Girl's Feet Severed on Theme Park Ride (1 Viewer)

[Cees Alons]

I was wondering about that. It could have been a relatively "clean" cut, and if her feet were not destroyed by something else and not untraceable, there might be a chance.


Cees

 

[Henry Gale]

Dr. Alons,
What does that mean in this context?

HG

 

[PeterTHX]

On May 11, 1984, eight teenagers burned to death in the Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure attraction in Jackson Township, New Jersey. The attraction was made of 17 connected trailers, and had been installed six years earlier to be a temporary attraction. Because the Haunted Castle was not considered to be a permanent structure, it was never inspected by the Jackson Township fire inspector and was not required to have the same level of fire safety equipment as other park structures. While many details about the incident are unknown, testimony during the subsequent trials stated that in a long corridor that was dark because of a malfunctioning strobe light, a 14-year-old boy lit a cigarette lighter in order to see, eventually bumping into and igniting some foam rubber wall padding. The resulting fire spread quickly through the maze-like structure due to the use of various flammable building materials. The entire attraction was destroyed. Fourteen people, including four park employees, escaped. Seven people were treated for smoke inhalation at an area hospital.

Keep in mind The Haunted Castle wasn't a ride.
I lived in NYC at the time and had been inside that attraction in 1982. I remember how lame it was, just a bunch of dark hallways with "scary" dioramas and puppets and sound effects. When we heard about the fire my Mom wasn't surprised given the structure.

 

[Gregg Loewen]

Henry, I think Cees is referring to untraceable as meaning "lost". They were not untraceable, hence they were found. Depending on the extent of the tissue damage they could be reattached but lots of potential issues here. The cleaner the cut the better the chance.

If anybody reads of an update to this story, please post here. thanks!!

Gregg

 

[drobbins]

Sounds like the family doesn't want much attention.

http://www.whas11.com/topstories/sto....26e52d52.html

http://www.whas11.com/topstories/sto...m.35d5830.html

 

[Cees Alons]

Sorry if it wasn't clear. Yes, what Gregg said (thanks, Gregg!). I tried not to be too graphic. They could have been lost or destroyed for any further use. But if the cut was relatively sharp and they were recovered "unharmed" from where they fell - then I hoped .... etc.


Cees

 

[Henry Gale]

Thanks Cees!
The graphic ship sailed as soon as we read the headline. The imagination takes over at that point.
It's just a cruel twist of fate that what is suppose to be "scary fun" can turn into tragedy.

 

[Radioman970]

Yeah, the wire wrapped around her legs and they were "ripped off" as it shot downward (assuming downward) so it's not like a clean cut. Further, no telling what other damage the remaining portions of her legs have. Lots of trama on the joints, maybe even misc damage to the upper half of her body.

 

[TonyD]

while killing some time i came across this video of a ride falling dowm.

the woman talking about it seems to be enjoying it.

watch that kid at the end

http://www.killsometime.com/video/video.asp?ID=826

 

[Radioman970]

^

Yeah, it's like she's trying to do an America's Funniest Tragic Videos or something. Shame she doesn't have vid of that lady in Japan who was decapited on a rollar coaster. I'm sure she's love that one.

Her last line before it fades: "Lot of people....seriously injured in that". She seems proud that they got that video. Bitch.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> while killing some time i came across this video of a ride falling dowm.

Wow, I never heard of a swing-type ride like that collapsing- wonder how bad the kids were hurt.

 

[Joe S.]

One major difference between theme park accidents and car accidents: the day after a car accident, you don't usually have a half dozen insurance reps around your hospital bed biting thier nails begging you to take 10 million dollars cash for your troubles.

 

[Radioman970]

So...when is that damn Superman ride gonna open back up?

*buys season pass to 6 Flags Kentucky*

 

[Paul McElligott]

Depends on the accident I guess. If Paris Hilton gets drunk and runs you over, well... Ka-ching!

The safest time to go on this ride would be right after it re-opens. Not only would be the probibility of another accident so soon after the last one be totally remote, but the ride will have just been inspected and maintained to within an inch of its life.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> One major difference between theme park accidents and car accidents: the day after a car accident, you don't usually have a half dozen insurance reps around your hospital bed biting thier nails begging you to take 10 million dollars cash for your troubles.

Another major difference- with a car accident, you (or someone you are with) is operating the vehicle, so you often deserve at least part of the blame for the accident. With a theme park ride, a big corporation is operating it. You are just a passive rider. Like in this case, the girl didn't do anything that caused her injury... although in some of the cases where someone got killed, they were partly to blame, because they did something stupid like stand up on a rollercoaster.

 

[drobbins]

This statistic makes amusement parks look safe.

 

[PhillJones]

Apologies if this is nit-picking but it seems we've gone all mathsy about risk analysis.

You're right about the second part of course because the ride will be very closely inspected to avoid the terrible PR disaster of there being two accidents in quick succession, so even unrelated things will be gone over with a fine tooth comb.

However, the probability of a random event occurring isn't lowered by an event having recently happened. Everybody expects it to, so when you look at distributions of random events, it looks like they're clustered more than they should be. So when there's two train accidents in a row, or three aeroplane disasters in short succession, everybody thinks something strange is going on when it's perfectly normal random event clustering.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> This statistic makes amusement parks look safe.

Probably because they are.

 

[Henry Gale]

Statement released today:
"Authorities and the hospital have declined to say whether her feet were reattached. The statement included a plea for privacy for the girl's family, and the family has instructed the hospital not to comment further."

 

[Paul McElligott]

True, but statistically, the chance of two highly unlikely events happening in close proximity to each other are even more remote than that of the events themselves. The probability of each separate event remains the same but the probability of their proximity in time is very small.