Here's a precursor to the inflatable dancing tube figures used for advertising.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1873.

"That's blood, Mother" -- a precusor to Norman Bates' "Mother! Oh, God, Mother! Blood! Blood!" in Psycho.  From English Illustrated, 1907.

Here's a precursor to the amateur singing shows like Idol and The Voice.  The caption reads, "Then all at once, without assistance, the afflicted creature found relief.  And since then the Tune's been all over everywhere upside down and downside upmost, besides other ways."  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1875.

Here's a precursor to what happens in Olenberg staying in Olenberg.  By Clifford Howard, 1911.

"An awkward thing to have about if anything were to happen" (Harper's magazine, 1917) -- a precursor to Frank Henenlotter's cult film Basket Case and the basket's cameo in the film Brain Damage.

Here's an ancient precursor to the finale of Michael Jackson's "Thriller," in which the protagonist turns around to scare the audience a second time by revealing yellow eyes.  The Japanese yokai demon Shunoban (or Zhu-no-Bon, しゅのばん) scares people twice.  The first time he simply reveals his bright-red monster face and horn to startle his victims and cause them to flee.  He gives chase, then disguises himself as someone providing assistance.  Having lulled his target into a false sense of security, with his back turned, he goes back to his monster face and frightens the person a second time by looking over his shoulder.  (Haunted by the fear of seeing that face once again, victims ultimately die of fright 100 days later.)  These events occur in the same order in the short film "Thriller," with Michael Jackson's character turning into a monster, giving chase, disguising himself as a rescuer, and then, after turning his back, looking over his shoulder to display demonic eyes.  The yokai card in our illustration is from the very charming Obake No Karuta deck, available via Amazon Japan.  We're translating the Japanese texts that come with each card — e-mail us if you'd like those translations.  (Our e-mail address is at our "About the Author" link.)

Here's a precursor to Kirsty MacColl's song "In These Shoes?"  The caption reads, "Not in these shoes."  From Fun magazine, 1879.

Here's a 1917 precursor to filmmaker David Lynch, by Evans for the Baltimore American, reproduced in Cartoons Magazine.

Here's a precursor to the manga character Naruto, from Two Little Savages by Ernest Thompson Seton, 1922.

This "Cobweb Ghost" is an ancestor of the Haunted Mansion's attic bride.  From Judy, Or The London Serio-Comic Journal, 1876.  (We're delighted to have contributed this item to this post over at Long Forgotten Haunted Mansion.)

Before there was Roz Chast, there was Chas. Ross.   See How to Be Your Own Cat.

Here's a precursor to Haruli Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, with its library of unicorn skulls containing dreams.  "As it appears, though dead so long / Each scull is found to have a tongue."  From The English Dance of Death, from the Designs of Thomas Rowlandson, 1903.

Here's a precursor to a Koopa attacking Mario and Luigi.  From the September 1938 issue of the Old Line magazine, as scanned by the University of Maryland Libraries.  Previously, we uncovered a vintage Koopa sitting by a Warp Pipe.

Here's a precursor to a scene in the hilarious British series People Like Us, in which a proposed building is discovered to be "facing the wrong way."  In Punch, 1877, "The front's behind!"

Here's a precursor to performance artist Leigh Bowery.  "New idea for a fancy ball.  Shave your head, and go as a phrenological bust."  From Punch, 1878.

Here's a precursor to the animated busts in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, from Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," diagrammed in Stephen Watkins Clark's A Practical Grammar, 1864.

Here are precursors to "We Invert the Light," the darkly cinematic soundscape by AnakhronikoN.  Our illustrations are from El Mundo Físico by A. Guillemin, 1882.

Here's a precursor to B. Kliban's Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head.  From An American Family in Germany by John Ross Browne, 1866.

Before handy phone cameras, people had to sketch their surreptitious pictures.  From Punch, 1867.