Theme parks and other themed environments commonly evoke stories about the past in order to provide their customers and audiences with enjoyable experiences, often giving the impression that they are immersed in the past. Usually, such depictions of the past are only very loosely related either to historical accounts based on academic research or to surviving remains of the past. Drawing on previous research, I discuss with examples in this paper how the past is designed in theme parks and other themed environments by an evocation of pastness. Pastness is diÑerent from age and denotes the perceived quality that a given object is of the past. Pastness is not immanent in an object but may derive from the object’s physical condition (for example, visible decay), its immediate context (for example, suggestive association in a museum or historic town center), or preconceived understandings of the audience (for example, expectations about historic appearance). I conclude by discussing the signifcance of Öctitious heritage in themed environments and indeed in society at large.