Roller Coaster Deaths – This Is Just Like Final Destination
Bizarre Buffet Podcast – All You Can Eat Weird
On this episode of Bizarre Buffet, we discuss some awful roller coaster deaths! This is just like Final Destination! Join us as we discuss some wildly morbid stories about deaths and incidents involving Roller Coasters! You’ll hear terrible tales about The Mind Bender in Alberta, Canada, The Ride Of Steel at Darien Lake Theme Park Resort , Apollo’s Chariot , the ride where Fabio killed a bird with his face, and photos exist to prove it!
Listen To ” Roller Coaster Deaths ” From Bizarre Buffet Podcast below!
Some of us are thrill seekers, some of us thrive on the adrenaline rush that roller coasters provide! But, what about the the stories of the thrill seekers who get way more than they bargained for ? When a normal day at a theme park turns into a real life Horror Movie! Strap into your seats, people….this ride is rough…and it ends even rougher.. You may think twice before planning your next theme park adventure.
S2E33
Released On May 23rd, 2021
Original Episode Art By Mark Tauriello – Story By Mark Tauriello
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Roller Coaster Deaths – Show Notes
Roller Coaster Deaths
EP 33
SHOW NOTES
ROLLER COASTER DEATHS
The Mind Bender Roller Coaster
Built in 1985, this gorgeous red and yellow metal roller coaster still sits in Galaxyland. Known at the time as Fantasy Land, which is an indoor theme park located at the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada. The Roller coaster was constructed by German engineering company Scharzkopf.
The Highest drop is 145 feet tall (making it one of the highest steel roller coasters in the world at that time) and goes at a top speed of 45MPH. The coaster offers 3 loop inversions, and lasts approximately 1 minute and 13 seconds. At the time when this was built, the trains consisted of 3 cars which sat 4 people at a time.
The safety features were a lap bar designed to keep you in place.
What Happened?
June 14, 1986, a tragic accident occurred on the Mindbender Roller Coaster which permanently changed the theme park Industry. It’s one of the most infamous roller coaster tragedies to date. 30 years after, this accident is still talked about.
The evening of the incident, ride operators noticed an unusual noise coming from the ride. Following protocol they called maintenance.
This consisted of temporarily closing the ride to the theme park goers and having an empty train ride the coaster with no passengers. After the testing the ride with no passengers, the maintenance staff could not hear the sound that the ride operators were speaking of. They assumed that everything was okay and that the coaster was safe to ride.
The Ride Resumes
They reopened and the sound happened again.The ride operators closed the ride and called maintenance again. When they arrived ,the operator told them that the sound was coming from the yellow train. Ride maintenance did another test run, this time with the empty yellow train. Once again, they did not detect the noise that the operator claimed to have heard.
It was chalked it up to the fact that the train probably didn’t make any noises on the test run due to the fact that it was empty and thus being might lighter putting less stress on the wheel assembly. The ride resumed and was then open to the public.
The ride ran a few times normally but not for long.
The Mind Bender Accident
Upon one of the cycles of the yellow train, when it reached one of the final hills before entering the 3rd and final inversion loop, the left wheel assembly on the 4th car (the last car) completely detached. Moments later, the Axel of the last train completely ripped off leaving the cart wheelless and being dragged from the front carts for the duration of the ride.
After the passengers were thrown off the ride onto a concrete floor from 25 feet above and as 30MPH.. the train lost speed due to the dragging back cart, making the ride unable to complete the final loop, and dragging the passengers still on the ride back wards. As the carts descended backwards from the loop, the wheelless cart slammed into a concrete support , finally stoping the train. All the passengers were injured.
Injuries
3 out of the 4 passengers on the defective cart died, and 1(Rod Chekyo) was rushed to the hospital with 2 broken legs, broken ribs, a punctured lung, and more. He is still alive today and suffers from severe PTSD from the incident that occurred 30 years ago. He has since then continued to live a normal life, but he won’t have closure until the theme park places a memorial for the victims of the tragic incident. He received a settlement from the mall however he claims he’s “famous “ from the incident but not “rich”.
The mall also gives him free passes for all their attractions.
The investigation began immediately, and a 200 page report was written. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in existence today of this alleged report.
Reasons For The Failure
Poor quality control from the engineering company for they were going bankrupt during the construction of the Mind Bender roller coaster.
Operations manuals not being fully and or properly translated from German to English.
The report states that direct problem that caused the accident was the area that connected the wheel assembly to the main Axel was not perfectly secure and not well maintained.
Later investigation that all of the wheel axels on the trains were loose, which could lead to the same tragic incident.
Maintenance also took a hands off approach on the ride inspection (listened for the alleged noise but didn’t actually look at ANYTHING)
Aftermath
They added more wheel assemblies on the carts, and added additional seat belt restraints and over the shoulder lap bars. These are more commonly used today.This was at the peak of the roller coaster boom of the 80s as steel coasters enabled for more innovation in design, and theme parks began too compete for bigger and better. After this accident, the industry now takes design/ safety more seriously.
About The Ride Of Steel
Located at Six Flags Darien Lake in Darien New York. Built in May 1990, this $12Million Dollar Roller Coaster was manufactured by the roller coaster manufacturer Intamen, and opened May 13, 2000.
The tallest drop is 208 feet tall (about 20 stories) and reaches a maximum speed of 73 MPH. Although there are no inversions, there are very wide turns that take you on your side and 5 air time hills. The steel roller coaster is red and blue like SuperMan Colors.
The First Incident
May 16, 1999, shortly after opening, a passenger was thrown from the train as the ride reached one of the final hills. Luckily they only suffered from minor injuries.
Second Incident – Death Of Sgt James Hackemer
James was an Iraq War Veteran who was left disabled after his second Iraq tour, where his vehicle hit an explosive device. The attack inflicted several injuries on him which includes the loss of both of his legs, severe blood loss, brain injuries leading to 2 strokes. He was also in a coma for 6 weeks before his long recovery period. He needed to relearn how to eat, speak, and write. After a long period of rehabilitation, he was able to continue on with his life.
On July 9, 2011 he and his family took a day trip to the Six Flags, Darien Lake, when his life came to an end. According to his sister, Jody, he was determined to ride every single roller coaster at the park. At 5:30 PM that evening, he on boarded the RIDE OF STEEL Roller Coaster. He sat in the front cart and upon riding, he was ejected from his seat felling 150 feet to his death on the second hill. The restraints consisted of both a seat belt and a lap bar. When he fell off, the ride was at 50MPH
The Investigation
State investigation faulted operator error as cause of the accident. This was not neccisairly an issue of the ride it self, but the fact that he wasn’t given a proper height check (he was 7 inches short of the 54 inch requirement to ride)and nobody seemed to notice that he did not have 2 functioning legs.
Clearly not having both legs creates an challenge for height requirements and was a major over sight from the ride operators. There are multiple stories that circulate about how this happened. Allegedly the family asked guest services which rides he could ride to which they said “all of them”.
Who’s Accountable?
It has also been said that there are signs posted on the rides stating you need BOTH legs to ride (did he ignore this or just did not see this). It was also stated that he refused a pamphlet that listed the theme parks safety guidelines .
This is clearly an issue of negligence. The way that this was broken down was that the victim of the tragedy was 35% responsible and the theme park was 65% responsible.
What would you do in this case if you were a ride operator?? How do you bring this up? Who do you think is at fault?
Apollos Chariot & Fabio – About The Roller Coaster
It Opened March 30, 1999 at Busch Gardens VA. Steel coaster consisted of a 210 foot drop and 8 air time hills. Designed by Swiss firm Bollinger and Mabillard. Steel Coaster also goes at a top speed or 73MPH and lasts for 2 minutes and 15 seconds.
Each train sits 36 riders with lap bar security measures. One unique features is that the seats are elevated so your feet don’t touch the ground. The roller coaster also is situated next to small ponds where the drops can create the illusion that you will plummet into the water.
The Promotion Of The Roller Coaster
Since the ride is called Apollos Chariot, it has this whole Greek God theme. In promoting the new roller coaster at the theme park, Bush Gardens came up with….FABIO! Due to the fact that he is on many romance book covers that our moms read / commercials due to his look, that of which is similar to a Greek God. Long flowing blonde hair and lots of muscles.
Aside from having Fabio ride the coaster, they also filled the roller coaster train with 35 women wearing white robes and fake laurel wreaths like greek goddesses. However, we must note that Fabio is literally just wearing a blue button down shirt….like he’s in an office.
Fabio And The Goose Incident
On the tragic day on March 30, 1999, during the Fabio promotion of the new coaster, death struck on this coaster. As the roller coaster took its course with Fabio, and alleged greek goddesses on board, they descended the first drop at 205 feet. An innocent goose that was flying in mid air had collided with Fabio’s face.
As the Goose hit Fabios face during this promotion, it literally exploded ! Spraying blood, feathers, and feces all over Fabios face and the greek goddesses. For the remainder of the ride, a whole 2 minutes and 15 seconds, they had to continue the ride covered in dead goose….knowing that reporters and photographers were waiting to photograph them at the end of the ride.
- Once the ride ended and the coaster train pulled in to it’s station, a bloody faced Fabio and his goddesses left the media puzzled as to what happened.
- We still remember the goose who was the victim of this tragedy.
Fabio And The Aftermath
The incident did not do any permanent facial damage to Fabio, but he did suffer some cuts and swelling. Fabio claims that the bird hit him with such blunt force, that the blood on his face was from the bird and not so much him.
Fabio spoke out about Theme Park safety, urging the park to make the rides safer. After the incident, the theme park placed netting around the roller coaster, or at least the pond areas, to ensure that another goose face explosion doesn’t happen again.
This isn’t an isolated incident!!!! Many roller coaster riders have collided with birds all over the world, even in our beloved 6 flags in NJ.
