, , ,
Michael Jackson purchased the property from golf course entrepreneur William Bone in 1988 for a sum variously reported to be $16.5 to $30 million. It was Jackson’s home and private amusement park and contained, among other things, a floral clock, numerous statues of children, and a petting zoo. The amusement park included two railroads, a Ferris wheel, Carousel, Zipper, Octopus, Pirate Ship, Wave Swinger, Super Slide, dragon wagon kiddie roller coaster and bumper cars.
Jackson was also an avid art collector. According to Yves Gautier in the book, “Michael Jackson, Backdoor to Neverland”: “Though few know about it, Michael Jackson is a voracious reader and there is a 10,000-volume library in the Neverland Ranch, that focuses on art, psychology and poetry.”
During his residency there, Jackson brought groups of children and their families to the facility as day visitors. He also hosted various children overnight, a practice which came under scrutiny when Jackson was accused of sexual misconduct with minors at the ranch, first in 1993 and again in 2003.
Jackson said in 2005 that he would not return to the property, saying he no longer considered the ranch a home, feeling the 70 police officers had “violated” it in their searches. In 2006, the facilities were closed and most of the staff were dismissed, with a spokesperson stating that this was the reflection of the fact that Jackson no longer lived there.
Jackson sold this property in November of 2008 to Sycamore Valley Ranch Inc, a real estate company that he owned in part.