Amusement Park Disasters

Amusement Park Disasters

Monstrous by Carrie Canny and Mandy Garthwaite

Episode notes

Strap in for our wildest ride yet—Carrie takes you behind the scenes to uncover the dark history of amusement park disasters that turned summer fun into tragedy.

From the 1930 Big Dipper derailment at Krug Park that killed four and banned coasters in Omaha, to Action Park’s decade-long reign of terror earning it the nickname “Class Action Park,” we dive deep into what went wrong, who paid the price, and the lawsuits that changed the industry.

Hear the full stories of Battersea Fun Fair’s 1972 catastrophe that left five dead, including three children, when an overloaded wooden coaster collapsed and Schlitterbahn‘s 2016 Verrückt horror, where 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was decapitated on the world’s tallest waterslide, sparking criminal charges and a $20 million settlement.

We’ll trace amusement parks from 16th-century pleasure gard ... 

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