Real Haunts: 5 Creepy Abandoned Amusement Parks

Abandoned Amusement Parks
Pripyat Amusement Park | Image by Taken from Pixabay

Feature image by Taken from Pixabay.

Amusement parks are such interesting creations. Full of joy rides, sugar-filled treats, and wonderful memories, they are something most of us can look back on and smile (and some like myself, even in my fifties, still enjoy). However, when they are closed or abandoned, the locations sit quietly, with no patrons, no roaring roller coasters…just creepy and nightmare-inducing structures that seem more foreboding than welcoming.

Here is a list of 5 of the strangest, creepiest, and oddest amusement parks that, once closed and/abandoned, give us chills for all the wrong reasons.

CAUTION: Keep in mind before you plan a visit that while some places may be open to the public, it may not always be the case. Check ahead and be sure to always respect private property.

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1Gulliver’s Kingdom, Japan

Without a doubt, one of the creepiest and strangest theme parks ever created was Gulliver’s Kingdom, built in the foreboding shadow of Mount Fuji in Japan, inspired by the 18th century Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift. There is no doubt the 147-foot statue of Lemuel Gulliver tied to the ground as per the story, combined with the looming Mount Fuji, made many visitors feel uneasy.

However, there was even more that sent chills up the spines of visitors. The park not only sat next to a forest called Aokigahara, where an unusually high amount of people have committed suicide, but also the former headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo, a religious cult the killed 13 people in a nerve gas attack in Tokyo in 1995. The park, which opened in 1997, closed four years later due to dwindling attendance and then was demolished in 2007, leaving only concrete slabs and foundations where the creepy statue used to lay.

Check out photos here!

2Taman Festival Theme Park, Indonesia

Built-in 1997, Taman Festival was an ambitious project that, along with the man-made volcano, roller coaster, 3D Turbo Theater, and nightly laser shows, had plans for constructing Bali’s largest ever swimming pool and an inverted roller coaster. However, locals were always skeptical of the park succeeding due to spirits that lived on the grounds.

As it turned out, the locals may have been on to something. Urban legend has a patron dying on a ride when the park first opened. In 1998, only a year into its existence and many rides not yet completed, lightning struck causing what turned out to be irreparable damage. The park closed in 2000 due to poor attendance and all that remain now are derelict buildings housing bats, abandoned paths, a crocodile pit, decapitated statues, and, according to the locals, a home to evil spirits.

Check out photos here!

3Six Flags New Orleans, Louisiana

The creep factor here is so real you can almost feel it. Six Flags New Orleans, once a lively and vibrant park, now lies desolate and dormant after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The hurricane submerged the park under 20 feet of water and once over, it still took over a month for the remaining 7 feet of water to recede. Unable to recover financially from the damage done by Katrina, the park closed, never to reopen, as the joyful rides now sit silent, rusting and rotting, a constant reminder of what happened.

You would think they would want to tear it down and use the property for something else, but it seems the park, even though dead in the usual sense, still has some use. Blockbuster movies Jurassic World and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes have shot scenes here, ironic since both movies deal with massive disasters of some kind, making the now-closed Six Flags, New Orleans, the perfect, already built set, in which to film.

Check out photos here!

4Yangon Amusement Park, Myanmar

When the park opened in 1997, the Myanmar government at the time was a brutal dictatorship, constantly engaging in violence, unrest, and civil war. Many believed the park was built to distract people from what was going on and, in truth, there are locals with very fond memories of the park from their youth. Sadly, while the violence continued, the park did not and eventually closed 15 years after it opened.

However, there has never been an official reason why the park closed between 2012 and 2013. There are stories about bad business meetings, disagreements between landowners, noise complaints, etc. The locals will tell you that the park closed because of the death of children there, and they never left, as their ghost still haunts the now decaying remains of the park. With roars of lions easily heard nearby, blankets of mosquitos everywhere, and packs of wild dogs now calling the park home, it is definitely a place you don’t want to visit alone.

Check out photos here!

5Pripyat Amusement Park, Ukraine

Here is an abandoned park with the feeling of dread hanging over it like a gigantic cloud that won’t go away. The reason? The park is inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the site of possibly the biggest nuclear incident this planet has ever seen. In 1986, before the nuclear disaster, Pripyat was home to over 50,000 people and with an average age of 26, making an amusement park the perfect addition.

Ironically, the amusement park was never used, never even had an opening day for people to remember. It was to open May 1st, 1986, but the nuclear incident happened on April 26th, soon after the town was completely evacuated. You can take guided tours of what was to be, being checked for radiation before and after visiting, with only the large Ferris wheel and bumper cars still remaining. If you visit in the winter, with the park covered in snow, the overwhelming and eerie silence of the place will help you realize if only slightly, just how significant this place, and what happened here, really is.

Check out photos here!


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