Shipwreck Coast

Shipwreck Coast was a small theme park built in 1963 by Cross Entertainment, a company founded by two local brothers and affluent businessmen, Jakob and Jesse Cross.  It was located in Cash Corner just Northwest of Forest City Cemetery along the southern bank of the Fore River.  The land for this enterprise was originally purchased from the Sterling Corporation, who had been using it for a poorly-maintained oil storage facility.  At the time, Sterling was being absorbed by Atlas International, and needed to divest itself of holdings very quickly, creating a seemingly-lucrative opportunity for the Crosses.

After having the tanks removed, the brothers used the existing concrete foundations, transformed the service roads into walking paths, and planted cheap, quickly-growing shrubbery and poplar trees throughout.  The park had a pirate theme and featured a single wooden roller coaster, called the Cliffdasher.  Numerous rides surrounded the Cliffdasher, like the Derelict, the Spanish Lady Carousel, and the High Barbary ferris wheel, among others.  The Rootin' Tootin' Shootin' Gallery, a 'Haunted Fortress', food stands, carnival games, and a recessed amphitheatre rounded out the park.  A small train called the Black Ball Line ran along tracks, ferrying visitors from the parking lot to each section of the park, and then back.

The park was beset by problems from the beginning.  Intended to draw tourists to the region, it never achieved very high attendance rates.  Sterling Corporation failed to divulge the geological instability that had caused them to abandon their oil storage facility.  The Cross brothers, blinded by greed, cut corners at almost every single opportunity, leading to rides that were poorly-designed, poorly-built, and hardly-maintained.  Countless minor accidents created injuries or illnesses, and over the years it operated, several park employees disappeared under mysterious circumstances.  The Crosses were able to quash the worst PR from these events with the help of Jakob Cross' wife, Adeline, who was then a socialite and prominent member of the city's chamber of commerce.

In 1985, years of vibrations destabilized the ground beneath the Cliffdasher, and a support pillar shifted and snapped.  One of the coaster's cars was sent hurtling off the track to crash into the bank of the Fore River.  Three of the four occupants of the car were killed in a spectacularly gruesome fashion, and the park was closed.  Cross Entertainment folded amidst lawsuits and bankruptcy proceedings.  Jesse Cross hung himself from the High Barbary ferris wheel, and Jakob was convicted on charges of gross negligence, dying during a prison gang fight only two years into his sentence.  The young Adeline Cross moved away, and the park fell into disrepair.

Strangely enough, multiple efforts to purchase the land have ended in failure.  Local movements to have the land cleared or the decrepit rides removed have likewise dissolved before making any headway.  Since the 80s, the park continued to deteriorate, and the grounds became choked with overgrown flora.  Over the years, it’s been used by local teens and transients as a place to get high, get laid, or get out from the rain.  More than a few of those squatters have gone missing too, though such stories are usually dismissed as the result of runaways, overdoses, or drug deals gone bad.