Does Detroit Need a Zombie Apocalypse Theme Park?

Turning some of the Motor City's blighted streets into a horror theme park could save them, say the brains behind Z World Detroit. Mmm... Brraaaiiinnnsss....

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You’re hiding in an abandoned factory. The doors are barricaded, but you can hear that the hinges are about to give. You crouch behind an old vending machine to take stock of your supplies. You have three arrows left and an energy bar tucked in your pocket. There’s water in the canteen, but if you don’t find more soon you’re going to run out. There’s a stash of bottles on the other side of the compound, but you’re not sure you’ll be able to make it. Your friends are hidden from sight, but by their cries, you know at least one of them has been injured. You check your gun and see that you have no ammo. Does this sound like your idea of fun? If so, have we got an amusement park for you.

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Z World Detroit is a zombie-apocalypse theme park that is hoping to set up shop in the Motor City. If the park gets the funding it needs, Z World would offer participants the opportunity to escape swarms of zombies in “abandoned factories, stores and homes across hundreds of derelict urban acres.” It sounds like an excellent opportunity for corporate team building outside of a ropes course.

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Z World is the brainchild (mmm… brains) of Marc Siwak, who is hoping to set up shop in some of Detroit’s worst neighborhoods while hopefully helping to revitalize the city’s beleaguered economy. Whole blocks of Detroit are filled with the detritus of urban flight, blighted by abandoned buildings perfect for a zombie apocalypse preparedness training — or a fun-filled bachelor weekend. Siwak sees it as a chance to creatively revitalize a city that is struggling. “The Z World Detroit initiative is a radical rethinking of urban redevelopment and Detroit’s well-documented blight and de-population,” Siwak says in his fundraising proposal on crowdfunding site Indiegogo. Critics say Siwak is making light of the city’s devastating poverty, according to MSN. Either way, Siwak still needs to raise about $139,000 and with only 36 days left, his idea may not be able to rise from the dead.

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