Amusement Park Disasters: Independent Parks

Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash and I'm Alina and you're listening to morbid bitch. Whoa, you are bitch I changed it up Good morning. Good afternoon. Good night. You could be driving tomorrow Good barrow of course you can be driving to work home from work Picking up your kid doing laundry going to sleep Just checking your nose. Yeah, Martin. I hope you're doing all those things. I'm Obtainiously driving to and from work at the same time while picking up your game Yeah, I sounded like I sounded like Josh you did no one really rips Driving to and from work bro. Honestly if you're not listening to Josh Josh, it's J. A. W. S. H. on tic-toc and Instagram. I think you can find but We love Josh. We love Josh. We love his hottest homie. We changed our husband's contacts to my hottest homie because of Josh because of Josh He's he's delightful love him and he will tell you what really rips Yeah, he's just literally the most positive person and he's always just telling you what Rips so if you're looking for something that just rips and to he will show you to romanticize the small room moments of life Truly because he's doing nothing but yeah, he's just everything rips today What ripped for him and for us is that it's fucking Friday the third day? Yeah hell yeah hell yeah And then tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Yeah, what a fucking Conflict we have ahead of us what a one two punch. I'm going to see Chicago this weekend That's fun and I'm gonna lose my head I'm gonna lose my I'm gonna lose my head. I've never seen Chicago first of all That's gonna be great and I'm going to see Whitney from secret lives of Mormon lives. She's playing Roxy And I'm so fucking excited. I'm excited for you. Thank you. What are you doing this weekend? Going to the science museum in Boston? Okay, that's the most us thing ever I'm like I'm going to New York City for the weekend and you're like I'm going to the science museum with my children Yep, this is like I'm out after so don't worry nobody will find us. Nobody will find us You know, you don't want to say your location right when you're there. No, that's what we are here to teach you Yeah, we'll tip from me to you. I don't know. It's about shit until after I finished it Yeah, and you should too all of you listening Because the world is really fucking crazy. Yeah, it's the world is probably burning a little bit Yeah, I think it's What I am hoping we're gonna rise from the ashes. Yeah, like I hope it's burning because fire is cleansing Agreed and we're gonna start a new I love it. I think we're gonna burn it all down And we're gonna start with way less pedophiles that'd be dope and way more chill motherfuckers who want to protect kids and don't want to be shitheads to each other and hateful and divisive Those are my top that's two things that I want and in the new life. Yeah, that's all I'm looking for in this new world Those are my new years for solutions. I hope that the system does in fact crash Yeah, but there's less pedophiles and more cool people who want to protect kids. Yep That's it that should for that. It's so simple that honestly that should be and I know That's people are gonna be people that are angry at us for saying that but I can't Fathom how you can find something wrong. You want the system to burn right now. It's been a place in 1776 How how could you want less pedophiles like that's I that's that's something we should all be able to agree on I think that's the least controversial thing. I have ever said in my life is we should have less pedophiles Somehow people will find God be no, but here's the thing our listeners. No, our listeners. No, they're not gonna You guys are gonna find it's the boss the boss I do I never see for sure. Oh my god, but you guys listening You're you're you get it. I'm probably not the first person ever say this, but god. I hope I am. It's the boss in the ops There you go came to me that came to me up here in this Nalgan. Well, you know what tell me in the In the spirit of being crazy being kooky Let's talk about amusement park disasters You're in a ruin my fucking life like that you would this honestly you would ruin my my idea Dave our beloved Dave beloved dove had this idea and I said hell yeah brother. It's a great idea Yeah, except I thought here's the thing about this show one of us sitting on one of these couches despises amusement parks with her entire I bet you can't decide The other one of us would literally go to an amusement park every day to be amused That sounds horrible. Wow, so you really let them out We didn't even give that one second to me. I think people know I don't I think people know by now Um, we're gonna be talking well. We have two of these. Okay, today we're gonna be talking about independent parks Okay, so we're not gonna be talking about you know the big ones the the big east my faves Uh, we're gonna be talking about some independent parks and this is all just things that happened like this isn't you know Us having opinions on like how they're running or anything like that. It's just not even a how they're run These are just things that have happened that have been reported on And let's let's let's start in the way back. Mm-hmm shall we? Mm-hmm So this first one I'm going to do my absolute best to not but you're the pronunciation But when we get there we get there and we're gonna see what we do. Okay, we're gonna see how we handle it. Okay So as early as the 14th century that's a long-long People have always loved to attend like big gatherings with other people They love to combine those gatherings with music food performances culture Explicitly for the sake of entertainment and enjoyment. We've all needed that forever. I love entertainment and entertainment For example In and here I go with this pronunciation. I believe in you Ling-bout-harbak Not sure Denmark and this is in a place called here comes another one. Oh, there's more here comes another one hold on Dyer-havs back in Dyer-havs back in in Denmark. Sure That translates direhavs back in translates to animal park hill. Oh um It has been entertaining guests for nearly 450 years Initially that's insane long time Initially with clowns and animal shows and music then with mechanical rides and eventually With modern thrill rides and roller coasters commonly associated with like modern day Span parks. Yeah, yeah, and while it's fair to say that like musen parks that we think of now like modern ones of the last century or so Contrace at least some of their roots to like fairs and carnivals of like the Middle Ages Their real point of origin can be found in the mid 19th century Quote and quilt pleasure gardens of London not pleasure garden. I feel like they should have workshopped that one So these are these are not like the sprawling parks filled with mechanical rides that we are thinking of what happens at a pleasure pleasure gardens Provide and in here's the thing there's like a There's a there's a there's a lead from these to the modern day parks that we're thinking of But obviously there was a branch off of who they were catering to and what they were catering But the same idea was there of like being a place that is purely for amusement. Yes. What amusement it is pleasure gardens are for something different. Okay. They provided a similar kind of escapism through fantasy entertainment and commercialism that would eventually be The museum parks we know now According to British journalist Cass pound the pleasure gardens offered quote an environment in which societal norms could be cast aside If only for a few hours They captivated the public with their heady mix of culture fashion and vice. Yeah, bitch. That's why I'm wearing it Disney ears So I think you could also you could also argue that this is kind of like Renaissance fairs. Yeah, like that kind of thing Yeah, you know Now during the day the gardens resembled casual I'll be at like more fantastical types of social experiences One might find out a fair. Okay, that's fun But the real thrills came later in the day when the parks began their quote dark walks These would be led by masked performers whose identities gender and perhaps even intentions were unknown to patrons You had me up until intentions You had me until intentions one thing about me is I want to know a mother fuckers intention This is so interesting. So these dark walks were tours that began in like well-lit areas of the park and eventually made their way Into the deliberately unlit areas of the garden This is fucked up and as the light began to fade the whimsical and colorful garden gave way To more hedonistic activities. Which what as sex workers would emerge to offer their services in dark corners of the garden Okay, that's a fun intention. So All right with that Historian historian Jonathan Conlon said there wasn't necessarily a clear division between light walks and dark walks It was a question of how far you were prepared to go. Oh, okay All of this is so like just it's so fascinating to me that it is like a dark walks sound so terrifying It does but then sexy people come out. Yeah, so the real purpose of the pleasure garden and its whimsical tone Remain the same as modern day parks yeah that the tone of everything especially during the day rather than simply offering a not opportunity for hedonistic pleasure the garden's true purpose was to break down these like rigid social and class barriers of the day that were honestly like Dictating public life at the time and give the people of London a place to play engage in fantasy together Without the stigmas of the outside world kind of bogging them down. It was a place to vibe In the result or at least the result that was intended was increased social cohesion that minimized conflict Which is nice everybody got together enjoy some shit together. That doesn't hurt anybody A more contemporary example of these these opportunities for like blowing off steam Our things like professional sports. Mm-hmm. A shared act to interest and activity that kind of transcends What would be like pretty restrictive social constructs like race and class? Like it's these all kind of when you really look at them that way or like these are much more like tightly Uh, held together and like woven together and then you would think yeah, you're right on the outside agree Now eventually the explicit hedonism of the pleasure gardens gave way to the more commercially oriented boardwalk In places like Coney Island, New York and Santa Barbara, California Beginning in the late 1800s places like Coney Island offered games performances and what were then known as freak shows In which real and manufactured medical anomalies were put on display for entertainment and amusement. I've seen a hs Yeah exactly by the end of the decade the mechanical and technological inventions that were unveiled at the night 1893 world's fair in Chicago where H. H. H. Holmes was They had begun to make their way onto the boardwalks and small amusement parks around the world These mechanized rides quickly replace the animal shows with carousels, ferrous wheels and roller coasters And that's when the amusement park thrill rides were born. Let's fucking go So by the early th 20th century Entrepreneurs in North America and Europe started building parks around the mechanical rides that drew from the boardwalks and pleasure gardens of the past Including vendors fanatine-spired landscapes and even mascots in the early 1940s Indiana businessmen Louis, uh Louis coach Developed 260 acres of land in Santa Claus, Indiana into Santa Claus land fun Then that was the nation's first theme park. Wait, that's actually iconic. Isn't that crazy Santa Claus? Yeah, I'm obsessed Opening in 1946 Santa Claus land offered a quote dreamy alpine village with a toy shop rides design just for children and daily appearances from fucking Santa Yeah, let's go. That sounds fun. Yeah Santa Claus land would go on to inspire other entrepreneurs to develop their own properties including Walt Disney Whose own Disney land opened in 1955 Modelled in part by Santa Claus land. I didn't know that unfortunately an increase in popularity meant An increase in patrons and with each new person that arrived in each new day that passed the more likely it became that something could go wrong Yeah, of course because we're not just gonna talk about how great amusement parks are and how they became a thing No, it's called morbid So although the rides were generally considered safe I can't imagine like 1940s 1950s. I'm like oh But I generally they're considered safe imagine you get on the ride and like you ask and they're like yeah Generally generally it feels like this might be safe not gonna go on this Yeah, when it comes to something like amusement park safety the likelihood of an accident is a matter of probability Yeah, to be quite honest in simple turns each time a fairs wheel was put into motion The warn the more worn the mechanics became therefore the more times a person rode a fairs wheel the more safely The more likely it was that they were gonna experience a problem. Yeah, the more safe rides equal We're we're creeping up. We're counting down until and I say that faster here So that's actually a horrible way to think about it really is I want to be the person that goes on the ride like two times after the bad thing. Yeah, there you go. I'm sorry Wow So that fact was further complicated by the fact that in the case of early amusement parks rides were typically permitted and expected By the same people who gave out licenses for the other park vendors That's to say that these individuals rarely understood how the rides worked Much less whether they were safe. That's really awesome. So that led to some problems. Yeah, but in 1911 on the Reverbiche Boardwalk just a few miles outside of Austin Manufacturer Fred Pierce built an early wooden coaster named the Derby racer. See me. I don't fucks with wooden coasters And remember this is before like the Santa Claus land of 1940 whatever. Yeah Among the largest roller coasters of the day the Derby racer was a standard two track coaster Where two passenger cars would quote-unquote race one another side by side Within just a couple months of being built the Derby racer experienced its first accident or at all That's when pfc Arthur Lamar a sailor on the battleship new jersey was thrown from one of the coaster cars Quote traveling at a speed equaling that of a fast express train. Oh fuck Although the specifics of how exactly Lamar was thrown from the car His body hit the structural beams of the coaster with quote-turific force Bracturing his skull breaking his arm and causing severe internal injuries. Yeah He was rushed to frost hospital and nearby Chelsea and while he did survive the accident He was left with lifelong problems as a result a fractured skull will fuck you right up just a month later Another accident occurred on the Derby racer Probabilities when Oscar young the assistant manager of the ride was thrown from one of the cars At the time young had been accompanying a group of young women on the ride And all according to a press report at one point the group quote were making so much noise and moving about so actively They young feared for their safety as they approached a sharp curve in the track He turned around to remind the young women of the safety protocols But just as he turned the car lurched slightly to the side and he was thrown from the ride headfirst. Oh fuck Understandably the party of young women quote became panic stricken and two of the passengers had to be physically prevented from jumping out of the car and terror Oh according to the press quote the wild screams of the passengers during the rest of the ride because they had to finish the ride Yeah, to the terminal were heard for half a mile and caused intense excitement among the throngs on the beach That's horrifying once the cars came to a stop attendance were able to reach Oscar and move his body to the office terminal Where he was attended by a local doctor until an ambulance was able to get there an hour later Jesus Christ young was taken to Frost hospital where they determined both legs were broken one so badly It had to be amputated immediately. Oh my god And he'd suffered severe internal injuries as well as cuts and massarations and bruises to his abdomen Unfortunately, it does appear that he didn't survive his injuries. Oh, that's so sad In the two months of your legs broken and one so badly that it needed to be amputated That's nuts in the two months that it had been in operation There'd been multiple problems with the Derby racer that should have warranted some investigation Including the death of Oscar young the injuries to Lamar and other passengers one of which who broke an arm a week before young's accident Oh, wow, so it was more than just that yeah, those were just the two like big most egregious But the revier board of select been voted to shut down the coaster for just two weeks before giving them the go ahead To reopen it after the coaster was examined. Did they fix any two weeks? They were like seems good to me But like I don't know. I think you should put some mechanisms in place to like make it so people stop flying off Whatever repairs were made to the Derby racer do appear to have made it a little safer for riders But a decade later the ride's operators found themselves in trouble again Hey a decade is pretty solid. Yeah, I guess so after two passengers were injured on the Derby racer On the afternoon of September 10th 1922 25-year-old Frank Francis and his friend Joseph Jason FF and JJ FF and JJ obsessed in like last name Francis last name Jason Like what a weird thing that is weird like first name last names They visited the revier beach boardwalk and Francis decided he wanted to start their day at the beach with a ride on the Derby coaster But his friend opted to watch from the platform. Oh fuck the ride was well underway when for reasons unknown It came to a lurching halt and Francis and the passenger where that he was sharing the car with Were thrown from the ride and fell about six feet to the ground below Fortunately the young woman with that Frank was riding with was largely unheard Frank himself though sustained severe Lacerations to one side of his body and serious internal injuries So he survived his injuries, but less than a year later 23-year-old Alice Bluein and her boyfriend Leeland back were thrown from the Derby racer Pretty much under similar circumstances Alice suffered a fractured skull And back was badly cut and bruised, but otherwise was okay In the years that followed that the operators installed a leather harness to each car as well as a safety bar that riders could grab Hold up. I'm sorry What was there before nothing? They're like hey, I think a bar could like push stop. You know like keep them in there Also a leather harness. They're like what do you guys think about a seatbelt? Chees again It's like people were just like plopping newborns in the back of their seat at this place. Seriously one else I mean this was what like around like the early to mid 1900s. Yeah, this is like and well. This is in the late 20s. Yeah, that's nuts. Yeah Um, these safety measures like definitely lowered the risk level, but not entirely in late May 1929 27-year-old J.N. Clark was thrown from his car when the leather belt quote seemed to slide through his hands And he was thrown from the car and suffered severe cuts all over his body So the seatbelt was just like nah, it didn't do a lot The accident in 1929 resulted in a lawsuit that made its way to the state supreme court in 1935 as it took that long for a lawsuit And the court ruled against the ride operators ocean view of musements who were required to pay a big penalty Yeah, I would think the next year the Derby racer was shut down for good and a new coaster was built on the site in 1937 really. I feel like even building a new coaster. Yeah, that site is a bad old man. I feel yeah So all of the accidents on the Derby racer and coasters like it just highlighted the fact that if nothing else Additional safety measures were necessary to ensure that riders lived through the ride. Yes Yeah, that said 20 years after the first death on the Derby racer another accident occurred that called into question the safety of roller coasters all together The afternoon of July 24th 1930 It was like any other summer day at Omaha's Krueger Park all afternoon tons of patrons lined up one after another to ride the park's most popular attraction Which was a course a large wooden roller coaster called the Big Dipper not the wooden roller coasters called the Big Dipper Like many coasters around the country the Big Dipper was routinely inspected by a city inspector Who was more accustomed to inspecting buildings than a musement park ride a little different and he deemed it safe for public use looks good to me Alrighty, he said. I don't know It's not a building. He said yes, it's fine. I don't know stand in he said maybe you could live in it if it was stationary Yes Maybe you could live in it Despite that approval however, just weeks earlier one park worker predicted there would be quote a terrible accident on the coaster any day Oh, he said the park worker and he said it was due to It's constant use but lack of regular maintenance. He was like this is just gonna happen That's just kind of like common sense a little past 730 that night 23 people boarded the train on Big Dipper separated into four connected cars As the train of cars began climbing the first 75 foot hill The group of teenagers brace themselves for the anticipated rapid descent my favorite hill Yeah, unfortunately none of them noticed the bolt sitting on the tracks several feet ahead of them As the car began its rapid descent down the track the first car hit the bolt Terring loose the brake shoe and lifting the car off the rail sending it through the guard rail and over the side of the coaster Holy shit for several seconds the first car in the train hung over the edge of the coaster threatening to fall any second Oh my god So 17 year old Walter Bazza said I could see it happening before our car left the rails That was the worst part of all We knew we were going to be killed or badly injured and all we could do was sit there helplessly trusting in God I can't even think about that the first car plunged over the edge slowly dragging the other others with it plunging 30 feet to the ground below Holy god Walter Bazza's recalled I was unable to move for a moment So were the others seconds passed by in dead silence then somebody screamed and it seemed to awaken everybody to their danger We just seconds to go before being dragged over the edge Several of the passengers desperately tried to free themselves from the seats But being panicked and having no time to act there was not a lot any of them could do According to 16 year old Antis Uzdanaus who was in one of the rear cars They said as the first car went over people in the second The other three screamed and muttered short prayers while tugging desperately at their safety belt This is so scary the first car hit the ground just seconds after a one over the edge with all the passengers still strapped into the wooden seats Now it's very in in day of foundness The first car was dubbed Fred And it was named after the former park manager friend Ingersoll who killed himself a few years earlier And this car went plunging over the side. Yeah, that's haunting isn't that just like haunting? Yeah, that is absolutely Now since all the cars were connected the second third and fourth cars fell in quick succession Fortunately the cars landed in a U formation with the first and fourth cars landing on the tracks And the second and third hitting the ground had they landed on top of one another It would have been far more devastating than it already was which was devastating. Yeah Omaha firefighter Brenmeister was at the park that day and could see the rail infrastructure crumble as the train went over the edge He told the reporter the cars dropped straight down on the east side of the structure Some of them overturned and landed top down With the passengers imprisoned by safety belts and unable to throw themselves free To make matters worse the weight of the cars hanging over the edge before they fell Caused the scaffolding in the part of the coaster to tilt slightly. Oh my god So ride operator Eugene Lewis said I heard wood splintering and saw the first car going over the east I jumped for the switch and shut the power off I thought the other three cars would hold the first track car on the track Unfortunately when the cars went over A considerable amount of debris from the crumbling track followed landing on the victims below Now with the power switched off the second train car which was a ways behind the one that went over Was stopped shut entirely and rescuers were able to reach the passengers and get them all to safety Other park workers in the area jumped into action with several running to call for emergency services and way more Climbing or tearing down the fencing to get to the victims wow which is like A moment of humanity. Yeah, I'm glad it's in here. That's where to see the four passengers in the first car received the worst of the injuries Of course. Yeah as the first to hit the ground in a car that was overturned CH stout Ruth Farrell Tony politica and Gladys Lundgren were all pinned under the car and trapped by rubble Although two managed to survive the initial fall they died later that afternoon from their injuries The others were luckier and managed to survive with terrible injuries Tony's 16 year old sister Mary who was sitting in the car behind her brother sustained a fractured skull and was scalped oh Oh my god fuck Because her head hit a piece of scaffolding on the way down. Oh My god, I don't think I'm ever riding a roller coaster again. Yeah To be scalped by a roller coaster crash. Yeah is unthinkable. That's happened a few times. Don't you dare? That happened recently What yeah Oh In fact, hold on a minute. Look she's doing cautionary tales Yeah, I was in 2016. She was 11 years old. Oh Where kings crown in Omaha, Nebraska Also happened in the UK in 2025 18 year old woman in a fun house red. Oh my god Yeah, I feel like we're gonna throw up 2021 too. It happened Yeah And this is just this you know, I'm not trying to tell anybody what to do. There she is Because again, like these you know, they get checks and this it's a thrill ride is a thrill ride It's a thrill ride because you're out of control. It's just the way you're supposed to be thrilled You're absolutely supposed to be safe and thrilled but you know This would not thrill me. This would not thrill me and again, this is the early days Of of thrill ride you would are keep it there sister and obviously I've given you some modern Uh Examples of this but But like this I'm sorry. She's sorry. I'm sorry. She's sorry It's like Um, so that's terrible Walter Bazas who we quoted before suffered a broken collarbone. Oh, that's so painful in addition to severe cuts and bruises to his face 14-year-old Robert Lindstrom who is visiting the park with his family that day and riding in the third car Suffered a broken arm insurgents had to amputate one of his fingers Because the crush injuries were too impossible to repair. Wow other passengers managed to escape with relatively minor injuries like Considerate considering while Terbasis's brother 20-year-old Andrew for example had superficial cuts and bruises and a severe sunburn From laying trapped beneath the debris for an extended period of time while rescuers tended to the most hurt people You get through all of that and you get like severe burns. That's horrific Even some who weren't on the ride that afternoon were not free of the harm of this tragic event Upon seeing the cars go over the edge and plummet to the ground below a 27-year-old woman fainted and subsequently went into shock Oh, wow she was taken to the hospital along with the other victims and released several hours later Similarly sisters Leona and Mary Brundy 12 and 10 years old Survive the accident with minor injuries, but later that night It was determined that the accident had been so psychologically traumatizing that both girls needed to be taken back to the hospital for treatment Absolutely, that's yeah You can picture this in your head, but you can't imagine seeing this in person That would do to your brain because you're not supposed to see people in real life In like these insanely violent situations and just seeing that you can you can picture it in your head But it wouldn't be what you would ask that's what I'm saying, you know what I mean like you you can't conceive of disaster in that way Yeah, it's like seeing like you think you could see it like you're like oh, I've seen final destination I've seen weird shit like that happened, but not in a real life a totally different thing Yeah within two hours of the accident it was that though nothing had happened Were it not for the mountain of debris and wreckage One would assumed it was just another night at the park just kept on moving they didn't shut down the park No, according to one reporter Once the firefighters and ambulance were gone quote the concessionaries hocked their wares sightseers took themselves to other rides And the orchestra struck up It's like the Titanic. Yeah, hello It was only after Omaha's safety commissioner John Hopkins arrived a little before 11 p.m. That the park shut down for the night Are you kidding me? Yeah, just got some nuts. How could you just be like well? Guess I'm gonna go on the tilt world now What the fuck just died upon viewing the scene at the park several of the rides usual attendants were baffled as to what the fuck could have caused this accident As Jean Lewis who was a big-dipper operator said as far as I know it's still a sound as a dollar I don't think it is because there's a big crumbling mess where it was I have one Full proof way to tell that your ride is not operating as sound as a dollar a girl was scumbles to the ground Yeah, and a girl who's a scout like are you that fucking joke? That'll tell you it's not running tip top Wow, it was only after the debris had been cleared and the structure formally evaluated that they realized a bolt head come loose in the structure and fallen onto the tracks Which to me that's the scariest part about this because How innocuous that's so innocuous yeah That could just happen yeah easily like a bolt is a bolt is so small. It's just human Yeah, like that's just human shit. I know like we can only tighten a bolt so much I know you they use like machines to do that now, but it's like I don't know error happens So that just freaks me out well especially like What and this is just my opinion? Especially with a wooden coaster. Oh especially yeah, there's there's too much at risk Yeah, and I know like that's just like that I'm always terrified of these kind of things because like as like I'm sure that like there's a A small subsection of listeners who are like Alina's the most paranoid person ever how annoying I know sometimes it pays to be paranoid Sometimes it pays to be paranoid I'm at least I'll still go on some rides, but like I'm a you're gonna check it I keep the keep your eyes open. Yeah, keep your eyes open. That's the thing. I'm not I'm not advocating for people to like Just stop living their lives and stop doing these fun things because the shit can happen just be informed just be informed That's all so you're a little more aware maybe a little more be knowledge is indeed power Maybe don't do the one and once yeah, and it's like it if you want I just think you need to be Be careful and you just gotta again have the knowledge going in so you can be better Prepared unless that's a safety protocol enjoy your thrill rides. Yes I mean maybe if it's really gonna affect how you go about an amusement park ride This isn't the episode for you, but Just know that nobody's advocating for no amusement parks or rides here. Just make sure you're in I can never advocate for that It's like hearing about a plane crash like it's not that you shouldn't get on a plane ever again It's just like you're informed now of what we're not the statistics exactly But I just wanted to be clear about that that I'm not being like see I told you that amusement park so Like this is just you know a little little subsection of it. Yeah So yeah, they they noticed the bolts had the insshire structure been firm and sound the guardrail Probably could have withstood the impact you would think and kept the car from going over the edge But when it was inspected after the accident safety inspectors found that quote for 20 feet the left rail was splintered and torn away Part of the guard rail was so rotted It could be crumbled in their fingers. Yeah, I feel like you guys could have figured that out before this happened Absolutely, they should I feel like you should probably just check it every night human error. Yeah Now at a press conference the next day John Hopkins told reporters after this accident I wouldn't permit another roller coaster to be built of steel if a loose nut can throw the whole tracks off course We're not going to have any more roller coasters Well, he was well. He said that he's he's me Well, he's like you know what fuck this he's like one time no more. Yeah, you know what no In fact Hopkins and Omaha mayor Richard Metcalf responded to the entire tragedy By swearing they would introduce city ordinances banning all roller coasters in Omaha wow Which like I get why they went that hard absolutely that was tragic. Yeah, and it those In fact, a girl got scouts. It like did so many people and so many people too who weren't even on the ride Yeah, you know, so with the days of the accident several lawsuits had been filed against the park by those It's the other thing crashy. Yeah, soeding for days in one case 20-year-old Andrew Holman sued for $20,000 Why eight while 18-year-old Joseph Zaiwick De-sued for $10,000 several more suits were after that and ultimately the park's $35,000 insurance policy was split up between many of the survivors Two of the largest payouts went to 14-year-old Helen Kazaji $7,000 who lost an eye in the accident. No, don't you dare and Mary Politica $4,800 whose injuries were significant right tragically Mary's payout was lost entirely just a few years later when the bank went under as a result of the great depression Oh, that is such bullshit Now after the accident the big dipper was torn down entirely and thanks to the ordinances put in place by Hopkins and Mayor Metcalf Nothing was built in its place The owners of Krueger Park spent years trying to get the ban lifted so they could rebuild their most popular attraction because It's all about that money bitch. They don't care about human beings Yeah, but luckily they were unsuccessful because it's like yeah, it's all about money bitch And they don't care about human beings like that's their attitude But it's like you're gonna lose all your money. Yeah, because your insurance no insurance Especially after your insurance payout was completely maxed out no fucking insurance companies gonna be like Yeah, let's do that again. Let's give it another shot Guys the park did struggle significantly in the years after that and had an unusual run of bad luck That included a massive fire and an armed robbery as well Finally after the 1939 summer session Krueger Park closed for good. Yeah sounds like that's probably good As the years passed government officials and insurance companies and park owners started taking the health and safety of patrons Just a little more seriously. Hey, that's nice. They would put in place better safety measures They don't just wanted to lower that risk. Yeah, you know, that said it was impossible To remove the risk entirely and that's the problem And it was only a matter of time before another disaster did occur And in a rather dark coincidence when the next major roller coaster catastrophe did finally happen It was on a coaster called the Big Dipper shut up So maybe don't go on a coaster called the Big Dipper guys you heard it here first. Yeah on the morning of May 30th 1972 Liz Hague Reeve arrived at the fun fair and amusement park in London's Battersea district To they were celebrating her 15th birthday More than any other rides Liz wanted to ride the Big Dipper It was a large wooden roller coaster that was built at the park 20 years earlier The coaster was the main attraction at the park and one of the biggest thrill rides in London And although she'd ridden the coaster that day she wanted to ride it again Okay Liz and her friend Alice and com referred waited in line for the Big Dipper And when their turn came they climbed into one of the cars near the back and buckled their seat belts As the train reached the first steep incline Liz could hear the familiar sound of the struts clicking loudly below the car As the rope pulled the train up the hill we've all heard that When they got to the top of the hill the riders prepared themselves for that thrilling plunge But then the train started to roll backwards At first Liz and Alice and thought the rides operator was just messing around trying to add a little extra thrill But when she saw the other people on the ride start to panic Liz realized something was wrong Oh god In reality the train only took a few seconds to hurdle back to the bottom of the hill at high speed Liz recalled but it felt like a long time And I had this logical thought process that we're just going to swing up the hill behind us and back again And eventually come to a stop By the time I thought all that we'd crashed through the bottom of it and we're buried in debris Oh my god Does it make sense her thinking? Yeah Well, we're just gonna go down and then we're gonna swing back up and it's gonna be like a metronome Like a pendulum eventually we're gonna just kind of stop right nope it crashed directly through the bottom way too We're going way too fast Another passenger Carolyn Adam Zick remembered the moment the car started going in the opposite direction She said as soon as we started shooting backwards everything went into slow motion I turned around and saw the brake man desperately trying to put the brake on but it wasn't working Imagine seeing the man trying to pull the brake. No Carolyn wasn't the only one who noticed the panic in that man's face 13-year-old Susan Smith said I thought at first he was just trying to frighten us Then it was his face. It was white and terrified. Oh that poor guy too Just trying his oh the car shot back down the hill at an unreasonable speed And when it hit the first turn in the track the first car shot straight through the guardrail and hung over the edge About 50 feet above the ground Carolyn's car was relatively undamaged though they were in a very precarious position on an unstable part of the track The girl next to her was screaming and trying to get out of the car And when she leaned on the wooden barrier it collapsed. Oh Carolyn said I tried to grab for her But I saw her fall to the ground in front of me. Oh What? Carolyn tried to calm everyone down and explain that they needed to be very still And she would get out of the car and walk down the tracks to get help bad bitch alert So Carolyn tried to calm everyone down and explain that they needed to be very still And she would get out of the car and walk down the tracks to get help Which like always a woman bad bitch who's like on her Always a woman. It is. She said everyone shut up. We need to calm down this She carefully climbed out of the car and slowly made her way to the edge of the tracks to find the safest route down But as she started walking She realized the tracks were slick with blood Oh fuck This is awful Liz Heygrieve and Allison Commerford had been in the car that went over the edge and eventually plummeted to the tracks below Which were still 30 feet off the ground Miraculously, Allison was unharmed and when she managed to pull herself out from under some of the debris She started moving the larger pieces off the car in an effort to free Liz When she finally removed all the debris Liz was in tremendous pain from a broken arm and dislocated shoulder But she managed to get to her feet They made their way to the small walkway beside the tracks and tending to walk down But as soon as Allison stepped onto the walkway the board spent east her feet cracked and she fell 30 feet down below Despite her severe injuries, Liz was determined to reach her friend and started climbing down the scaffolding with a dislocated shoulder And a broken arm She said there was chaos, lots of screaming Parents had been watching their children on the ride so they were obviously panicking After a few minutes I could hear sirens When she finally reached the ground Liz intended to get to Allison But before she could get there, two adults grabbed her trying to help her And she said they got hold of me one on each side and said we're taking you to first aid They sort of frog marched me away from her When Liz finally managed to find Allison she'd been moved away from the wreckage and laid out on a grassy area with several other injured riders Allison was unconscious but was the one of the first to be taken to the hospital In the days after that she seemed to be improving but a couple of weeks later Her condition took a turn and she succumbed and died Allison come afired was one of five children who died as a result of the accident The others were 14-year-old David St Eight-year-old Shirley Nash 13-year-old Thomas Harmer and 12-year-old Deborah Robertson And 13 others suffered non-fatal injuries Wow Like tragic I just can't get past the track being covered with blood From the perspective of those watching the accident from the ground the scene was a fucking nightmare When the train first hit the first curve in the tracks It seemed like everything exploded People said some of the riders were like thrown from the cars and landed somewhere on the structure Others remained strapped into the car or were buried under debris Shirley Nash's father David said I watched the carriage climb up to the first rise and then it just fell back and rolled down throwing the children out Oh god that sentence alone Yeah In the months that followed an investigation determined the accident was initially caused by a break in the road That pulled the cars But that that was just the first link in like a chain of problems that led to the strategy After the rope broke the emergency break to stop the train failed Yeah As the train moved it picked up speed causing the last car to jump the track when it hit the curve in the track When structural engineer Carlton Boswell examined the structure of the Big Dipper He identified dozens of walkways handrails and parts of the track that were unsafe Including the walkway that gave out under Alice and cummerfords feet Wow, so that could have been fixed yeah The following year ride manager and the engineer were put on trial for criminal negligence and manslaughter among other charges relating to the injuries During his opening statements prosecuting attorney Henry Pondhill Pond Hall excuse me pointed to the many structural problems and defects with the ride Telling the jury the Big Dipper was quote quite literally a death trap. Yeah It sounds like it pointing to Alison's death Pond Hill emphasize the fact that this was wasn't simply a tragic accident But a matter of ongoing negligence that created an unsafe environment in myriad ways Despite the evidence and compelling testimony the jury determined there was not sufficient proof to support the charges And the two men were cleared that's shocking that's bullshit The Big Dipper was quickly reopened are you joking with a more modern metal coaster But the accident and the trial that followed had done a lot of damage to the representation of the operators And the ride itself and the ride closed permanently in the fall of 1974. Yeah, that ride should have never been reopened Thinking back on the accident Liz Hague Reef told the reporter I always think about Alison and about the randomness of how it's one person and not another and that's just horrible It's really easy to take life for granted But it's a bit of a nudge in the ribs every so often that says it's not like this for everyone. Wow Isn't that like I got a chile poetic. I was gonna say I just warmed I think that's a good quote to end on yeah, that's that was powerful because although all of this is very tragic I think that is a very That's a really good way of looking at it. Yeah, it's a reminder like that life is literally so fragile If it's not one person, it's the other and you can't tell which one is gonna have that kind of experience and Where tragedies gonna hit yeah, and it's a good little little nudge in the ribs. That's a real fucking message Especially right now. Yeah, it really is but all of these things. I mean luckily these rides were torn down Other things were built in their place sometimes not even rides sometimes people it's nice that sometimes people Rot-payouts yeah But and that it showed like a lot of people came running to these tragedies. Yeah, yeah To help victims highlighted humanity in a in a horrible way. Yeah, it really did Which is usually what we do here and highlighted both for sure because the ones that were like and then the park just kept operating as nothing happened Yeah, that's not like really guys But yeah, so we'll be punctuating every once in a while. We'll do one of these episodes Um, you know every now and again every now and then like we do know and again spooky road spooky lighthouses Yeah, which we we need to do one of those we haven't done one of those in a while Well, let me tell you honey. I'm craving a spooky road in particular. I Rude and craving spooky anything. I live every day spooky, but I'm ready for fall and I know I know it's not even March. I know, but you know me. I know you guys know me. I know you get it. You know, it's in my heart Yeah, but uh you got a fun fact for us. Please. I do have a fun fact. Hit me up. Um, your face. It is no, it's a fun fact. It's uh These are two groupings of animals that I think is really funny what they're named. Tell me a group of pandas is called an embarrassment That's not embarrassing and a group of pugs is a grumble a grumble Oh, I want a grumble just a grumble a pugs. I want a grumble a pugs up in my house I love that a lot. I got a grumble in this house one funny thing that this is just like a funny little like anecdote That I have that I have to say because you guys will get it You know like what a big fan I am of like pinhead and hell razor. Yeah movies Like I've like last summer or whenever it was I got to like have lunch with Doug Bradley and his wife staff who I absolutely fucking adore and We had lunch and sail and it was great and They're so easy to hang out with like it was a real dream come true moment Like I've only met the mom's team, but they're so kind a real pinch me moment And Steph got up to go to the bathroom and I was just sitting with Doug and at that and I was just like for a moment I got like a super like moment of like I'm just sitting here with Doug bread like what do I talk to him about yeah Even though like Steph makes it so easy to talk with anybody. Yeah, and so as soon as he left He just started naming He was like did you know that groups this group of animals is called this? I love that and this group of animals is called this and immediately I was like oh, we're good We're good like it was immediately like oh, yeah, I You are one of us not only survived this I will thrive in this like it was a It was such a good moment. I was like of course like that that's amazing and tell me all the And Doug Bradley and his wife are fucking peaches. I love she can't I think Steph came back and we just kept naming Animals she just comes back from the table like and this group and this I think I think he said a group of me of owls Is called the parliament oh, I love that I want it as well check that group of owls called I wish they were just called parliament I wish they were just called the who just part of that would be funny, right? But yeah, that was my little like little side Side story with that love and to let you know that Doug Bradley and his wife Steph are Really talk not she really just gave you many fun facts and our fun facts segment. I really did. I'm gonna top that That's a that's a that's two fun facts for the price of one the funnest facts And again Go to amusement parks have your fun. Yeah So look at the traps be aware that's all hey, and you know what else? Keep listening we hope you do we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it Not so weird that if you change the wording of the ending of our show that we've been doing for like eight years even slightly I fall apart at the season cannot respite I saw that the slightest change I said I fucked up. I said miss just to some over here is change you