Sarah O'Connor

“Photos soon emerged: heads on spikes outside of rides, corpses floating in detention cells, and viscera decaying in the humid Florida sun. FantasticLand, where ‘Fun is Guaranteed!’, was covered in blood,” (Bockoven 2).

Welcome to FantasticLand, promising visitors that “Fun is Guaranteed!” since the 1970s. But when the deadly Hurricane Sadie destroys the Florida coast, a group of mostly young employees agree to stay behind to make sure the park isn’t looted and are promised to be paid to do so. When rescue crews arrive for the employees five weeks later, they find a hellish site: heads on spikes, bodies lined up in a row, and the employees themselves separated into different factions and waring against each other. None of the employees had their phones with them, a FantasticLand policy, and one reporter takes it upon himself to interview some of the survivors and try to piece together what happened at FantasticLand, and how a group of young adults could resort to violence against one another so quickly. Continue reading