Either year round or only during the summer days, theme parks are visited by thousands of people each and every day they are open. The rides, music, games, and food attract people from around the world to visit these parks and to make each person feel like a kid again. However, there are some that have been dormant and abandoned for years that no one dares to go to because of the haunted, dark history that lurks within the left over parts of rides that have just been left there and are now consumed by nature. There are also parks that are still open to the public that people continuously go to and have no knowledge of just haunted the park they are at really is.
Can Theme Parks be Actually Haunted?
As a matter of fact, yes. Any theme park can become an abandoned theme park in just a few days. It might seem crazy to sound, but any place can indeed get haunted if enough wickedness gets kicking in the atmosphere. Around the globe, theme parks have been active spots for serial killers to pitilessly r*** as well as slaughter women and children. But over the course of time, every theme park reveals what is has been sowed into its soil and thenceforth, the park ceases to serve its true purpose of serenity. It becomes an abandoned theme park.
1. LAND OF OZ
A picture of a gate that’s part of The Land of Oz.
Source: Daily News
Location: Beech Mountain, North Carolina, USA
Opened: 1970 (opens every year for two days in October)
Category: Abandoned
The Wizard of Oz was a movie that had everyone skipping down the aisles of the movie theater or in their homes singing, “Follow the yellow brick road!” This classic movie was such a hit that a theme park emerged in 1970 to make the public fall even more in love with the Wizard of Oz and to make them really skip down the yellow brick road. This 16-acre theme park captivated people from around the world and had their very own lion, scarecrow, and tin man. The ski-resort inside the theme park was going to be open year round and was allowing the visitors to experience him or herself as the role of Dorothy. Visitors of the park got to start at Dorothy’s house in Kansas and then adventured throughout the most famous scenes of the movie and ended at Emerald City to, of course, meet the great wizard.
The opening of this park experienced over 20,000 visitors on their first day and Grover Robbins, the mastermind behind this park, wanted the park to be based more on the book rather than the movie; but, after his death a couple of months after the opening of this park, sales decreased. The sales started to decrease because of real-estate prices and the lack of driving force. Unfortunately, in 1975, a fire happened in the Emerald City and destroyed many of the artifacts at the park that were actually used within the actual Wizard of Oz. With the park being mainly intact and has only a few missing things, it is opened every year for two days in October for “The Autumn of Oz”.Although it is still technically opened and people visit it, there is still a weird, odd feeling visitors feel when they step foot on the grounds.
2. TAKAKANONUMA GREENLAND
An eerie picture of the abandoned theme park.
Source: Tofugu
Location: Hobara, Japan
Opened: 1973
Closed (officially): 1999
Category: Abandoned
Deep in the wilderness of Japan lies an amusement park named Takakanonuma Greenland Park. This park was built in 1973 and was only opened for two years due to bad ticket sales and repairs that were constantly going on at the park. Although some people believed that these were the real reasons as to why this park closed, many others believed it was because of all the deaths that occurred on the rides in this park. After lying dormant for 10 years, the park reopened in 1986, making visitors to believe that the real reason the park laid silent for ten years was to make people hopefully forget the numerous amounts of tragedies that occurred in the park when it first opened.
When the park officially closed and became abandoned in 1999 because of the other competition surrounding it, the park slowly began to decay and become one with the nature surrounding it. The mountainous terrain it sits on has reclaimed the land and has grown around the rides and roller coasters that were originally built for this theme park and often times hide within the deep, thick fog that lies within the mountains. According to some rumors, the park was supposedly demolished in 2006, but Bill Edwards came across an abandoned theme park that was hidden deep in the fog one day. He took numerous amounts of pictures of the park; however, only one photo showed up on his computer: at the entrance, a young girl, maybe the age of 6, was staring at the camera in a simple white dress with a haunting, serious, indifferent face.
3. CONEY ISLAND
Coney Island full of people and excitement.
Source: Lunapark
Location: Brooklyn, New York City
Opened: 1876; officially in 1961
Category: Haunted
We all have heard of the amazing Coney Island that sits on the southern peninsula in Brooklyn. This theme park is thriving on the thrill and is still going strong today with private beaches, a boardwalk filled with shopping places, games, arcades, and numerous rides. It is seen from the water and from Brooklyn as a place of enjoyment, joy, and happiness as people spend their afternoons soaking up the sun and spending money on various foods and rides. In 1881, steamboats started taking people to this peninsula and this is where the beginnings of the amusement park started where the first carousel was built in 1876. In 1961, Coney Island was in full swing and their very first annual hotdog-eating contest was held.
Thousands of people visit this park every day despite the controversy that circulates it. People have doubted the development of this park, but the owners have kept it thriving and have made it a place of entertainment for all the members of the family. A L.A. Thompson haunts a particular rollercoaster, though, and was known to build a multitude of roller coasters. No one knows why he haunts this particular roller coaster, though, but it is a roller coaster that has a tower with it if you are ever curious to try to see the infamous L.A. Thompson!
4. PRIPYAT AMUSEMENT PARK
The famous clown ride at Pripyat Amusement Park.
Source: Download Wallpaper
Location: Pripyat, Ukraine
Opened: 1986
Closed: 1986
Category: Abandoned
The city of Pripyat is located in North of Kiev and was abandoned right after the Chernobyl disaster. This city was mainly created for the workmen of Chernobyl and the amusement was built in downtown Pripyat with a Ferris wheel and bumper cars. Sadly, this amusement park was closed the same day it was open, which was April 27, 1986, because of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl that occurred the day before.
Over the 28 years that this amusement park has lied dormant, nothing has changed except how the nature surrounding it has captivated the land that it sat on. With the nature overgrowing the Ferris wheel and bumper cars, the amusement park started to hold this eerie, post-apocalyptic look. If you didn’t know, this particular amusement park has been featured in a numerous amount of games and movies, including Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Chernobyl Dairies.
5. SIX FLAGS
An eerie picture of the abandoned Six Flags in New Orleans.
Source: Huffington Post
Location: New Orleans, USA
Opened: 2000
Closed: 2005
Category: Abandoned/Haunted
Six Flags Amusement Park in New Orleans was known as Jazzland from 2000-2002 and was heavily loved by every single individual that visited this park. With famous rides Mega Zeph, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Ride, and Goliath (formerly known as Batman: The Ride), this park was thriving from all of the visitors it had to visit these rides as well as a few others. Unfortunately, though, in 2005, Six Flags received the warning to evacuate the property because of Hurricane Katrina and to essentially close the park.
After Hurricane Katrin a hit, Six Flags was submerged from seawater as well as rainwater and remained submerged under 4-7ft corrosive brackish floodwater for over a month. Due to the prolonged submerge, decapitated clown heads, rusty rides, and a salt line that is finally fading away, the park are left with a creepy and eerie feeling. People that have visited this abandoned park have experienced the broken part say they have heard faint laughter and joyful screams in the distance. This eerie abandoned park has made an appearance in Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters as well as a few other zombie movies.
6. DUNAÚJVÁROS VIDÁMPARK
One of the abandoned rides at the park.
Source: Urbexbakancslista
Location: Dunaúajváros, Hungary
Opened: 1952
Closed: 1993
Category: Abandoned
This park was opened for one reason and one reason only: for people to have fun. This park had an increase in visitors after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, making this park a major part of the peoples’ lives. Its peak time of thrill was during the 60’s and 70’s with people visiting from all over to get their thrill in and to have fun with their girlfriends, boyfriends, or simply with their family.
The visitor population started to decrease, though, after the 70’s because people started to run out of money and people rapidly started to become incapable of affording to go to this park. It didn’t help the people who were struggling to go here that the park was starting to raise the prices of tickets because of the maintenance repair costs. The park finally closed in 1993 and left off an eerie feeling to those who crossed paths with it before it was finally torn down 20 years later. The only things that remain at this amusement park are the concrete foundations and skeletons.
7. DORNEY PARK
People full of excitement at Dorney.
Source: Here For The Beer
Location: South Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania
Opened (officially): 1884
Category: Haunted
In 1860, Solomon Dorney purchased a piece of land that he built a trout hatchery and a summer resort on it. Ten years later, he decided that it should be open to the public and decided to add some attractions for the public to see and eventually there was a petting zoo as well as a few rides for them to ride. Throughout the years, various owners have kept this park alive and well, attracting thousands of visitors each day that it is open.
Along with it being filled with fun, it is filled with one ghost that haunts one part of the park. Near the Dominator is an old building that has shops and eateries as well as an arcade. Connecting two eateries, though, is a corridor that leads to an old mine shaft where there are reports of a man being seen by the door. This man is reportedly seen to appear and disappear as quickly as he comes. Along with the reports of this man there has been reports of strange noises and occurrences that are heard throughout the entirety of this building.
8. KINGS ISLAND
An overlook of Kings Island.
Source: Wthr
Location: Mason, Ohio
Opened: 1972
Category: Haunted
Kings Island is a 364-acre amusement park that is the partner to Cedar Point. It broke ground in 1970 and finally opened in 1972 with the intentions of being the replacement park for Ohio’s version of Brooklyn’s Coney Island. After being sold to countless owners throughout the years, its current owners from 2006now have Kings Island sitting on 775-acres of land with its own mall. In this park, unlike the previous mentioned parks, there are five different ghosts that haunt Kings Island. One ghost in particular is called “Tommy Tower”- Tommy was at a graduation party and became intoxicated. While being intoxicated, Tommy climbed the tower in this park and ultimately fell to his death.
A little boy and girl will walk along the Racer behind all of the games and there is a fountain where dozens of people have reported seeing a glowing set of eyes. Figures have been reported to be seen walking around the InternationalRestaurant, located above the entrance, a park security guard that passed away also haunts this park as well as a park attendee who was intoxicated and fell to her death on the Flight CommanderRide. She fought the ride operators and undid her restraints, stood up on the ride, wave to her friends, and then fell off of the ride.
9. CEDAR POINT
One of the water rides at Cedar Point.
Source: Cedar Point
Location: Sandusky, Ohio
Opened: 1870
Category: Haunted
Cedar Point holds the world record for having the most roller coasters in a theme park. Sitting on 364-acres, Cedar Point started off with a beer garden and a fairy ride (for only 25 cents!) in the 1870’s, making it expand and grow with each new owner it had. Cedar Point is one of the amusement parks where people go expecting to have a great time and they leave there with their expectations filled and then some. Although this park is filled with adventure, roller coasters, and pure enjoyment, there is some haunted history that hides within the rides. A carousel that was built by William H.
Dentzal was originally going to be built for his unborn daughter with his request of having a white horse in the front of the other horses. Upon the death of his daughter and wife, the horse was then turned to a black horse to represent a military horse. According to some reports, when the park is closed down at night, the carousel will turn itself on and people can see either the wife or daughter riding the black military horse around and around and around.
10. HOLY LAND
An eerie photo of Holy Land in the winter time.
Source: NBC Connecticut
Location: Waterbury, Connecticut, USA
Opened: 1958
Closed: 1986
Category: Abandoned/Haunted
If you live in Connecticut or have ever visited a relative or friend up near Waterbury or past the town, then you have seen the large cross sitting upon a hill along side Route 8 or I-84. This particular cross is an icon in Waterbury because it marks where 40,000 people were attracted to this park in the 60’s and 70’s. John Greco was a man who received a message from his God to single-handedly build this park that was a paid tribute to the Holy Land that sits in Israel, making Holy Land in Connecticut for the religiously faithful. John created smaller-than-life versions of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and other biblical locales and figures- replicating about 200 unique sculptors- out of chicken wire, plywood, fiberglass, and some plaster.
The park officially closed in 1986 due to the death of John Greco, leaving the park to a group of nuns that continued to hold the land from the park. This slightly uplifting tale turned dark, though, when a teenager was murdered near the site in 2010, making the area have a haunting ghost story to go along with its abandonment. It has recently been bought from the nuns and is up for discussion of having some revival to it; but there have been no further motions to recreate Holy Land and to make the renovations that John Greco desperately wanted to add to the park.
11. SPREEPARK
One of the famous pictures of the dinosaur and Ferris wheel at SpreePark.
Source: Abandoned Berlin
Location: Berlin, Germany
Opened: 1969
Closed: 2002
Category: Abandoned
This abandoned park was originally called Kulturpark Plänterwald and sat on the former East Berlin side. Its named changed in 1989 because of the fall of the Berlin Wall and sat near the Spree river- hence its new name. This particular park was the only entertainment and park of its type in either East or West Berlin, attracting dozens of thousands of visitors during the days it was opened. People went to this park for the pure entertainment and fun it provided for the public, but it is now known as the park that has the dinosaurs lying on the ground, the Ferris wheel rusted to the core, the swan boats being completely vandalized, and a plethora of other incidents that took the beauty away from this park.
The eerie, haunting, cold feeling this park now gives off makes people that visit there chill to their bones because of how dark and decrypted it now looks. Norbert Witte is the reason the park closed their doors because he became bankrupt and fled to Lima, Peru to try to recreate his dream of an amusement park there. His dream failed once again, though, and he was sentenced to seven year in jail because he was caught trying to smuggle 400 pounds of cocaine back to Germany and hiding it in one of the attractions that he stole. Spreepark was also featured in the movie Hana.
12. GULLIVER’S KINGDOM
An overview shot of this abandoned theme park.
Source: Michael John Grist
Location: Japan
Opened: 1997
Closed: 2001
Category: Abandoned
Judging by the picture, you’d think that Gulliver’s Kingdom in Japan was a place of pure fun and entertainment, especially that big, friendly giant of a man statue lying on his side on the bank of the river. Gulliver’s Kingdom was based on the Jonathon Swift novel and was built to be a fun place for people to flock to, alas it struggled to make ends meet all the way to its closed doors in 2001. With very little to no rides in this theme park, except for a luge and a bobsled track, the sales of this park declined rapidly, leaving the visitors of this park with very little satisfaction with their experience there.
To add to the pure non-enjoyment of this park, visitors were skeptical and scared to go there for a number of reasons, including the fact that the park was built alongside Japan’s infamous Suicide Forest, where people would go to commit suicide and for anyone who just roamed into the forest would often time never come back. Another reason was that the park was near the same village where the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult lived, creating an uneasy feeling for the visitors of this park. It was finally demolished in 2007, leaving nothing behind except its concrete foundations and the chunk of insulation that became stuck on a few boards.
13. JOYLAND
One of the rides that has been abandoned for years.
Source: Tommy and James
Location: Wichita, Kansas, USA
Opened: 1949
Closed: 2006
Category: Abandoned
Privately owned and run by the Ottaway family, this amusement park was filled with nothing but joy and happiness. It was mainly founded by the father of the Ottaway family for a permanent place for his 12-inch gauge steam locomotive, but after his death in the 1950’s, his three sons continued to keep the park alive and well and even added a few more attractions to it. These attractions were a rollercoaster named Nightmare and a water ride called The Log Jam.
After the family was doing somewhat well with this park, it fell victim to vandalism and pranks created by the youth. It closed for the first time in 2004 because of some safety and financial concerns, and permanently closed in 2006 due to the same type of financial concerns a Seattle-based company was experiencing while trying to reopen the park. This park is left to be consumed by more vandalism and Mother Nature as she continues to grow throughout this park and captivate all the remains of it.
14. OKPO LAND
The infamous duck ride a truck this theme park.
Source: World Abandoned
Location: Okpo City, Geoje Island, South Korea
Opened: Unknown
Closed: 1999
Category: Haunted/Abandoned
If the creepy duck photo above isn’t already haunting your nightmares, than the tales of this park certainly will. It adopted the nickname The Amusement Park of Death after the many deaths that occurred during the parks open days. With only a dozen attractions, it was highly profitable since it was the only park in the area and visitors were looking for fun and pure entertainment.
The deaths of the park started in the 1990’s when a young girl was killed by the duck theme ride and the parents received nothing but the smug fact that the park remained open and visitors continued to go there. Another girl was thrown from the same exact ride after it derailed in 1999 and that incident made the park close the very next day.The owner fled and was nowhere to be seen or heard from again and everything remained intact, including the derailed duck that killed a young girl. In 2011, the park became leveled and is now occupied by hotels.
15. THE MAGIC KINGDOM
The iconic castle that marks Walt Disney World.
Source: Orlando
Location: Walt Disney World, Orlando, Florida
Opened: 1971
Category: Haunted
Disney. What comes to mind? Is it the most magical and happiest place in the world? Does it attract millions of people from around the world? How about the Magic Kingdom is haunted? That’s right. Many people know that the Magic Kingdom is haunted, but others do not know the full tale of how haunted this place really is. The haunted ride that people talk about the most is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Workers report that when they come into work in the morning, they have to say good morning to the ghost or the ride does not cooperate with them throughout the day. If they do not acknowledge the ghost that haunts this ride and attempts to run it, the ride will ultimately breakdown. There are other rumors of other parts of the Magic Kingdom being haunted, so be sure to keep your eyes wide open next time you visit this place to see if you can see figures roaming around the rides- and make sure you say hello to the ghost on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride so the ride doesn’t break down on you!
You might have discerned if you read the full list of abandoned theme parks that sometimes, a theme park just has a misfortune to become a haunted/abandoned theme park because the many lives are lost especially in roller coaster rides or any other kind of thrilling ride. There is always a definite probability for things to go sideways and when things do go off the beam, innocent lives are lost that haunt the place for a perpetuity. Mostly, there are spirits that reside here; there is no demonic presence. These spirits possess certain rides where they lost their lives and they seem to guard it.
But there are many other possibilities as to why such a jubilant place would become so despondent. Adding to the reasons why abandoned theme parks exist, many murder victims have been buried in theme parks by serial killers since this is the last such place anyone could ever think of; full of calm and joyous feelings with families enjoying with cute little kids. May you ever get the chance of visiting a haunted and abandoned theme park from one of these, do leave your panic behind or get ready to be haunted by the resentful spirits!