1. Six Flags New Orleans, Louisiana
When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Six Flags New Orleans was swallowed by floodwaters and left to decay. The once-bustling park, filled with laughter and music, became a silent, eerie swamp where roller coasters rusted and Ferris wheels stood frozen in time. Nature reclaimed the grounds, vines crawling over signs and concession stands. For years, photographers and thrill-seekers broke in to capture the haunting beauty of what remained. The silence of the park made it feel like time had stopped.
Even the cheerful “Jester” statue near the entrance became a ghostly reminder of better days. The city eventually took ownership, but it still sits untouched, waiting for a new fate that never seems to come. Urban explorers claim to hear faint echoes of carnival music and laughter when the wind is just right. Whether that’s imagination or something else, no one can say.
2. Dogpatch USA, Arkansas
Dogpatch USA was built in the Ozarks in the late ’60s, inspired by the comic strip Li’l Abner. It started as a charming, hillbilly-themed amusement park with a trout pond, rustic rides, and quirky characters. But as time went on, interest faded and the park fell into financial trouble. By the ’90s, it was abandoned and quickly overtaken by the wilderness. Wooden bridges rotted, souvenir shops caved in, and cartoon murals peeled away with the years.
Today, Dogpatch looks more like a movie set for a Southern ghost story than a theme park. People who wander through claim to hear faint laughter from speakers that haven’t worked in decades.
3. Spreepark, Berlin, Germany
Spreepark opened in 1969 in East Berlin and was a beloved family destination for decades. After Germany reunified, the park’s future looked bright, but debts and mismanagement soon brought it down. When it closed in 2002, its rides were left to rust beneath overgrown trees. The Ferris wheel still stands, creaking in the wind like an old skeleton.
What makes Spreepark even more unsettling are the life-sized dinosaur statues still scattered across the property, their paint faded and cracked. Filmmakers and photographers have turned the eerie landscape into an artistic symbol of Cold War nostalgia. Some claim to see shadows moving among the rides at night, though no one’s supposed to be there.
4. Pripyat Amusement Park, Ukraine
Pripyat’s amusement park was supposed to open on May 1, 1986. Instead, it opened early—just for a few hours—to distract residents from the nearby Chernobyl disaster unfolding that same week. The park’s iconic yellow Ferris wheel and bumper cars have become chilling emblems of the tragedy. Radiation levels kept the area uninhabitable, and nature quickly consumed everything in sight.
Visiting today feels like stepping into a post-apocalyptic dream. The rides stand frozen, rusted, and silent, while trees grow through what used to be walkways. Even though the air is safer now, a quiet unease lingers that no Geiger counter can measure.
5. Joyland Amusement Park, Kansas
For nearly half a century, Joyland brought smiles to Wichita families. It was home to a wooden roller coaster and a mechanical clown that “talked” through a loudspeaker. When it closed in 2006 after years of neglect and vandalism, it became one of the creepiest places in the Midwest. The clown still stood guard over the broken carousel, weathered but smiling.
Locals often reported strange lights flickering at night, and some claimed to hear calliope music drifting from the ruins. Eventually, most of the structures were torn down, but the legend of Joyland’s eerie presence remains alive in Kansas folklore.
6. Takakanonuma Greenland, Japan
Built in the ’70s, Takakanonuma Greenland was hidden deep in the foggy mountains of Fukushima. It mysteriously closed just two years after opening, reopened briefly in the ’80s, then shut down for good without explanation. Rumors swirled of fatal accidents and strange mist that never left the park. By the 2000s, nearly every trace of it had vanished from maps.
Photos taken before its demolition show ghostly roller coasters covered in moss and fog rolling through the empty midway. Locals say the fog never fully lifts there, and the few who’ve wandered in claim to have seen ghostly figures among the rides.
7. Heritage USA, South Carolina
This Christian-themed amusement park was founded by televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker in the 1980s. For a while, it rivaled Disney World in attendance, featuring a water park, a Main Street, and even a replica Upper Room. But scandals and financial collapse ended it all in the late ’80s. The once-grand buildings quickly decayed, leaving behind a ghost town of faith and folly.
Explorers have found hymn books scattered among the rubble and mannequins from old gift shops staring blankly through cracked windows. Some say you can still hear faint church music when the wind blows through the broken chapel doors.
8. Miracle Strip Amusement Park, Florida
For decades, Miracle Strip in Panama City Beach was a sunny vacation staple. Families flocked there for the Starliner roller coaster and the Haunted Castle attraction. But by 2004, rising land values pushed the park out, and it was torn down for condos. Only a few rides were saved, relocated to a smaller park that also later closed.
Now, the land sits eerily quiet compared to the joyful screams that once filled the air. Locals who remember its heyday say it feels like a piece of their childhood just vanished overnight.
9. Chippewa Lake Park, Ohio
Chippewa Lake Park operated for a century before closing in 1978. Unlike most parks, no one ever dismantled it, so it slowly decayed in place for decades. Roller coasters were swallowed by trees, carousels sank into the ground, and vines wrapped around forgotten picnic benches.
Urban explorers who visited before its demolition described hearing faint calliope music and the rustle of footsteps in the overgrowth. Even now, some remnants remain buried in the forest—quiet reminders of a century of joy gone to seed.
10. Holy Land USA, Connecticut
Built in the 1950s, Holy Land USA wasn’t your typical amusement park—it was a sprawling religious theme park made of plaster and plywood. Visitors could wander through miniature biblical scenes, from Bethlehem to the Garden of Eden. But by the 1980s, it fell into disrepair, and vandalism turned it from a place of devotion into something unsettling.
The decaying crosses and cracked statues created a haunting backdrop, especially at sunset. Though volunteers have tried to restore it, the original version remains a ghostly relic of an era when faith and tourism collided in strange ways.
11. Magic Harbor, South Carolina
Magic Harbor started as a pirate-themed park near Myrtle Beach in the 1970s. Despite its creative concept, the park was plagued by financial struggles and accidents. It closed and reopened several times before being abandoned completely in the ’90s. Rides rusted, palm trees grew wild, and its signature pirate ship sat half-submerged in swampy water.
Locals say it’s one of the eeriest places in the area, especially when the fog rolls in from the coast. Some swear they’ve heard the creak of the ship or the sound of ocean waves that shouldn’t be there.
12. Williams Grove Amusement Park, Pennsylvania
Williams Grove began as a picnic spot in the 1850s and grew into a full amusement park by the 1920s. It lasted more than a century before finally closing in 2005 after flooding and declining attendance. Its wooden coaster, the Cyclone, became a favorite backdrop for ghost hunters and photographers.
Even after the rides stopped, the family that owned it kept much of the property intact. Over the years, it’s become a quiet, melancholy space where laughter used to echo. Some say the spirits of old carnival workers still linger there, refusing to clock out.
13. Okpo Land, South Korea
Okpo Land once entertained families on South Korea’s Geoje Island. But after a series of tragic accidents—including a fatal one on the duck-themed ride—the park shut down overnight in the late ’90s. Everything was left as it was, from the ticket booths to half-eaten snacks. The derailed duck car, left hanging at a tilt, became an infamous image online.
For years, the site drew ghost hunters and curious travelers. Locals avoided it entirely, believing it was cursed. Though it was finally demolished in 2011, stories of strange lights and children’s laughter still follow the spot where Okpo Land once stood.