The Lost Children of Devonport’s Serendipity Fun Park

Serendipity Fun Park in Devonport opened in 1988, but closed only 16 short months later. The cover story goes that it just wasn’t financially viable, but is it true? I have been told by 2 separate sources it was actually doing quite well and was closed for far more sinister reasons.

One night shortly before the park was opened 6 teenage boys and 1 girl broke into Serendipity Fun Park. They accessed the park by swimming down the river and entering via the waterfront area. The teens did as most teens would, climbing on the various attractions, some minor vandalism, stealing chips from a kiosk, nothing too serious.

Unfortunately they pushed their luck too far, starting several of the bumper boats and jumping between them as they cruised around the shallow pool that housed them. One of the boys, Terry Ling, slipped into the pool. He hit his head and cracked his skull. He probably would have been alright, but he surfaced between two boats about to collide and they squashed his head between them. It was dark and by the time the others had realised what had happened it was too late. Terry had drowned.

The park potentially represented a sizeable source of income for the Devonport area which had been struggling. A dead boy at the new park would devastate any chance of success. The plan was made to pay off the family and keep it out of the media. (It is rumoured that one of the boys who broke in was the son of an important person from local government, but I have been unable to prove this)

The park opened as planned and was very popular with both locals and tourists, but a series of strange and frightening events would eventually lead to it’s closure. Children started to disappear, often found hours later in areas of the park that were difficult to access. They all described the same thing. A boy had told them to follow him. The boy’s description matched that of Terry. These stories were mostly kept quiet but locals were beginning to talk.

Then events began to escalate. The roller coaster was stopped using emergency procedures metres before hitting a young boy who had climbed onto the tracks. He said, “The boy forced me to do it!”

Another boy fell from “The Scat” attraction and nearly died after the boy he was riding with unlocked his seatbelt. Witnesses however say he was riding alone.

The final straw came when a girl fell from the bumper boats. She said “a boy pulled me out and under the water.” She was witnessed thrashing around and luckily was pulled to safety by an attendant. The attendant said “It was the strangest thing, the girl was tiny but I struggled to pull her out. It was like something was a dragging her under…”

At this point the owners decided enough was enough, and closed the park with little notice. Local government wanted it to remain open but the owners blocked all attempts made for the government to takeover.

Many years later the site is once again home to family fun, now operating as Minigolf Devonport. It appears Terry has stayed quiet, but I wonder if anyone has heard more recent stories? If so I’d love to hear them!

…another secret revealed chunderfist69

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