Lake Shawnee Amusement Park, the abandoned amusement park built on a site with a dark history.

The skeletal remains of the little Lake Shawnee Amusement Park create an eerie atmosphere, which is appropriate, given also the site’s dark history.
In fact, long before the amusement park was built, this was the site of a well-documented conflict between white settlers and the Indigenous Shawnee people.
Hostorically, it was the late 18th century when Mitchell Clay moved his young family West Virginia, and they established an 800-acre farm near Lake Shawnee where they raised 14 children.
However, in August of 1783, a Shawnee band killed two of them, Bartley and Tabitha.
Ezekiel Clay, their little brother, was then kidnapped by the Indians. He was taken to Ohio by the tribesmen and burned at the stake shortly before his father and the rest of the search party caught up to the Indians.
Mitchell tracked down the band who had raided his farm and killed several of its members in bloody retaliation, in an event that became known as the Clover Bottom Massacre.
When their search party defeated the Native Americans in Ohio, they took strips of skin from the decedents backs to use as razor straps, and the macabre trophies stayed in the family for years afterward.

Many years later, an amusement park was opened in 1926 to cater to the families of nearby coal workers.
In the same year, C.T. Snidow, unaware of the site’s history, purchased the land and opened the amusement park, that featured a spring fed swimming pool, dance hall, occasional Wild West shows, carnival rides, water rides, a racetrack, concession stands, and cabins for guests to stay in.
When the park first opened, the property contained also a saloon, complete with prostitution, illegal gambling, and a speak-easy. And a man was allegedly murdered over a large sum of money.
If it wasn’t enough, after the tragic death of two children on the grounds, the park closed in 1966, leaving behind many of its rickety wood and steel rides, including the rusting Ferris wheel and children’s swing, that stand like dead trees among the unkempt wildlife.

The first mysterious death, which has been confirmed by the owners, was of a young boy, who drowned while the swimming pool was still open.
Apparently, a mother dropped her child off at the park one morning to return that afternoon to find that her child was disappeared and, after searching the entire grounds, she found him lifeless body floating in the pool. The owners filled the preexisting pool with sand to prevent any further accidents.
The second death occurred in the children’s playground where a swing set was located, and when in operation revolved at a high rate of speed. One day in the early 1950s a truck delivering soda to a refreshment stand accidentally backed up into the path of the swings, and a little girl was killed when she was struck by the truck.
Another possible death is from a man falling from the Ferris Wheel. Even though this may or may not be just legend, people have reported seeing a ghostly man in the seat.

In any case, the grounds have changed hands over the years, but the land remains abandoned while the overgrown rides accumulate several stories of hauntings and vengeful ghosts.
Actually, Lake Shawnee owner Gaylord White, who worked at the park as a youth , bought the long-vacant amusement park in 1985, planning to subdivide the land and sell residential lots.
However, after he began finding Native American burial sites and numerous artifacts, he put the idea of selling the property for homes to be built on the graves to rest.
Instead he reopened the amusement park that year, but it only lasted three years due to insurance concerns.
Of the paranormal activity that has been observed at Lake Shawnee, most individuals have experienced orbs in photographs, disembodied voices, Native American chanting, unexplained sounds, and the long forgotten carnival rides moving on their own.
In addition to the Ferris wheel, the swings still on the property feature cold spots just above the deteriorated wooden seats, and they are also said to move on their own, which has been observed from across the park by several visitors.

Either way, according to archaeologists, the area around Lake Shawnee was home to at least two separate Native American settlements before European settlers arrived.
A dig in 1988 found 13 skeletons, mostly of young children, but there may be as many as 3000 bodies of Native Americans buried on the property…

Images from web – Google Research