Abandoned Amusements
Abandoned amusement and theme parks left for nature to reclaim.
This site contains a stunning series of photos of an abandoned Japanese amusement park. The first few pictures of a rotted roller coaster are especially creepy as they were taken in the morning fog. page 1 - page 2 - page 3
Suzy Poling, an Oakland photographer, has a great photo series of an abandoned theme parks called Hidden Village. She also features a spread of old delapidated theatres: Palace of Mold
Defunctparks.com features many snapshots of parks in their heyday alongside the current state of rot: Rocky Glenn Park in Lackawanna County, PA - Mountain Park in Holyoke, MA - Idora Park in Youngstown, OH - Chippewa Lake Park in Chippewa Lake, OH .
IllicitOhio.com made a trek to the PTL's Heritage USA.
Pacific Ocean Park decimated through time.
Here is a promotional film for Santa's Village (mov. file) from Extinct Attractions, a site that preserves Disneyland's and Disney World's past through interactive DVD documentaries. They also archive information, pictures and sounds of theme park rides, attractions and brochures. Browse around a bit, they have a few more video clips.
Take a listen to Goosy Goosy Gander (mp3) and The Happy Dragon's Tongue (mp3) - they are part of a collection of field recordings from theme park rides and attractions recorded and compiled by Melinda Simon and Mark Fay and released as "Songs for Little Ones" on Dish Recordings in 1997.
Photographer Juergen Sprecht has posted his documentation of Hihokan (erotic museums of Japan). Not exactly theme parks, and not abandoned, but the photos sometimes show a degree of disrepair that brings old haunted houses from travelling carnivals to mind.
http://www.juergenspecht.com/documentations/?number=7&page=2
Posted by: EC Brown | July 27, 2005 at 10:28 AM
wow! wow! wow! thanks for this link, EC.
Posted by: fatty | July 27, 2005 at 01:01 PM
Thanks for posting the Santa's Village promo (and all the abandoned parks links), it brought back some crazy memories of the 70s when my grandmother lived just minutes away from that park in Dundee, IL. I wonder if anyone has the old TV commercial with their jingle.
Posted by: Listener Charles | July 27, 2005 at 03:47 PM
Great post Fatty. If you haven't seen it already, check out the cavalcade of alienation at:
http://www.deadmalls.com
Posted by: Mark | July 27, 2005 at 04:32 PM
I love Sounds for Little Ones! It is seriously one of the most beautiful things I've ever come across. I am glad to see someone else also has a fascination with abandonded places and amusement parks. Those things are one of my favorite subjects.
Posted by: Domenica | July 28, 2005 at 01:02 AM
I know Rocky Glen Park well -- when it closed, the Moonies tried to buy it and make a huge retreat. I also saw Huey Lewis there in junior high school and in the city-namecheck part of 'the Heart of Rock and Roll' he sang about "Avoca, PA." Supposedly after a Starship show there Mickey Thomas hit on a local townie's woman and got beaten severely, put in the hospital, and I don't think that Starship every played a show after that again. Thank you, Rocky Glen Park.
Posted by: Brian Turner | July 30, 2005 at 09:46 AM
jesus, that's a wonderful story, Brian.
Posted by: fatty | July 30, 2005 at 02:58 PM
Hi, I came across this site therough the Sounds for Little ones CD. It was recorded clandestinely at Children's Fairyland, in Oakland, CA, the first park created specifically for families with little children. Many similar amusement parks sprang up in it's wake, including Disneyland, which was inspired by Fairyland. Fairyland is still going strong, and just celebrated it's 55th anniversary. Oakland is rightfully proud of this wonderful park. Check out their website at www.Fairyland.org.
Posted by: Tony Jonick | August 18, 2005 at 06:49 PM
How on earth do I get a copy of "Sounds for Little Ones"? Those two tracks are amazing!
Posted by: Christopher Merritt | September 20, 2005 at 04:15 PM
Does anyone have any photo's of Rocky Glen Park (formerly Ghost Town) in Moosic, PA? I have visited the site: Defunctparks.com
I am looking for more photo's, items, video - anything. Please e-mail me if you can help out. Thank you.
Posted by: Joey | October 21, 2005 at 09:46 PM
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Posted by: | March 14, 2008 at 10:53 AM
I found some photos from maybe 1974 when my parents took me there for a day.
Posted by: renee | March 07, 2009 at 05:08 PM
Great post. Abandoned amusement parks are fascinating on multiple levels. It also reminds me of the Enchanted Forest in Maryland that I used to visit as a wee one, only this is even cooler.
Posted by: theme parks | March 30, 2009 at 08:11 AM