We recently posted about Michigan’s Prehistoric Forest, a dilapidated amusement park full of decaying fiberglass dinosaurs. Berlin has its own defunct dinosaur funland – the Spreepark – which fell on hard times after the collapse of communism.
https://gizmodo.com/michigans-abandoned-dinosaur-amusement-park-is-way-cree-5525873
From 1969 to 1989, Cultural Park Plänterwald was East Germany’s premiere amusement park. After German reunification, the park was rechristened “Spreepark,” saw a precipitous dip in visitors, and closed in 2002, after Norbert Witte – the park’s operator – picked up and left for Peru (he ostensibly left the country to open a new theme park in Lima). Witte and his son Marcel were later arrested for trying to smuggle 167 kilograms of cocaine ($14 million worth) back to Germany inside the “Flying Carpet” carousel. Der Spiegel has a fascinatingly depressing write-up of the Wittes’ Spreepark saga.
The Spreepark may be closed to the public*, but that doesn’t stop intrepid photogs from hopping the fence and exploring Spreepark’s derelict, dinosaur-filled grounds. And who knows? Maybe you’ll run into Herr Witte, who was released from prison in 2008 and now lives on the park grounds like a Scooby Doo bad guy.
Thanks to io9 reader and Berliner Sebastian for the tip!
*UPDATE 5/1/10: It looks like there are tours offered of the Spreepark (which pay for more security guards), but 15 Euros? That’s highway robbery for a bankrupt theme park. You better get to bring home a tetanus-trap bumper car for that price.
[via breakdennis’ Flickr and Gonzo Circus. Photo montage via Kriz Mental.]
