An abandoned resort community has recently caught the TikTok world's attention after a lawyer revealed how the billion-dollar project in Missouri ended up as a ghost town. The viral clip retelling McMansions' vacant land's history eventually reached the authorities, who warned against curious trespassers.
Last month, lawyer Carrie Jernigan shared a short clip featuring the neglected mansions in Branson's unfinished Indian Ridge Resort. She shared the haunted story behind the village's abandonment, which over 15.4 million TikTok users have viewed.
Abandoned Village History
In the TikTok entry shared last March 27, Jernigan explained that the $1.6 billion projects were carried out back in 2006. But the construction and development were halted when the developers have been accused of a real estate fraud scheme.
"This was supposed to be a 1.6 billion dollar resort community. It was going to have one of the country's largest water parks, golf courses, hotels, conference centers, and shopping," Jernigan said in the video narration while showing the number of deserted houses.
Things went down for the Table Rock Lake construction in 2008 when the government cracked a suspicious activity surrounding the resort community.
"But instead, it turned into a ghost town when the 2008 housing crisis hit. Five people had ended up in federal prison. And 13 years later, the houses just sit here," the lawyer added.
It turns out that the developers lied to get loans for the ambitious 90-acre project. They told buyers that the community composed of residential townhomes and condos would be home to a 390-room hotel with the second-largest indoor water park in America and other luxurious amenities like a golf course, a marina, a Native American history museum.
Jernigan's TikTok entry became a massive hit that people started asking her for the exact location of the so-called "ghost town," which the lawyer happily provided in a separate video,
"But if you put in maps Possum Valley Road, Reed Springs Missouri, that is the actual road where the house is on," Jernigan said, adding a warning not to trespass the property.
@carriejernigan1 ##missouri ##branson ##house ##housetour ##jail ♬ original sound - LAWYER CARRIE
Ghost Town Turned Tourist Spot?
The lawyer's TikTok feature sparked locals to check out the spooky place, but authorities are not liking the massive attention that the resort community has been getting recently.
The unwanted visitors promoted the Stone County sheriff to warn trespassers to stay away from the property.
"A recent Tik-Tok video went viral about the Indian Ridge development that went bankrupt. This has caused this location off of 76 Highway to become a tourist attraction," Sheriff Doug Rader wrote on Facebook.
"THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY, AND YOU CAN BE CITED FOR TRESPASSING!" he added.
Sheriff Rader said that the deputies want to avoid issuing tickets for trespassing and begs the public to stop entering the so-called ghost town without permission.
"It has been a constant flow of people walking down in the development all weekend. Please go visit our many other tourist attractions in Stone County, including Table Rock lake!" the sheriff added.
