Indiana’s Once-Thriving Amusement Park And Zoo Combo Is Now Completely Abandoned

There’s no query that amusement parks are well-liked within the United States. According to a 2022 study by the Themed Entertainment Association and AECOM, the 2 most-visited theme parks on this planet are within the U.S.: Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland Park in California. Plenty of Americans are simply as enthusiastic — and nostalgic — about classic amusement parks which are not operational. Take Fun Spot Amusement Park & Zoo in northern Indiana, a once-thriving leisure complicated that is fully deserted, but stays an object of public fascination.

Fun Spot opened in Angola in 1956 and welcomed guests for greater than 5 a long time. In addition to a handful of curler coasters, a Ferris wheel, and a “Kiddieland” with child-friendly points of interest like Pony Carts and the Space Train, it was house to a zoo with animals on show in cages. Though some particulars are misplaced to time, information present that, at its peak, Fun Spot had 31 rides, together with basic spinning rides just like the Scrambler and the Tilt-a-Whirl. On one Facebook thread devoted to the topic, previous guests point out the zoo space had a petting zoo and, considerably surprisingly, a resident black panther.

More is understood about rides and points of interest that have been put in comparatively just lately, just like the Afterburner, a curler coaster that opened at Fun Spot in 1991. For years, it was the one coaster with an inversion, or, in different phrases, that took riders the wrong way up. But if previous parkgoers’ on-line feedback are any indication, Fun Spot’s lengthy historical past is price remembering. “[I] pass this place every once in awhile and it brings back memories. 25 cents to get in and play all day,” wrote one native on Facebook. “We practically lived there in the 80s,” remembered one other. “I was sad when it closed,” stated a special Facebook consumer. “I loved going there!”

Sadly for a lot of, Fun Spot shuttered in 2008, and the house owners began promoting off the rides. It was one among many independently managed amusement parks to fold amid the rise of bigger, corporate-run theme parks like Six Flags. (And the cycle continues: Six Flags introduced the closure of two of its parks in 2025.) Years later, you’ll be able to nonetheless see Indiana’s once-thriving amusement park and zoo from the highway, although locals verify that lots of the authentic rides are gone.

Just a few photographers with particular permission have toured the landmark web site, posting photos on-line that present what’s left of Fun Spot. According to photographer Ronny Salerno’s expertise, which you’ll be able to learn extra about on his website, you’ll be able to stroll previous the whimsical former ticket sales space, a “graveyard” of previous meals carts and curler coaster automobiles, the Ferris wheel, the Tilt-A-Whirl, and the eerily empty arcade. Some of the curler coaster tracks are nonetheless up, and you’ll be able to even step contained in the operator cubicles to see how they have been as soon as managed. Another photographer, Nicholas Klein, shared drone-captured photos of his stroll previous bumper automobiles, water slides, zoo animal enclosures, and extra.

Fun Spot is not the one deserted amusement park in Indiana: If you are exploring the state, take into account a go to to Rose Island, a derelict century-old park the place defunct curler coasters are regularly being consumed by an overgrown forest. For extra spooky websites, try our checklist of the creepiest deserted amusement parks on this planet.