Ghost Town in the Sky – Abandoned Wild West Mountain Top Theme Park

Ghost Town in the Sky is an abandoned Wild West theme park located in Maggie Valley, North Carolina. It opened in 1961 and featured a chairlift that took visitors up to the top of Buck Mountain, where they could enjoy various rides and attractions set in a western-themed town.

Some of the park's most popular attractions included the Cliff Hanger roller coaster, the Red Devil Drop Tower, and the Gold Rush-themed dark ride. The park also featured live entertainment, such as gunfight reenactments and western music shows.

However, the park struggled financially over the years and eventually closed in 2002. It reopened briefly in 2007 but closed again in 2009. The park was contracted to a new developer in 2019 but, as of 2023, it remains closed. The owner, Alaska Presley, died in 2022 at the age of 98, and now lawsuits are ongoing to settle the park's ownership and fate.

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A B O U T
Past the Present Future is a film series by globally recognized photographer Chris Luckhardt. The series views the PAST through a lens in the PRESENT with an eye to FUTURE development.

B I O G R A P H Y
Chris Luckhardt has documented and photographed some of the most iconic and viral images of abandoned places around the world. He was among the first photographers to publish photos in the press from legendary abandoned places like Hashima Island, Nara Dreamland, Michigan Central Station, and Six Flags New Orleans. His body of work has led to interviews and collaborations with The White House, Netflix, Ford, GQ China, ABC News, Good Morning America, Scholastic Canada, Yahoo Japan, and many more. In 2016, the Obama administration invited Chris to photograph a private citizen "haunted" tour of The White House.

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