Lake Shawnee attendance spikes in wake of Netflix show

Jul. 16—ROCK — The historical Lake Shawnee Abandoned Amusement Park has seen an influx of visitors and booked tours since the show The UnXplained with William Shatner aired on Netflix in June.

Lake Shawnee is a historic park in Mercer County that is said to be haunted which has many people coming out to see if they can interact or find proof of the paranormal in the park.

It also has a very rich history with it first being the home of the Native American Shawnee Tribe for more than an estimated 2,000 years, and then it was where the first European settlers came to Mercer County.

It wasn't until 1926 that it was made into an amusement park.

With this history and other people's experiences at the park, it draws people to explore Lake Shawnee.

Lake Shawnee owner, Chris White, said that people have been coming for years to experience the park and its history and featuring it on their YouTube channels and TV shows.

White did add that the show on Netflix and on other platforms also contributed to the recent rise in visitation.

"The attendance has picked up since the Netflix show and the Travel Channel shows came out," said White. "Lake Shawnee also has a lot of YouTube videos."

White says that most of the shows and explorers come from Canada and the United Kingdom, but there has been a rise in interest in the United States.

"We are on a lot of UK TV," he said. "We had just last week a group fly in to explore Lake Shawnee from the UK."

With that rise of interest in the paranormal in the US, The UnXplained with William Shatner originally aired in 2019 on the History Channel, but White thinks the shows spot on Netflix really gave more people the opportunity to find Lake Shawnee.

"Whenever it aired in 2019, you only had that little section to be able to watch it (The UnXplained with William Shatner), that time frame," said White. "Say it came on Sunday at nine o'clock or whatever the case was, but with Netflix, it's at your time, it's whenever you want to watch the show."

White really appreciates all of the exposure the park gets through the YouTube videos and TV shows because he feels it can help future visitors.

"Before people come, I encourage them to look up videos about Lake Shawnee because if they look up the history, it better prepares them for their visit," explained White.

He also added, "People who research the park before they come are able to interact more and get more out of the tour."

White says people can find a lot of good content on the internet that will prepare them for their visit or get them interested in coming.

White specifically said that the YouTuber Omar Gosh does a great job showing what the park is all about on his channel OmarGoshTV on YouTube to his 4.11 million subscribers.

"He does a really good job talking about Lake Shawnee," he said.

On the tour, visitors will get more information than they will with the shows and videos, because he does like to save a lot of the stories for the those who do come visit.

For people who have been to Lake Shawnee before it was "abandoned," White asks that if you have photos of the park from the time it was operational, you should contact him.

"We would love to have photos from the 1926 to 1966 time frame because we only have four, but if you came in the '80's, we would love those too," White asks.

White is also trying to get the rides that were sold after Lake Shawnee closed in the 1980's because he wants to have the history of the park.

"Even if they don't run, our intentions are not to run the amusement park," he explained. "Our intentions are to preserve history."

Currently, White has no knowledge of the rides whereabouts, but he is asking that people who own them or know where they are to contact him to discuss him buying them back.

White says that anyone wanting to visit should check their website at wvlakeshawnee.com because tours and visits are by appointment only.

The park also has an event called the "Dark Carnival" during the month of October, and says that anyone who wants to volunteer should text the park's number at 304-921-1580.