Amusement parks are built for screams, but at some of America’s oldest midways the screaming doesn’t always stop when the lights go out. Some of these parks sit on ancient burial grounds. Others carry a century of tragedy, and a few have ghost stories that employees still pass down to every new summer crew. Cam and I live less than an hour from one of the most haunted parks on this list, so we know that a good ghost story can make a carousel ride a whole lot more interesting. Here are America’s ten most haunted amusement parks, from abandoned ruins in the Appalachians to the Happiest Place on Earth.
1) Lake Shawnee Abandoned Amusement Park – Rock, West Virginia
Lake Shawnee is often called one of the most haunted places in the world, and its history earns the title. In 1783 settler Mitchell Clay’s children were killed on this land in a frontier raid, and archaeologists later found Native American graves across the property. In 1926 C.T. Snidow opened an amusement park here, apparently without knowing the site’s past. Six people died on the rides and in the swimming hole before the park closed in 1966. Visitors still report a little girl in a pink dress on the rusted swing ride, plus children’s voices drifting over the empty grounds.
The park is privately owned and isn’t open for casual wandering. Each fall, though, the owners host the Dark Carnival from late September into early November, with paranormal tours and other spooky events among the rusted rides. If you’re a serious ghost hunter, this is the one to visit.
Address: Lake Shawnee Abandoned Amusement Park, Route 10, Rock, WV 24747
Website: https://visitmercercounty.com/lakeshawnee
2) Kings Island – Mason, Ohio
Kings Island opened in 1972, and it’s home to some of the best-known ghosts in the amusement park world. A small pioneer cemetery is tucked inside the park, and one grave belongs to Missouri Jane Galeenor, who died in 1846 at age five. Security guards say a little girl in a blue dress wanders the front gate and parking lot after dark, and investigators believe it’s Missouri Jane. There’s also “Tower Johnny,” a worker who died at the park. He gets blamed for so many electrical glitches that staff still call an unexplained tripped sensor a “Johnnie.” Add in Racer Boy and the Tram Girl, and this park has a full cast of spirits.
The land also has a darker industrial past. In 1890 a deadly explosion tore through the nearby Kings Powder Company plant. Cam and I live just down the road in Oxford, and Kings Island is one of those places where the history is as interesting as the coasters.
Address: 6300 Kings Island Drive, Mason, OH 45040
Website: https://www.visitkingsisland.com
3) Cedar Point – Sandusky, Ohio
The Roller Coaster Capital of the World is also one of Ohio’s most haunted parks. Most of the activity centers on Hotel Breakers, the park’s grand old original hotel. According to legend, a heartbroken couple made a suicide pact on one of its balconies. The man jumped and the woman pulled herself back to safety. Guests say his spirit still lingers there, and some report showers that turn on by themselves in a room where a young woman is said to have died.
Above the midway, the Crystal Gardens Ballroom opened in 1906 in the Coliseum and hosted big bands for decades. Employees have reported phantom music and ghostly couples still dancing there. Then there’s the legend of the haunted carousel horse, a story Cedar Point once told on signs during its Halloweekends event.
Address: 1 Cedar Point Drive, Sandusky, OH 44870
Website: https://www.cedarpoint.com
4) Disneyland – Anaheim, California
Even the Happiest Place on Earth has ghosts. The best-loved story is about Walt Disney himself. Walt kept a private apartment above the Main Street Fire Station and left a lamp burning in the window whenever he was in the park. After his death, a cast member is said to have turned the lamp off, only to see it glowing again by the time she got back down to the street. Today the lamp stays lit around the clock in his honor.
Over at the Haunted Mansion, the legends get a little eerier. Custodians have long said that grieving fans secretly scatter loved ones’ ashes on the ride. One story tells of a young boy whose ashes were left there, and some cast members say his ghost has been seen crying near the exit. With 999 happy haunts, there always seems to be room for one more.
Address: 1313 Disneyland Drive, Anaheim, CA 92802
Website: https://disneyland.disney.go.com
5) Lake Compounce – Bristol, Connecticut
Lake Compounce opened in 1846 and is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the country. Its oldest legend is even older than the park. Chief John Compounce sold the land to settlers and then drowned in the lake soon afterward. One version says he tried to cross the water in a large brass kettle. Others say he did it on purpose, ashamed of selling sacred ground. Either way, people say his restless spirit still watches over the water.
Park workers tell more recent tales as well. The most common is about a little girl in old-fashioned clothes near the carousel, who vanishes when anyone gets close. Former security staff call the old ballroom the most haunted building in the park. Come fall, Lake Compounce leans into its spooky side with its Phantom Fall Fest Halloween event.
Address: 185 Enterprise Drive, Bristol, CT 06010
Website: https://www.lakecompounce.com
6) Camden Park – Huntington, West Virginia
Camden Park is one of the only amusement parks in America built around an actual Native American burial mound. The Adena people probably built the mound between 1000 B.C. and A.D. 1. It’s the largest in the Huntington area and has never been excavated. The mound sits right in the middle of the park, and the midway was laid out around it, which has led many locals to believe it put a curse on the park.
Riders report a mysterious woman who sits in the last seat of the park train and disappears before the ride ends. Between the old-time rides, the vintage atmosphere and a 2,000-year-old burial ground in the middle of it all, Camden Park is a must-stop on any haunted road trip through West Virginia.
Address: 5000 Waverly Road, Huntington, WV 25704
Website: https://www.camdenpark.com
7) Six Flags Over Georgia – Austell, Georgia
The haunted heart of Six Flags Over Georgia is a 118 year-old ride with a long road trip behind it. The Philadelphia Toboggan Company built the Riverview Carousel in 1908 as Carousel No. 17 for Chicago’s Riverview Park. It ran there for nearly 60 years, until Riverview closed in 1967. Six Flags bought it in 1971 and reopened it on Carousel Hill in 1972.
Today it’s on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the last five-row carousels in existence. Longtime park workers say the carousel brought more than its 69 hand-carved horses down from Chicago. It’s long been rumored to be haunted, which makes it the best spot in the park to take a ride and see whether you’re really riding alone.
Address: 275 Riverside Parkway, Austell, GA 30168
Website: https://www.sixflags.com/overgeorgia
8) Rocky Point State Park – Warwick, Rhode Island
For about 150 years, Rocky Point Amusement Park was the summer playground of Rhode Island, from the late 1840s until the lights went out in 1995. The park also had a dark side. It’s remembered for a shocking murder of a young girl in the park’s early years, along with other tragedies and a rumored haunted cave on the property. All of this inspired the book Murder at Rocky Point Park and the documentary Tales of Rocky Point Park.
The land reopened as Rocky Point State Park in 2014. Today you can walk the shoreline trails past the old stone arch and the rusted skeleton of the Skyliner chairlift, which still looms over Narragansett Bay. It’s beautiful by day and very spooky at dusk.
Address: 1 Rocky Point Avenue, Warwick, RI 02889
Website: https://riparks.ri.gov
9) Oaks Amusement Park – Portland, Oregon
Oaks Park opened on May 30, 1905, along the Willamette River, and it’s one of the oldest continuously operating amusement parks in the country. It’s also listed among Oregon’s reportedly haunted places. The centerpiece is the roller rink, which opened in 1906 and is the oldest continuously operating rink in the United States. It’s also the last one in the world where you can still skate to a live pipe organ, and a century of skaters circling under those pipes makes it easy to believe a few never left.
Each October the park goes dark for ScareGrounds PDX, with haunted houses, monsters on the midway and nighttime rides. Admission to the park grounds is free, so it’s an easy stop for anyone chasing ghosts in the Pacific Northwest.
Address: 7805 SE Oaks Park Way, Portland, OR 97202
Website: https://www.oakspark.com
10) Lakeside Amusement Park – Lakeside, Colorado
Lakeside opened in 1908 just outside Denver, and it feels like a park frozen in time. Its giant white Casino building and Tower of Jewels sit half-empty for much of the year, and the shell of the old El Patio Ballroom still haunts the grounds below the famous Cyclone coaster. The park even sits in its own tiny town, which has only a handful of residents.
For generations of Denver kids, the scariest thing at Lakeside was Laffing Sal. She was a cackling mechanical figure who stood over the old funhouse until it closed in 1986, and people still say she gave them nightmares. Wander the park on a quiet evening, with the neon flickering against the empty Casino, and you’ll understand why so many visitors swear the place is haunted.
Address: 4601 Sheridan Boulevard, Denver, CO 80212
Website: https://www.lakesideamusementpark.com
Plan Your Haunted Coaster Road Trip
Ghost stories and roller coasters make a great pair, and fall is the best time to try them together, with cooler nights, Halloween events and long shadows across the midway. You could take a guided tour through the ruins at Lake Shawnee, check into Hotel Breakers at Cedar Point or look for Walt’s lamp on Main Street. Either way, these ten parks prove that some thrills last forever. So pack a flashlight, grab a seat in the last car, and see who rides along with you.
