Neverland Ranch

Neverland is in Santa Barbara County in California and was the home of Michael Jackson from 1988 to 2005. It was named after the Neverland in Peter Pan (the boy who never grew up).

Neverland was Michael’s private home and amusement park. It contained a zoo, numerous statutes of children, two railroads, a ferris wheel, bumper cars, pirate ship and a carousel (amongst other things).

Whilst Michael lived there, he brought groups of children and their families to the Ranch as day visitors. He also had children stay overnight, which resulted in Michael being accused of sexual misconduct in 1993 and 2003.

In 2005, Michael said that he would not return to the property as he no longer considered the ranch a home. He attributed this to the 70 police officers whom he said "violated" it when searching. In 2006, the facilities were closed and most of the staff dismissed.

In October 2007, foreclosure proceedings started which Michael denied. In February 2008, Michael was advised that unless he paid off $24.5m by March 2008, a public auction will be held to sell off the land, buildings and other items (e.g. rides, art etc). In March 2008, it was announced that a private agreement had been reached to save the ranch. Details of the deal were not released.

In May 2008, a foreclosure auction was canceled after Colony Capital LLC purchased the loan which was in default. The title of the ranch was transferred in November 2008 to the Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC which was a joint venture between Michael and an affiliate of Colony Capital LLC. It was later reported that he sold an unknown proportion of his property rights for $35m.