I just recently returned from my annual haunted vacation with friends. It’s something that we have been doing for the past few years. We live in different states so once a year, over the course of the year, we compile ideas of places where we would like to visit that are either very haunted or extremely spooky. This year we decided to venture off to West Virginia and our first location of three was the abandoned amusement park near Princeton, WV.

Not many know of or have heard of Lake Shawnee outside of those who live nearby, though the history of this abandon amusement park is quite rich. Before opening as an amusement park in the 1920’s, it was home to Native American Indians, more precisely the Shawnee tribe. Eventually, when the amusement park opened up in 1926, it had unknowingly been built over an old Native American burial ground. It is said that because of this disturbance that the land was cursed. In my opinion, I don’t believe that it is the Native Americans themselves that have cursed the land but, more so, the energy of the tragedy that followed thousands of years later. A tale as old as time, and so tragic that one cannot help but know that, it is this story that contributes in the curse that seemed to have befallen over the park.

Hundreds of years ago, the Clay family, the first family to settle in this area of West Virginia, had established their home on this very land, and so it wasn’t very long after doing so that the Native Americans decided to take revenge on the family that had stolen their land. The Shawnee tribe sought their revenge in 1785 by immediately killing off two the family’s children, and later kidnapping a third and burning him alive at the stake. Michael Clay, their father, quickly sought revenge on the Native Americans killing a few of the Shawnee Indians.

Centuries later, the land was bought and made into an amusement park opening up in 1926 and stayed operation until 1967, in which it ended up being closed down due to failed health inspections. Throughout its operation, there were three noted deaths at the park. Two of the deaths involved drowning (one little boy was found at the bottom of the pool after his arm was caught in a pipe, while the other had been a little boy left by his mother for the day and when she returned to get him, he had been found floating at the bottom of the pool), the third death was of a little girl who had been riding the swing ride at the time and her swing had collided into a concession stand killing her instantly. A fourth death has been speculated but has still not proven, or at least directly linked to Lake Shawnee, and that is the death of a gentleman who had been coming down one of the lake’s slides when he went over the side, smashing his head onto the cement at the lake’s edge below. The park featured a Ferris wheel, a swing ride, a swimming pool, the lake, concession stands, as well as cabins for overnight stays. The park was the first of its kind in the area and was very popular, especially amongst the local residents.

After being closed for nearly two decades, the park was reopened in 1985 after it was purchased by a former employee who previously had worked for the park. However, due to increasing insurance rates, it was only three years later that the park had to be closed down for continuous insurance rate hikes. The owner, Mr. White tried to continue running the park by sponsoring fishing tournaments as well as off-roading events. It was throughout this time where construction for the mud bog, that they unearthed human remains, later confirming that the land had served as an old Indian burial ground. Since then, further disruption of the land has stopped, and it has continued to serve as a site for archeological investigation.

Today the park is operated as an abandoned amusement park by the son of Mr. White along with a few other local residents. The park is operated as a non-profit organization and all money made after paying their overhead is donated to local charities individually picked by those who run the amusement park.

In order to gain access into the park, you must first make an appointment ahead of time. The park is operated voluntarily by those with full-time jobs. Access into the park is based around availability of these volunteers, and although you would be able to make an appointment for virtually any time or date, unless you make an appointment you can guarantee that you won’t be making it onto the property and will only be able to observe very little from the property’s fence.

When visitng the park, we opted for the overnight stay but this is not the only activity offered. You’re more than welcome to do a simple day tour of the property. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by your host whom we spend 90 mins with going over the history as well as a tour of the lay of the land. Our host ended up being the son of Mr. White, the owner who ran the property from 1985-1988. The passion behind this man towards the old amusement park is something to marvel at. He posseses tons of artifacts such as original jewlery and arrow heads found from the Native American burial sites, as well as authentic pictures from the time of the park being in full operation. He had plenty of stories to share, which he doesn’t publish, so in order for you to hear the stories, you must take the tour.

When our tour was completed, we were left to our own devices. We stationed ourselves in the outdoor dance hall area. There is no electricity other than the lights that are set for the park, which are not many. On the night that we had our stay, the weather dropped down to 28° and so we were in luck to have had a fire pit there. Our host also provided logs of wood free of charge, although we did end up leaving cash for it.

Our paranormal experiences were mild; however we did experience some. It was a windless night, and we were able to communicate with spirits through an old plastic toy pinwheel. It had been left years ago for the spirits of the children who have passed on to play with as a sort of offering. We don’t know exactly who we were communicating with, but they used this pinwheel to let us know that they were there and listening.

Knowing the park’s history and staying on that property overnight is probably what was most eerie of our stay there. We weren’t attacked by ghoulish ghosts. We weren’t run off by scary shadow figures. With its overgrown vines taking over the old attractions, and the morning and nightly mist that is there to greet you, you cannot help but feel a bit of unease. If anything, the cold and the darkness of the night was what ended up being the most frightening experience of it all.

For those that know ghost hunting, you know that while on your hunt, you are not going to sleep at all. Even if we wanted to sleep, the cold hadn’t let us. We were excited to slowly see the sun come up and with it just a bit more warmth, but not by much. After concluding our investigation and thawing out some around the fire pit, we headed off to our final spot, the area of the Native American burial ground where the memorial stone stood.

The stone itself has a unique story to it. Back when it was first discovered that this land was sacred Indian land, the landowners were trying to find the perfect memorial for it. A 6-foot stone was placed on the land temporarily to mark the memorial. That very night that the stone was placed on the land, it rained and over the night and next day they discovered that the stone had sunken 3 feet into the ground. If you look at the stone from a certain angle, the stone looks like a Native American’s head dressed with a feathered head piece. Once the discovery was made of the stone and its unmistakable image, the stone was left as the memorial stone where it is there to this day along with offerings left by those who have toured the park. I, myself left an offering as a “thank you”.

Visiting Lake Shawnee was a memorable experience that we will take with us forever. Simply meeting our host was something short of magical experience considering the energy that fell from him was radiating and contagious. If you ever find yourself in this area of West Virginia, I highly recommend a visit to the park whether as an overnight guest or to take a short day-tour. I promise you won’t forget it.