apocalypse and doll heads nailed all over the wall of the carousel room.

By: Shaleigh

Shaleigh — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:30:12 +0000

I’ve been going to the House on the Rock twice a year for about 14 years or so. I’m not crazy enough to buy tickets every year, it’s just that I live in a town near it, and they give “free days” to local residents. It used to make me cry when I was a kid, but now that I’m older I really enjoy it. I guess it would be creepy for a first visit, but it really is a neat place once you’re not terrified of it.

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:48:13 +0000

My fiance and I drove through Wisconsin on our way to Minot, ND. All I wanted to do was stop at House on the Rock, but we were already getting poor and we didn’t stop. Now, I kick myself – this is just my sort of thing.