Is it even spooky season if you don’t hike an abandoned amusement park on an island at dusk?

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Rose Island Amusement Park at Charlestown State Park, Indiana

I seriously can’t think of a better way to kick off spooky season than hiking around the Rose Island Amusement Park at dusk. We went tonight with some family members, and if we were starring in a horror movie, you would have been yelling, “Stop! Turn around, you idiots,” as we walked across the iron truss bridge to the sound of at least a dozen circling crows.

In fact, the other name for Rose Island is actually Devil’s Backbone. Listen, I love scary movies, and I couldn’t have set the scene for the start of our autumnal adventure better if I’d tried.

So, where is Rose Island?

Rose Island rests inside the Charlestown State Park in southern Indiana. The forested island is technically a peninsula created by Fourteen Mile Creek meeting the Ohio River. It’s accessible from inside the park by a somewhat steep but well-paved and maintained trail that winds down to a pedestrian iron truss bridge dating back to 1912. The system of trails is clearly marked, and there’s a parking lot at the trailhead.

What’s the history of Rose Island?

Apparently, Rose Island is a place of many names. While a church camp frequented the peninsula in the 1880s, they called it the Fern Grove recreational area.

The other more ominous and distinctly less church-y name for the property is Devil’s Backbone. According to Wikipedia, the name originates from a local legend that early Anglo-Celtic settlers encountered “abandoned fieldstone forts on hill top promontories in the region,” which they attributed to “Welsh colonists of Prince Madoc.”

The area was not heavily studied until the late 1800s, at which point it had been disturbed by villagers looking for stones. The Kentucky side of the river, however, contains “Woodland Period and Southeastern Ceremonial Cult mounds” according to Richard Thornton.

Ok, but what about the Rose Island Amusement Park?

Right, right. Sorry, I got sidetracked by crows circling Devil’s Backbone and possible ceremonial cult mounds.

The Rose Island Amusement Park was built in 1923 by David Rose, who spent $250,000 on the project (quite a pretty penny in those days). Complete with a hotel and swimming pool, the Rose Island Amusement Park featured a wooden coaster, a racing derby, a Ferris wheel, a miniature golf course, a shooting gallery, and a zoo, as well as a dance hall/skating rink.

In Rose Island’s heyday, the 135,000 annual visitors could arrive on foot over a hanging suspension bridge or by steamboat. They could spend the day picnicking, swimming, and enjoying the attractions for between 5 and 65 cents a day, depending on the year.

What happened to the amusement park?

It got covered in up to 10 feet of water, that’s what.

The Ohio River suffered a catastrophic flood in January 1937, which claimed the lives of 285 people and left almost a million individuals homeless.

Some structures at the Rose Island Amusement Park were swept away completely, while others were damaged beyond repair. The park was abandoned, and nature quickly began reclaiming the rides, buildings, and other signs of civilization.

What’s left of the park today?

While most of what’s left of the Rose Island Amusement Park isn’t immediately recognizable as a theme park today, there are a good number of stone foundations, some pillars, columns, and concrete foundations of rides left behind.

The approximately 2-mile loop hike circles through the more prominent remnants of the park, and the Charlestown State Park has installed informative signs, seriously creepy hand-crank-automated audio recordings, and displays throughout. (Let’s take a moment on those hand-crank audio recordings: they’ll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up as they get going. Or maybe it’s the zombie clown peering over your right shoulder…)

Is it worth visiting Rose Island Amusement Park?

Absolutely, especially if you’re going at golden hour and hiking out at dusk during spooky season. The ruins are hauntingly beautiful, the displays are informative, the iron truss bridge is striking, the trails are clearly marked, and the forest is a gorgeous way to spend the early evening. If you’re a fan of local history or abandoned places, you’ll thoroughly enjoy your time on the island.

…Is Rose Island haunted?

Look, I’ve spent a lot of time in the woods, and this is the only time I’ve had a hike kick off with a cacophony of angry crows circling overhead as we crossed a historic iron truss bridge to someplace alternately named Devil’s Backbone.

But to seriously address that question for all my other spooky season fanatics, I have scoured the Internet, and I can’t say for sure. But, keep an eye out for shadowy figures in the trees, listen for the sound of footsteps behind you, and heed the warning of the crows at dusk… You may not want to be on the wrong side of that iron truss bridge when night falls.