#6 - Amusement park of death

#6 - Lake Shawnee Amusement Park, Princeton, West Virginia

                            That's not something you hear every day. Amusement park of death. Amusement parks are supposed to be happy, fun places...filled with... amusement. That's why they're called amusement parks. Death is not supposed to happen while you're having fun. 

                        Lake Shawnee was originally the site of an ancient Indian burial ground and the Clay family massacre. Mitchell and Phoebe Clay were some of the first white settlers in the county. In 1781, they were attacked by Indians and 2 of the Clay children were killed. An older boy was captured and taken to Ohio where he was burned at the stake. This property is not off to a good start. 

                       Sometime during the 1920's, the amusement park was opened by C.T. Snidow. It included a boathouse, swimming pool, rides and log cabins surrounded the lake. It was closed in 1966 after several mysterious deaths happened, including a 6 year old girl who was riding on a swing. She was hit and killed by a truck that was backing up. 2 boys drowned in the swimming pool. Still more drownings are believed to have occured in the lake. See? Death is bad while you're having fun swimming or riding on the swings. Ghosts are seen on the Ferris wheel and you can hear children laughing. The swing can be seen moving by itself. I bet she's still there -or more like she never left. 

                    However, the more sinister spirits are thought to be those of the settlers and indians that fought so violently. You know, if they'd just taken turns, they all would've had a chance to ride the merry-go-round and no one would've gotten hurt. But no...they had to kill each other. And now they wander the not- so- amusing amusement park and scare the crap out of the people who come to visit. Dirty pool, settlers and indians! Dirty pool....

                        Well, this has been enough amusement for me. A family massacred, drownings and death.  So NOT the happiest place on earth....I'm leaving..

                                      *footnote*
                                               I'm going to give you just one small piece of advice. If you must build an amusement park, that's fine... just make sure you don't build it on ancient indian burial grounds....unless you're specifically going for an amusement park of death...