Ep. 99: Abandoned Amusement Parks Worldwide

Join us as we explore the eerie world of abandoned amusement parks, where once-vibrant attractions now stand as decaying monuments to forgotten joy and lingering spirits.

• Mountain Park in Holyoke, Massachusetts operated from the late 1800s until the mid-1980s with visitors reporting phantom carnival music and shadowy figures
• Lincoln Park in Dartmouth, Massachusetts closed after a roller coaster accident with the tracks still standing like skeletal remains
• Six Flags New Orleans was abandoned immediately after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, leaving everything frozen in time
• Lake Shawnee Amusement Park in West Virginia was built on Native American burial grounds and experienced numerous tragic deaths
• Spree Park in Berlin features rotting swan boats and dinosaur statues with reports of the Ferris wheel turning on its own
• Aqpo Land in South Korea contains a duck-themed ride frozen mid-loop where a child died
• Heritage USA was a Christian-themed park that fell into ruin after scandals and a hurricane
• Pripyat Amusement Park in Chernobyl never officially opened before the nuclear disaster

If you're interested in horror movies, check out "It Feeds" starring Ashley Greene from Twilight, rated 4/5 overall with a 4.5/5 for gore and body horror content.

Transcript

Introducing Abandoned Amusement Parks

Hannah 0:06

You're making it so awkward.

Rob Fitz 0:08

Why I'm not doing anything.

Hannah 0:09

No, because usually me and Courtney are like. I feel like he's got a time clock, so yeah.

Courtney 0:14

You know what I picture when you're at some place and they have that visual timer where it's like counting down the minutes to the next transition. Oh yeah, like with the red part.

Hannah 0:22

Yes, kids love those clocks.

Brett 0:24

Those are good clocks.

Courtney 0:25

I bought one at the thrift store.

Brett 0:28

Okay.

Hannah 0:39

Hi, I'm Hannah and I'm Courtney. Join us as we delve into true crime, paranormal encounters and all things spooky.

Courtney 0:46

Grab your flashlight and get ready to wander into the darkness with us.

Brett 0:52

This is Wicked.

Hannah 0:53

Wanderings Hello Courtney, hi Hannah, and we have a, I guess, special guest, because you're never here anymore. Hello Rob, hello.

Courtney 1:18

What a warm welcome. I felt the warmth on this side of the room.

Rob Fitz 1:23

From me or from Hannah? Both oh, both is good.

Hannah 1:27

So, wanderers, we are going to be talking about spooky, abandoned and weird amusement parks Courtney's favorite because they have clowns.

Brett 1:37

Yeah.

Courtney 1:37

The minute I heard about what the topic was, I was like oh, come on.

Hannah 1:41

Courtney loves the clowns.

Courtney 1:44

I'm feeling the tears welling up in my eyes about clowns, but I'm going to just try to not repeat, definitely not about clowns. I'm going to try to come up with creative input that doesn't have to do with clowns.

Hannah 1:56

Amusement parks are supposed to be timeless.

Brett 1:58

Yeah.

Hannah 1:59

Right. They're built for joy, happiness, rides spinning around.

Rob Fitz 2:04

We got a local one. We got a local one right here. Six Flags used to be Riverside Park.

Hannah 2:10

I think Six Flags is actually on the list. I mean not the.

Rob Fitz 2:13

Agawam one, not the Agawam one you ever been to Six Flags or Riverside.

Courtney 2:18

A long time ago. I'm beyond just not liking clowns. I don't like rides. I don't like crowds. I don't like loud noises.

Hannah 2:30

My ADHD shows Got a lot of sensory stuff going on. So when we are in amusement parks we always smell things too Like, even if you go to the Big E popcorn, right yeah, fried dough.

Brett 2:41

Cotton candy.

Mountain Park in Holyoke, Massachusetts

Hannah 2:42

Cotton candy Hot dogs Right Stinky BO people. And then there's that, yes definitely. So when the rides stop right, they rust, they're not usable anymore. The paint peels off, the gates are locked. That's when the ghosts move in. And today we're going to wander through the shadows of abandoned amusement parks. So the first one is going to be mountain park in holyoke mass very close to us is that the one that was on mount tom mount tom.

Courtney 3:21

Yes oh, I have some good pictures I can share with the wanderers of mount tom from skiing uh no, from a picture of the abandoned amusement park. That was, oh okay.

Rob Fitz 3:28

Oh okay, I used to ski there when I was a wee little tyke, when it was still a Mount Tom ski place resort Rob's dating himself.

Courtney 3:36

Yeah, I know.

Hannah 3:37

They do have the abandoned chairlift up there.

Courtney 3:40

They did the last time I was there.

Rob Fitz 3:41

Mm-hmm, I don't remember seeing that During COVID we actually hiked up Mount Tom yeah. God, that's brutal and we saw the old wave pool.

Courtney 3:50

They used to have. There's an old quarry up there too. The quarry is a little. You have to be careful if you ever visit the quarry, because it's you could easily fall or slip it's not stable, yeah yeah so mountain park in holland, massachusetts.

Hannah 4:03

It opened in the late 1800s. It was the shining jewel of the pioneer valley and families would take the trolley up the mountain for roller coasters, concerts and even ballroom dances which I didn't know, but by the mid-1980s the rides were shutting down, the laughter faded and nature reclaimed the Midway, which makes sense for you if you were up there at that time. Do you remember seeing the amusement park?

Rob Fitz 4:25

I don't think the amusement park was open when it was skiing.

Courtney 4:29

still, I don't know the the crossover, I believe amusement park had closed down, and then, when nature started to reclaim the area, that's when they were changing it into. I could be speaking completely incorrectly but, that's the way it looks, even when you look at in the early 2020s, when you're looking at kind of how things were abandoned. It looked like the other stuff was older than music.

Rob Fitz 4:49

So the Mount Tomski area opened in either 1960 or 1962, with most sources citing 1960 at the first season, others stating 1962 as the opening, so early 60s.

Courtney 5:02

Yeah, it didn't have a terribly long run, it was only a couple of decades.

Rob Fitz 5:06

And then it closed in 97, 98 season.

Hannah 5:10

So, but still hikers today who wandered to the grounds, like me and Rob. They report strange experiences. Now, I think we were very focused on being socially distant when we did it in 2020 and not being near people and whatever, but apparently there's some strange experiences people have. They say they hear the distant sound of carnival organs echoing through the fog. Others swear they they seen shadowy figures moving in the mist where the rides once stood, always just far enough away to make you doubt your own eyes, which of course, that always seems to happen, but interesting I would say so over by where the wave pool was.

Courtney 5:45

It was probably so the lodge caught on fire before I remember you telling me about that so when I had gone last, you could go into the lodge, and so it was like the lodge was on your left, you're facing the wave pool, and there was like a mini golf kind of building off to the right and I distinctly I had gone up there about three different times and one time I did have my friend tina. Uh, hannah, you've met tina. She was like, oh, I'm gonna, can you take my picture? I'm going to stand over here. And she took off ahead of me, as Tina does when we go anywhere Balls, tina, yes, the balls, yes, yes. Balls, tina, yes. And she kept wandering and I just remember it being dark and she would go left and I felt like I was going of mirrors. I kept swearing, I was seeing her over here, but then she was over there.

Courtney 6:36

Interesting it was a very interesting building.

Lincoln Park and Lake Shawnee

Hannah 6:38

I'm gonna have to look back and see if I have pictures of that still, because that building was odd. It was a very odd building, love it. Number two is lincoln park in dartmouth, massachusetts, and it closed after a roller coaster accident in the 1980s. Explorers claim they still hear the screams of riders near the skeleton of the old coaster. Even now the rusty tracks just have the trees like the bones of some long-dead creature.

Courtney 6:59

I don't think I've ever heard of that one? I haven't either.

Rob Fitz 7:01

So the roller coasters are still up.

Courtney 7:05

Apparently, the tracks a lot of times are up at abandoned amusement parks but the coaster itself, like the mechanical piece, I think they reused that probably. Okay, the tracks a lot of times are up at abandoned amusement parks but the coaster itself, like the mechanical piece, I think they reuse that probably okay because the tracks they've been in the weather they're probably not worth very much. I mean scrap metal, but who's gonna go up there and cut them down?

Hannah 7:19

they don't make coasters like they used to like they used to be wooden, all wooden, and then six flags. In agawam used to have some. I don't know if they have any wooden ones anymore, so they had two.

Rob Fitz 7:29

Yeah, they had two like original ones yeah, the cyclone, and uh, I can't remember the other one I don't think they're there anymore, though, or they've upgraded them they've upgraded them. They're metal, but they're still the same track but that doesn't matter, I don't know.

Courtney 7:43

The idea of wood kind of freaks me out a little bit, because you have to think about that, the weather, the elements, breaks it rots it's, it's not really a great material to build something that's going to hold weight on top of it? No, no, probably not they just look sketchy up there, they just, you know, there's just these beams to nowhere and I'm afraid of heights also. So carnivals and me where we don't get along well third one is six flags, new orleans, oh yeah, that one I knew about well, do you have anything you want to say before?

Courtney 8:14

I have friends who have gone to new orleans just to break in and get pictures. What if I can remember which friend it was who went there?

Six Flags New Orleans Post-Katrina

Hannah 8:24

I will ask him if we can use some of his pictures excellent so farther south, we have six New Orleans, and it was left for dead after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Everything was abandoned in place Roller coasters, rust, clown faces, concession stands and urban explorers swear. They see movement in the shadows carousel horses shifting slightly, clown heads turning when no one is looking and the park feels less abandoned and more in awaiting you said 2005, I mean that was 20 years ago now, wow but that still makes sense though, because, if you think about it, a lot of places like mount tom they abandoned it with some understanding that they were going to abandon it.

Rob Fitz 9:05

They closed up. They're like okay we're all done.

Courtney 9:07

We went bankrupt, whatever the situation was. When you're talking a natural disaster, it's just left. It's even more haunting. I would imagine because everything is left exactly the way it was, and it's like it's waiting for you to come back and you're not going to this actually reminds me of the horror book that I read.

Rob Fitz 9:25

Great, it's gonna be about clones and no, and what was this book called?

Hannah 9:29

Okay, it was called Fantastic Land. It's by Mike Bokovan, but I read it last year. Actually, I listened and read because the audiobook was fantastic, and it was about how there was an amusement park I believe it was in Florida, though and there was a hurricane coming through and they tried to get everybody off of the park, but they couldn't get everybody, like all the workers. So it ended up being like, until they could, like the help could get to them, like they basically built their own society of like right and wrong, and they had groupings together that were against each other, kind of like very apocalyptic, like cults on this one property.

Rob Fitz 10:09

So there was killings that happened this is a fiction book yeah, yeah, yeah yeah it was a horror.

Courtney 10:14

You said right was the genre. Yeah, it was sounds like the purge a little bit, but like mixed with the walking dead.

Hannah 10:21

If you listen to the audiobook, which I recommend, it basically was the interviews after the event, so they interviewed everybody that was at the park that was still alive.

Courtney 10:35

That's such an interesting perspective for a book. I feel like everybody who's writing books right now is doing multiple POVs and that's the way that they're structuring the whole book, or they're doing multiple timelines. So they're flashing between two timelines, but you rarely hear of a book that masters being able to go through interview or recollection.

Hannah 10:49

Yeah, it was. I highly recommend. But anyways, that kind of reminded me of that amusement park.

Courtney 10:53

Give me the clown scale here, one being there's some clowns but it's livable, and 10 being nope, just don't do it.

Hannah 10:58

No, I don't think there was any clowns. I don't remember Goodness a book about carnivals I can read. You might actually really like it. No-transcript. So built over a Native American burial ground, oh, this was just a recipe for disaster.

Hannah 11:23

It quickly gained a reputation for accidents and deaths, from drownings in the lake to a child killed on the swings. Actually, I think I watched a ghost. I wasn't Ghost Avengers, I think it was Kindred Spirits, but they did an episode on this one because I remember them talking about the Native American burial grounds and there was a child killed on the swings.

Courtney 11:40

We're just going to call it back from our last episodes here. Why American Burial Grounds and there was a child killing swings? We're just going to call it back from our last episodes here. Why are we allowed to build things on Native American burial grounds? I know Where's.

Hannah 11:49

Johnny. Today it's considered one of the most haunted amusement parks in America. Visitors talk about swings that move on their own, which they had happen Laughter drifting across the ground. So they had laughter. I remember with the swing, I believe, because they asked a little girl if she wanted to play and some things happened and the unmistakable feeling of being watched, which, of course, you're on native land.

Courtney 12:08

Why wouldn't you?

Brett 12:09

be, watched.

Courtney 12:10

I feel like most places, if you're in tune with the spirit world and alone, you're going to feel like you're being watched.

Hannah 12:15

And Rob, I think you are in tune with the spirit world.

Brett 12:19

Am I I believe you are, hmm I, I mean, I envy your gift.

Rob Fitz 12:25

I think it can be used in certain ways I haven't woken up in the middle of the night to see anything recently recently great now tonight's gonna be the night do you?

Courtney 12:36

find that there's a time that you usually wake up, because that happens to me and I've had had a lot of, not so much where I'm living now but where I lived previously and I've talked about in other episodes. I've had things happen and it's always between three and three 30 AM.

Rob Fitz 12:51

The witching hour, absolutely I don't have a time, but I did take a nap a couple months ago and I did wake up and I thought I saw a spider on the wall, but it was during the day.

Hannah 13:02

Yep, I was watching TV and you're like I'm going to take a quick nap. It was like a Saturday or Sunday and you took a quick nap and I was watching a show and he just bolts out of bed. I'm like, are you okay? He's like you don't see that. I'm like, see what? And he's like you don't see. You're looking for Spider-Man or something. Yeah, he's like it's huge. I'm like, no, honey, I don't see anything.

Courtney 13:27

Well, some people, I think, try too hard and I feel like spirits don't want to show themselves to you. I mean, that's how I would be if I was walking around haunting the world. Somebody was out here, like with their ghost box, trying to get me to talk to them.

Brett 13:52

I'd be like like jokes on you.

Hannah 13:52

I'm gonna go prank the guy next door. Seems like a lot more fun. We have had no luck with the ghost box. Did you bring it to your? Uh salem, I did. We did not use it. It wasn't the right vibe for where we were. It really wasn't. I think if we had time to go to like a graveyard or something, then maybe, but just yeah, just didn't we need a day trip for that, I think.

Courtney 14:03

I think we should plan like purposely that's what we're doing, yeah even if we stay overnight. But we do it like strategically, because technically you could even do like a thursday into a friday yeah.

Hannah 14:15

Next one is rocky point park in warwick. Rhode island entertained families for more than a century before closing in the 90s. Wow, the midway is gone now, but people still swear the grounds aren't empty. Some say they hear screams from the scrambler ride that once stood there scrambler yeah, that sounds fun oh that sounds dizzying.

Courtney 14:33

No, thank you it's kind of like the flying bobs, I think flying bobs where they go and like the bobsleds what? Sometimes I say things from berkshire county and it never strikes me as weird until everyone in the room looks at me like they just did. I'm gonna google flying bobs and y'all are gonna understand that I'm not cray cray, I mean teacups, I think I'm about to call brett and be like brett. Yo brett flying bobs you know.

Rob Fitz 14:56

If you know what a flying bob is, text us.

Rocky Point Park and Flying Bobs

Hannah 15:00

The link is down in in the notes call brett honestly, and I'm just gonna read this flying motherfucking bobs, motherfucking, motherfucking you're gonna have to post that on the instagram flying bob. I still think you're making it up. Others report smelling popcorn and saltwater drifting on the breeze long after the rides were torn down.

Courtney 15:23

Oh, I have to call his correct number. That would be. Imagine I call a random person from North Adams Like yeah, I know the Flying Babs.

Hannah 15:32

Hey how you doing.

Rob Fitz 15:33

Hey, what's going on? You're on the Wicked Wanderings podcast. Hello.

Courtney 15:37

Hello, I have to ask you a question, and don't ask me why. Just answer me, okay.

Brett 15:43

Oh, I love this game.

Courtney 15:49

Okay, so there's a ride that I'm picturing at the carnival in North Adams right, and it went in circles and it was called the Flying what. Okay, what was it? It was the Flying Bobs right.

Brett 15:58

Was it Flying Bob Sled?

Courtney 15:59

Yeah, but it was called Flying Bobs, but it was a bobsled.

Brett 16:02

Yeah, but it was called Flying Bobs, but it was a bobsled, yeah, and it kind of it went in a circle like a merry-go-round or a carousel and like up and down it had like, it had like dips. Yes it went in a circle but like up and down, like it would on, like a ski trail, like a regular roller coaster, except it went in a circle.

Hannah 16:21

Oh my God, hi Brett there, except it went in a circle.

Courtney 16:22

Oh my god, hi brett, so this was at a carnival yeah, there was a traveling carnival that came to north adams every year and it was called the flying bob wasn't it in like the price chopper parking lot?

Brett 16:34

yeah, north adams is kind of ghetto y'all I'm trying to think of where it was, because it was bigger than that, but wait, where was it?

Courtney 16:41

the ad Aggie Fairgrounds? Right on Kern Highway.

Brett 16:44

They didn't have too many rides, though it had to have been Price Chopper.

Courtney 16:48

Because Price Chopper closed and that's when they used the parking lot.

Brett 16:52

Was it near Lanesboro somewhere?

Courtney 16:53

Well, I think they had it at the Dalton Carnival too.

Brett 16:56

Oh, maybe it was that one. No, because they had it in North Adams, it was at the mall.

Courtney 17:00

There's no mall in North Adams no but there's a mall in Lanesboro.

Brett 17:04

That's what I mean. Like was it in the mall. It was close because like I went to it, Like I drove with like friends when I was older.

Courtney 17:12

So you remember it though right, Because we're, we're, you're on the podcast right now.

Hannah 17:18

You're going through the soundboard. By the way, I miss my life, hey people of the internet.

Courtney 17:21

I was sitting here and we were talking about we're doing an episode on haunted amusement parks and I was like yeah, like the flying bobs and rob and hannah both looked at me like I was absolutely cracked in the head and I was like no, it's a thing, guys, it's a berkshire county thing I'm like what the fuck are you talking?

Brett 17:37

about yeah I brought it up the thing you sit in is looks like a bobsled and it had like painted icicles or something. Yes, it was blue, yeah, it was blue and white, and it said, like the flying bobs, and it had bobsleds and it just went in a circle and it kind of like. It was like it went uphill and then went back down and it kept doing that.

Hannah 17:55

So you guys not only have flying bobsleds, you guys have dragons. So we all know now that that's where everything is pretty much.

Courtney 18:04

I'm just glad that somebody else knew what I was talking about, because I said it and got looked at like I had 12 heads no, it's definitely, definitely real.

Brett 18:13

I'm smoking a bowl, so pardon my language it's fine.

Courtney 18:16

She's like I'm calling brian, we're all just having a beer doing our recording and I was like I'm gonna call brett, so we hooked you up through the soundboard. If you want to hang out for a few minutes and listen to the rest of Hannah's list, you're more than welcome to.

Rob Fitz 18:28

Well, Brett, since you're smoking a bowl, I'm on my way.

Brett 18:31

Oh, all right, Don't tell me twice Spicy.

Rob Fitz 18:40

No, I'm not serious, I'm not coming. That's a long drive.

Courtney 18:43

Well, you're fired, you're fired, fired, fired Immediately.

Hannah 18:48

So do you want to stay on for the next one?

Brett 18:50

I would. I have to go cook food.

Courtney 18:54

Oh, wow, boring. Okay, but we will reach out to you to schedule you to be on an episode because we need you to be a guest.

Rob Fitz 19:00

Yes, definitely.

Courtney 19:03

Oh, make it something gay. Do you want to do your own haunted gay episode? Oh yeah, you absolutely can.

Brett 19:06

Oh, no, no.

Courtney 19:07

Okay, well then, text me a list of ideas and we'll put something together and have you on for commentary.

Rob Fitz 19:13

Tell it hubbies, and you don't even have to come to the studio. We can do it right on your phone.

Courtney 19:20

Or we could have him come out and he could just stay at my house.

Brett 19:22

Oh yes, yes definitely.

Hannah 19:24

Let's do it. I'm down.

Brett 19:27

Turn me a limo and I'll be ready in five minutes, all right.

Courtney 19:29

Well, thank you for backing me up on the North Adams culture that everybody else needed today.

Brett 19:33

Have fun smoking your bowl we love you. Kisses. North Adams is a scary place.

Hannah 19:38

Love you guys bye, bye, bye, brett. Oh my god, he's such a great vibe. I love him. Oh, bye, alright, next one, wanderers. After that, lovely talk with Brad. I love it.

Courtney 19:52

No, don't be sorry, that's awesome I had to be checked on it and the fact that he described it to a T from the picture I just showed you, I was like it's cause he's smoking a bowl.

International Haunted Parks

Hannah 20:00

He's not smart enough to google it right now. I love it so much. We're in spree park, berlin, germany everybody, we're out the country.

Hannah 20:09

I told you we were going far we're out across the ocean across the pond yes, spree park looks like a horror movie set I'm intrigued, let's go swan boats rot in the weeds, dinosaur statues collapse into the mud and the Ferris wheel still creaks slowly in the wind. This is very dramatic Explorers have heard whispers in the dark tunnels and phantom footsteps pacing the grounds. The eerie grinding of the Ferris wheel turning on its own has been recorded more than once. Ooh, so the Ferris wheel's still up.

Brett 20:41

Mm.

Hannah 20:42

Kind of like once.

Brett 20:43

Ooh, so the Ferris wheel's still up, mm Kind of like that, mm.

Hannah 20:46

Next is Aqpo Land in South Korea.

Brett 20:50

Ooh.

Hannah 20:51

Oh God, guys, I'm sorry for language here. On Gyoje Island in South Korea, Aqpo Land once bustled with families, but after a series of accidents in the 90s, including the death of a child on a duck themed ride why is it always a child? The park shut down overnight. The duck car where the accident happened was left in place, frozen mid-loop, for years oh locals whispered that the child's spirit haunted the ride, waiting endlessly for the day it would start again. I mean that's so sad oh my god, yikes.

Rob Fitz 21:22

so growing my family. We had timeshare in Florida. My parents still have timeshare in Florida, in Orlando and Kissimmee, which is right next to Orlando, and we used to get a free day pass to a water park. It wasn't wet and wild, it was called something else. It was smaller, but they had this wave pool and they didn't like limit the amount of people were in there and there was uh, you could only go in there if you had a tube and unfortunately, one of the days we were there one of the kids slipped through the tube and he wasn't able to get up because of all the tubes and he ended up drowning, oh my god, and I will remember that for the rest of my life

Courtney 22:08

yeah, yeah, oh oh my god, yeah scary, very scary, very scary, that's why there's things like limits on them and I want to say, when I had gone a couple of times to places that had wave pools, there was like you were not allowed to bring a tube in. You're not allowed to bring a, a noodle or anything other than like swimmies on children yeah you were not allowed to bring any floats, which I always imagined was for that reason that's scary, I'll have to text my parents and ask them what the uh I hope it wasn't wild because I feel bad.

Courtney 22:38

But wet and wild just sounds like a wet t-shirt contest waiting to happen.

Rob Fitz 22:41

No, wet and wild was a bigger park, this one was a smaller one. Let's see, so it wasn't affiliated with disney so the water park that we used to go to yeah, the name was water mania- ah, water mania, that's a better name yes a better name yeah, it wasn't wet and wild, that was a bigger one next we have heritage usa in south carolina oh, I think I've heard of this one not all amusement parks were about thrills.

Hannah 23:09

Heritage usa in south carolina was a massive christian themed park. Well, there's your problem oh, and you never heard of this one I mean my mom didn't like amusement parks to begin with, like even when my parents were divorced. My father, if he had free tickets because whatever um, and we would go to six flags, agawarm and we had to walk because, the bastard was so fucking cheap was it six flags?

Rob Fitz 23:31

yet? Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't riverside, nope, it was six flags.

Hannah 23:35

We had to walk through the woods um, that's another story. Everybody um, where was? I was, oh, yeah. So my mom hated six flags, slash riverside. She hated it. So I'm not surprised that she wasn't like oh, is that my kids here?

Rob Fitz 23:47

I should know about that so it was, would you guys walk through the woods and get in for free?

Hannah 23:54

we would walk, so he didn't have to pay to park ah but he would have tickets for us to get in free, or at least a couple of us to get in free do you know how much parking is now at Six Flags?

Rob Fitz 24:05

No, so I was driving past it a couple of weeks ago this was just before the bachelor party and I was just picking up some nicotine products in Connecticut because it's cheaper, anyway. So I was driving past Six Flags and I saw people holding signs out like $10, $15, $20 to park and I was like what are they parking for? $20. What? And so I Googled how much parking is. How much? Do you think? It is? Probably like 40 bucks, $75 to park inside Six Flags.

Courtney 24:44

That's insane. So I'm always surprised, like okay, so we go to the Big E, we talk about that on the podcast all the time.

Courtney 24:50

Part of going to the Big E is that the big e hosts it, but they're renting out their space kind of to all these vendors too, right right. So I understand why when we go to the big e, we pay an entry fee, which is not that expensive in my opinion. No, it's not, I agree. I also feel like paying to park on their property is also not unheard of, because when you combine those two together, you're still under the 75 to park.

Rob Fitz 25:12

It's oh, 100, absolutely. It's 20 for a ticket to go to the Big E and if you park on property it's $5. Right, it's more expensive to park at the houses or the businesses around the Big E.

Courtney 25:24

They're just closer usually. Sometimes.

Rob Fitz 25:27

Less traffic to get in and out.

Courtney 25:29

I don't think places should be able to charge you an entry fee into their facility and parking. I feel like, especially for a place. I mean mean, maybe if you're in boston or york city where there's not any parking, but for a place like six flags that has ample parking.

Hannah 25:42

They have a huge parking lot but if you have a season pass, is it still that expensive? They?

Courtney 25:46

probably sell you a parking pass for the season too and make double the money yeah, exactly, it's insane to me. Does anybody know if disneyland, if you have to pay to park out?

Rob Fitz 25:54

I'm really intrigued about that I think you do at all theme parks. You have to pay to park out. I'm really intrigued about that. I think you do All theme parks. You have to pay to park. But that's why.

Courtney 25:59

That's probably why it's cheaper for families to stay there in a Disney park resort so they can just take the shuttle in right and so when you get to the parks without having to park, it's been so long since I've been to an amusement park I can't even remember how, because my dad would take us but it's been so long Because, if you go to a carnival right the carnival's brand I were just talking about you paid your $5 to get in or whatever, and then your tickets for the ride, but nobody charged you to park. When you got there you had to walk up to the ticket booth and pay them. I feel like parking is like how do you expect your guests to get here if they can't park.

Rob Fitz 26:31

Yeah, exactly when I go to the grocery store.

Hannah 26:33

I don't pay them to go into big y to buy my products, yeah if we were ever going to go disney world again, I would stay on resort or somewhere. That was like okay, you park at our resort and we'll shuttle you in like that or take an uber definitely a parked.

Courtney 26:45

Yeah, and I'm sure uber does a ton of business because of that too. Yeah, it's just something I've always thought about that I'm like that's so weird even concerts, if you think about you go, you pay your ticket and unless there's no parking on the venue, then you don't pay to park or if you pay for your ticket, that's guaranteed parking right.

Hannah 27:03

Like that's just silly to me um where did we go with this? Oh yeah, so we were talking about heritage, usa in south carolina, which was the massive christian themed park and resort created by televangelist jim and tammy faye baker bacher you ever heard of them? No, in your christian childhood so I'm sure my grandparents probably know them. So after scandals, of course, this could be a scandal with a christianism mark yes, christians in the 90s scandals god, sorry guys, feelings after scandals. In a hurricane it fell into ruin good I was a hurricane scandals and a hurricane yes

Courtney 27:45

the scandals were the pertinent part.

Hannah 27:46

Oh, yeah, definitely today, explorers report hearing church bells tolling where no bells remain and faint hymns echoing from the amphitheater, as if a service is still being held in the empty air.

Brett 27:58

Wow.

Courtney 27:59

I sometimes wonder if people create those kinds of things themselves.

Hannah 28:02

Oh, 100% Knowing what it is.

Courtney 28:04

Because there's certain places, like hospitals and churches, that have a certain Right.

Hannah 28:07

You hear like the beeping or the crying out.

Courtney 28:10

Psychology is very impressive. You can tell yourself oh, we're at a church, oh, do you hear the bell? And you will hear the bell.

Hannah 28:16

Yep, now we're next to Daddy Park in Belgium. Ooh so Daddy Park in Belgium is a small family amusement park with outdated, dangerous rides. It shut down after a string of tragic accidents Of course it's always a freaking accident.

Courtney 28:31

I'm really curious about why they named it that.

Hannah 28:33

So it's D-A-D-I-P-A-R-K.

Rob Fitz 28:37

Dottypuck.

Hannah 28:39

Dottypuck. Now locals report children's laughter echoing through the abandoned playgrounds and shadowy figures darting between crumbling slides and swings.

Courtney 28:52

The place built for joy has become a playground for ghosts that one gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Heritage USA and Pripyat

Rob Fitz 28:55

I don't know what it is about that last one? That's just like they speak German in Belgium, right? Or is it French? Know what it is about that last one? That's just like they speak german in belgium? Right? Or is it french? Or do they speak? Or is it dutch?

Courtney 29:02

no, it's not dutch.

Rob Fitz 29:03

It might depend on where they're at okay, in belgium right so the, the daddy, might be a translation to another word and whatever whatever their native language is and the last one is pripyat p-r-i-p-y-a-t sounds russian amusement park in chernobyl, ukraine oh, we all know what happened in chernobyl.

Hannah 29:26

Yes, we do perhaps the most haunting of all is the pripyat amusement park in ukraine. It was scheduled to open on may 1st 1986, but it never truly did. The chernobyl nuclear disaster struck just days before and the park stood empty from the start. That's so sad. The Ferris wheel, bumper cars and rusted rides still stand as ghostly monuments to a day that never came. Urban explorers and workers in the exclusion zone report hearing children's laughter echoing through the empty lot, even though no children ever rode those rides. Some even claim the Ferris wheel creaks in. The stillness turns slightly, though there's no wind. I don't know about that. Like I think Chernobyl itself is just spooky, yeah.

Courtney 30:06

But if the park hadn't even opened, like I mean, I guess, unless it's on an Indian burial ground? Again, I know right, seriously Too soon for that.

Rob Fitz 30:11

But so you know the YouTuber I watch Indigo Traveler.

Hannah 30:15

Yeah yeah. So he actually went to chernobyl with a guide which is very dangerous.

Rob Fitz 30:21

It's very dangerous because they're still still active radioactive it's still radioactive, it's not as bad as it used to be, but, uh, you can spend a little bit of time there. But uh, he actually went through some of the buildings and then went into this park and saw it. And fun fact about Chernobyl there's actually dogs that were left there that have become wild Chernobyl dogs, so they've become their own breed. Well, it makes sense, but they're wild dogs.

Courtney 30:51

It's interesting they don't wander too far beyond the limit. You know what I'm saying.

Rob Fitz 30:55

There's military that guards it. You can't even get in there without crossing a checkpoint.

Courtney 30:58

But they even care about the limit. You know what I'm saying. There's military that guards it. You can't even get in there without crossing a checkpoint. But they even care about the dogs. They won't even let the dogs back out.

Hannah 31:05

So if you ever stood the gates of an abandoned amusement park, you know the feeling.

Hannah 31:08

The heavy air the sense that something is still there, just out of sight. So what do you think? Is it all in our heads? I think some of these places are definitely all in our heads. Or do these places really hold onto spirits long after the ride shut down? So tonight we close the gates behind us. The Ferris wheel is still, the lights are dark, but the ghosts remain, and that was our wandering through the haunted echoes of abandoned amusement parks.

Rob Fitz 31:35

Mm Beautiful, Nicely done Hannah.

Hannah 31:38

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Rob Fitz 31:39

Wanderers. That was a great episode.

Hannah 31:42

Yeah, it was interesting.

Rob Fitz 31:45

Before we end Hannah, do you have any horror movie recommendations? I?

Hannah 31:55

do, and I actually got better with how I was rating based off of our last talk. Oh yeah To make sure that I had an overall rating and then a gore body horror rating.

Courtney 32:03

Yeah because that is important to some people. Some people like horror, but they don't like that gory, bloody stuff.

Rob Fitz 32:09

Yeah, exactly, I don't mind. A little is okay. I have come to learn that there are some horror movies out there that I will watch, so that is good having that rating.

Hannah 32:23

It's a good trigger warning, I think too for listeners. Okay, so this is actually one that I watched recently. It's not an older one, it's called it Feeds.

Rob Fitz 32:31

It Feeds.

Hannah 32:31

It Feeds and it actually had one of the vampires from the Twilight series.

Brett 32:37

Ooh.

Hannah 32:37

One of the sisters.

Rob Fitz 32:38

Okay, which?

Hannah 32:39

one, alice, alice. It was Alice, so she plays a mom in this one and she's supposed to be a therapist, but she actually has other abilities that come with it. But it's not like it's on the down low. Okay, so, depending on, like, if you need certain therapy quote-unquote she gets referred. These people, so this girl, so hers. Okay, let's back up a little bit so that the father is passed and so the mom still has this business of being a therapist and the daughter is coming of age and helping her mom, like basically do some type of like onboarding thing. Okay, what do you need? What? What kind of therapy are you looking for? And this girl actually comes without her father, like in a panic. She's like I need your mother's help. And she's like well, what kind of help are you looking for? I don't know, maybe this is not the right fit for us. And the mom comes around the corner. So the alice cullen comes around the corner and sees basically like this demon attached to this little girl. So I actually gave this a 4.0 overall.

Rob Fitz 33:42

I absolutely ate this up is this out of a one to four scale?

Hannah 33:47

yes, oh, no one to five one to five okay one to five scale. Um, there's a lot of trauma, there are demons, so there's like kind of a cult aspect and it is heavy. It's not an easy horror watch, which I don't know how else to say it. For the gore, body horror, I would say it's a 4.5. So there is kind of a lot of it so if you don't like that, but it has a very interesting ending so if that's your vibe, it feeds.

Rob Fitz 34:15

I absolutely ate it up so the actress's name is ashley green right that sounds right.

Hannah 34:21

Yep, yep, but she played alice cullen, so it's kind of like she had longer hair, because you know alice in the twilight had like short hair so I kept like cutting her hair off in the movie, I was like, oh yeah, I see it, she's a mom now yeah, that's a great recommendation.

Courtney 34:35

Thank you, henna, and, as always, check your trigger warnings on things for yourself, mental health is important buddy. Watch if you need to, if you want to watch it, but you don't want to see the gore.

Hannah 34:45

Um, just you know, be kind to your own mental health no, no, go ahead I was gonna say the final, final movie of the conjuring series, the last rights, is coming out on september 5th. I want to go see it. I'm asking Courtney if she will go see it with me, because I don't think Rob will.

Rob Fitz 35:00

No, no, thank you.

Hannah 35:01

But that's another horror movie that's finishing out soon. I'll go to that one. Excellent. So, guys, if you need a buddy, go with a buddy.

Rob Fitz 35:10

Courtney, do you have any recommendations?

Courtney 35:12

I don't have any on-brand recommendations right now. I have been elbow deep in personal things and work things. I've done a little bit of arc reading lately. I did read a ghosted arc read that I can put the link in the show notes.

Hannah 35:27

Oh yes, your paranormal one, right yes.

Courtney 35:30

I guess I did. It was a paranormal. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, which anyone who knows me and my Goodreads knows that I'm kind of a snob on Goodreads which anyone who knows me and my Goodreads knows that I'm kind of a snob.

Hannah 35:38

Yeah, you're not a snob, you're just you're, you're a particular. You're particular yes.

Courtney 35:46

And I do have some good mystery and thriller recommendations if people want those.

Rob Fitz 35:47

But that's a little bit different than what we talk about here. All right, so my recommendation would be uh, it's a new, uh YouTube show I've been watching lately. It's called Lesnoy L-E-S-N-O-Y Okay, and they just build these small little cabins out in the woods and that's it, so it's good to put on when you're trying to fall asleep you know, yeah, and there's no talking, it's just them building and sometimes it's sped up at, like you know, 1.25, but it's they're not building them for anybody uh, they're building them for themselves.

Rob Fitz 36:23

I I've come to the conclusion I think there's about four guys and it definitely seems european, like eastern european. Okay, I mean, they don't talk or anything, they're just building, but just from, like the vehicles I've seen and stuff like that, but it's it very relaxing.

Hannah 36:40

So I love that you brought that up, because it actually reminds me of so, if you like, the Calm app one of the stories is about these basically like hideaway cabins in the Scotch Highlands that have been used for basically centuries. I think they were mostly hunting cabins, but they've used them now for hikers that are hiking through the highlands.

Hannah 37:00

And even well, it's not the queen anymore, it's the king, it's his house. But they've actually taken like what was kind of like an outhouse and they turned it more into a cabin for hikers to go into. So it's just, most of them are just places to put a cot and a gives you shelter for a night or two. So it kind of reminds me of that.

Rob Fitz 37:19

And that's literally how big they are. I'd say, you know, 10 by 10 there's enough room. They usually build some sort of bed and a fireplace.

Hannah 37:29

Or a mattress of some sort.

Rob Fitz 37:30

Exactly yeah.

Courtney 37:32

Hey, when you need shelter, you need shelter. When you need to sleep, you gotta have something to watch.

Horror Movie Recommendations

Rob Fitz 37:37

Well, thanks for having me on again. It's fun being in front of the mic instead of, you know, in the studio editing this and putting it together.

Hannah 37:46

Now you know what to expect.

Courtney 37:48

Don't let them fool you. We don't need to be edited. We sound great, the first try.

Hannah 37:52

We're magnificent and, on that note, thank you, wanderers, for listening. We love you Bye. Thanks for listening today. Wicked Wanderings is hosted by me, hannah, and co-hosted by me.

Rob Fitz 38:05

Courtney, and it's produced by Rob Fitzpatrick.

Hannah 38:08

Music by Sasha M. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to leave a rating and review and be sure to follow on all socials. You can find the links down in the show notes. If you're looking for some really cozy t-shirts or hoodies, head over to the merch store. Thank you for being a part of the Wicked Wanderings community. We appreciate every one of you.