Transcript of Amusement Park Disasters: Independent Parks

Hey, weirdos. I'm Ash. And I'm Elaina.

And you're listening to Morbid Bitch.

Whoa, you are, bitch.

I changed it up, bitch. Good morning, good afternoon, good night. You could be driving to- Good morrow. Good morrow, of course. You could morrow, of course. You You driving to work, home from work, picking up your kid.

Doing laundry.

Going to sleep. Just chilling. Hicking your nose. Yeah. Farten.

I hope you're doing all those things.

Simultaneously. All those things. Driving to and from work at the same time While picking up your kid.

Yeah.

That's a lot. I sounded like Josh. You did. You know what really rips? Driving to and from work, bro.

Honestly, if you're not listening to Josh. Josh. It's J-A-W W-S-H on TikTok and Instagram. I think you can find him. But we love Josh. We love Josh. We love Josh. We love his hottest homie.

We changed our husband's contacts to my hottest homie because of Josh and his hottest homie.

Because of Josh. He's delightful.

I love him. 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 in life. So if you're looking for something that just rips, he will show you to romanticize the small moments of life. Truly.

Let them rip.

Because he's doing nothing but.

Yeah.

He's just... By the way. Everything rips.

Today, what ripped for him and for us is that it's fucking Friday the 13th.

Yeah.

Hell, yeah. Hell, yeah. And then tomorrow is Valentine's Day? Yeah. What a fucking weekend we have ahead of us.

What a one, two punch.

I'm going to see Chicago this weekend. That's fun. And I'm going to lose my head.

I'm going to lose my head.

I'm going to lose my head. I've never seen Chicago, first of all. That's going to be great. And I'm going to see Whitney from Secret Lives of Norman Wives. 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 with the kids.

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. Yeah.

I love that.

This will come out after, so don't worry. Nobody will find us.

Nobody will find us.

You never know.

You never want to say your location right when you're there.

No, that's what we are here to teach you.

Yeah. A little tip from me to you.

I don't post about shit until after I finished it. Yeah.

And you should, too. All of you listening. Because the world is really fucking crazy right now.

The world is probably burning a little bit.

Yeah. I think it's what I am hoping.

We're going to rise from the ashes.

Yeah. I hope it's burning because fire is cleansing. Agree. And we're going to start a new.

I love it.

I think we're going to burn it all down. We're going to 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 two things that I want in the new life.

Yeah, that's all I'm looking for. In this new world. Those are my New Year's resolutions. I hope that the system does, in fact, crash.

Yeah. That there's less pedophiles and more cool people who want to protect kids.

Yep, that's it. I'm for that. It's so simple. Honestly, that should be, and I No. There's going to be people that are angry at us for saying that, but I can't fathom how you can find something wrong with that.

How could you want the system to burn right now? It's been in place since 1776. No.

How could you want less pedophiles? 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 controversy.

But here's the thing. Our listeners?

No. Our listeners? No.

They're not going to... It's the boss. You guys aren't going to find. It's the bots. It's the bots.

The bots will find out.

Yeah, for sure.

Oh, my God.

But you guys listening, you get it.

I'm probably not the first person to ever say this, but God, I hope I am. It's the bots and the ops. There you go. That came to me. That came to you. That came to me up here in this noggin.

Well, you know what? Tell me. In the spirit of being crazy, being cookey, let's talk about amusement park disasters.

You're going to ruin my fucking life like You would.

Honestly, this wasn't even my idea. You would ruin my life. Dave, our beloved Dave.

Our beloved Daven.

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 being.

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 left them on that. We didn't even I'm going to give that one second to land.

I think people know.

No, I'm kidding.

I think people know by now. We're going to be talking... Well, we have two of these. Okay. But today we're going to be talking about independent parks. Okay. So we're not going to be talking about, you know.

The big ones. The biggies. My faves.

We're going to be talking about some independent parks. And this is all just things that happened. This isn't us having opinions on how they're run or anything like that. No, I don't even know how they run. These are just things that have happened that have been reported on. And let's start in way back, shall we? So this first one, I'm going to do my absolute best to not butcher the pronunciation. Ruh-ruh. But when we get there, we get there, and we're going to see what we do. Okay? We're going to see how we handle it. Okay. So as early as the 14th century- That's a long-ass time ago. Long time. People have always loved to attend 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 enjoyment.

For example, in, and here I go with this pronunciation.

Let's do it, girl. I believe in you.

Linnbu Tarbek Denmark. Not sure. Denmark. And this is in a place called, here comes another one. Oh, there's more? Here comes another one. Hold on. Dierhabsvacken. Dierhabsvacken. Dierhabsvacken in Denmark. Sure. That translates direhogs back in, translates to Animal Park Hill. 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 modern day amusement parks that we think of. While it's fair to say that amusement parks that we think of now, modern ones of the century or so, can trace at least some of their roots to fares and carnivals of the Middle Ages, their real point of origin can be found in the mid-19th century, quote, unquote pleasure Gardens of London.

Not Pleasure Gardens. Not Pleasure Gardens. I feel like they should have workshopped that one.

So these are not the sprawling parks filled with mechanical rides that we are thinking of.

What happens at a pleasure garden?

Pleasure garden. And here's the thing. 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 being a place that is purely for amusement. Yes. What amusement it is, pleasure Pleasure Gardens are for something different. They provided a similar escapism through fantasy, entertainment, and commercialism that would eventually be the amusement parks we know now. According to British journalist, Cath Pound, the Pleasure Gardens offered, 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 Disney ears, Mickey ears.

You could also argue that this is like renaissance fairs, like that thing. Now, during the day, the gardens resembled casual, albeit more fantastical types of social experiences one might find at a fair. Okay, that's fun. But the real thrills came later in 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 motherfucker's intention.

This is so interesting. So these dark walks were tours that began in 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 whimsicle and colorful garden gave way to more hedonistic activities. Bitch, what? As sex workers would emerge to offer their services in dark corners of the garden.

Okay, that's a fun intention.

I'm not right with that. Historian Jonathan Conlin 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. It is. Like a dark walk sounds so terrifying.

It does. But then sexy people come out. Yeah.

So the real purpose of the Pleasure Garden in its whimsical tone remain the same as modern day parks, the tone of everything, especially during the day. Rather than simply offering an opportunity for hedonistic pleasure, the garden's true purpose was to break down these rigid social and class barriers of the day that were honestly 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 bogging them down.

It was a place to vibe.

And 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 opportunities for blowing off steam are things like professional sports, a shared interest and activity that transcends what would be pretty restrictive social constructs, like race and class. When you really look at them that way, you're like, these are much more tightly held together and woven together than you would think. Yeah, you're right. Just on the outside. Agreed. Now, eventually, the explicit hedonism of the Pleasure Gardens gave way to the more commercially oriented boardwalks 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 AHS.

Yeah, exactly. By the end of the decade, the mechanical and technological inventions that were unveiled at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, where H. H. Holmes was busy. H. H. They had begun to make their way onto the boardwalks and small amusement parks around the world. These mechanized rides quickly replaced the animal shows with carousels, ferris wheels, and roller coasters. That's when the amusement park Thrill Rides were born.

Let's fucking go.

By the early 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 readers, fantasy-inspired landscapes, and even masc. In the early 1940s, Indiana businessman Louis Kosh developed 260 acres of land in Santa Claus, Indiana, into Santa Claus land.

Fun.

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 dreamy Alpine village with a toy shop, rides designed just for children, and daily appearances from fucking Santa himself, you all. 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 Disneyland opened in 1955, modeled in part by Santa Claus land. I didn't know that. Unfortunately, an increase in popularity meant an increase in patrons. With each new person that arrived and each new day that passed, the more likely it became that something could go wrong. Yeah, of course. Because They're not just going to 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-oh.

But generally, they're considered safe.

Imagine you get on the ride and you ask, and they're like, Yeah, generally.

Generally, it feels like this might be safe. I'm not going to go on this. Yeah. When it comes to something like amusement park safety, the likelihood of an accident is a matter of probability, to be quite honest. It is. In simple terms, each time a Ferris wheel was put in a motion, the more worn the mechanics became, therefore, the more times a person rode a Ferris wheel, the more safely, the more likely it was that they were going to experience a problem. The more safe rides, equal. We're creeping up.

We're counting down until an unsafe ride.

We're getting edged by that disaster here. That's actually a horrible way to think about that.

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.

I'm sorry. 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, I bet.

In 1911, on the Revere Beach 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 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 of months of being built, the Derby Racer experienced its first accident. Or nor. 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, Terrific Force, fracturing his skull, breaking his arm, and causing severe internal injuries. Yeah. He was rust to Frost Hospital in 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 Dirty Racer.

These are bad 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 according to a press report, at one point, the group, quote, were making so much noise and moving about so actively that 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 in terror. According to the press, quote, the wild screams of the passengers during the rest of the ride, because they had to finish the ride, to the terminal were heard for half a mile and caused intense excitement been among the throngs on the beach.

That's horrifying.

Once the cars came to a stop, attendants 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 lacerations 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- To have both of your legs broken and one so badly that it needed to be amputated?

Immediately amputation. That's nuts. In the two months that it had been in operation, there had 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 big ones. Most egregious. But the Revere Board of Selectmen 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 anything? Two weeks. They were like, Seems good to me.

I'm like, I don't know. I think you should put some mechanisms in place to make it so people stop flying off.

What 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. And last name Francis, last name, Jason. Like, what a weird thing to have.

That is weird.

Two first names. That is weird.

First names.

They visited the Revere 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 that he was sharing the car with were thrown from the ride and fell about 6 feet to the ground below. Fortunately, the young woman that Frank was riding with was largely unhurt. Frank himself, though, sustained severe lacerations to one side of his body and serious internal injuries. He survived his injuries, but less than a year later, 23-year-old Alice Blue-in and her boyfriend, Leland Bach, were thrown from a 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 of.

I'm sorry. What was there before?

Nothing.

They're like, Hey, I think a bar could push people, keep them in there.

Also, a leather harness They're like, What do you guys think about a seatbelt? Then again, it's like people were just plopping newborns in the back of their seat at this point.

Seriously? What else? I mean, this was what? Like around the early to mid 1900s.

Well, this is in the late '20s.

Yeah, that's nuts. Yeah.

These safety measures definitely lowered the risk level, but not entirely. In late May, 1929, 27-year-old J. N. Clarke 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 seat belt 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.

I'm surprised it took that long for a lawsuit.

Yeah. And the court ruled against the ride operators, Oceanview Amusements, 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 I think even building a new coaster on that site is a battleman, I feel.

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, important.

That said, 20 years after the first death on the Derby Racer, another accident occurred that called into question the safety of roller coasters altogether. The afternoon of July 24, 1930, It was like any other summer day at Omaha's Croog Park. All afternoon, tons of patrons lined up one after another to ride the park's most popular attraction, which was, of 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 amusement park rides. A little different. He deemed it safe for public use. Looks good to me. All righty. He said, I don't know. It's not a building. I guess it's fine. I don't know.

It's standing.

He said, Maybe you could live in it if it was stationary.

I guess. Maybe you could live in it. I don't know.

Despite that approval, however, just weeks earlier, one park worker predicted there would be, a terrible accident on the coaster any day. Park worker. And he said it was due to its constant use but lack of regular maintenance. He was like, this is just going to happen. That's just common sense. A little past 7: 30 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 braced themselves for the anticipated rapid descent. My The hill. Yeah. Unfortunately, none of them noticed the bolt sitting on the track several feet ahead of them. As the car began its rapid descent down the track, the first car hit the bolt, tearing loose the break shoe and lifting the car off the rail, sending it through the guardrail 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 Bazzas 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 others with it, plunging 30 feet to the ground below. Holy God. Walter Bazzas 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 awakeen everybody to their danger. With 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 Ouzdonis, who was in one of the rear cars. They said, As the first car went over, people in the other three screamed and muttered short prayers while tugging desperately at their safety belt. This is so That's scary. The first car hit the ground just seconds after it went over the edge, with all the passengers still strapped into the wooden seats. Now, it's very… And Dave found this. The first car was dubbed Fred, and it was named after the former park manager, friend Ingersoll, who killed himself a few years earlier. Oh, God. 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. Omaha firefighter, Bren Meister, was at the park that day and could see the rail infrastructure crumble as the train went over the edge. He told a 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 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, which is like a moment of humanity that I'm glad is in here.

That's rare 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, C. H. 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 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 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 is unthinkable.

That's happened a few times. Don't you dare. That happened recently.

What?

Yeah. In fact, hold on. I'm going to look.

She's doing cautionary tales.

Yeah, it was in 2016. She was 11 years old. Oh, where? King's Crown in Omaha, Nebraska. Also happened in the UK in 2025. Eighteen-year-old woman in a fun house read.

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

I feel like it would have throw up.

2021, It happened. So many people scalped by their posters. Yeah. I'm not trying to tell anybody what to do.

Yes, she is.

Because, again, they get checks. 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 at the end. You are 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 Thrill Rides.

You better keep it there, sister.

And obviously, I've given you some modern examples of this, but- Shh. I'm sorry.

She's sorry. I'm sorry. She's sorry.

She's sorry. It's like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. That's terrible. Walter Bazzas, 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 was 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. Other passengers managed to escape with relatively minor injuries. Considering. Considering. Walter Bazzas' 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 terrible sunburns.

And you get 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 Brundee, 12 and years old, survived 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. You can picture This is in your head, but you can't imagine seeing this in person and what that would do to your brain. Because you're not supposed to see people in real life in these insanely violent situations.

You can I can picture it in your head, but it wouldn't be what you would actually see.

That's what I'm saying.

You know what I mean?

You can't conceive of disaster in that way. Yeah.

It's like seeing you think you could see it. You're like, oh, I've seen final destination. I've seen weird shit like that happen. But not in real life. It's a totally different thing. Yeah. Within two hours of the accident, it was as though nothing had happened. Were it not for the mountain of debris and wreckage, one would assume it was just another night at the park. Just kept on moving. They didn't shut down the park? No. Of According to one reporter, once the firefighters and ambulance were gone, 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 Safety Commissioner John Hopkins arrived a little before 11: 00 PM that the park shut down for the night. Are you kidding me?

Yeah, just kept going. That's nuts. How could you just be like, Well, guess I'm going to go on the tilt a world now.

What do you mean? What the fuck? People just died. Upon viewing the scene at the park, several of the ride's usual attendance 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 as 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 with scalp. When it crumbles to the ground. Yeah.

And a girl loses her scalp.

When somebody gets scalped.

Are you fucking joking?

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 had 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. That could just happen. Yeah, easily. Because a bolt is so small.

It's just human. That's just human shit. I know. We can only tighten a bolt so much. I know they use machines to do that now, but it's like, I don't Error happens. That just freaks me out.

Well, especially, this is just my opinion, especially with a wooden coaster.

Oh, especially. Yeah.

There's too much at risk there.

And I know that's just I'm always terrified of these things because I'm sure there's a small subsection of listeners who are like, Elaina is the most paranoid person ever. How annoying.

I know. Sometimes it pays to be paranoid. Am I? I don't know. Sometimes it I'm going to be paranoid. I'll still go on some rides, but I'm going to check them out.

You're going to keep your eyes open. You're going to keep your eyes open. That's the thing. I'm not advocating for people to just stop living their lives and stop doing these fun things because this shit can happen. Just be informed.

Just be informed of it. Just be informed. That's all.

So you're a little more aware. Maybe a little more... Knowledge is indeed power.

Maybe don't do the wooden ones. Yeah.

And it's like, if you want, I just think you need to Be careful. And you just got to, again, have the knowledge going in so you can be better prepared and listen to the safety protocols. Enjoy your thrill rides. Yes. I mean, maybe if it's really going to 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. No. Just make sure you're informed. I could never advocate for that. It's like hearing about a plane crash. It's not that you shouldn't get on a plane ever again. It's just like you're informed now of what can happen. You're aware of the statistics. Exactly. But I just wanted to be clear about that, that I'm not being like, see, I told you that abuse in parks are dumb. This is just a little subsection of it. Yeah. So, yeah, they noticed the bolts. Had the entire structure been firm and sound, the guardrail probably could have withstood the impact, in fact, 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.

See, 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 He said that he's me. Well, he was rolled.

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 coasters in Omaha. Wow. Which I get why they went that hard. Absolutely. That was tragic.

Yeah, and it- It affected- It affected- A girl got scalped. It affected so many people, and so many people, too, who weren't even on the ride. Yeah.

It's like, you know? I get it. So within the days of the accident, Several lawsuits had been filed against the park by those injured in the crash. That's the other thing. We're going to see. Lawsuting for days. In one case, 20-year-old Andrew Holman sued for $20,000, while 18-year-old Joseph Zywick 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 Casaghi, $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 Metcaff, nothing was built in its place. The owners of Crook 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. But luckily, they were unsuccessful.

Because it's all about money, bitch, and they don't care about human beings. That's their attitude. But it's like, you're going to lose all your money because you're insured No insurance, especially after your insurance payout was completely maxed out. No fucking insurance company is going to 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 unusual run of bad luck that included a massive fire and an armed robbery as well. Finally, after the 1939 summer session, Crook Park closed for good.

Yeah, sounds like that's probably good.

As the years passed, government officials, 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 just wanted to lower that risk. That said, it was impossible to remove the risk entirely, and that's the problem. It was only a matter of time before another disaster did occur. Probability. 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 Guys, you heard it here first. Yeah. On the morning of May 30th, 1972, Liz Hague Reeve arrived at the Fun Fair, an amusement park in London's Battersea district. They were celebrating her 15th birthday. More In 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 Okay. Liz and her friend Allison Comerford, 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 seatbelts. As the train reached the first steep incline, Liz could hear the familiar sound of the strut 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 Allison thought the ride's 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. 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, Oh, my God. Because it makes sense her thinking. Yeah. Well, we're just going to go down and then we're going to swing back up and it's going to be like a metronome, like a pendulum. Eventually, we're going to just stop. Right. Nope. It crashed directly through the bottom.

Because it was way too...

Going way too fast. They were going way too fast. Another passenger, Caroline Adamzick, 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 break man desperately trying to put the break on, but it wasn't working. Imagine seeing the man trying to pull the break. No. Caroline wasn't the only one who noticed the panic in that man's face. Thirteen-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... The car shot back down the hill at an unreasonable speed. 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. Holy shit. Caroline'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, fuck. Caroline said, I tried to grab for her, but I saw her fall to the ground in front of me, 50 feet in the air. Oh, my God. Caroline tried to calm everyone down and explain that they needed to be very still still, and she would get out of the car and walk down the tracks to get help.

Bad bitch alert.

So, Caroline 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- It's always a woman.

Which is always a woman. Bad bitch who's on her- It's always a woman saving the day. It is. She said, Everyone, shut up. We need to calm down. She said, I got 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 Hague Reeve and Allison Comerford 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. Oh, But she managed to get to her feet. They made their way to the small walkway beside the tracks, intending to walk down. But as soon as Allison stepped onto the walkway, the boards beneath 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 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. She said, They got hold of me, one on each side, and said, We're taking you to first aid. They 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 one of the 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. Oh. Allison Comerford was one of five children who died as a result of the accident. The others were 14-year-old David Sate, 8-year-old Shirley Nash, 13-year-old Thomas Harmer, and 12-year-old Deborah Robertson, and 13 others who suffered non-fatal injuries. Wow.

Like, tragic. I just can't get past the track being covered in blood. Being slick 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 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 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 rope that pulled the cars. But that was just the first link in a chain of problems that led to this tragedy. After the rope broke, the emergency break to stop the train failed. 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 Allison Comerford's 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. As they should be. During his opening statements, prosecuting attorney Henry Ponhall, 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 Allison's desk, Ponhill emphasized the fact that this 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 in 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 Reeve told a reporter, I always think about Allison 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. I got a chill. I got a chill. I was going to say I just warmed.

I think that's a good quote to end on.

Yeah, that was powerful.

Because although all of this is very tragic, I think that is a really good way of looking at it.

Yeah, it's a reminder.

That life is literally so fragile. If it's not one person, it's the other. And you can't tell which one is going to have that experience and where tragedy is going to hit. And it's a good 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.

It's nice that sometimes people got payouts.

Yeah. Not a lot. And then it showed a lot of people came running to these tragedies to help victims.

It highlighted humanity in a horrible way and in a nice way.

It really did.

Which is usually what we do here.

It highlighted both for sure because the ones that were like, and then the park just kept operating as nothing happened. Yeah, that's nuts. I'm like, really, guys? But yeah. We'll be punctuating every once in a while. We'll do one of these episodes. Every now and again.

Every now and then. We do like, spooky roads, spooky lighthouses.

Yeah, which we need to do one of those. We haven't done one of those in a while.

Let me tell you, I'm craving a spooky road in particular.

I am craving spooky anything. I live everyday spooky, but I'm ready for fall. 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. It's in my heart. I get it.

You got a fun fact for us, please?

I do have a fun fact.

Hit me up. Is it fun?

Your face looks weird. It is. No, it's a fun fact. These 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 grumbble. A grumble.

I want a grumbble.

Just a grumbble of pugs.

I want a grumbble of pugs up in my house. I love that a lot. I got a grumbble in this house.

One funny thing that this is just a funny little anecdote that I have to say because you guys will get it. You know what a big fan I am of Pinhead and Hellraiser movies. Last summer, whenever it was, I got to have lunch with Doug Bradley and his wife Steph, who I absolutely fucking adore. I know. We had lunch in Salem. It was great. They're so easy to hang out with. It was a real dream come true moment.

I've only met them on Zoom, but they're so kind.

A real pinch me moment. Steph got up to go to the bathroom, and I was just sitting with Doug, and I was just For a moment, I got a super moment of like, I'm just sitting here with Doug Brad. What do I talk to him about? Even though Steph makes it so easy to talk with anybody. As soon as she left, he just started naming. He was like, Did you know that 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. It was immediately like, Oh, you said, I'll survive this.

You are one of us. Not only will I survive this, I will thrive in this.

I will thrive in this. It was such a good moment. I was like, of course. That's amazing.

He said, tell me all of the animal groupings.

Doug Bradley and his wife are fucking peaches. I love that. Because I think Steph came back and we just kept naming animals.

She just comes back from the table like, and this group of animals.

I think he said a group of owls is called the Parliament. I'm pretty sure. I love that. Is that what it is? I'll check that. Group of Owls.

I wish they were just called I wish they were just called the Who.

That would be funny. But yeah, that was my little side story with that love. To let you know that Doug Bradley and his wife Steph are really top-notch.

She really just gave you many fun facts in our fun fact segment. I really did. How am I going to top that next episode?

That's two fun facts for the price of one.

The funnest facts.

And again, go to amusement parks. Have your fun. Yeah.

Just look at the tracks.

Just 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 weird. But not so weird as...

Not so weird that if you change the wording of the ending of our show that we've been doing for eight years, even slightly, I fall apart at the scenes and cannot respond.

I saw that.

The slightest change.

I said, I fucked up. I said mis-justism over here. Just the slightest change.