Creepiest Abandoned Amusement Parks in America

Amusement parks are fun!... right? While some look at the actual amusement that comes from the parks, others find it difficult to look past the creepy aspects of that come along when entering these parks. They are designed for a fun and thrilling time, but how can one focus on that if they are filled with clowns, mascots with who knows what kind of person underneath those masks, dirty toothless men running the rides, and thousands of strangers that you have never met before. And if you did not think that amusement parks could get any creepier than that, imagine walking into an abandoned one. A whole amusement park all on your own that has been rundown and rusting for years. Well, unfortunately for those who are not fans of creepy places, and fortunately enough for those who get a thrill out of visiting places like this, then do I have some destinations for you. Here are some of the creepiest amusement parts in America, after the fun ended.

As many know Hurricane Katrina was one of the top five deadliest hurricanes in the history, hitting the southern region of America. One site that was hit by the hurricane was Six Flags New Orleans, leaving water damage and wreckage throughout the whole park. The park is filled with graffiti, broken rides, burnt and water damaged stuffed animals and strange noises from the distance. People have been making this a much go destination when it comes to visiting the creepiest amusement parks in America due to what some have done to the park since its closing. If you choose to make your way to this park, make sure you bring a camera, a flashlight, and an extra pair of underwear.

There is no worse look for an amusement park than having someone die on one of your rides, and this is exactly why JoyLand of Wichita, Kansas, is no longer open. The park was filled with many old wooden coasters that were built around the time of the parks opening in 1949, which just screams out safety hazard, so if you chose to go on a ride then you were entering at your own risk. Well, the man who died was not even on a roller coaster when he was killed, but rather he was standing beneath of the lowest hill of one of the rides. He was said to be bending over and when he stood up, his head was peaking through between the tracks as the train came down the hill and hit him. It is said that spirits do not leave the site of their death, and if that means that this park was haunted then I would recommend staying far away. The creepy amusement park closed down in 2004 is still standing, well somewhat standing, today with rotting wood and run down concession stands.

Now closed down and abandoned, this amusement park ran for one hundred years between 1878 and 1978. Although there were no recorded deaths at the park to add a certain aspect of creepiness, it is creepy enough on its own. Trees have fallen down, knocking down rides, while others have grown through and around the rides. As nature helped with the destruction of the park, there is another another sight to see that will send shivers down your spine. On the performance stage, there is graffiti writing quoting an old song called "Death of a Clown" by the Kinks:

"The old fortune teller lies dead on the floorNobody needs fortunes told anymore" - The Kinks

Without any listed deaths from one of the creepiest abandoned amusement parks, one can only wonder what happened there after the park closed down. If you would like to see just how scary this amusement park could be, it was actually used as the set of the horror film Closed for the Season.

As the park opened in 1976, this was one of the more uniquely built water amusement parks in the country. Disney's River Country was designed to filter water up from the lake into their pools and water slides. Like most water parks, they would only open during the spring and summer seasons and would close down for the winter. In the year 2001 when they closed for the winter, they did not reopen this park in the following spring of 2002. There are multiple theories of why the park closed, one being that tourism was at an all time low due to the attacks of 9/11. The other theory is much creepier, stating that the park had some form of brain eating amoeba. In 1980 there was a press release saying that freshwater lakes in Florida, and while three deathly cases were reported, one of them pointed at River Country. An eleven-year-old boy from New York passed away from this brain eating disease, and his parents claimed that he had not been swimming anywhere that summer besides at the Disney water amusement park. These allegations were quite difficult to prove, so the park stayed opened for the next twenty-one years and officially announced its closing in 2005. Nowadays, this boondocks looking site only fit for swamp people is rusting away while other Disney waterparks are thriving, making it one of Disney's creepiest amusement parks.

Once a place for people to visit and have fun while learning about religion, this rundown amusement park looks as if it has gone through years of desecration from those who share different views. Open from 1958 to 1984, this Connecticut attraction designed for finding self-peace in a mini version of Bethlehem. While amusement has its own definition depending on your personal views, there is no amusement coming out of the ruins that once was Holy Land. In 2010, a sixteen-year-old Connecticut resident was raped and murdered at the amusement park, being stabbed to death right below the parks cross. Containing rusted down buildings, broken cinderblocks, and defiled religious figures, this once holy amusement park has become one of the creepiest.