In a large box of slides, I found this group of photos from a defunct amusement park in Ocala, Florida - Six Gun Territory! There isn't a lot of information about this park on Wikipedia. The short version says Six Gun Territory was a Western-themed theme park in Ocala, Florida, United States. It opened on February 2, 1963 and closed on January 1, 1984. The rest of the article is about the Southern Railway & Six Gun, a narrow gauge heritage railroad that doesn't even appear in any of my slides (sadly).
The first three scans show a typical amusement park shootout. People love to watch men gunning each other down! It looks like that man up on the balcony might be narrating the events. Clearly that little girl with the turquoise cowboy hat is one of the desperados, ready for a fight!
What? It's over? I expected more protracted agony, maybe some screaming. I admit to feeling a little disappointed. Where's Sam Peckinpauh when you need him? By the way, these slides are undated, and I guesstimated that they are from the 1970s, but perhaps they are from the 1980s?
Hmmm, perhaps this one should have been posted before that last one, since the puff of smoke from a six-shooter is still hanging in the air. Or was the boy with the green shirt smoking a cigar? The kid with the yellow shirt was biting his nails in suspense! The lifeless body of the bad man will soon be buried in Boot Hill.
Next, a mother and son pose with a static "photo op" display, a wagon pulled by two glassy-eyed longhorn cattle. The livestock is not attached the wagon in any way, instead they pull the wagon using psychokinesis. Just like in the Old West.
I was very happy that this photo of the modest Merry-Go-Round was in the bunch, since it helped me to ID the location. I wonder if it was the boy's birthday? He's now wearing a magnificent feathered Indian headdress.
Going around and around in circles never gets old! Especially when you are riding your genuine Honda motorcycle.
Or how about a dune buggy with four steering wheels? The fire engine looks pretty good too, maybe mom will let us ride twice.
And finally, Six Gun Territory had Native Americans performing tribal dances, beneath a roofed pavilion due (presumably) to frequent rain showers.
I hope you have enjoyed your visit to Six Gun Territory!
3 comments:
Major-
I'm fascinated by all the natural gas 'street lights' seen in the 1st three images. (I wonder if Amanda Blake was scooping-up cones in Miss. Kitty's Ice Cream Parlor-??)
I think that pair of longhorn cattle have been staring into the eyes of Dr. Diablo for an extended length of time and are now thoroughly under his spell.
Thanks, Major.
There's a lot of short shorts in these pics! And a lot of stripey socks! '70s? '80s? I don't know either. Kind of a neat western town they built.
♫ "You got yer dead...guy...in the middle of the road. Stinkin' to hi-i-i-igh heaven!" ♫♩
In the second and third pics we can see that wagon with the brown tarp. I betcha some guy got hisself shot up there on that there balcony and took a tumble onto that cushy tarp.
Psychokinetic longhorns were very much in demand in the great Western Migration. Seems strange you don't read about it much these days. One of those facts that got lost to history. Why did they feel the need to make the nostrils and mouths of the cattle bright red? Maybe that was a characteristic of psychokinetic longhorns?
That "magnificent feathered Indian headdress" the boy is wearing is made from gen-u-ine turkey feathers plucked from gen-u-ine red and blue turkeys! I notice all the horses are white with black manes. I guess that does make for a unified look.
I'm wondering what that fenced off area is behind our Honda rider. It's got a big rocky-looking spiral tower with steps on it. I don't think this was a spiral slide; maybe a regular slide that we can't see from this angle?
Somehow, the roofed pavilion and wooden bleachers make the dance circle look contrived and not authentic at all. Disney did it right!
Fun pictures of a long-gone park. A very 'Anything Goes' Saturday. Thanks, Major.
I get a strong Knott's Berry Farm vibe from the first three pics. I think the body lying in the street is also present in that first photo. We can just see a smidgen of it on the far right.
The livestock is not attached the wagon in any way, instead they pull the wagon using psychokinesis.
The one on the left is named "Carrie" and the one on the right is "Whitey." Their mother had told them that if they took that job, "They're all gonna laugh at you!"
I have a pinback button from this park, which a friend brought me back from a trip to Florida (and WDW) in 1978 or '79. I can't remember if he described this place to me or not. I think he was more eager to tell me all about WDW. What a shame that smaller parks like this (and Marco Polo Park and Circus World) couldn't compete with Disney.
Thanks, Major!
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