Urban explorers explore places that have been abandoned yet often still contain plenty of history. However, it seems as though one haunting abandoned Santa theme park in Brazil has slipped under the radar for years – until now.

Spotting the park

Keen photographer and school teacher Christopher Jones was traveling with his friends from Rio to Paraty when they spotted something unusual and completely out of place. The group were in Itaguaí, Brazil, when, at the side of the road, there looked to be an abandoned park. Chris loves to capture his travels and knew that he needed to show the rest of the world the haunting abandoned Santa theme park that lay before his eyes. Amazingly, the entire park was surrounded by a small wall that stood around one-foot-high. There was nothing stopping the group from climbing over and seeing what lay inside.

An eerie sight

The group were surrounded by Christmas characters in all shapes and sizes. However, they must have been lying there for years as most of them had fallen into disrepair or been damaged. The once bright red Santas now had faded faces and eternal expressions of sorrow while the dancing reindeer had lost their charm to Mother Nature. Christmas is filled with joy and wonder for many. However, the abandoned theme park seemed to shed an entirely new light on the holiday. It had lost any of its former charm.

Plenty of history

The park is called Park Albanoel and has been standing for over a decade. Former politician Antonio Albano Reid was once known as Santa Claus of Quintino as he would dress as the festive character every year. He wanted to create a park that was filled with themed lands. It was supposed to cover around 323 million square feet by the time that it was complete. Sadly, only the Santa area was ever finished. Antonio lost his life in 2004, meaning the park was closed. No one ever picked up the plans, and Park Albanoel has fallen into disrepair ever since.

Hidden wonder

Although the park is right next to the road, it seems as though not many people in the world have ever discovered what lies within. Some state that it is used as an Airsoft ground by local groups who use the haunting backdrop as a place to have fun while a handful of others have been brave enough to climb over the walls and investigate what is inside. Christopher wanted to stay as far out of the abandoned park as he could but said that broken Santas and characters appeared to have things living inside them – just to add to the nightmare of Christmas town.

There are many haunting abandoned parks in the world, but Park Albanoel seems to take things to a whole new level. Gone is the joy and magic that comes with the festivities as behind these walls lies the place only worthy of people who land themselves on the naughty list.