Anyone know of any Theme Park Deaths?

Question

Preferably in California...

I've already heard of the death in Knott's Berry Farm with the overweight lady from Perilous Plunge...anything else?

Answer 1

I'm not gonna go over every single death that has ever occurred, but here's all of them from Disneyland:

NOTE: All of these deaths occurred because guests didn't follow safety guidelines.

May 1964- MARK MAPLES, 15
On the Matterhorn bobsleds he took off his seatbelt and stood up, causing him to fall from the peak to the tracks below, fracturing his skull, ribs, and causing internal injuries. Died three days after.

June 1966- THOMAS GUY CLEVELAND, 19
Tried to sneak onto Disneyland via the monorail tracks. In order to avoid on oncoming train he jumped below the tracks onto a fiberglass canopy, but the monorail still caught on him and dragged him to death.

August 1967- RICKY LEE YAMA, 17
Jumped from car to car on the People Mover ride. He slipped, and was crushed by other cars.

June 1973- BODGEN DELAUROT, 18
Both he and his 10-year-old brother managed to stay on Tom Sawyer Island past when the park closed by climbing a fence. Bodgen drowned by trying to swim across the "Rivers of America" and carrying his brother on his back. His brother survived by dogpaddling until a canoe-rower found and
rescued him.

June 7, 1980- GERARDO GONZALES, aprox. 18
Died the same way Ricky Lee did [jumping car to car and then slipping], except he was crushed and dragged to death by a People Mover train.

June 4, 1983- PHILLIP STRAUGHAN, 18
Snuck onto Tom Sawyer Island and used an inflatable boat along with another friend to joyride around the Rivers of America. It struck a rock, and he was thrown into the river, and drowned.

January 3, 1984- DOLLY REGENE YOUNG, 48
She was thrown from her bobsled on Matterhorn into the path of another one. No one's sure whether or not the seat-belt unfastening was deliberate.

December 24, 1998- LUAN PHI DAWSON, 33
A rope used to secure a sailing ship (the Columbia) snapped, and the metal cleat attached to it struck the heads of him and his wife. He was declared brain-dead and died when his life support system was cut off two days later.

September 5, 2003- MARCELO TORRES, 22
A locomotive dislodged from its train on Big Thunder Mountain. Marcelo bled to death from blunt force trauma (basically a fatal bruise) to the chest.

Answer 2

Wikipedia is amazing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_at_Six_Flags_parks

This is the Six Flags incidents page. At the VERY bottom of the page, under "Amusment Park Accidents, " there are up-to-date links to other pages on the site, listing all deaths and major accidents at Disney, Busch Gardens, Cedar Fair, various independent parks, international parks, and a few others.

It's a bit dishearting reading this info at first...but consider, they really don't happen that often.

Answer 3

Check out WikiPedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Amusement_park_accidents

Answer 4

I forget where it was, but a guy on a reverse bungy ride died when the attachment failed and he sailed out into the parking lot. This summer someone was killed when their Ferris wheel car suddenly turned upside down.

Answer 5

there were some at the adelaide show a couple years ago a screw came loose in one of the rides and the car went flying

Answer 6

Disney world has had it's share...kid died on Mission Space a couple years ago...that is one intense ride, gets me sea sick!! Somebody died on space mountain when it first opened...stood up and got hit by an overhead beam.

Answer 7

yes, my mom told me that a friend of her's was killed on a roler coaster at Cedar Point in Ohio many years ago. those rides are scary!

Answer 8

Disneyland..but i forgot the name of the ride.

Answer 9

Dear Morbid Child,
Look on WWW.Themeparkinsider.com and it will tell you injuries and deaths.
why you want or need to know is beyond me.

Answer 10

Disneyland has a couple