SKELETON

At first you may think that this card would prove to be a tough nut to crack, for in the world of horror imagery there's nothing more generic than a good old-fashioned skellington! However this rattling hangman quite clearly has an obvious origin - for once again, our Unknown Artist has been leafing through old Vincent Price movie posters!

Yes, although the poster is a little different - the stance is a little too widescreen for the dimensions of the old Horror Top trumps cards - this is clearly the same boney gent. And while the rendering of the ribs is certainly a bit shaky, it is very obviously modelled on the anatomy on show in the poster above, with the shading and expression on the skull showing a near perfect match.

And old Mr Bones did actually appear in the movie too! Indeed House on the Haunted Hill was the second movie made by legendary director William Castle and featured one of his famous publicity gimmicks. For Castle, as well as being an inventive director, was a highly creative showman and came up with a variety of stunts and features to market his movies. Hence when House on the Haunted Hill hit the screens in 1959, Castle's publicity claimed the movie was filmed in "Emergo"! What this actually meant was that when the skellington appears in the finale of the movie, a matching puppet with light-up red eyes would be hoisted out over the audience, hopefully giving the illusion it that emerged from the screen. How well this worked is hard to say, but contemporary reports suggest that the skellington puppet did prove to be a popular target for popcorn boxes!