A photographer has exposed the crumbling remains of the former cement factory which was going to become a children's amusement park project called Cementland.

It's been labelled one of the "strangest theme parks in America" for its niche theme and troubles over the years.

The bizarre 54-acre attraction, snapped by Paul Sableman, was thought up by sculptor Bob Cassilly was once a thriving factory outside of St. Louis, Missouri but when the factory closed down, the area became a dumping ground for construction companies.

The original buildings began to crumble and decay – until one day, Cassilly had the idea to change up the landscape to a place of obscure projects.

Bob Cassilly saw more than just cement and ruins. He saw history, art, architecture, and evolution.

In a 2000 interview, Bob said: “They talk about historic districts and stuff like that but one of the main things is, our architecture is basically copying stuff from Europe.

"But our industry, it’s kind of like jazz, it’s an American, original thing. Why not look at it for what it is? It’s impressive. it might be threatening, but you can’t help but be impressed by it.”

His ultimate goal was to create an art amusements park but everything took a turn when there was an accident on the building site.

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Cassilly was tragically run down by a bulldozer and killed on the building site of Cementland on September 26, 2011. He was 61 years old.

However, his widow and several medical experts didn’t believe that Bob’s cause of death was a bulldozer accident.

In 2016, physician Dr Arthur Combs reexamined the autopsy reports and said he believes the sculptor was beaten to death before the murder scene was staged to look like an accident.

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Over the last six years, the ruins have fallen into further disrepair after a warehouse fire caused a roof to fall in.

Security was hired to keep vandals and trespassers away in 2017 but in 2022 there is no evidence that this arrangement remains in place.

Memorials honouring Cassilly’s life have been held at Cementland but the attraction has not been completed.

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