Boblo Island Amusement Park

Boblo Island Amusement Park is a ruined pre-War amusement park located on the Detroit River in the Motor City Wasteland. In 2287, it is abandoned and rumored to be haunted.

Background
Located on the Detroit River, Boblo Island was once part of the Canadian province of Ontario. In 2068, it was "gifted" to the U.S. Army from the Canadian government as part of the war effort. After depleting the timber resources on the island, the army used it as a dumping ground for industrial waste coming from their factories in Detroit. After the Canadian Annexation in 2076, the army performed a mild clean-up of the island and sold the land cheaply. That summer, the Boblo Island Amusement Park opened its gates for the first time and was quickly named Detroit's hottest new destination for family fun. Visitors were ferried in from the mainland. On the journey, passengers could glimpse sights like the Navy Pier at Fort Canard, making the boat ride part of the fun of visiting Boblo Island.

In October 2077, the park held its first, and only, Boblo Island Halloween Spooktacular all month long. The park was adorned with pumpkins, bats, black and orange lights, and other Halloween decorations. Families came dressed in costume and candy was given to children at each attraction. Unfortunately the family fun ended on October 23rd, the morning the bombs fell. The park was already starting to fill with visitors when the sirens sounded. Parkgoers and employees took shelter anywhere they could, but the island was fortunate and wasn't hit by bombs. In the aftermath that followed, many people were desperate to get back home on the mainland. Some people, however, were content to stay on Boblo Island. To them the choice was simple. They had their families with them and the island was loaded with junk food, meanwhile the city was on fire. A week after the bombs fell, the last ferry left Boblo Island for good. Those who stayed behind tried to form a new society.

The island was lucky not to be hit by bombs but it wasn't exempt from the radioactive storms coming out of Canada. Even worse, tremors caused by the nuclear explosions cracked the cement encasing the industrial waste buried on the island. The waste began seeping into the island's drinking water. People started getting sick and dying. A few weeks later, only a handful of people remained alive. As their last act, they made signs along the shores warning everyone away from the island, hoping no one would suffer the same fate as them.

Over the next two hundred years, wastelanders ignored the signs more than once and tried to settle Boblo Island. None were ever heard from again since they died within a week or two of arriving on the island. Only one ever returned, a scavenger found dead in his rowboat when it washed ashore in Detroit. From the state of the body, it appeared he vomited blood until he expired. The fate of the rest is unknown to people on the mainland. A local superstition formed about the island being cursed. Sailors who got too close to the island told tales of grotesque skeletal totems that dot the beach to ward everyone away, in truth the warning signs made from Halloween decorations by the first inhabitants. Stories were told over and over, generation to generation, each time more exaggerated than the last. Boblo Island became a legend. Mothers tell the tale to their children to frighten them when they act up. Treasure hunters head to the island believing the curse is protecting some great prize, hoping they'll be the first to claim it and return.

Trivia

 * The real-life Boblo Island Amusement Park opened in 1898 and operated for nearly a hundred years until it's closure in 1993. It is now abandoned and overgrown, with many buildings, structures, and rides still standing 25 years later. The real-life abandoned park is the visual inspiration for the Motor City Wasteland equivalent.
 * The waste disposal site on the island was inspired by Fighting Island, another Canadian island on the Detroit River. The island was bought in 1918 by a chemical company who used it as a location to deposit waste from their plants in the area. In recent years, the owners have removed the waste and rebuilt the natural habitat in a rehabilitation effort on the island.