I inherited a troublesome property in my aunt's will - it led to a bitter dispute but is now worth $6.4million

Daily Mail​

11 hours ago

It's not your typical item to be left in a will from a loved one. Jill McClure inherited a theme park in North Carolina from her aunt Alaska Presley after she died in 2022.
Ghost Town Village in Maggie Valley, a town outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was once a tourist destination, but a tumultuous history had left the rides untouched for 15 years.
The park has been riddled with bad luck from rides malfunctioning, being hit by a mudslide, closing down twice and attempting multiple unsuccessful re-openings in the past decade.
After being locked in a legal battle for more than two years McClure has revealed that the park, that was recently appraised for $6.4million, finally has an interested buyer who plans to revitalize Ghost Town.
McClure hasn't revealed the buyer's identity but said they were based in Florida and wanted to keep the western family-friendly theme of the park.
'It will be a totally different venue. They love country music, rodeos, convention-type events, festivals,' McClure told local ABC affiliate, WLOS.
'It's my intention to sell the park for something for entertainment that will help Maggie Valley's tourism industry. I don't want to see housing put all over the top of it,' McClure added.
She said that the buyer's vision aligns with her late aunt's desire to help merchants and the people of Maggie Valley to make the area a buzzing tourist hub once again.
Ghost Town has sat gathering dust for 15 years as the water line deteriorated and the rides were vandalized
Sue Heise, who operates a store near the park, told WLOS that the news of a potential buyer was 'wonderful'.
'The tourism has been down. It will bring a lot of revenue into the town. I can't wait to hear the next edition of this,' she added.
The community of Maggie Valley rejoiced on social media when news broke that a potential buyer was interested.
'I'm praying for this to happen and for our town Maggie Valley.
'I grew up with going to Ghost Town once a week being a season pass holder and working there a bit,' one comment read on the Ghost Town in the Sky Facebook group.
'I loved it and the waterside also go cart tracks we had. Maggie was thriving and so much wonderful memories which I pray to share with my grandchildren.'
'Absolutely loved that place and would really like to see it open again,' a second agreed.
'It's a great idea, everybody misses it just like it was no changes needed,' another added.
Dismal history
The park was fittingly named for its abandonment in recent years.
Ghost Town has a long history of unfortunate events dating back to its inception in 1960, when Virginia businessman R.B. Coburn purchased Buck Mountain as the location of the park.
It took $1million to construct the theme park, and Ghost Town became a fixture of the community throughout the '60s.
However, the glory days of the North Carolina amusement park were short-lived as Ghost Town soon generated a reputation for being poorly maintained and operated.
In 2002, the chairlift to the top of the mountain malfunctioned, leaving passengers stranded for hours in the rain.
The failure was the last straw for Coburn, who decided to sell it later that year. The park rotted for years and filed for bankruptcy in 2009.
The park's owner attempted to secure loans to reopen without any luck, until an anonymous donor put up the money.
After years of abandonment, the park was a 'ghost town' no longer, and the public piled back onto Buck Mountain for the grand reopening.
Unfortunately, the park's bad luck didn't end there as just one year later, the property's retaining walls gave way, resulting in a massive mudslide.
A month after the shocking disaster, Ghost Town foreclosed and shuttered its doors once again.
Presley bought the property in 2012 for $1.5million, but issues with the park's water line and years of neglect delayed.
Then in 2014 water line problems prevented the park's opening, the Asheville Citizen Times reported at the time.
Presley then placed the property into a limited liability corporation, Ghost Town in the Sky, and worked with the company to reopen the park.
She died two years later and never got to see the reopening of the park. Frankie Wood was named managing member of Ghost Town in the Sky LLC, and McClure took over her aunt's share, The Mountaineer reported at the time.
Legal woes
Wood and McClure entered into a years-long legal battle over how the property's assets should be distributed.
McClure's attorney alleged in a motion for summary judgment that Wood, 'member sits at the helm of the company like a parasite waiting for it to deteriorate further and further while he bears no risk'.
Her attorney argued that McClure has been paying a bulk of the property taxes while receiving no income from the park for years
Wood then died in 2024 after a construction accident, but his attorney, Russell McLean, told The Mountaineer, that the two had already 'buried the hatchet'.
'He said he realized the land deeded into the LLC is mine,' McClure told the publication.
'He never put any money into the LLC and in his deposition, he said he had no investors or prospective buyers. He asked me if I had prospective buyers, and I said people had expressed interest, but had no buyers.'
After a long history of enthusiastic efforts, Ghost Town may finally once again see the light of day.