In the sweltering chaos of Con Thien, Vietnam, a young Marine Corps corporal clung to a dream so gentle, it barely made sense amid the screaming shrapnel and death that surrounded him.
Cpl. Scott Harrison (Ret.) would sit quietly in the trenches, clutching a tiny music box gifted by his sister. As the melody played, he’d escape to a vision: a peaceful carousel spinning in a sun-drenched mountain meadow.
“I thought that if I could actually start making that vision come true, it would keep me on an even keel and make me happier,” Harrison said.
But the war didn’t end when he came home. Plagued by clinical PTSD and battling addiction, Harrison drifted, even living on a houseboat in the middle of the ocean. Still, he couldn’t outrun the trauma.
“There may have been far worse than sleepless nights in store,” the CBS News “On the Road” segment with Steve Hartman noted, “until he circled back around to those quiet moments with his music box and his mental mountain meadow.”
So in 1986, nearly two decades after returning from war, Harrison purchased a broken Looff carousel from the early 1900s. He began hand-carving animals, first to help himself, then to help others.
“I started out just trying to treat myself, but then it just changed into something I could do for others,” Harrison said.
By 2010, his dream was real: nestled in Nederland, Colorado, the Carousel of Happiness opened its doors. Since then, over a million visitors have climbed aboard its whimsical creatures, twirling toward joy.
Now a nonprofit, the carousel is also home to a podcast that explores joy and healing. Harrison’s story was even featured in the award-winning documentary Carving Joy.
What began as a private vision in a war zone has become a sanctuary for the public, proof that healing can take many forms, sometimes even on the back of a hand-carved bunny or buffalo.
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