In 1940, LIFE magazine sent a photographer, Ralph Morse, to capture a sensational new nightclub that had just opened in Columbus, Ohio. It was called Catacombs, and it was opened by Albert Pick, owner of the Pick Hotels chain. It was a tribute to all things deathly and horrific (at the time) and it was wildly popular. Guests would enter an elevator at the front door, which would “descend” 300ft down to the nightclub itself. The walls were furnished with plaster skulls and skeletons, and there was a resident magician, Marcus the Mad Magician, who would play practical jokes on patrons in the “Nut House.” The Catacombs unexpectedly closed in 1941, only a year after its doors opened, for reasons unknown. Below you can find Ralph Morse’s photos for LIFE Magazine.
All Images: Ralph Morse/Pix Inc./The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images
A cigarette girl carrying plaster skulls on her tray.
A young man, dressed as a skeleton, posing with plaster skulls and skeletons.
A woman looking at a plaster skull.
A candle lighting the room filled with plaster skulls.
A lady standing above an underground skeleton.
A woman throwing the crumbs from the tablecloth onto the floor.
A woman becoming frightened at the sight of skeletons.
A woman feeling the skeleton wrapped in tattered burlap.
A gag waiter cutting the sleeve off a guest’s shirt.
Plaster skulls and skeletons.
A view showing the brightly light exterior of the Catacomb nightclub.
The keeper of the tombs, in the Chapel of a Thousand Skulls, sitting near a skeleton wrapped in burlap. The skeleton is known as the Guest of Honor.
A waitress trhowing peanuts into the face of a customer.
A magician pulling a rabbit out of a man’s jacket.
Joshua Alvarez
April 23, 2015 at 7:46 am
All I gathered from this was that the staff were assholes.
Justin Ton
April 22, 2015 at 2:39 pm
Alex Sawyer
Caroline Anne Morris
April 22, 2015 at 2:38 pm
Laura Morris
Laura Morris
April 22, 2015 at 2:40 pm
eeeeeeeeee as if
Caroline Anne Morris
April 22, 2015 at 2:44 pm
Wish it still existed. Imajjjj
Fernanda Isensee Nasário
April 22, 2015 at 1:20 pm
Tais Filipe quero frequentar essa buatchy
Ben Weymes
April 22, 2015 at 9:53 am
Caroline Anne Morris
Der Ingenieur
April 22, 2015 at 8:38 am
Jonathan Cronin
Im sure our club will be open longer than a year and with better decor
Jonathan Cronin
April 22, 2015 at 12:02 pm
Hopefully a mischievous magician sometime soon?
Jonathan Cronin
April 22, 2015 at 7:54 am
Der Ingenieur
Ian G. Smith
April 22, 2015 at 5:39 am
Nicole Roberts
Dustin James
April 22, 2015 at 4:50 am
Ashley Marie Rodgers
Ashley Marie Rodgers
April 22, 2015 at 5:04 am
That’s awesome!
Stephanie Koithan
April 22, 2015 at 4:26 am
Joseph Horowitz
Jose Murcia
April 22, 2015 at 3:57 am
Fabio Jiménez Acosta
Jen Gnssn
April 22, 2015 at 3:15 am
Matthieu Girard haha je ne connaissais pas 😀
Matthieu Girard
April 22, 2015 at 3:13 am
Jen Gnssn 😉
Jorge Escobar San Román
April 22, 2015 at 1:21 am
I bet that place was really fucking badass at the time. Would be the perfect place for horror punk/goth gigs if it still existed