Mad House reopens at Children's City in São Bernardo do Campo

The Mad House returns to Children's City

One of the most enduring attractions at Children's City is returning. The Mad House will reopen this Friday (28) at 10am in São Bernardo do Campo, reviving an experience held in the memories of several generations of park visitors.

First opened in 1975, the Mad House became famous for challenging the perception of everyone who steps inside. Its sloping rooms and effects blur the usual sense of “up” and “down”, making it seem as though the laws of gravity have been overturned. Visitors encounter water that appears to flow upwards, objects behaving unexpectedly and the challenge of keeping their balance.

Why the Mad House feels disorientating

The explanation lies in how the brain processes the information it receives. To establish the body's position in space, it brings together cues from vision, the vestibular system in the inner ear and proprioception, which relates to awareness of muscles and joints. Inside the Mad House, visual signals conflict with the information sensed by the body, creating a feeling of disorientation.

The attraction can also offer an enjoyable way of introducing children to scientific ideas. Despite the illusions, gravity operates normally throughout the visit. It is the house's tilted structure, combined with the lack of familiar visual reference points, that makes objects and movements appear to defy this force.

A landmark in Children's City history

The attraction's return also restores an important part of the history of Children's City. Opened in 1968, the São Bernardo do Campo park is recognised as one of Brazil's pioneering theme parks. Over the decades, it has brought together attractions that became cherished landmarks for ABC residents and visitors from other areas.

Alongside spaces such as the Submarine and the former Giant Worm, the Mad House became especially prominent from the 1970s onwards.

With the reopening, people who experienced it before will be able to revisit an attraction that defined their childhoods. Meanwhile, a new generation will have the chance to discover why, inside the Mad House, even what seems impossible can make sense.

Information

Reopening of the Mad House

• Date: Friday, 28 August
• Time: 10am
• Venue: Children's City, São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo state