Lou Nasti recalls returning to Nightmare Manor many times over the years to refurbish stunts or to take them back to his Brooklyn shop to rehab the parts and motors. "The main problem with that building and its location is that rust was always setting in,' Nasti says. "You wouldn't want to be in there in the winter. It was a real haunted house then." Mechanical Displays, Inc. also did the pieces for Casino Pier's Jungle Train among other projects there. "Bobby Bennet (former park owner) was a wonderful man to work for," Nasti recalls.

		Above, Mechanical Displays owner Lou Nasti attends to the hapless victim during a 2001 inspection of his Butcher Shop scene in Nightmare Manor. A similar scene still shocks riders at Astroland Amusement Park's Dante's Inferno in Coney Island. Left, Nasti sees what's popping up in his graveyard scene in Nightmare Manor. Photos by Bob Kovacs

With Jenkinson's Boardwalk's acquisition of Casino Pier in 2002 came the realization that Nightmare Manor was in need of major retooling. After 40 years of service, the ride cars were beyond repair. With plans to better utilize the end of the pier and to install another attraction aside the soon-to-be renovated Manor, engineers were called in to square off the end of the pier surface and move the entire structure several yards back and closer to the log flume ride. With this done, work began on creating a new look for the dark ride and installing some new gags. A fleet of new cars was purchased from Bertazzon, according to Vincent Storino, managing member of Casino Pier. "First we bought eight, now we have 12 cars, with 10 on the track," says Storino. "We bought and installed the track ourselves, bent it...did it all"                                             Photos by Gary Heller