00:00Did you know that long before the sound of laughter and carnival music echoed across Lake
00:04Shawnee, the land held a much darker past? Back in the year 1785, a settler named Mitchell Clay
00:12moved his family to what would one day become Princeton, West Virginia. He and his wife raised
00:1714 children on an 800-acre farm. But peace didn't last. One tragic day, while Mitchell was out
00:25hunting, a group of Native Americans attacked the homestead. They took and ended the lives of two of
00:31Clay's children. A third, his young son Ezekiel, was taken captive and later killed in a village called
00:39Chillicothe. When Mitchell returned and found what had happened, he swore revenge. With the help of
00:46other settlers, he tracked down and killed several members of the raiding party. From that moment on,
00:51the land seemed to carry a heavy weight, like it remembered. Over a century later, in the year
00:591926, a businessman named Connolly T. Sniddo saw an opportunity in the peaceful meadows by the lake.
01:08He built an amusement park, complete with a ferris wheel, swing ride, swimming pool, racetrack,
01:15and even cabins for overnight guests. It became a gathering place for local families, especially
01:21coal miners and their children. But even the joy didn't last. During the park's early years,
01:28two children drowned in the lake. Then in 1966, a little girl was killed on the swing ride.
01:35That accident marked a turning point. The park failed a health inspection soon after and was shut down
01:41in 1967. For nearly two decades, it sat in silence, until a familiar face from its past returned.
01:50Gaylord White had once worked at the park and loved it. In 1985, he bought the land and tried to
01:57bring it
01:58back to life. He reopened it in the summer of 1987, but rising insurance costs forced him to close it
02:05again
02:05just one year later. Still, Gaylord wasn't ready to give up on the place. But then his workers made a
02:12discovery that would change everything. While digging for future construction, they uncovered
02:17human bones. At first, it was just a few artifacts. Arrowheads, broken pottery. But soon, entire skeletons
02:27began to surface. Archaeologists from Marshall University were called in. What they found was shocking.
02:33Thirteen graves, most of them children. They realized the park had been built on a Native American
02:40burial ground. The land, already marked by past tragedy, now revealed its oldest secrets. And that's
02:48where the strange activity started. After the park shut down for good in the year 1988, the laughter
02:54disappeared. But something else seemed to take its place. Visitors and locals started reporting strange
03:02things. Sounds, sightings, and feelings that couldn't be explained. The most well-known ghost said to haunt
03:09Lake Shawnee is a little girl in a white dress. Witnesses often spot her near the old swing set
03:16where she died decades earlier. But what's even more unsettling is how that swing still moves on
03:23windless days. One of the swings is tied with a red ribbon. But she's believed to prefer another one.
03:30The one with an owl ornament hanging from it. People have watched the owl slowly turn and twist on days
03:37when the trees above don't move at all. And sometimes, the owl just stops cold, as if someone had dropped
03:44it
03:44or let it go. And she's not the only one who might still be around. There are stories about a
03:49boy who
03:50drowned in the lake. People say his spirit tends to linger near the front of the park, almost like
03:56he's standing guard. A white plastic pinwheel is attached to a run-down ticket booth nearby. And just
04:04like the owl, it sometimes spins when there's no wind. One woman was recorded asking the pinwheel to
04:11move faster, then slower, then to stop. And it responded each time, even though the air was still.
04:20For some, that was enough proof that something, someone, was listening.
04:26The swing set and the lake aren't the only places with activity. One visitor once got locked inside the old
04:32ticket booth. The problem? The booth doesn't have a working lock. Others have heard whispering or footsteps
04:39behind them, only to turn around and find no one there. And at night, it's not uncommon to hear the
04:45sound of
04:45children laughing in the distance, even when the park is empty. Today, the park remains mostly untouched,
04:52with rusting rides and broken-down buildings scattered across the overgrown grounds.
04:58Each year during the Halloween season, small groups gather for guided tours. Flashlights flicker,
05:05shadows move, and strange sounds echo through the trees.
05:08Some people leave believing. Others leave with more questions than answers.
05:14As the years passed, and nature took over the remains of Lake Shawnee Amusement Park,
05:20curiosity only grew. Paranormal investigators, ghost hunters, and thrill-seekers from across the country
05:27came to explore the abandoned site. Some hoped for answers. Others simply wanted proof.
05:34And one photograph might be the closest thing they ever got.
05:39Sometime in the early 2000s, a visitor captured what has become one of the most talked-about images
05:45connected to Lake Shawnee. It was a photo of the old Ferris wheel, empty, rusted, and long out of use.
05:54But in one of the seats, a figure appeared. It looked like the shape of a person,
06:00sitting completely still. No one was on the ride at the time.
06:04The park was closed, and the Ferris wheel had not turned in years.
06:08People have examined the image again and again.
06:11Some say it's just a trick of the light or a shadow.
06:15Others believe it shows the spirit of someone who never left the park.
06:19The figure is faint, but the shape is there.
06:22And it's enough to unsettle even the most skeptical viewer.
06:25To this day, no one has been able to fully explain it.
06:30That photo isn't the only strange evidence found at Lake Shawnee.
06:35Paranormal investigators have brought equipment like EMF meters, thermal cameras, and audio recorders.
06:43During one investigation, a team recorded unexplained voices,
06:47using a method called Electronic Voice Phenomena, or EVP.
06:52In the recordings, whispering could be heard,
06:55along with soft giggles,
06:57and what sounded like a child calling out from the distance.
07:00There were no children present.
07:02Another investigator captured a shadowy form moving between the trees just beyond the swing set.
07:08When they reviewed the footage later,
07:10the figure had no clear features,
07:12no face,
07:13no color,
07:14just a human-like shape that vanished after a few seconds.
07:17It didn't match the movements or height of anyone in the group that day.
07:22And sometimes, the park responds in ways no equipment can explain.
07:27Tour guides have reported sudden drops in temperature near certain areas,
07:32especially close to the lake and around the Ferris wheel.
07:36One guide said her flashlight flickered and died the moment she mentioned a specific name.
07:41There is no official explanation for the strange activity that continues to happen.
07:48Whether it's echoes from the past or something else entirely,
07:52the feeling at Lake Shawnee is undeniable.
07:54For those who visit,
07:56the line between the living and the dead feels thinner than most places.
08:01Long before the Ferris wheel rusted and the laughter faded,
08:05the land beneath Lake Shawnee Amusement Park carried a heavy history.
08:10To understand why the park has such a deep and lasting reputation for the paranormal,
08:16you have to go back,
08:18well before the park was ever built.
08:21In the year 1783,
08:23a settler named Mitchell Clay
08:25moved his family to what is now Mercer County, West Virginia.
08:30He and his wife brought their 14 children to the area
08:33and built a homestead on the land.
08:36But that peaceful life didn't last.
08:38While Mitchell was out hunting one day,
08:41members of a Native American tribe attacked the homestead.
08:45Two of Clay's children were killed and scalped.
08:48A third, his son Ezekiel,
08:51was taken by the attackers
08:52and later burned at the stake in what is now Ohio.
08:56Mitchell Clay retaliated with help from other settlers.
08:59Tracking and killing several members of the raiding party.
09:02That land, soaked in tragedy,
09:05remained unsettled for generations.
09:07And some believe it never healed.
09:09More than 140 years later,
09:12in the year 1926,
09:14a businessman named Conley T. Sniddo
09:17bought the property
09:18and opened Lake Shawnee Amusement Park.
09:21It became a place where local families,
09:24mostly those of coal miners,
09:25could bring their children to relax and escape.
09:27But even during those early years,
09:30the park wasn't free of accidents.
09:32Over time, there were multiple deaths on the property,
09:35including drownings and a fatal accident involving a swing ride.
09:38After the park closed for a second and final time,
09:43in the year 1988,
09:45a former worker named Gaylord White bought the land.
09:49He had plans to develop it.
09:51But when construction crews started digging,
09:54they uncovered something they never expected.
09:57Bones.
09:59Archaeologists from Marshall University came to investigate
10:02and confirmed what many had long suspected.
10:05The property had once been a Native American burial ground.
10:09Over time, they unearthed 13 skeletons.
10:12Most were children.
10:14And the burial style suggested the remains dated back to a time
10:18before white settlers had arrived.
10:20For some, that discovery confirmed what they already believed,
10:25that the land was never meant to be disturbed,
10:27and that disturbing it, again and again,
10:31had brought unrest.
10:32Even now, the land seems to resist peace.
10:35Nature continues to reclaim the park.
10:38Rides are swallowed by vines.
10:40The lake sits still and silent.
10:42And yet, the stories keep coming.
10:45Every fall, visitors return for ghost tours
10:48and overnight investigations.
10:50Some leave with photos.
10:52Some with stories.
10:54A few leave convinced they've experienced something
10:56they can't explain.
10:59Lake Shawnee Amusement Park
11:00remains one of West Virginia's most haunted locations.
11:04Not because of one ghost or one tragedy,
11:07but because the land itself holds a history of sorrow,
11:11loss, and unanswered questions.
11:13And those who walk its paths
11:15can still feel it long after they leave.
11:18Some places are abandoned.
11:20Others are simply waiting.
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