Friends Enter Michael Jackson’s Empty Mansion And Come Out With Eerie Photos
The legacy left behind by the self-styled King of Pop Michael Jackson is a complex one, iconic and infamous in equal measure. And so much about the superstar’s day-to-day life remains mysterious even now. But years after his demise, the musician’s Neverland Ranch has come back under the spotlight. Eerie new images of the property have recently emerged, leaving people to question once again what the future holds for the late legend’s former home.
A superstar beset by controversy
One of the biggest names in music history, Jackson’s professional reputation was well-earned. His record sales are in the hundreds of millions, and he won a whopping 13 Grammys across his career.
Despite all that success, though, the singer was beset by controversy for years. The rumor mill started up back in the 1990s and continued to rumble long after the artist’s unexpected death in 2009.
Finding Neverland...
And Neverland Ranch’s role in all this can’t be overstated. Located in California, Jackson was initially introduced to the huge property back in 1983. He was there to see Paul McCartney when the pair were working on the music video for their track “Say Say Say.”
The place clearly left a huge impression on the Thriller star. Some four years later, the King of Pop splashed just under $20 million to buy the place, transforming it into a real-life fantasyland.
Opening the gates
From fairground rides to a fully-functioning zoo, Neverland Ranch became more than just a fancy California estate. And Jackson went on to open the place up for youngsters to enjoy all those features.
The King of Pop later explained why he had been so keen to share his home in a 2005 chat with Geraldo Rivera. His reasoning was unusual to say the least.
“I do it for my heart”
Jackson said, “I do it for my heart. There are many children in the cities who have never seen mountains, who haven’t been on a carousel, who haven’t petted a horse or a llama.”
“So if I can open my gates and there’s that bliss — an explosion of screaming, laughter, and they run past me to the rides, I say, ‘Thank you God.’ I feel I’ve won God’s smile of approval. Because I’m doing something that’s bringing joy and happiness to other people.”
Shocking accusations
But it was the subject of children in particular that proved the source of many of the singer's subsequent controversies. In the summer of 1993 Jackson became the focus of an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department.
The singer had been accused of molesting four kids, so the authorities scanned Neverland Ranch and his condo in L.A. to look for evidence. They found nothing on that occasion.
Swerving criminal charges
That didn’t yet mean Jackson was in the clear, though. Roughly a month after the investigation started, one of the families involved tried to sue him for $20 million. They alleged that he’d “repeatedly committed sexual battery” on their child.
The musician later settled for an even greater sum, but maintained he hadn’t committed any “wrongful acts.” As for the police investigation, by September 1994 it was confirmed that the artist would be avoiding criminal charges.
Under a microscope
Still, that didn’t stop people from speculating. Jackson’s relationships were now under a microscope, with one name standing out in particular. He and young Macaulay Culkin had become very close after the latter had found fame as a Hollywood child star.
Speaking to Larry King, Culkin remembered, “I first met him, he kind of called me randomly, like, out of the blue. He was just kind of like, ‘Hi, it’s Michael,’ and I’m like, ‘Hey.’”
“Kind of recognized me”
“This was after Home Alone,” Culkin continued. “I’d actually met [Jackson] once before when I was doing The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, I was playing Fritz, and he came backstage one day and I actually met him very briefly.”
“And he kind of recognized me, because it was after I’d done Uncle Buck.” After they had become more fully acquainted, Culkin went on to spend a lot of time at Neverland Ranch with Jackson.
Staunch defense
Given the previous allegations — and the ones still to come in the 2000s — rumors persisted that Jackson might’ve acted inappropriately around Culkin, too. Yet the former child star has long refuted that.
In March 2020 Culkin told Esquire, “Look, I’m gonna begin with the line — it’s not a line, it’s the truth: He never did anything to me. I never saw him do anything.”
“No reason to hold anything back”
“I’d have no reason to hold anything back,” Culkin said. “The guy has passed on. If anything — I’m not gonna say it would be stylish or anything like that, but right now is a good time to speak up.”
“And if I had something to speak up about, I would totally do it. But no, I never saw anything; he never did anything.” Following the investigation in the ’90s, the pressure on Jackson only intensified when an infamous documentary aired in 2003.
Living with Michael Jackson
Yes, Living with Michael Jackson was shown on American and British TV that February, giving folks a closer look at Jackson’s life at Neverland Ranch. Yet the results didn’t help the singer’s public image at all.
Cameras caught sight of him getting very close to a teenage boy, who was said to be a cancer survivor. Jackson admitted to the reporter making the documentary, Martin Bashir, that they slept in the same bed, but nothing beyond that.
Huge consequences
All the same, Jackson’s portrayal in that documentary ultimately had massive consequences. A new investigation was launched later that year, with police raiding Neverland Ranch. The musician was then taken into custody, and he ultimately faced charges of child molestation.
Radar Online reported that images of naked youngsters had been uncovered in Jackson’s room at that time. The music icon made bail on the same day as his arrest: the posted figure was $3 million.
The trial
The trial eventually got under way in February 2005 and spanned a period of four months. Court cases didn’t get more high-profile than this one, and the hubbub around the proceedings could properly be described as a media circus.
In the end, Jackson was acquitted of all the charges leveled against him. But despite the favorable result, the King of Pop didn’t return to Neverland Ranch to celebrate with his family.
“Too violated”
In fact, following the police raid, Jackson said he had no intentions of going back to the ranch at all. He felt the place had been “too violated.” So it sat abandoned for years, with everything inside the mansion gathering dust.
It’s reported that Colony Capital took control of the property in 2008 after spending roughly $22.5 million. In the time it sat empty, though, some eerie images of the interior emerged.
Exploring the abandoned estate
Between December 2007 and March 2008 a number of snappers were able to sneak into the estate and get a closer look. Vice later got in touch with them in June 2014 to discuss what they had seen.
To conceal their identities during the interview, the website referred to them as Donatello, Raphael, and Leonardo. And boy, did these guys have some bizarre yet interesting snippets to share!
“The strangest thing to me”
When asked to describe the “weirdest” stuff they had spotted, Raphael replied, “The strangest thing to me was the little boy in pajamas sitting on the Moon logo, everywhere. Like, it amazes me how much it resembles the DreamWorks logo.”
“That thing was painted on the ground, like, 60 feet wide. It was on the signs, on the bumper cars, it was on the coach station where they parked the coach, one on the ground.”
“Devil’s horns”
Donatello then shared their view. The photographer recalled, “The other thing was that [Jackson] collected memorabilia that had his likeness on it. He had Pepsi bottles and books and other promotional material in boxes.”
“He also had stacks and stacks of fan mail, and one piece that really grabbed me was the prosecuting attorney of his molestation case with Devil’s horns drawn on. That was just laying on a tabletop.”
Time in the kitchen
The group had explored the kitchen as well, with something there catching their eye. Raphael remembered, “There was this ‘Children of the World’ menu. Everything in there was geared toward children.”
“That menu, on a permanently-printed chalkboard with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and macaroni and cheese, sticks out in my mind. And the strange hodgepodge of [stuff] that [Jackson] had bought that didn’t have any relation to his house.”
“Semi-artistic things”
“[Jackson’s] entire house was filled with these expensive looking, one-off, semi-artistic things,” Raphael continued. “These weird mirrors on this 4-foot by 4-foot platform. And that would be next to some Roman statue-looking thing.”
“Next to that would be an 8-foot-tall oil painting of Michael Jackson himself. There were all of these paintings inside the house.” One of those pieces depicted Jackson leading a huge group of kids down a garden path.
The toy room
Meanwhile, the photographers were able to get a closer look at Jackson’s much-talked-about toy room, too. And it was quite the space. Raphael told Vice, “It was maybe 60 feet by 30 feet.”
“And [it was] filled with every toy you could imagine. Life-size Lego models, Darth Vader: all sorts of awesome toys.” Donatello then chimed in, “The other thing I remember is that there were game stations set up all around the house.”
Sold off
“Imagine those consoles for Super Nintendo that you might find at the Best Buy store, but set up with all different systems,” Donatello added. It’s eerie to think that all that stuff just sat there for years untouched.
As for the fairground rides, the majority of those were sold after Colony Capital made its investment. The animals at the zoo were also auctioned off, freeing up space for “a meditative Zen garden.”
Jackson’s death
Jackson died at the age of just 50 in June 2009 at his Holmby Hills residence in California. He left behind three young kids: Paris, Prince, and Blanket — now known as Bigi.
Paris in particular has shared some fascinating memories from their time on Neverland Ranch, as well as what the singer had been like as a dad. She went into great detail while chatting with Rolling Stone in 2017.
“A pretty normal life”
Paris said, “We couldn’t just go on the rides whenever we wanted to. We actually had a pretty normal life. Like, we had school every single day, and we had to be good.”
“And if we were good, every other weekend or so, we could choose whether we were gonna go to the movie theater or see the animals or whatever. But if you were on bad behavior, then you wouldn’t get to go do all those things.”
“He was our world”
“I just thought [Jackson’s] name was Dad, Daddy,” Paris continued. “We didn’t really know who he was. But he was our world. And we were his world. His number-one focus for us, besides loving us, was education.”
The young trio were all home-schooled prior to Jackson’s passing. And unsurprisingly, his death left a massive void in their lives, with Paris offering some candid admissions to Rolling Stone.
Deep emotional pain
Paris stated, “They always say, ‘Time heals.’ But it really doesn’t. You just get used to it. I live life with the mentality of ‘Okay, I lost the only thing that has ever been important to me.’”
“So going forward, anything bad that happens can’t be nearly as bad as what happened before. So I can handle it. I feel [Michael’s presence] with me all the time.”
“They were gentle”
As for Paris’ older brother Prince, he told People in October 2022, “I think about [Michael] every day. What I miss probably the most about him are his hands. He had really strong, really big hands.”
“Firm, but they were gentle. It’s tough to explain.” While his sister moved into acting, modeling, and music, Prince earned a business administration degree and went on to co-establish a charity.
“He would be very proud”
Touching on that, Prince couldn’t help but think of Jackson again. He said, “I’d like to think that he would be very proud because I think this was one of his main goals.”
“[It] wasn’t only to spread his message of positivity and happiness but to see it enacted in his kids. I’m very grateful that I have this feeling that it’s this collaborative ecosystem — we all need to help each other — and that came from the way that he raised us.”
Another huge controversy
Bigi is looking to do his part in that respect as well. In 2021 the most private of Jackson’s kids told People, “That’s what [me and my siblings] want to do — make things that people enjoy but also benefit their lives.”
Despite the love they have for their late dad, though, the controversy surrounding the late musician flared up again in 2019. And once more, Neverland Ranch found itself in the public spotlight.
Leaving Neverland
The documentary Leaving Neverland hit the small screen that March. The four-hour HBO special detailed the stories of two men who claimed that Jackson had molested them as kids while they’d been visiting the ranch.
The singer’s estate immediately rubbished the accusations, maintaining “Michael Jackson is innocent. Period.” Representatives of the late singer’s estate looked to sue the TV network for airing it. It’s said they were pursuing over $100 million in compensation.
Tumbling valuation
The shocking contents of the documentary had a major effect on the estimated worth of the vacant Neverland Ranch. Prior to its airing, the place had been on the property market since the spring of 2016.
Back then, the ranch had a huge price tag of roughly $100 million. When that valuation failed to attract any potential buyers, the asking price dipped to $67 million going into 2017. That didn’t produce a sale, either.
“A celebrity trophy buyer”
By February 2019 — mere weeks before Leaving Neverland was released — it was down to $31 million. After the documentary came out, Michael Corbett, a real estate specialist, spoke to Yahoo Entertainment.
He said, “[The ranch] was priced where it was in the beginning to capture a celebrity trophy buyer. Someone that was willing to pay the extra money because it was Michael Jackson’s.”
Cut-price deal
“Unfortunately now, since there’s been a lot of negative press, someone is probably not going to purchase [the ranch] for that reason,” Corbett added. “Now someone’s going to buy it because it’s an amazing piece of real estate.”
That brings us to Ron Burkle. A billionaire who had once been a pal of Jackson’s, he splashed $22 million to buy Neverland Ranch in December 2020: talk about a cut-price deal!
Getting to work
After Burkle purchased the estate, some new images began to emerge in March 2023. And much like the shots that had been captured inside the mansion all those years before, they too have a somewhat eerie quality to them.
As shown in the pictures, the grounds of Neverland Ranch are getting a welcome upgrade. The empty spaces that were present for so long are now being filled with familiar sights.
New attractions?
Yes, a number of fairground rides have been reintroduced to the outside area. “Firehouse” is one — an eye-catching fun house-style attraction that’s sat next to the old train tracks running through the ranch.
Then there’s “Krazy Planes,” which appears to be a ride consisting of two large swings. It’s surrounded by lots of metal fencing and greenery. And the upgrades don’t end there.
“Hook’s Revenge”
A massive attraction by the name of “Hook’s Revenge” has been installed as well. At a distance, it looks like a crazy golf course centered around a damaged pirate ship.
Meanwhile, there are also a few teepee tents scattered across the grounds, suggesting that more rides could be on the way. All the pre-existing paths have been carefully cleared, too.
Refilling the pools
On top of that, the old swimming pools have received some much-needed love. Before Burkle got hold of the place, they’d all had the water drained out of them. Now, though?
The swimming areas are back to their best, including an eye-popping 14-foot lagoon-style pool. And we can’t forget about the lake on the grounds — that hasn’t changed since the new owner arrived.
A ghost town
But while the refurbishment has added some life to what was a crumbling estate, something feels off when examining the images. Quite simply, Neverland Ranch still looks like a ghost town.
No one can be seen enjoying the new and improved rides and attractions. So why has Burkle added all this stuff to the California property? What’s his ultimate plan here?
“A land-banking opportunity”
Going back to when Burkle first bought the place, his representative revealed that he viewed it as “a land-banking opportunity.” Yet his recent actions suggest there’s been a change of heart!
After Jackson passed away, his loved ones were reportedly showing interest in turning Neverland Ranch into a Graceland-style location. In other words, a spot for his fans to congregate and look back at his life and work.
Watch this space...
Could that be what Burkle’s working towards now? Making Neverland Ranch the new Graceland? Given all the time, money, and effort poured into revitalizing the property, it can’t be discounted.
Whatever the future holds for Jackson’s old home, though, one thing’s for sure. It’s going to be fascinating to watch the latest chapter in this estate’s complex history play out.