Okpo Land: South Korea's Abandoned Amusement Park [12 Pics]

If there’s one lesson to be learned from watching Poltergeist, it’s this – before buying land, do your research. If you don’t, you and your plucky nuclear family may just find yourselves playing multi-dimensional tag with a hell-beast. Sure, the chances are slim, but do you really want to risk it? There’s a great new plot of land available on the outskirts of Okpo-Dong, South Korea. Here’s hoping that the next person who buys it is a horror movie buff who knows better than to start building before he burns some sage, hires a psychic and consults a couple of priests. Why? Because that patch of vacant land was once home to Okpo Land, a now abandoned amusement park with a bloody history.

The park was, to put it mildly, no Magic Kingdom. It housed only a handful of rides, one roller coaster, a pool and a few buildings for games and restrooms. However, being the only amusement park on an island definitely gave Okpo Land an advantage. The park was popular and profitable in its early years, but in the 90s, things began to change. A young girl was killed by the park’s duck-themed ride. The owner of Okpo Land offered no compensation, no apology and no explanation to the daughter’s grieving family. In fact, the park and the fatal ride continued to operate until 1999. Then tragedy struck again when the duck ride claimed its second victim. One of the ride’s carts jumped the track and capsized. The young girl inside was flung from the car and met her death on the pavement below.

Okpo Land closed overnight. The owner disappeared. The rides, the buildings, the pool — everything was abandoned exactly as it was. Even the capsized cart was left dangling over the edge of its tracks. Over the years, the surrounding landscape began to overtake the rides. Vines twisted themselves over the bones of the roller coaster’s tracks. Weeds sprouted between the bumper cars. Metal rusted and paint peeled. Still the park remained atop the hill for over a decade where it became a favorite spot for graffiti artists and urban explorers. It became known as South Korea’s abandoned amusement park. It wasn’t until 2011 that the park was finally demolished. The land is now for sale, but so far there haven’t been any bidders.