Creepy photos of abandoned amusement parks

From a Kansas tornado to German cops, photographer Seph Lawless has faced more than few scrapes while capturing his favorite subject: decrepit amusements around the world. He's even been banned from Disney World.

His book, "Abandoned: Hauntingly Beautiful Deserted Theme Parks," documents bygone attractions in a state of almost unsettling decay. CNET obtained these images, some of which are not in the book and have never been published before. 

Here's a photo of the shuttered fun house at Bushkill Park near Philadelphia. 

The park was closed in late 2006. But volunteers have been working to bring new life to the nearly 118-year-old park.

Originally published July 12, 2018. 
Update, Jan. 7, 2020: Adds additional images. 

No, this isn't a scene from the opening credits of Game of Thrones. This is the abandoned Ho Thuy Tien waterpark in the central Vietnamese city of Hue.

The park opened in 2004, before construction was completed, and closed within a few years.

Explorers report that the park is covered in graffiti and the water slides are slippery, cracked and coated with mold.

The Western Village, a 1970s cowboy-themed amusement park in Nikko, Japan, has been abandoned since 2007.

The Western Village's replica Mount Rushmore is a post-apocalyptic vision.

There are creepy, disintegrating cowboy statues all over the park.

These unsettling lady-bear statues were still going strong in 2017, when this photo was taken.

There's no winning at this game... not anymore.

The amusement park in Pripyat, Ukraine, was only open for one day -- April 27, 1986, the day after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred just a few miles away. Yes, you read that right.

This ferris wheel has become a recognizable symbol of the aftermath of the Chernobyl blast. People can visit this amusement park on guided tours.

Here's an overgrown Ferris wheel at the spooky Lake Shawnee Park in West Virginia.

Lawless found this reveler at the Enchanted Forest Playland in Toledo, Ohio.

The critters at the Prehistoric Forest in Onsted, Michigan, look fully petrified.

Parts of Bushkill have reopened, but others remain shuttered.

Six Flags New Orleans has been closed since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.

Lancashire, England, hosts the abandoned Camelot Theme Park. In 2001, a park employee was struck by a roller coaster and killed. The park closed 11 years later.

Chippewa Lake Park in Ohio closed in 1978 because of lack of attendance. 

The Depression-era Bar'l of Fun at Bushkill Park was one of America's oldest operating funhouses before it closed.

Something tells us it's not too late to rescue this overturned dino at the Prehistoric Forest in Onsted, Michigan.

This annoyed-looking whale is beached at the Fun Spot Amusement Park & Zoo in Angola, Indiana.

Spreepark opened in the former East Germany in the 1960s. It closed in 2002.

The roller skates at Bushkill sat untouched until the rink was renovated and reopened in January 2017.

The bumper cars at Six Flags in New Orleans are at a standstill. 

"I'm passionate about using my art and activism to promote positive change in social injustice, environmental awareness and corporate corruption," Lawless says.

This is an abandoned portion of the Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando, Florida. 

Along with these dinos, the Prehistoric Forest in Onsted, Michigan, used to have a live (man-made) volcano.

These retro-looking bumper cars are still sitting at the Fun Spot of Angola.

The Lake Shawnee Amusement Park was built on the site of the Clay family massacre. In 1783, local Native Americans kidnapped and killed a family of settlers. 

The yellow brick road still winds through the derelict Land of Oz in North Carolina, which closed in 1980.

Disney has sent a cease and desist letter to Lawless, the photographer said. "When I published my recent book, I and my publisher, Skyhorse Publishing, decided to publish all the photos as a direct slap in the face to the Disney corporation."

Much of Dogpatch U.S.A. in Arkansas has remained closed to the public since 1993.

Lawless found this egg in Prehistoric Forest in Onsted, Michigan.

The fate of Berlin's Spreepark is unclear at present.

Lake Shawnee Amusement Park was abandoned in 1966, after two children died in an accident.

Here's another forlorn view from the Land of Oz in North Carolina.

This ride is still standing at Lake Shawnee Amusement Park.

Lawless photographed this face at the Land of Oz in North Carolina.

Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita was once the largest of its kind in Kansas before it closed in the mid-2000s.

The city of Berlin currently owns the run-down Spreepark.

A new group is hoping to spend $100 million to renovate the former Six Flags New Orleans. Until then, the city has this.

A ride rots away at the Enchanted Forest Playland in Toledo, Ohio.

The owners of the Joyland Amusement Park in Wichita, Kansas, have begun to tear down the derelict structures there.

Moss grows at an abandoned shack at Spreepark. "All the rides were still there and it was very eerie," Lawless told us.

Here's another haunting shot of Fun Spot Amusement Park & Zoo in Angola, Indiana.

While photographing Spreepark, Lawless was arrested by German police. He photographed the Ferris wheel just before police handcuffed him.

There is no more swimming in this moldering pool at the Fun Spot Amusement Park & Zoo.

"To date, no one has documented more abandoned amusement parks all over the world than me," Lawless said.

Geauga Lake was a theme park in Aurora, Ohio. "I photographed all the parks either during a thunderstorm or right after a storm to enhance the effect I was going for, which was to display these places as hauntingly beautiful," Lawless said.

Geauga Lake closed in 2007.

Lawless' images of abandoned sections of Disney World in Florida have gone viral. "I started challenging the Disney corporation in press interviews, saying that Disney should clean up its mess," he said.

"I was caught in a tornado while photographing Joyland in Kansas City," Lawless said, "but escaped unscathed."

This structure at the Land of Oz has seen better days.

We don't recommend riding this amusement at Joyland.

Geauga Park went through several owners before shuttering.

Lawless says he has seen alligators basking in the sun in the abandoned areas of Disney World.