The Ferris Wheel Hauntings

In yesterday's blog post, Lightning Strikes, Maybe Once, Maybe Twice, I briefly mentioned that when I stayed with my grandparents as a child, my grandmother would take me into the basement to play games or play with toys to keep me quiet so my grandfather could watch the evening news.  After writing that post, I had this crazy flashback.  I don't know if I was just a violent little child with a twisted mind or if all kids in the era of fisher price "Little People" and accessories did this.   One of my favourite toys that she had for us to play with was the "Little People Ferris Wheel" shown below.

I do remember being NORMAL in the sense that I would place the LITTLE PEOPLE into their Ferris wheel seats, but the abnormal part was flinging their chairs so they would fly out and then thinking how funny that was.  I'm pretty sure by the time I got to play with this toy, my older cousins had broken the "automatic" knob to make it go around, so I'd turn the Ferris wheel by hand so fast they'd fly across the room as well.  Is this normal for a child who is only three or four years old -or- any age for that matter?

After remembering that sick thought yesterday, my mind flashed forward about 30 years to the county fair about five years ago when I witnessed one of the most creepy moments I have ever witnessed in my life.  I took my kids to the fair for the evening and as I was waiting in front of the Ferris wheel, I happened to catch this woman taking a ride.  She was all alone sitting in this position with that smile on her face for the ten times she went around.  I was mesmerized and couldn't take my eyes off her even though I was completely creeped out.  Thankfully I took a picture because I don't think I could have ever described it to anyone had I not.

 I've shown this picture to people before and they just tell me it's a nice old lady who wanted to enjoy a ride on the Ferris wheel with her 20 gallon soda.  I don't think so, people.   

You weren't there!