This was my first haunted house ride, too. And the "Rochdale or Bust" skeleton used to scare me so much as a kid that I'd clap my hands over my eyes every time the stupid little car would get close to it (I had no idea what Rochdale was at the time). This ride was the pinnacle of childhood terror for me until I discovered that walk-through haunted house at the Ex where a guy in a rubber mask chases you with a chainsaw.

This is not a new idea at all. Edgar Allan Poe's first published story (for which he won a contest) was titled something like "Note Found in a Bottle" and was submitted in exactly the same form. It was arguably chosen for its packaging rather than its content.