Creative Commons Photo of Six Flags New Orleans by Corey Ann / Corey Balazowich. (Unaffiliated with the lost Teddy Smith video.)
Posts this past Friday on Gizmodo, Wired’s Underwire and many points in all directions of the compass celebrated the eerie beauty of a video shot in the abandoned amusement park in New Orleans that was opened as Jazzland in 2000 and purchased by Six Flags in 2002. Wired said:
As captured by Baton Rouge cinematographer Teddy Smith in the surreal new video above, the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged theme park provides post-apocalyptic vistas amplified by a guitar-driven dirge scored by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Tattered red banners blow in the wind, weeds sprout around the once-cheerful Jester roller coaster and a desolate Ferris wheel is silhouetted in the distance.
Said Gizmodo:
The footage is, beyond being the picture perfect backdrop for a post-apocalyptic flick, an eery reminder of the post-storm destruction that has yet to be mended. And some of it won’t be—this Six Flags won’t ever be salvaged, scheduled for demolition in January of next year.
Unfortunately, Smith removed the video late Friday, telling Wired in an email: “I had to take the video down for reasons I would rather not have public right now.”
Of course, it doesn’t take much clever exscavayshuns on teh interwebs to find the video still live; it’s pretty amazing.
I have been hearing about Six Flags NOLA since Katrina happened; it was talked about lots by people in the region — almost as much as the sharks swimming flooded mid-City and the black helicopters raking Tchoupitoulas with machine gun fire.
Over on Flickr, you can find a truly amazing set of the park by *Brynne, along with some cool photos of the site from Cluckeyduck and others.
Now I have this song stuck in my head! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HRfe5gxKVI
I don’t know why, but the tattered fabric banners blowing in the wind were the most cryptic visual to me. I suppose that flags being left in place really speak to a sudden departure of people rather than a simple location abandonment.