Ghost Town was the brainchild of R.B. Coburn, a Covington, VA native who moved to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. The park was designed by Russell Pearson and constructed for approximately $1 million in 1960. The park opened on May 1, 1961 and quickly became one of Western North Carolina's most popular tourist attractions. Pearson also opened another Wild West theme park in Florida, Six Gun Territory.[1] At one point, 620,000 people visited Ghost Town each year.[2] This number declined to 340,000 by 2008.[3] The park was sold in 1973 to National Services for a stock swap, but Coburn bought it back in 1986 and constructed the park's famous Red Devil roller coaster. In its later years under Coburn's ownership, the park suffered from mismanagement and a lack of maintenance. The Red Devil, Goldrusher, Sea Dragon, Monster, Mountain Town Swings, Undertaker, Dream Catcher, Casino, Round Up, Lil Devil and Silver Bullet rides were regularly breaking down and rarely opened, causing many visitors to tell others not to go. The chairlift and incline railway also required constant maintenance and repair. Coburn spent thousands of dollars maintaining them.[1] On July 16, 2002, the chairlift stopped, stranding passengers for over two hours. With fewer people visiting Ghost Town because of the bad condition of the park, Coburn closed Ghost Town a few days after the chairlift failure and put the park up for sale. The park remained closed and unmaintained for the next four years, leading many to believe that nobody would buy the park because of the bad condition.