Abandoned amusement parks can be found all over the world. These deserted parks are creepy, especially if they’ve not been in use for many years. Everything is dirty; the years of neglect through sun, rain, snow, and storms has caused the paint on everything to fade, chip, and crack. Rusted and broken rides abound. Spiders would be everywhere and so would their webs.
Nature has taken back what was once its own before the park was built. Trees, grass, flowers, etc. would have grown around the rides. Trees might have even busted the concrete or pushed their way through bumper cars, rollercoaster seats, or haunted house pathways. In this new forest encasing the rides and ticket booths, you’ll possibly find raccoons, chipmunks,and mice. Who knows? You might even find some lions or bears. What animals you find would depend on where this abandoned amusement park is located.
Nature and weather conditions can leave an abandoned amusement park in pretty rough shape. But they are also visited by curiosity seekers and vandals, who cause even more destruction. Graffiti is sprayed on rides, on walls, and ticket booths. Locks are broken. The scraps of any food they take in are dropped wherever they are when they finish eating. Drinks are emptied anywhere they desire. And if they have to go to the bathroom, well, they certainly won’t go in the dark and dirty bathrooms there. They’ll just go wherever they are in the park.
The parks might have closed because of not enough ticket sales due to disinterest or the availability of other more entertaining amusement parks. One park was even closed the day after it opened because of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. I doubt you’ll find much of any kind of life there.
Six Flags New Orleans was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. No telling what you’ll find living in any water that was left behind pooled in the rides.
Writing Prompts:
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but it is up to the author to write those thousand words. (Richard Petracca) Will you be the one to write those thousand words?
When you look at a picture, do you only see what is right in front of your eyes? Or do you see more? Maybe you can see romance. Or maybe you are someone who reads fantasy, mystery, intrigue, or even horror into everything you see.
Study the pictures and videos scattered throughout this article. Ask “what if” questions as well as other questions and come up with stories that could be written based on each one. Allow your imagination to take flight and explore all possibilities.
What if you woke up and found yourself in one of these abandoned amusement parks? Do you have any clue how you ended up there? What would you do?
What if a gang of kidnappers uses one of these parks for a place to keep their victims? Do they always use the same park or do they find a new one each time? How many victims (animal or human) do they kidnap before they’re caught? Or maybe they’re never caught.
Create a character to visit one of these parks when it was still open and business was booming. In one or more scenes, reality for this character morphs into something surreal; this character is now in the same amusement park after it has been closed down and abandoned for many years. What does this character do? How does this character react to the dramatic change of scenery?
An old toy—a broken doll, a Matchbox car, a hula hoop, a box of crayons etc.—is found in the park by someone exploring it. The toy is set up as if on display. Was whoever did this a ghost or a human? Why was it put on display? What happened to the child that owned this toy?
Stories of ghosts and mysterious happenings abound at whatever abandoned amusement park you choose. A team of paranormal investigators decided to investigate. What do they discover? Do all of them survive their investigation?
Write a story describing the final day a now-abandoned amusement park was open. Did anything horrible happen to cause its closing? Go into detail about that day’s visitors. Were one of them responsible for the park’s closing?
What writing prompts can you come up with? Feel free to share them in the comments.
Recommended Articles:
Mysterious Hole in the Snow Picture Writing Prompts
Abandoned Railroad Tracks Picture Writing Prompts
Veijo Rönkkönen Sculpture Park Picture Writing Prompts
