i was one of the 4 employees there that night and was responsible for carrying suzette elliot out of the fire. it was a sad and scary event that will never be forgotten. i watched the 5 part documentary that you reference and have addressed some wrong information pertaining to me in his report. thank you for covering this in a respectful way and sharing some images that i hadn’t seen previously. gary.
it was a pretty crazy evening and a lot of the details are blurry. I was scheduled to be what's referred to as "the rover" that night, not dressed in costume but rather in a standard park uniform. we always had a shift assigned as this in rotation. the rover was responsible for continuously walking the maze, making sure everything was in working order, all lights, sounds, air vents etc. along with this, we were responsible to make sure guests weren't either stuck or deliberately stopped, as they would attempt to either scare some of the other guests, or partake in other non-family friendly behavior.... trust me, we saw it all. most of the documentaries made tend to skip over that role, as it doesn't bode well for the drama when they know that six flags did have safety precautions in place. back to your question. early that evening, people came running out of the castle yelling that there was a fire inside. I had just finished a round through the blue side (the left maze) and luckily had been at the front gate about to make my next sweep. of course, we had people run out the front doors many times due to being scared, so this wasn't anything strange. we also had some very cheesy fire effects created by fabric moving in front of a light, which sometimes had been mistaken as real fire, due to their eyes not being fully adjusted to the dark. i was able to ask them where they saw the fire.where they described seeing it, was definitely NOT where the fake effect was. I immediately ran in and experienced thick smoke. that was the wake up call. I kept going in further, yelling at guests to get out. I went in as far as I could, which was to the section we referred to as the "dungeon", which was the 2nd official scare station. I could see fire at this point and the flow of people had stopped with the expectation of suzette, who was down on the floor struggling to get out, due to smoke. I picked her up, and because I knew the layout, I was able to carry her outside where I was able to get her to safety. I ran back in. made sure I couldn't see anyone else and cleared the property. that was the last time I was able to get in. we thought that we gotten everyone out, but honestly we couldn't do any more even if we wanted to. we were up to where the fire was and had to make sure we could get out safely ourselves. we were shocked and truly saddened to hear about the tragedy the next day. as an active employee of the company still, they went to great lengths keeping us under cover. most of us were relocated to indoor positions or other concealed jobs. I was originally relocated to the cinema 180 theater as the projectionist and eventually moved into the shirt tales character show, as a performing costumed character. as well, we all had to go to the Supreme Court of NJ, as hostile witnesses, as we were all still employees of the park. I know this is much more than you asked for, but I feel I wanted to get my story out there somehow, as the park kept us under wraps, even to the point where suzette's family wanted to contact me, but weren't able to, as the six flags lawyers wouldn't allow it. I found this out almost 20 years later from one of the other documentary creators. I was told that she described the rescue as she was seeing light and being lifted out by an angel. I am not a religious person, but that meant a lot to me, as perhaps I was being guided by another force helping me through this! thanks for asking!! gary
gary kaplow oh no problem thank you for answering, you are a hero to be honest you saved that girls life and put yourself in risk of danger, it’s stupid that they didn’t put you and what you did in the documentary but still you saved her and did all you could so in my opinion your a hero. Also real quick was the attraction pitch black? Cause why would they make an attraction in the dark they should of least had some lights in there for people to see what they were doing
yes there were lights throughout. most of them would be red or blue lights. we had a combination of spotlights aimed at the scare stations, some exterior type house lights throughout the hallways and some rescessed lights strategically placed. the hallway where the fire was started was called the strobe room, and it had a constantly flashing strobe light. the walls there were painted white with black wavy stripes. as mentioned in the video above, there was a padded wall at the end, which was placed there because the combination of the high contrast paint job and strobe, people often couldn't see the end of the hall and would slam into the end of the hall. we constantly had to repair that foam padding, as kids would know it's there and would start peeling it off the wall. there were emergency exits throughout the attraction, including the strobe room. we often couldn't even keep the doors closed, as people would always want to open them up to see what was on the other side. they were not armed with alarms, as we didn't want to stop people from getting out if they were too scared. we were bad sometimes though, as one of the emergency exits was right by our control room, they would escape and we would chase them a little way out the back (which we were not supposed to do).
A terrible tragedy, even worst when you dig deeper into the conditions leading up to the fire and how the park responded during the trial and afterwards.
Theme Park History when i was there working, they seemed to us that they were very proactive in caring for the victims families. even though they kept us out of the press and general public’s way. they were in constant communication with us on what they were doing. again, i think this is a case of silence = no action. i am not defending them by any means, as that attraction should have been torn down years before the incident, but from my recollection, they worked through the lawyers and kept an open line of communication with the families. what was the biggest shame is that the kid who started the fire got away with it. he was already in a home for troubled youth for arson. meanwhile he made it into the park that day with a spray can and a lighter. then he got away with it and the park was villanized.
@Christine W You were somewhere next to my cousin. He was there that day. Actually he and his friends were going to get in line for the haunted castle but one said if we wait now we will miss the concert. So they went on to the concert which is on the other side of the park. Just like you they saw a lot of black smoke and later realized it was the castle on fire. To add to it when his mother frantically came to the park because she heard it on the radio. They made her pay to get in. WOW.
My dad was here the day this happened and went through it right before the fire. He told me years ago he remembers a bunch of teens that were holding lighters to look around better. Next thing he knew when he got out the fire was occurring.
Woah that's insane! Glad to hear he got out safely. It's a shame what happened, Six Flags should have done a better job making sure the attraction was safe. Obviously using lighters indoors is a pretty big problem to deal with.
My cousin was there that day and was in line to go on it but got out because there was a concert about to start they didnt want to miss and anyone who knows SFGA knows the concert arena is wayyyy across the park from the castle. Later at the concert they saw large black smoke and it was the castle.
My mother who was a young adult at the time vividly recalls this happening. She's told me this story a hundred times before I even fond this video. And I'm really glad you made it. This is an event that shouldn't be forgotten. Specially if it stuck with my mother after all this time. Thank you for making this video.
its sad that your mother and many other people whom were alive during the 1980's is still haunted by the memory of hearing about or witnessing that horrible tragedy that occurred at six flags great adventure during the 1984 for a long time!!! :(
A year late and a dollar short, but my mother was terrified by this incident when it happened to the point she would not allow me to go on any haunt attraction. I had to beg to go on The Haunted Mansion at Disney almost a decade after the fire because of her deep fear of any ghost style attraction, ride or walk through. I have no memory of the fire happening but I know it's deep in the subconscious of many who lived in the area and visited the park at that time.
Hearing how the park management would just cut corners and then wave it off as arson, or nothing would have changed is just aggravating. If Six Flags wont memorialize the victims, lets us remember the tragedy here.
Unfortunately, a lot of amusement parks still do cut corners and save money by compromising guests' safety, and accidents (sometimes fatal) still happen.
Yeah I never will understand why the Jury did not convict Six Flags. I know there other lawsuits beyond the grand jury case but still Six Flags could have afforded taking the heat for this, they have plenty of money.
Apparently, the jury thought that if they convicted Six Flags then it would be such bad publicity for the park that people would stop going, the park would go out of business and close, and they were afraid that too many jobs would be lost as a result, as the park employed a huge number of people in the area. Doesn't make it okay, though.
Made all the worse when they later created a arcade machine video game that eerily replicates having to escape a burning castle directly on or relatively near the grounds where the real horror occurred.
After learning of their complete abdication of all responsibility and of their shoddy safety regulatory conduct I will simply never be using six flags or any subsidiary company again.
Great story! It really changed the theme park industry. I was in college at the time, learning how to make the scenery used. There was a big safety push in the theatre industry at around the same time, though we hadn't really suffered any of this kind of accident /malpractice.
Thank you Phil, we appreciate it. It definitely lead to a pretty big shift into the safety aspect from theme park attractions going forward. It's a shame something this tragic had to be the reason but it's been a blessing there hasn't been an accident as bad as this one since.
I remember this, I had a school trip to go and the accident happened a month before we went. There was still debris left around after the fire. It messed me up talking to my classmates excited to go for the attraction. Then mind blown watching the news about the incident thinking "OMG" that could've been us. God Bless the families for their loss......
you and classmates were very lucky that none of you weren't inside the haunted castle attraction at six flags great adventure at the time when that horrible tragedy occurred and took the lives of 8 kids!!!!
This believe it or not, is a forgotten event Six Flags would never want to bring up. That attraction was a death sentence to Six Flags, yet they never made an attraction like this ever again because of the incident. Not many people know it but my parents do remember this happening at that time. I think Six Flags should put a gravestone memorializing the 8 people who died in the attraction. This should never be forgotten, like the terrorist attacks today.
Well, they did something, and they've done more good things: they started thinking about the minorities and made a ride just for them. Yup, Cyborg Cyber Spin. They've got a marker paying respect to Karen and she would be happy Six Flags is doing good things.
Yeah, because just what you want to see when you're at an amusement park is a gravestone for people who died there. That's terrible business and pretty inappropriate. The point of thrill rides is the feeling of danger, but knowing you are safe and secure. Seeing a gravestone there will do the opposite.
Some of those people where kids. Those kids could of gone to my high school which is close to the park. Many kids have died in my state. One kid drowned himself be with cement blocks because of bullying. A 12 year old by hung himself because he came out as gay.
I lost my cousin Jose Carrion Jr and our good friends, Lenny Ruiz and Samuel Valentin Jr on that horrific day (May 11, 1984). I was supposed to be with them that Friday evening, but decided to work my part time job at a candy store. God had other plans for me. Can't believe it's been 34 years ago. Rest in Peace my brothers.
Some of the victims went to my high school. I didn't go until 1996, but between the teachers and my older sisters who also went there, the memory lived on of those boys. There were plaques on the walls in honor of them and a tree planted with a plaque outside. I believe there were also scholarships given out in there names for a while. Very sad.
its heartbreaking that 8 innocent children whom wanted to have a awesome time at six flags great adventure instead lost their lives in a horrible tragedy :( may they and their families get justice someday and hopefully six flags great adventure will be held accounted for that tragedy !!! rip those 8 kids :(
rachel diane ames held accountable how? A shut down that would just cause innocent people to be unemployed? Cause apparently that’s one of the reasons juries didn’t wanna go after six flags on criminal charges
Those teens were my friends from Franklin K Lane in NY. It was a school trip. Me and my best friend made our but did get burned. Since that day I refuse to go to great adventure.
If you grew up in the tri-state area during this time there were easily a dozen frightening events like this that would keep you up at night for weeks at a time. Action Park was setting killstreak records, haunted houses were killing teens, vans were grabbing kids off the street, and we still had Lawn Darts to worry about. It was really, really scary for a 5yr old.
I was 13 yrs old and was there the day it burned down. The crazy thing is my friends and I were in and out of the haunted castle at least 5 times, as we were being naughty little boys laughing and making fun of the people in costumes who would pop out to scare you. We left at 4-5pm... next day in the papers we read it had burned down and people died!!!! Damn we were lucky, missed it by just a couple hours.
I’ve worked at Great Adventure. To this day the rides crew is still superstitious. The ghost of Karen is often blamed for unexplained problems with the nearby Dark Knight Coaster.
ThemeParkRider having worked the dark knight I can tell you being in that building alone is beyond creepy. Myself and a couple coworkers a few years ago swear we saw something on the cctv cameras that we couldn't explain
ThemeParkRider, that's pretty creepy. I've always heard of the stories like that in other theme parks but I'll take your word that there might be something going on over there.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she truly haunts the park I mean she died a horrible death she may not even know she passed . The one here in dc is haunted by a girl who back in the 1800s was killed by her father on the land that six flags America now sits
I used to work there i used to run the Batman ride and at night we herd weird stuff like foot steps going up and down the lift of Batman freaking crap we think it was Karen
It's because of theme park video channels like you, Disney Dan, Defunctland, and others that allow us to open our eyes and see just how idiotically dealt with situations like this are handled. Thank you, TPH, for being one of the few to help us
@@iampause I’m srry I forgot to “like” the video so Idk 😩 but it was a duet to the “tell me your craziest one In a million story” and she basically explained how she was in line for the haunted house with the group of kids that died in the fire and the one thing that saved her was that the friend she was in line with didn’t want to go in the haunted house so the friend got out of line and that bumped her up ahead to the next group of kids. While they were going through the haunted house all the kids had their lighters out so they could guide their way through because it was so dark (and this was back in the day so they didn’t have iPhones to use as flashlights) . She reached the end of the haunted house and once she got out she saw people screaming and pointing towards her. When she turned around the whole haunted house was in flames. So basically she would of been dead because she would’ve been in the group behind her that was trapped and died if her friend had not decided to get out of line and let her skip ahead of her. She said 8 ppl she knew died and the girl that basically “saved” her life and let her skip ahead of the line is still one of her best friends till this day after all those years.
It is a terrible story that doesn't have a happy ending. It's a real shame what the verdict, basically just giving Six Flags a slap on the wrist. The only good thing to come from this tragedy was it basically set forth standards for fire safety for theme park attractions, making sure nothing like this ever happens again.
I was in that haunted castle before the fire. I was to little to remember details. I remember sitting on my dads shoulders because I was to scared to walk through.
You forgot that the park also added a eerie arcade machine-style game centered around unironically escaping from a burning castle maze on the grounds of or at least, remotely nearby where the Haunted Castle once stood. Very tactless, if you ask many who know of the tragedy & thus, understand how tasteless it is to make a video game presumably making light of what had been a real-life incident that placed charges against the park, the manufacturing company that designed the ill-fated attraction & its local governing bodies to the point that it almost shut down Six Flags Great Adventure for good ahead of the surprise not-guilty verdict.
People have claimed to have felt, seen and heard things where the old haunted house used to stand. For a long time, the bumper cars ride was on that spot. People got afraid to walk past there at night because they heard so many things -- clicking noises like those you hear on an intercom, foreboding feelings, shadows, etc.
I live 5 minutes from there. Where the haunted castle was, now sits an arcade. I was walking through the arcade when I was tapped on the shoulder. Well, more like poked. Nobody was there. Just me. I assure you the land is haunted. Probably spirits from the burned house.
You want to hear some screwed up s*** I'll tell you on July 6th 1944 according to the stuff that is written in Stuart O' Nan's book The circus fire a terrible fire swept through the big top of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus in Hartford Connecticut when they were playing in the lot that used to exist on Barbour Street in Hartford to this day ever since a certain point after the land was sold a school has existed there the formerly the Fred d wish School now Barbour elementary they say that that school is so haunted that supposedly water taps turn on and off when there's no one in the bathroom and certain other stuff they say they've heard what sounds like children andscreaming or something like that!
Well, according to this, what happened in 1984 was only some of all the horrendous things that happened at this location; numerous other people died as well. I just wonder if perhaps this piece of land was not meant to be on considering so much has occurred on it. It a bit like the land Greensboro COllege sites on. eu.app.com/story/news/history/2019/09/26/six-flags-great-adventure-rolling-thunder-haunted-castle-lightning-loops/2432854001/
Nobody is gonna believe this but my dad brought me into tractor trailer repair at a young age. I was born in 75...I was probably around 10 when some of these trailers were shipped to at the time Transport which later became Taurus Trailer Service in Mt Laurel NJ. We scraped these trailers for the aluminum. I was just a kid but I did a lot of ripping and tearing on these which in a weird way was good memory of mine.
im glad that you and your family weren't at six flags great adventure In 1984 when haunted castle attraction caught on fire and 8 innocents kids whom were having fun at a SIX FLAGS amusement park suffered a horrible fate by dying in a attraction that wasn't regulated or updated with safety codes at the time !!!
@@racheldianeames3729 it's so weird seeing the trailers melted when still be investigated. I still have vivid memories of one specifically I'm seeing and that weird smell that was in them of it smelled like melted styrofoam
lol I can't believe I made that mistake. I think from now on anytime there's a skeleton in the script I'm going to say skellington instead, just as a running joke.
I went to great adventure the first year it opened. I was only 5. for the next ten years I enjoyed going when ever I could. It was a big part of every summer for me. I was 16 when the tragedy at the haunted castle happend. I heard about it on the radio and could not step away. I had gone through the castle many times and really felt a loss. I left New Jersey shortly after that having graduated from high school and moving away. it was over ten years later that I returned to GA for a stop on my vacation. I was so disappointed that there was no plaque, no memorial and no recognition to the loss. I expected something. A garden, an exibit, at the very least, a plaque. I remembered so clearly exactly where the castle had been. That was the first place I went on that return trip. I wanted to pay my respects. There was nothing. I asked a park employee why there was no recognition. he acted like he never heard of the haunted castle. I was so disappointed. Thank you Gary for your honestly here but most of all for your bravery. I have acted in haunted houses many times in my adult life and always remember the haunted castle and am extra vigilant. Thank you again Gary.
Figured I'd share a little bit as a former employee. I can tell you right now that the area where that Castle once stood is very likely haunted. Today, it's mostly the Catering Picnic area/Backstage area, and as a Janitor, I used to walk up and by that area long after the park's closed, and see young kids darting about the trees and picnic tables. Some creepy creepy stuff.
any place where a horrible tragedy occurred and people lost their lives are defentely considered to be haunted for life!!! (sorry for my poor mispelling I have high functioning autism spectrum disorder which is in the autism spectrum so sometimes I have hard time with my spelling).
You never thought there was some sort of logical explanation? Like it's all in your mind since it's dark and the park is empty and it was the site of a fatal fire? Either way I wouldn't want to be there alone. I would need somebody with me. I do believe there are things out there that even most skeptics wouldn't find an explanation for and it is unsettling. If I saw the ghosts of kids running around I would nope the fuck out of there.
Theme Park History can you actually DO go full New York? I admit, totally selfish reasons but also, it truly would separate you from other park channels as most are either British or Canadian accents. Puhhhleeeze? Lol 😂
This used to be one of my favorite attractions at GA. We lived about 15 minutes away and my parents would buy year round passes for us all. Shortly before the fire, I had celebrated my bday there with friends. My mom showed me a picture of me and my friends towards the front of the line, to walk in. I remember being so sad it was gone :-(
I remember this clearly. I literally went the day after with my church group. I was 14 years old. Yes the park was open. They just closed off the section of the fire.
My mom was in line for the haunted castle the day of the fire. They were in line and it was about 30 minutes more until the end of the line. They thought it was too long so they got out of line and went to Lightnin' Loops. About 30 minutes later they saw a little bit of smoke and thought maybe someone had just burned something on the BBQ. It started getting bigger and bigger and then everyone was told they had to leave the park. Everyone received ticket vouchers. When they were in the parking lot they saw countless ambulances, but all the employees kept saying that everyone was okay. My mom said if she hadn't gotten out of line they probably would have been in the Haunted Castle when the fire started. I've seen so many videos on this event and its honestly so sad what happened and it probably could have been prevented. This changed the industry and so many new safety measures have been implemented.
I was 9 years old that evening, but I remember that night. I was at home on a main county road in the Whitesville section of Jackson Twp. at the Lakewood border. The sirens just wouldn't stop. Cop cars zooming by. You just got the feeling something terrible was happening. Didn't know what happened until a newsflash came on a New York TV station. Spent a lot of time as a teenager working at the park. Memories. My prayers go out for for the victims and their families.
Every year, my school's fifth grade took their graduation trip to Great Adventure. I was in 5th grade in May pf 1984 and had to go to the Circus instead because the school cancelled our trip due to the fire (it would have been a month later). This was insanely sad and completely avoidable. So many balls dropped in this disaster.
I was at the park the day of this fire; it was a statewide day for class trips to the park, and the sixth graders from my school were there. Leaving the park that evening, we knew there was more going on than just the fire; the teachers and chaperones did the headcount half a dozen times. The park was still operational for quite awhile -long enough for that evening's concert to start on the opposite end of the park. The 40 minute ride back to our school to meet our parents was eerily silent; chaperones and teachers were whispering their conversations, and our brief conversations with each other were speculative. We arrived back to parents - many who had seen the news and knew about the fire - and they were quick to run up to us, and hug us. When we learned the next evening that there had been bodies discovered, I think we all kind of "knew" , as I said, that there was more going on than just simply a bad fire. I never understood why there wasn't some form of memorial. I know it would not be great for tourism to put up crosses and name, but maybe just a sitting area with benches and flowers? Ceratinly not an arcade that, for quite a while, included a video game where you had to escape a burning building. =(
They actually had an arcade with a videogame that challenged someone to escape a burning building? OMG, how crass! I knew they put bumper car rides on the same spot, but damn!
The Haunted Castle was not only a deadly tragedy, it also taught everyone a lesson in increasing the Ride Safety. My Rides Training was about safety because it is first, last and always. You can never forget that the ride operators need to be the shield and look out for any irregularities in the ride they work at. Safety is First, Last and Always.
Well done, great video! 👏👏 I've been fascinated by this story for over a decade & have yet to figure out why it's rarely (if ever) discussed, outside of Peter Smith's research. It's such a interesting story, yet you're the first person (beyond Smith) that actually has focused on it. You've got a new subscriber because of it! I know Universal & Disney rides are all the rage, but I'd love to see a video on the quagmire that was Batman & Robin: The Chiller. 😉
Thanks for watching the video! We've always been curious about the attraction, as it's really never been covered outside of the fire when it originally happened. Like you said, everyone likes Universal & Disney rides but it's an attraction like this that really sticks out once you look into it's backstory. Batman & Robin: The Chiller has been added to the list of future attractions we will cover, thank you for the suggestion!
THAT horrible tragedy at six flags great adventure that occurred in 1984 actually occurred before I was born!! (I was born in 1988, but I'm pretty sure that my parents and my older sister Sara Ames probably remember hearing about that tragedy on TV!!!)
Wow. Let me say great video. I watched all the other videos on the channel first and honestly didn't watch this one because I wasn't aware of this attraction or the tragedy surrounding it. so it took a total 180 for me from what I was expecting. Thanks for handling the tragedy with respect in the video.
There was also a concert at the park the same day as the fire. As it was actively out of control, smoke could be seen over the amphitheater by the Log Flume and Runaway Mine Train. Talk about something that was really frightening.
it bet for a lot of people who were there in person at six flags great adventure when that horrible tragedy occurred in 1984 are haunted by the memory of being a actual witness to a tragedy that occurred at a amusement park !!!
ok i feel better now that i know that this was closed before i was even born. i go to six flags great adventure almost every year and never heard of this
They did a great job of covering it up, which is terrible to say. Don't think many people know about it unless you look it up or watch those top 10 videos about the worst incidents at theme parks.
@@racheldianeames3729 he’s right. Now that they have built dc land back there so many people go by that area not knowing what happened before. It is very wierd going by that area of the park. I choose to avoid that area because I feel like I am disturbing the dead
I remember learning about this when I was in 6th grade. I live about 40 min away from the six flags. My teacher told me she was at park when the fire went off, luckily she wasn’t at that specific ride. It’s crazy how TikTok had an actual survivor from the tragedy tell their story. I would always think about that accident whenever I went to 6 flags throughout the years.
Excellent video, thank you taking the time to put this together. There really isn’t much content out there to properly document this tragedy. Peter James Smith made a documentary in 2004 but his upload to TH-cam is very compressed and the video is very dated.
Peter James Smith's from what I understand, also has some inaccurate information. It was hard to watch, not because of the content but Smith's over-enthusiastic 'I'm special, I'm the best' vibe that he gave off. Theme Park History's documentary and Fascinating Horror were the ones extremely well-researched. It's also refreshing here to have an American explaining the situation. British accents tend to sound rather, theatrical.
I was there that night. My dad used to take my little sister on the haunted castle and i kept asking for him to take me. He said if i behaved he would. So i was on my best behavior when all of the sudden there was an announcement on the pa to evacuate the park. I meet people all the tome who were stationed at fort dix/mcguire afb and have been to great adventure but never knew about the haunted castle. Its videos like this that help keep the truth out there
I went to HS with 2 of the boys Joe B and Nick C , who died in that fire. It was senior cut day at our school. I decided not to go, just wasn’t into going that day. When the news broke that 2 of our classmates died our school was somber for weeks afterwards. Teachers and students were in a daze! They were two really sweet, smart, polite popular guys. Just one month from graduating and then this tragedy. It’s a time I will never forget! RIP
There was one of these at Six Flags over Georgia (not sure if it was the same company, but sounds like the interiors were the same). My sister and I loved it, but my Dad was terrified of fire and refused to let us go thru once he’d gone thru with us (Mom would go with us while Dad was riding coasters, yeah, there were issues). One thing was it was always blessedly cool, which was a big deal in the 70’s, not everything had AC. We were so disappointed when we went the next year, the outer walls of the castle were there, but it was just snacks and souvenirs inside, no dark maze of people jumping out dressed as vampires, etc. We never knew this was why. Those big AC units, cooling the Georgia summer from 100 down into the 60’s...it was a nightmare waiting to happen.
I can attest how the Haunted House was as my junior high school trip was to Great Adventure in June of 1981. I went through the haunted house & I can say first hand my feeling of the attraction was chaotic--with too many kids in small areas at the same time. It was dark & I remember thinking this is way too crowded. I didn't particularly like the experience. Upon returning to the park in 1989 I do remember there was a memorial area with a little bench & a plaque where the attraction used to be. Apparently management must have removed it
I'm not completely sure if you can find information in english about Vekkula at Linnanmäki (Helsinki, Finland). But if you do, then could you make a video about it? You don't have to because it isn't so known around the world but it would be cool.
I can always look into the attraction and see what I can did up. There's always Google Translate that can help me out. Vekkula has been added to the list, thank you for your suggestion Sami!
My family drove through the wildlife park in 1978, practically a month after it had first opened, and before the amusement ride part of the park had even opened. We had the monkeys angrily jump on our car's hood.
Another great ride that was eventually taken down after someone died on it was "The Shock Wave" at Kings Dominion theme park in Doswell Virginia. The ride was a looping steel coaster where you were standing up the whole time while riding it, and one year someone undid their straps while riding it and fell out during one of the loops dying on impact with the ground. I believe that the park was found to be not liable for the death though I don't know all the details. Before the accident the coaster was painted black with yellow rails and had lightning bolt decals on the black carts. But after the accident it was repainted to a light blue color with orange tracks to lessen the stigma that someone had died on this ride before. A couple of years later the ride was removed from the park completely. The ride had a strict height restriction to ride it like many coasters, but had a unique measuring system where there was a bicycle seat on a pole in front of the ride entrance and if you could sit on this seat while your feet were touching the ground then you were tall enough to ride it.
I commented on another haunted house video that I've been in 3 haunted house attractions that eventually burned down. This one, Dracula's Castle in Wildwood, and Brigantine Castle. This one I believe is the only one that resulted in loss of life. This wasn't the only death at Great Adventure as 3 years later a girl fell from Lightin' Loops because her harness wasn't properly secured. Other deaths at Great Adventure: 1981 an employee was killed when he fell from Rolling Thunder. A week later on that same ride a girl was found slumped in her seat and pronounced dead and although it was the ride that directly killed her it was determined that she had thrown up and drowned in her own vomit.
I live close to Six Flags Great Adventure. My mom loved that ride and every time she went on the Ferris wheel she just saw the burned left overs of her favorite ride.
My dad was there that night and went through it earlier in the day. When the fire broke out, he was at a different part of the park, at the Golden Earring concert.
your dad was a lucky guy whom was very smart to not be inside the haunted castle attraction when the tragedy occurred, but instead he was at the golden earring concert having a fun time!! you are very lucky that you dad didn't lose his life that day :)
Could you do a video on the infamous Action Park. I find the history of Action Park super interesting. And gruesome. And honestly kinda interesting because of how ridiculous and gruesome it all was.
What honestly seems pretty sad to this day is that even to this day there is no memorial or even a trace for people to know what happened or anything to honour the 8 who died that day. At the very least put something up in front of there new ride they put in the very spot. The cyber spinner
I think it's because Six Flags was trying to avoid getting sued or bad publicity by pretending the incident never happened, and I read somewhere that they never talk about it or they change the subject any time it comes up. I live near the site of a fatal hotel fire in 1978 that killed 10 people and last I heard, there was no memorial there even 40 years later, where a Comfort Inn and Red Lobster now stand. They did do a memorial on the 40th anniversary to remember the 10 victims but they never put up a sign or anything.
i remember crying my eyes out as kid passing by this ride. that thing at the door 3:23 gave me nightmares for weeks. Its funny,,some 40 years later seeing it again and thinking of how frighten I was of the castle.
Like you, I was TERRIFIED of going into this place back when I visited this place in the early 80s. I would've been around 7 or 8 at most..I remember my uncle trying to FORCE me to go in...I just couldn't & cried the whole time he was pulling me by my arm! I remember that same uncle & my father going in the house...worried sick if my dad would make it out. Weird I still remember that! I have a sixth sense about things...so I DO wonder.... Nevertheless, I'm glad you made this video as all I knew as a kid was "it burned to the ground" & nothing more..very sad some very young lives were lost in this tragedy. :(
I'm sorry that you had nightmares for weeks after that horrible disaster occurred when you were a kid long time ago!! sending you lots of hugs and positive vibes :):):)
Congrats rect3ispic! Since you are the first to suggest a video, we are going to do the Lights! Motors! Action! attraction for next month's video! Thank you for the suggestion and your support, we appreciate it!
Sure, it was a haunted castle but what was/is truly haunting _is how safety requirements were so lightly taken and the lack of regulations allowed this to tragically occur._
I remember at that time the Castle was no longer a very popular attraction. It was one of those rides that never had a line and you could just walk in. Kids would hang out in there and wait to be pushed along by the employees. I was 8 or 9 the last time I went through and remember getting harrassed by the teenagers hanging out . Very dark and narrow is the best way to describe it.. as an adult it is obvious it was a disaster waiting to happen.
I’m sad I never got to see the inside of a Fred Mahanna haunted house. I had a chance to ride the one that was on Moreys Pier but I blew it. I’ve seen his darkride props and they’re very beautiful. I’m sure the house interiors were very impressive. It’s a shame there’s no footage or extensive photo sets of the various scenes inside these.
My grandmother was at home and saw a report of this on the news. My dad and his 5 brothers (my uncles) were playing a nearby park and my aunt was sleeping.
Kids often used matches and lighters to find their ways out of there. The powers that be were informed of this and just ignored it. They were basically inviting disaster.
I was in the Haunted Castle for about an Hr the Night it burned, we were at the Park for the "Golden Earring" Concert that Night. That entire Season, and the previous Season, me and my buddies would hide out in the "Cavern" Section for hrs scaring Girls that came thru. Now during that time we would spend in the Castle, we would open the Fire Exit's to Smoke Cigarette's. And after a Season of them finding our Cigarette Butt's near all the Fire Exit's, they Chained and Padlocked all the Exit's. I was in the Castle literally minutes before the Fire started, the Fire Exit's were chained Shut, that is FACT no matter what G. Adv says. And how the fire started was this, in a part of the Walk-Thru that had a long Hallway painted in "Checkerboard" pattern, there was Strobe Light, that when an Actor would scare a Guest, they would run down the Hallway and mis-judge the end of it due to the Paint Pattern and Strobe. There was a large pad on the Wall at the end of it that was all "picked apart" from Guest's pulling little pieces off it, it was very "jagged". But on the Night of the Fire, and that entire Season, the Strobe Light did not work, and one of the Guest's trying navigate the long dark Hallway lit a lighter, and the "jagged" Padding lit very easily. Then with all the Door's Chained shut from my and my Friend's smoking in the Castle the previous Season, no one could escape. We left just as the Fire started for the Concert. Walked across the park, made it in the Arena a few minutes after the Show Started. And right before the 3rd Song into the Set, the singer made the comment "It look's like someone is having a really big Barbecue here at Six Flags tonight" as the Smoke from the fire was just making it over the entire Park. Then one more Song was played, and the Park stopped the Show and was evacuated and all Guest's were given a Ticket for a free return Visit to the Park. But me and my Friend's were the reason the Door's were chained shut from us leaving Cigarette Butt's right outside all the FIre Exit's the entire previous Season. Those Door's were chained shut that Night, and a "jagged" Pad being lit started the Fire. I was an eye eyewitness to it all.
..After reading some of the other Comment's, i forgot about the "Firebug" Kid that was found to be the one that lit it. Still does not change my description though. I had just assumed since the Strobe had been out all that Year someone lit a Lighter to navigate and it caught the Pad on Fire. The Pad was just lit intentionally. One thing i do know is, "Radar Love" and "Twilight Zone" possibly saved me and my Buddies lives, we would of stayed in the Castle if were not for the "Golden Earring" Concert. But then again, we were right in the second to last Room being in the "Cavern Section", we were only one Room from the Exit.
you and your friends should have went to the SIX flags great adventure management and told them about all the fire exit doors being padlocked at the haunted castle attraction before the tragedy occurred in 1984
@@cybereye824 god and Jesus Christ were watching over you and your friends that day and making sure that you got out of the haunted castle attraction in time rather than suffer the fate of the 8 kids whom lost their lives!! you and your friends are very lucky!!!
@Christine W thank goodness you made the smart decision for you and your friend to go to the concert at six flags great adventure rather that go to the haunted castle attraction that day!!!!!!!
My aunt was supposed to go that night with her friends but she wound up being busy those 8 teenagers where her friends. Thank God she dident go that night.
Here's how it caught fire... The power went out and people inside noticed so they were in pitch black darkness, so a teenager took a cigarette lighter to help him find his way through the haunted houses, but the rubber foam on the side to prevent from injuries by knocking into the walls caught on fire because it was extremely flammable and burnt the entire building... It's really sad...
The teen who started the fire was apparently mentally ill and had a history of starting fires. They couldn't charge him, though, because he was underage and they didn't have solid evidence to prove he started it deliberately.
Captain Night WRONG!! The lights never went out and the kid lit the lighter not to see, but to intentionally set the fire. It takes the foam in walls more then just a few seconds to light up, so it had to be held there.please don’t talk about that you don’t knwo
My mom was working in the park at the shop next to the current site of the Sky Screamer when this happened. She was shocked that the park stayed open for a few more hours after the fire rather than immediately close.
its very sad and heartbreaking and it tugs at my heart strings because 8 innocent kids whom wanted to have a fun time at a amusement park in the 1980s instead lost their lives in a horrible tragedy :( :(
I worked Disney Attractions for 9 years and I believe that there should still be stricter regulations regarding these rides. Also “brats” still act stupid not knowing what the harm they could cause
I remember my mom telling me about this when I was younger. She was little when it this was around, and went in with my grandmother. She freaked out saying it was on fire and was let out. No one understood why she said this because it wasn’t on fire. Not long after that this happened. It creeps me out a bit. My mom has never had that type of reaction to something since I’ve been alive, and it couldn’t have just been a fear of the house, she loves haunted houses, hell she worked in one that did burn down a few weeks after she started working. I fully believe she had some kind of premonition that day.
Also what I find strange is there isn’t any video footage of this court hearing release. You would think a case like this would have the press all over it. All I can find is an archived newspaper from the 80’s about the court ruling.
I was a kid when it happened. I there the day before the fire. And in high school I worked at six flags great adventure for 2 years. Do you have a video about Action Park in Vernon NJ. I went to sleep away camp for 12 years in the 80’s and 90’s. Every year they took us to Action park. From the time we were 6 or 7 years old 200 of us were brought there and allowed to just go nuts. I think The cannonball slide was still operational that first year. None of us had any idea that the park was dangerous or that anybody had died. Now there is a full length documentary airing on HBO MAX on 8/27/20 called Class Action Park. Apparently, Even though it’s been closed since 1996, no other park has beaten its record for most deaths
This attraction and the death of a female on lightning loops almost caused SFGAD to close, luckily, great American scream machine helped saved the park from that fate.
What happened with Lightning Loops was a 19 old woman fell to her death on the ride because she was not secured by the restraints and the ride operator started the ride.
Since you're also covering haunted maze attractions, mind if you could cover the haunted mazes Universal Studios Hollywood use to have before the Walking Dead attraction like Van Helsing and House of Horrors?
Theme Park History Yes please!!! I have a very fond memory of the Van Helsing attraction. I swear, my family and I thought we would die that time XD We went in, thinking it would be like a show such as T2-3D, but oh boy... we sure were surprised when we just kept walking and walking and walking and then the scary stuff started. We really should've read the description of the attraction before we went in and have the scare of our lives!!
@@love1513 l love it it's so much fun making flash back past life look back at movie made intolerance maze in lullaby made queen Mary ship name jackie scary Mary part of the same place b340 the same place looks like a new DVD more
Interesting to see and know i’m reading the Action Park book as I use to be a current East Jersey resident though I never been around Action Park for now I am living in my home state of Ohio in Toledo how unfortunate for those tragic events regarding the haunted castle
i was one of the 4 employees there that night and was responsible for carrying suzette elliot out of the fire. it was a sad and scary event that will never be forgotten. i watched the 5 part documentary that you reference and have addressed some wrong information pertaining to me in his report. thank you for covering this in a respectful way and sharing some images that i hadn’t seen previously. gary.
gary kaplow how did you get her out? I’m curious how
it was a pretty crazy evening and a lot of the details are blurry. I was scheduled to be what's referred to as "the rover" that night, not dressed in costume but rather in a standard park uniform. we always had a shift assigned as this in rotation. the rover was responsible for continuously walking the maze, making sure everything was in working order, all lights, sounds, air vents etc. along with this, we were responsible to make sure guests weren't either stuck or deliberately stopped, as they would attempt to either scare some of the other guests, or partake in other non-family friendly behavior.... trust me, we saw it all. most of the documentaries made tend to skip over that role, as it doesn't bode well for the drama when they know that six flags did have safety precautions in place.
back to your question. early that evening, people came running out of the castle yelling that there was a fire inside. I had just finished a round through the blue side (the left maze) and luckily had been at the front gate about to make my next sweep. of course, we had people run out the front doors many times due to being scared, so this wasn't anything strange. we also had some very cheesy fire effects created by fabric moving in front of a light, which sometimes had been mistaken as real fire, due to their eyes not being fully adjusted to the dark. i was able to ask them where they saw the fire.where they described seeing it, was definitely NOT where the fake effect was. I immediately ran in and experienced thick smoke. that was the wake up call. I kept going in further, yelling at guests to get out. I went in as far as I could, which was to the section we referred to as the "dungeon", which was the 2nd official scare station. I could see fire at this point and the flow of people had stopped with the expectation of suzette, who was down on the floor struggling to get out, due to smoke. I picked her up, and because I knew the layout, I was able to carry her outside where I was able to get her to safety. I ran back in. made sure I couldn't see anyone else and cleared the property. that was the last time I was able to get in. we thought that we gotten everyone out, but honestly we couldn't do any more even if we wanted to. we were up to where the fire was and had to make sure we could get out safely ourselves. we were shocked and truly saddened to hear about the tragedy the next day.
as an active employee of the company still, they went to great lengths keeping us under cover. most of us were relocated to indoor positions or other concealed jobs. I was originally relocated to the cinema 180 theater as the projectionist and eventually moved into the shirt tales character show, as a performing costumed character. as well, we all had to go to the Supreme Court of NJ, as hostile witnesses, as we were all still employees of the park.
I know this is much more than you asked for, but I feel I wanted to get my story out there somehow, as the park kept us under wraps, even to the point where suzette's family wanted to contact me, but weren't able to, as the six flags lawyers wouldn't allow it. I found this out almost 20 years later from one of the other documentary creators. I was told that she described the rescue as she was seeing light and being lifted out by an angel. I am not a religious person, but that meant a lot to me, as perhaps I was being guided by another force helping me through this!
thanks for asking!!
gary
gary kaplow oh no problem thank you for answering, you are a hero to be honest you saved that girls life and put yourself in risk of danger, it’s stupid that they didn’t put you and what you did in the documentary but still you saved her and did all you could so in my opinion your a hero. Also real quick was the attraction pitch black? Cause why would they make an attraction in the dark they should of least had some lights in there for people to see what they were doing
yes there were lights throughout. most of them would be red or blue lights. we had a combination of spotlights aimed at the scare stations, some exterior type house lights throughout the hallways and some rescessed lights strategically placed. the hallway where the fire was started was called the strobe room, and it had a constantly flashing strobe light. the walls there were painted white with black wavy stripes. as mentioned in the video above, there was a padded wall at the end, which was placed there because the combination of the high contrast paint job and strobe, people often couldn't see the end of the hall and would slam into the end of the hall. we constantly had to repair that foam padding, as kids would know it's there and would start peeling it off the wall. there were emergency exits throughout the attraction, including the strobe room. we often couldn't even keep the doors closed, as people would always want to open them up to see what was on the other side. they were not armed with alarms, as we didn't want to stop people from getting out if they were too scared. we were bad sometimes though, as one of the emergency exits was right by our control room, they would escape and we would chase them a little way out the back (which we were not supposed to do).
and THANKS for your comments by the way! you are only the 2nd person to really acknowledge our role, outside management that HAD to say it.
Death trap. I was there the day it burned. Scary day.... Very very bad day.
A terrible tragedy, even worst when you dig deeper into the conditions leading up to the fire and how the park responded during the trial and afterwards.
Theme Park History when i was there working, they seemed to us that they were very proactive in caring for the victims families. even though they kept us out of the press and general public’s way. they were in constant communication with us on what they were doing. again, i think this is a case of silence = no action. i am not defending them by any means, as that attraction should have been torn down years before the incident, but from my recollection, they worked through the lawyers and kept an open line of communication with the families. what was the biggest shame is that the kid who started the fire got away with it. he was already in a home for troubled youth for arson. meanwhile he made it into the park that day with a spray can and a lighter. then he got away with it and the park was villanized.
gary kaplow on wow so it really was arson.
E.J. Freestone i was there the next day..Helicopters everywhere..Terrible
@Christine W You were somewhere next to my cousin. He was there that day. Actually he and his friends were going to get in line for the haunted castle but one said if we wait now we will miss the concert. So they went on to the concert which is on the other side of the park. Just like you they saw a lot of black smoke and later realized it was the castle on fire. To add to it when his mother frantically came to the park because she heard it on the radio. They made her pay to get in. WOW.
My dad was here the day this happened and went through it right before the fire. He told me years ago he remembers a bunch of teens that were holding lighters to look around better. Next thing he knew when he got out the fire was occurring.
Woah that's insane! Glad to hear he got out safely. It's a shame what happened, Six Flags should have done a better job making sure the attraction was safe. Obviously using lighters indoors is a pretty big problem to deal with.
My cousin was there that day and was in line to go on it but got out because there was a concert about to start they didnt want to miss and anyone who knows SFGA knows the concert arena is wayyyy across the park from the castle. Later at the concert they saw large black smoke and it was the castle.
That's some scary stuff! It's about timing sometimes.
My father went there too!
My dad was at that same concert (Golden Earring).
My mother who was a young adult at the time vividly recalls this happening. She's told me this story a hundred times before I even fond this video. And I'm really glad you made it. This is an event that shouldn't be forgotten. Specially if it stuck with my mother after all this time. Thank you for making this video.
its sad that your mother and many other people whom were alive during the 1980's is still haunted by the memory of hearing about or witnessing that horrible tragedy that occurred at six flags great adventure during the 1984 for a long time!!! :(
A year late and a dollar short, but my mother was terrified by this incident when it happened to the point she would not allow me to go on any haunt attraction. I had to beg to go on The Haunted Mansion at Disney almost a decade after the fire because of her deep fear of any ghost style attraction, ride or walk through. I have no memory of the fire happening but I know it's deep in the subconscious of many who lived in the area and visited the park at that time.
Hearing how the park management would just cut corners and then wave it off as arson, or nothing would have changed is just aggravating. If Six Flags wont memorialize the victims, lets us remember the tragedy here.
Unfortunately, a lot of amusement parks still do cut corners and save money by compromising guests' safety, and accidents (sometimes fatal) still happen.
Yeah I never will understand why the Jury did not convict Six Flags. I know there other lawsuits beyond the grand jury case but still Six Flags could have afforded taking the heat for this, they have plenty of money.
Apparently, the jury thought that if they convicted Six Flags then it would be such bad publicity for the park that people would stop going, the park would go out of business and close, and they were afraid that too many jobs would be lost as a result, as the park employed a huge number of people in the area. Doesn't make it okay, though.
Made all the worse when they later created a arcade machine video game that eerily replicates having to escape a burning castle directly on or relatively near the grounds where the real horror occurred.
After learning of their complete abdication of all responsibility and of their shoddy safety regulatory conduct I will simply never be using six flags or any subsidiary company again.
9:15, it looks like a skull... creepy that it burnt down like that....
Oh my god
That is creepy 😱
@@kcoolrule yep
yikes that is very creepy
Getting Final Destination vibes from that.....
Great story! It really changed the theme park industry. I was in college at the time, learning how to make the scenery used. There was a big safety push in the theatre industry at around the same time, though we hadn't really suffered any of this kind of accident /malpractice.
Thank you Phil, we appreciate it. It definitely lead to a pretty big shift into the safety aspect from theme park attractions going forward. It's a shame something this tragic had to be the reason but it's been a blessing there hasn't been an accident as bad as this one since.
Thanks for sharing, i am always interested to hear about stuff like that
I remember this, I had a school trip to go and the accident happened a month before we went. There was still debris left around after the fire. It messed me up talking to my classmates excited to go for the attraction. Then mind blown watching the news about the incident thinking "OMG" that could've been us. God Bless the families for their loss......
It's a shame what happened to those teenagers on that day. Someone else commented saying their dad was in the attraction just before it happened.
you and classmates were very lucky that none of you weren't inside the haunted castle attraction at six flags great adventure at the time when that horrible tragedy occurred and took the lives of 8 kids!!!!
This believe it or not, is a forgotten event Six Flags would never want to bring up. That attraction was a death sentence to Six Flags, yet they never made an attraction like this ever again because of the incident. Not many people know it but my parents do remember this happening at that time.
I think Six Flags should put a gravestone memorializing the 8 people who died in the attraction. This should never be forgotten, like the terrorist attacks today.
Well, they did something, and they've done more good things: they started thinking about the minorities and made a ride just for them. Yup, Cyborg Cyber Spin. They've got a marker paying respect to Karen and she would be happy Six Flags is doing good things.
SIx flags did do that all year haunt in La Ronde
Yeah, because just what you want to see when you're at an amusement park is a gravestone for people who died there. That's terrible business and pretty inappropriate. The point of thrill rides is the feeling of danger, but knowing you are safe and secure. Seeing a gravestone there will do the opposite.
Some of those people where kids. Those kids could of gone to my high school which is close to the park. Many kids have died in my state. One kid drowned himself be with cement blocks because of bullying. A 12 year old by hung himself because he came out as gay.
They where just kids, just leave those kids alone. Just give them some peace, they already went trough hell.
Tragedies always feel so much worse when they occur at theme/amusement parks, and goddamn. This is no exception to that.
Especially at a horror attraction. It disturbingly comes full circle.
I lost my cousin Jose Carrion Jr and our good friends, Lenny Ruiz and Samuel Valentin Jr on that horrific day (May 11, 1984). I was supposed to be with them that Friday evening, but decided to work my part time job at a candy store. God had other plans for me. Can't believe it's been 34 years ago. Rest in Peace my brothers.
I'm so sorry for your loss, but thankful that you didn't go and that you were safe. Your life was not meant to end that night. Good luck to you.
who was JF?
Some of the victims went to my high school. I didn't go until 1996, but between the teachers and my older sisters who also went there, the memory lived on of those boys. There were plaques on the walls in honor of them and a tree planted with a plaque outside. I believe there were also scholarships given out in there names for a while. Very sad.
its heartbreaking that 8 innocent children whom wanted to have a awesome time at six flags great adventure instead lost their lives in a horrible tragedy :( may they and their families get justice someday and hopefully six flags great adventure will be held accounted for that tragedy !!! rip those 8 kids :(
rachel diane ames held accountable how? A shut down that would just cause innocent people to be unemployed? Cause apparently that’s one of the reasons juries didn’t wanna go after six flags on criminal charges
Those teens were my friends from Franklin K Lane in NY. It was a school trip. Me and my best friend made our but did get burned. Since that day I refuse to go to great adventure.
If you grew up in the tri-state area during this time there were easily a dozen frightening events like this that would keep you up at night for weeks at a time.
Action Park was setting killstreak records, haunted houses were killing teens, vans were grabbing kids off the street, and we still had Lawn Darts to worry about.
It was really, really scary for a 5yr old.
I remember the stories of vans grabbing kids. What about the lawn darts though? It was definitely a different world back in the 1980's and earlier.
I was 13 yrs old and was there the day it burned down. The crazy thing is my friends and I were in and out of the haunted castle at least 5 times, as we were being naughty little boys laughing and making fun of the people in costumes who would pop out to scare you. We left at 4-5pm... next day in the papers we read it had burned down and people died!!!! Damn we were lucky, missed it by just a couple hours.
I’ve worked at Great Adventure. To this day the rides crew is still superstitious. The ghost of Karen is often blamed for unexplained problems with the nearby Dark Knight Coaster.
ThemeParkRider having worked the dark knight I can tell you being in that building alone is beyond creepy. Myself and a couple coworkers a few years ago swear we saw something on the cctv cameras that we couldn't explain
ThemeParkRider, that's pretty creepy. I've always heard of the stories like that in other theme parks but I'll take your word that there might be something going on over there.
Ive heard from other employees seeing a ghostly female form around the new cyborg ride while it was under construction.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she truly haunts the park I mean she died a horrible death she may not even know she passed . The one here in dc is haunted by a girl who back in the 1800s was killed by her father on the land that six flags America now sits
I used to work there i used to run the Batman ride and at night we herd weird stuff like foot steps going up and down the lift of Batman freaking crap we think it was Karen
It's because of theme park video channels like you, Disney Dan, Defunctland, and others that allow us to open our eyes and see just how idiotically dealt with situations like this are handled. Thank you, TPH, for being one of the few to help us
A lady from TikTok that was in that fire brought me here. What a sad story man 😢
what's her user?
@@iampause I’m srry I forgot to “like” the video so Idk 😩 but it was a duet to the “tell me your craziest one In a million story” and she basically explained how she was in line for the haunted house with the group of kids that died in the fire and the one thing that saved her was that the friend she was in line with didn’t want to go in the haunted house so the friend got out of line and that bumped her up ahead to the next group of kids. While they were going through the haunted house all the kids had their lighters out so they could guide their way through because it was so dark (and this was back in the day so they didn’t have iPhones to use as flashlights) . She reached the end of the haunted house and once she got out she saw people screaming and pointing towards her. When she turned around the whole haunted house was in flames. So basically she would of been dead because she would’ve been in the group behind her that was trapped and died if her friend had not decided to get out of line and let her skip ahead of her. She said 8 ppl she knew died and the girl that basically “saved” her life and let her skip ahead of the line is still one of her best friends till this day after all those years.
@@iampause her @ is mmmshel_1
@@chloecadelina7191 thank you!
@@Dovelunalove thank you, it's okay. how crazy, these teenagers literally killed themselves. may they rest in peace.
fantastic video but oh god, I cried. Such a horrible, sad story
It is a terrible story that doesn't have a happy ending. It's a real shame what the verdict, basically just giving Six Flags a slap on the wrist. The only good thing to come from this tragedy was it basically set forth standards for fire safety for theme park attractions, making sure nothing like this ever happens again.
I was in that haunted castle before the fire. I was to little to remember details. I remember sitting on my dads shoulders because I was to scared to walk through.
you and your dad are very lucky people
rip those 8 innocent children whom lost their lives in a horrible tragedy :(
You forgot that the park also added a eerie arcade machine-style game centered around unironically escaping from a burning castle maze on the grounds of or at least, remotely nearby where the Haunted Castle once stood. Very tactless, if you ask many who know of the tragedy & thus, understand how tasteless it is to make a video game presumably making light of what had been a real-life incident that placed charges against the park, the manufacturing company that designed the ill-fated attraction & its local governing bodies to the point that it almost shut down Six Flags Great Adventure for good ahead of the surprise not-guilty verdict.
People have claimed to have felt, seen and heard things where the old haunted house used to stand. For a long time, the bumper cars ride was on that spot. People got afraid to walk past there at night because they heard so many things -- clicking noises like those you hear on an intercom, foreboding feelings, shadows, etc.
I live 5 minutes from there. Where the haunted castle was, now sits an arcade. I was walking through the arcade when I was tapped on the shoulder. Well, more like poked. Nobody was there. Just me. I assure you the land is haunted. Probably spirits from the burned house.
You want to hear some screwed up s*** I'll tell you on July 6th 1944 according to the stuff that is written in Stuart O' Nan's book The circus fire a terrible fire swept through the big top of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus in Hartford Connecticut when they were playing in the lot that used to exist on Barbour Street in Hartford to this day ever since a certain point after the land was sold a school has existed there the formerly the Fred d wish School now Barbour elementary they say that that school is so haunted that supposedly water taps turn on and off when there's no one in the bathroom and certain other stuff they say they've heard what sounds like children andscreaming or something like that!
@@mikegallant811 Any information on this? Terrifying.
@@FODKOM Get a copy of O'Nans book, either print or Kindle edition.
Sure it Is........smoke another one dude !!👌
Well, according to this, what happened in 1984 was only some of all the horrendous things that happened at this location; numerous other people died as well. I just wonder if perhaps this piece of land was not meant to be on considering so much has occurred on it. It a bit like the land Greensboro COllege sites on. eu.app.com/story/news/history/2019/09/26/six-flags-great-adventure-rolling-thunder-haunted-castle-lightning-loops/2432854001/
Nobody is gonna believe this but my dad brought me into tractor trailer repair at a young age. I was born in 75...I was probably around 10 when some of these trailers were shipped to at the time Transport which later became Taurus Trailer Service in Mt Laurel NJ. We scraped these trailers for the aluminum. I was just a kid but I did a lot of ripping and tearing on these which in a weird way was good memory of mine.
im glad that you and your family weren't at six flags great adventure In 1984 when haunted castle attraction caught on fire and 8 innocents kids whom were having fun at a SIX FLAGS amusement park suffered a horrible fate by dying in a attraction that wasn't regulated or updated with safety codes at the time !!!
@@racheldianeames3729 it's so weird seeing the trailers melted when still be investigated. I still have vivid memories of one specifically I'm seeing and that weird smell that was in them of it smelled like melted styrofoam
3:05 Skellingtons?
Like Jack's family?
;-)
lol I can't believe I made that mistake. I think from now on anytime there's a skeleton in the script I'm going to say skellington instead, just as a running joke.
pileofstuff has always
I was wondering about that too! Made me wonder if it had another meaning before Nightmare Before Christmas.
@@ThemeParkHistory if you haven't already please do. Would make my day every time. :)
I don't know nothing about no skellingtons.
Thank you so much for making this! There aren’t many videos on the history of SFGA and I’d love to see more!
Thank you! We plan on covering more attractions from SFGA in the near future!
I went to great adventure the first year it opened. I was only 5. for the next ten years I enjoyed going when ever I could. It was a big part of every summer for me. I was 16 when the tragedy at the haunted castle happend. I heard about it on the radio and could not step away. I had gone through the castle many times and really felt a loss. I left New Jersey shortly after that having graduated from high school and moving away. it was over ten years later that I returned to GA for a stop on my vacation. I was so disappointed that there was no plaque, no memorial and no recognition to the loss. I expected something. A garden, an exibit, at the very least, a plaque. I remembered so clearly exactly where the castle had been. That was the first place I went on that return trip. I wanted to pay my respects. There was nothing. I asked a park employee why there was no recognition. he acted like he never heard of the haunted castle. I was so disappointed. Thank you Gary for your honestly here but most of all for your bravery. I have acted in haunted houses many times in my adult life and always remember the haunted castle and am extra vigilant. Thank you again Gary.
I was working there that night not too far from the Haunted Castle. It was a bad night
IT WAS fate that saved you and many other people from being in the wrong place at the wrong time that day in 1984!!!
Figured I'd share a little bit as a former employee. I can tell you right now that the area where that Castle once stood is very likely haunted. Today, it's mostly the Catering Picnic area/Backstage area, and as a Janitor, I used to walk up and by that area long after the park's closed, and see young kids darting about the trees and picnic tables. Some creepy creepy stuff.
any place where a horrible tragedy occurred and people lost their lives are defentely considered to be haunted for life!!! (sorry for my poor mispelling I have high functioning autism spectrum disorder which is in the autism spectrum so sometimes I have hard time with my spelling).
You never thought there was some sort of logical explanation? Like it's all in your mind since it's dark and the park is empty and it was the site of a fatal fire? Either way I wouldn't want to be there alone. I would need somebody with me. I do believe there are things out there that even most skeptics wouldn't find an explanation for and it is unsettling. If I saw the ghosts of kids running around I would nope the fuck out of there.
Someone’s from New York or Jersey based off his accent lol. Well done!
That easy to tell huh? 😂
Theme Park History it is when you have an accent occasionally yourself... especially when saying the word “talk” lol. Dead giveaway, my friend 😂🖤
Lmao it's true. I try the best I can to not go full New York when doing the voiceover work but there's no point in hiding it by now.
Theme Park History can you actually DO go full New York? I admit, totally selfish reasons but also, it truly would separate you from other park channels as most are either British or Canadian accents. Puhhhleeeze? Lol 😂
jeremyjealousy i’m from jersey 😭
This used to be one of my favorite attractions at GA. We lived about 15 minutes away and my parents would buy year round passes for us all. Shortly before the fire, I had celebrated my bday there with friends. My mom showed me a picture of me and my friends towards the front of the line, to walk in. I remember being so sad it was gone :-(
I remember this clearly.
I literally went the day after with my church group.
I was 14 years old.
Yes the park was open.
They just closed off the section of the fire.
It baffles me that they wouldn't install smoke alarms. And that Six Flags didn't take any responsibility. How sad.
shame on six flags for not taking responsibility and accepting the blame !!! ROT IN HELL SIX FLAGS CORPORATION!!
My mom was in line for the haunted castle the day of the fire. They were in line and it was about 30 minutes more until the end of the line. They thought it was too long so they got out of line and went to Lightnin' Loops. About 30 minutes later they saw a little bit of smoke and thought maybe someone had just burned something on the BBQ. It started getting bigger and bigger and then everyone was told they had to leave the park. Everyone received ticket vouchers. When they were in the parking lot they saw countless ambulances, but all the employees kept saying that everyone was okay. My mom said if she hadn't gotten out of line they probably would have been in the Haunted Castle when the fire started. I've seen so many videos on this event and its honestly so sad what happened and it probably could have been prevented. This changed the industry and so many new safety measures have been implemented.
I was 9 years old that evening, but I remember that night. I was at home on a main county road in the Whitesville section of Jackson Twp. at the Lakewood border. The sirens just wouldn't stop. Cop cars zooming by. You just got the feeling something terrible was happening. Didn't know what happened until a newsflash came on a New York TV station. Spent a lot of time as a teenager working at the park. Memories. My prayers go out for for the victims and their families.
Every year, my school's fifth grade took their graduation trip to Great Adventure. I was in 5th grade in May pf 1984 and had to go to the Circus instead because the school cancelled our trip due to the fire (it would have been a month later).
This was insanely sad and completely avoidable. So many balls dropped in this disaster.
Great video! I research heavily into accidents from different times, very informative video!
Thank you for watching!
I was at the park the day of this fire; it was a statewide day for class trips to the park, and the sixth graders from my school were there. Leaving the park that evening, we knew there was more going on than just the fire; the teachers and chaperones did the headcount half a dozen times. The park was still operational for quite awhile -long enough for that evening's concert to start on the opposite end of the park. The 40 minute ride back to our school to meet our parents was eerily silent; chaperones and teachers were whispering their conversations, and our brief conversations with each other were speculative. We arrived back to parents - many who had seen the news and knew about the fire - and they were quick to run up to us, and hug us. When we learned the next evening that there had been bodies discovered, I think we all kind of "knew" , as I said, that there was more going on than just simply a bad fire. I never understood why there wasn't some form of memorial. I know it would not be great for tourism to put up crosses and name, but maybe just a sitting area with benches and flowers? Ceratinly not an arcade that, for quite a while, included a video game where you had to escape a burning building. =(
They actually had an arcade with a videogame that challenged someone to escape a burning building? OMG, how crass! I knew they put bumper car rides on the same spot, but damn!
The Haunted Castle was not only a deadly tragedy, it also taught everyone a lesson in increasing the Ride Safety. My Rides Training was about safety because it is first, last and always. You can never forget that the ride operators need to be the shield and look out for any irregularities in the ride they work at. Safety is First, Last and Always.
that is very true and I totally agree with you!!!
Well done, great video! 👏👏
I've been fascinated by this story for over a decade & have yet to figure out why it's rarely (if ever) discussed, outside of Peter Smith's research. It's such a interesting story, yet you're the first person (beyond Smith) that actually has focused on it. You've got a new subscriber because of it! I know Universal & Disney rides are all the rage, but I'd love to see a video on the quagmire that was Batman & Robin: The Chiller. 😉
Thanks for watching the video! We've always been curious about the attraction, as it's really never been covered outside of the fire when it originally happened. Like you said, everyone likes Universal & Disney rides but it's an attraction like this that really sticks out once you look into it's backstory. Batman & Robin: The Chiller has been added to the list of future attractions we will cover, thank you for the suggestion!
I'm looking forward to it!
Yeah I remember this topic being briefly talked about on a top 10 and i was curious to know more about this
THAT horrible tragedy at six flags great adventure that occurred in 1984 actually occurred before I was born!! (I was born in 1988, but I'm pretty sure that my parents and my older sister Sara Ames probably remember hearing about that tragedy on TV!!!)
Wow. Let me say great video. I watched all the other videos on the channel first and honestly didn't watch this one because I wasn't aware of this attraction or the tragedy surrounding it. so it took a total 180 for me from what I was expecting. Thanks for handling the tragedy with respect in the video.
I came here to have fun damn it and all that happend was that i got sad
Watch any other video and you will have fun, I promise.
Sman MMO uhb
"Trust no one, Scully."
There was also a concert at the park the same day as the fire. As it was actively out of control, smoke could be seen over the amphitheater by the Log Flume and Runaway Mine Train. Talk about something that was really frightening.
it bet for a lot of people who were there in person at six flags great adventure when that horrible tragedy occurred in 1984 are haunted by the memory of being a actual witness to a tragedy that occurred at a amusement park !!!
ok i feel better now that i know that this was closed before i was even born. i go to six flags great adventure almost every year and never heard of this
They did a great job of covering it up, which is terrible to say. Don't think many people know about it unless you look it up or watch those top 10 videos about the worst incidents at theme parks.
that tragedy occurred before I was even born!!!
@@racheldianeames3729 he’s right. Now that they have built dc land back there so many people go by that area not knowing what happened before. It is very wierd going by that area of the park. I choose to avoid that area because I feel like I am disturbing the dead
I remember learning about this when I was in 6th grade. I live about 40 min away from the six flags. My teacher told me she was at park when the fire went off, luckily she wasn’t at that specific ride. It’s crazy how TikTok had an actual survivor from the tragedy tell their story. I would always think about that accident whenever I went to 6 flags throughout the years.
*the Peter James smith documentary was the one shown to me, that’s how I learned about it in 2007. Shout-out to Mrs. McMahon.
Excellent video, thank you taking the time to put this together. There really isn’t much content out there to properly document this tragedy. Peter James Smith made a documentary in 2004 but his upload to TH-cam is very compressed and the video is very dated.
Peter James Smith's from what I understand, also has some inaccurate information. It was hard to watch, not because of the content but Smith's over-enthusiastic 'I'm special, I'm the best' vibe that he gave off. Theme Park History's documentary and Fascinating Horror were the ones extremely well-researched. It's also refreshing here to have an American explaining the situation. British accents tend to sound rather, theatrical.
I was there that night. My dad used to take my little sister on the haunted castle and i kept asking for him to take me. He said if i behaved he would. So i was on my best behavior when all of the sudden there was an announcement on the pa to evacuate the park. I meet people all the tome who were stationed at fort dix/mcguire afb and have been to great adventure but never knew about the haunted castle.
Its videos like this that help keep the truth out there
I went to HS with 2 of the boys Joe B and Nick C , who died in that fire. It was senior cut day at our school. I decided not to go, just wasn’t into going that day. When the news broke that 2 of our classmates died our school was somber for weeks afterwards. Teachers and students were in a daze! They were two really sweet, smart, polite popular guys. Just one month from graduating and then this tragedy. It’s a time I will never forget! RIP
There was one of these at Six Flags over Georgia (not sure if it was the same company, but sounds like the interiors were the same). My sister and I loved it, but my Dad was terrified of fire and refused to let us go thru once he’d gone thru with us (Mom would go with us while Dad was riding coasters, yeah, there were issues). One thing was it was always blessedly cool, which was a big deal in the 70’s, not everything had AC. We were so disappointed when we went the next year, the outer walls of the castle were there, but it was just snacks and souvenirs inside, no dark maze of people jumping out dressed as vampires, etc. We never knew this was why. Those big AC units, cooling the Georgia summer from 100 down into the 60’s...it was a nightmare waiting to happen.
May every single one of the victims of that fire rest in piece and may every one of the survivors of that fire continue to rise from it’s ashes.
I understand.
I can attest how the Haunted House was as my junior high school trip was to Great Adventure in June of 1981. I went through the haunted house & I can say first hand my feeling of the attraction was chaotic--with too many kids in small areas at the same time. It was dark & I remember thinking this is way too crowded. I didn't particularly like the experience. Upon returning to the park in 1989 I do remember there was a memorial area with a little bench & a plaque where the attraction used to be. Apparently management must have removed it
I can't believe they don't have a memorial
I'm not completely sure if you can find information in english about Vekkula at Linnanmäki (Helsinki, Finland). But if you do, then could you make a video about it?
You don't have to because it isn't so known around the world but it would be cool.
I can always look into the attraction and see what I can did up. There's always Google Translate that can help me out. Vekkula has been added to the list, thank you for your suggestion Sami!
My moms high school went here for a trip. Luckily she didn’t go because she went the week before but she lost a lot of friends that day.
My family drove through the wildlife park in 1978, practically a month after it had first opened,
and before the amusement ride part of the park had even opened. We had the monkeys angrily jump on our car's hood.
Another great ride that was eventually taken down after someone died on it was "The Shock Wave" at Kings Dominion theme park in Doswell Virginia. The ride was a looping steel coaster where you were standing up the whole time while riding it, and one year someone undid their straps while riding it and fell out during one of the loops dying on impact with the ground. I believe that the park was found to be not liable for the death though I don't know all the details. Before the accident the coaster was painted black with yellow rails and had lightning bolt decals on the black carts. But after the accident it was repainted to a light blue color with orange tracks to lessen the stigma that someone had died on this ride before. A couple of years later the ride was removed from the park completely.
The ride had a strict height restriction to ride it like many coasters, but had a unique measuring system where there was a bicycle seat on a pole in front of the ride entrance and if you could sit on this seat while your feet were touching the ground then you were tall enough to ride it.
I commented on another haunted house video that I've been in 3 haunted house attractions that eventually burned down. This one, Dracula's Castle in Wildwood, and Brigantine Castle. This one I believe is the only one that resulted in loss of life. This wasn't the only death at Great Adventure as 3 years later a girl fell from Lightin' Loops because her harness wasn't properly secured. Other deaths at Great Adventure: 1981 an employee was killed when he fell from Rolling Thunder. A week later on that same ride a girl was found slumped in her seat and pronounced dead and although it was the ride that directly killed her it was determined that she had thrown up and drowned in her own vomit.
I live close to Six Flags Great Adventure. My mom loved that ride and every time she went on the Ferris wheel she just saw the burned left overs of her favorite ride.
my dad's friend was in high school and was one of the people who died in the accident it was a very sad day...
My dad was there that night and went through it earlier in the day. When the fire broke out, he was at a different part of the park, at the Golden Earring concert.
your dad was a lucky guy whom was very smart to not be inside the haunted castle attraction when the tragedy occurred, but instead he was at the golden earring concert having a fun time!! you are very lucky that you dad didn't lose his life that day :)
Another great video would be cool too see old fright feast stuff
Thank you Robert! We're planning on something special for Halloween, especially with all the haunts!
POV: You saw the TikTok wth Tracy
Yes!
what's her user?
@@iampause mmmshel_1 on Tiktok. Click on the video with the man wearing the fur hoodie
Could you do a video on the infamous Action Park. I find the history of Action Park super interesting. And gruesome. And honestly kinda interesting because of how ridiculous and gruesome it all was.
Did you read the book? Library has it.
Great work covering this one
What honestly seems pretty sad to this day is that even to this day there is no memorial or even a trace for people to know what happened or anything to honour the 8 who died that day. At the very least put something up in front of there new ride they put in the very spot. The cyber spinner
I think it's because Six Flags was trying to avoid getting sued or bad publicity by pretending the incident never happened, and I read somewhere that they never talk about it or they change the subject any time it comes up. I live near the site of a fatal hotel fire in 1978 that killed 10 people and last I heard, there was no memorial there even 40 years later, where a Comfort Inn and Red Lobster now stand. They did do a memorial on the 40th anniversary to remember the 10 victims but they never put up a sign or anything.
i remember crying my eyes out as kid passing by this ride. that thing at the door 3:23 gave me nightmares for weeks. Its funny,,some 40 years later seeing it again and thinking of how frighten I was of the castle.
Like you, I was TERRIFIED of going into this place back when I visited this place in the early 80s. I would've been around 7 or 8 at most..I remember my uncle trying to FORCE me to go in...I just couldn't & cried the whole time he was pulling me by my arm! I remember that same uncle & my father going in the house...worried sick if my dad would make it out. Weird I still remember that! I have a sixth sense about things...so I DO wonder....
Nevertheless, I'm glad you made this video as all I knew as a kid was "it burned to the ground" & nothing more..very sad some very young lives were lost in this tragedy. :(
I'm sorry that you had nightmares for weeks after that horrible disaster occurred when you were a kid long time ago!! sending you lots of hugs and positive vibes :):):)
I was at the Golden Earring concert in the park that day.
I would love to see a history of lights motors action from Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Congrats rect3ispic! Since you are the first to suggest a video, we are going to do the Lights! Motors! Action! attraction for next month's video! Thank you for the suggestion and your support, we appreciate it!
Theme Park History I’m also going to tell channels like Defunctland, and Park ride history about you so you can pick up a bit more of a fan base.
Sure, it was a haunted castle but what was/is truly haunting _is how safety requirements were so lightly taken and the lack of regulations allowed this to tragically occur._
I remember at that time the Castle was no longer a very popular attraction. It was one of those rides that never had a line and you could just walk in. Kids would hang out in there and wait to be pushed along by the employees. I was 8 or 9 the last time I went through and remember getting harrassed by the teenagers hanging out . Very dark and narrow is the best way to describe it.. as an adult it is obvious it was a disaster waiting to happen.
I’m sad I never got to see the inside of a Fred Mahanna haunted house. I had a chance to ride the one that was on Moreys Pier but I blew it. I’ve seen his darkride props and they’re very beautiful. I’m sure the house interiors were very impressive. It’s a shame there’s no footage or extensive photo sets of the various scenes inside these.
My grandmother was at home and saw a report of this on the news. My dad and his 5 brothers (my uncles) were playing a nearby park and my aunt was sleeping.
Kids often used matches and lighters to find their ways out of there. The powers that be were informed of this and just ignored it. They were basically inviting disaster.
I was there that day. I was at the Golden Earring concert. I didn’t have a phone so my mom was so worried when she heard it on the news. Sad day.
They say that this is Near Cyborg. The 3D ride! They also say that it’s haunted. It’s usually cold there. It’s so sad
Dark Knight replaced this castle. I love that ride but the energy there is funky…
This is very interesting video that you made. Next do the Batman rides please
I was in the Haunted Castle for about an Hr the Night it burned, we were at the Park for the "Golden Earring" Concert that Night. That entire Season, and the previous Season, me and my buddies would hide out in the "Cavern" Section for hrs scaring Girls that came thru. Now during that time we would spend in the Castle, we would open the Fire Exit's to Smoke Cigarette's. And after a Season of them finding our Cigarette Butt's near all the Fire Exit's, they Chained and Padlocked all the Exit's. I was in the Castle literally minutes before the Fire started, the Fire Exit's were chained Shut, that is FACT no matter what G. Adv says. And how the fire started was this, in a part of the Walk-Thru that had a long Hallway painted in "Checkerboard" pattern, there was Strobe Light, that when an Actor would scare a Guest, they would run down the Hallway and mis-judge the end of it due to the Paint Pattern and Strobe. There was a large pad on the Wall at the end of it that was all "picked apart" from Guest's pulling little pieces off it, it was very "jagged". But on the Night of the Fire, and that entire Season, the Strobe Light did not work, and one of the Guest's trying navigate the long dark Hallway lit a lighter, and the "jagged" Padding lit very easily. Then with all the Door's Chained shut from my and my Friend's smoking in the Castle the previous Season, no one could escape. We left just as the Fire started for the Concert. Walked across the park, made it in the Arena a few minutes after the Show Started. And right before the 3rd Song into the Set, the singer made the comment "It look's like someone is having a really big Barbecue here at Six Flags tonight" as the Smoke from the fire was just making it over the entire Park. Then one more Song was played, and the Park stopped the Show and was evacuated and all Guest's were given a Ticket for a free return Visit to the Park. But me and my Friend's were the reason the Door's were chained shut from us leaving Cigarette Butt's right outside all the FIre Exit's the entire previous Season. Those Door's were chained shut that Night, and a "jagged" Pad being lit started the Fire. I was an eye eyewitness to it all.
..After reading some of the other Comment's, i forgot about the "Firebug" Kid that was found to be the one that lit it. Still does not change my description though. I had just assumed since the Strobe had been out all that Year someone lit a Lighter to navigate and it caught the Pad on Fire. The Pad was just lit intentionally. One thing i do know is, "Radar Love" and "Twilight Zone" possibly saved me and my Buddies lives, we would of stayed in the Castle if were not for the "Golden Earring" Concert. But then again, we were right in the second to last Room being in the "Cavern Section", we were only one Room from the Exit.
Wow that's crazy hearing about it from someone who was there.
you and your friends should have went to the SIX flags great adventure management and told them about all the fire exit doors being padlocked at the haunted castle attraction before the tragedy occurred in 1984
@@cybereye824 god and Jesus Christ were watching over you and your friends that day and making sure that you got out of the haunted castle attraction in time rather than suffer the fate of the 8 kids whom lost their lives!! you and your friends are very lucky!!!
@Christine W thank goodness you made the smart decision for you and your friend to go to the concert at six flags great adventure rather that go to the haunted castle attraction that day!!!!!!!
The special effects sound stage that got replaced by transformers at universal studios Hollywood
The Special Effects Stages has been added to the list, thank you for the suggestion Nicholas.
Wow amazing video, I've been to that park to find out there was a tragedy I'm just shocked,
I want a cool Haunted Castle Dark Ride where guests would battle monsters, demons, witches and evil spirits!
I wasn't there when it happened, but I lived nearby as a kid. This scared me so bad, I didn't go back to the park until I was in my 20's.
My mom was supposed to go to great adventure for her high school senior trip, but the fire resulted in the cancellation of the trip.
My aunt was supposed to go that night with her friends but she wound up being busy those 8 teenagers where her friends. Thank God she dident go that night.
Here's how it caught fire...
The power went out and people inside noticed so they were in pitch black darkness, so a teenager took a cigarette lighter to help him find his way through the haunted houses, but the rubber foam on the side to prevent from injuries by knocking into the walls caught on fire because it was extremely flammable and burnt the entire building...
It's really sad...
The teen who started the fire was apparently mentally ill and had a history of starting fires. They couldn't charge him, though, because he was underage and they didn't have solid evidence to prove he started it deliberately.
plain stupidity on six flags fault for installing rubber foam in a attraction that didn't have fire alarms,sprinklers, etc. installed
Captain Night WRONG!! The lights never went out and the kid lit the lighter not to see, but to intentionally set the fire. It takes the foam in walls more then just a few seconds to light up, so it had to be held there.please don’t talk about that you don’t knwo
My mom was working in the park at the shop next to the current site of the Sky Screamer when this happened. She was shocked that the park stayed open for a few more hours after the fire rather than immediately close.
SIX FLAGS great adventure should have asked all the guests to leave and permantely closed down the park and should've called 911 immediately
That is a really sad story 😞
its very sad and heartbreaking and it tugs at my heart strings because 8 innocent kids whom wanted to have a fun time at a amusement park in the 1980s instead lost their lives in a horrible tragedy :( :(
I worked Disney Attractions for 9 years and I believe that there should still be stricter regulations regarding these rides. Also “brats” still act stupid not knowing what the harm they could cause
Rip too them teenagers 💔
I remember my mom telling me about this when I was younger. She was little when it this was around, and went in with my grandmother. She freaked out saying it was on fire and was let out. No one understood why she said this because it wasn’t on fire. Not long after that this happened. It creeps me out a bit. My mom has never had that type of reaction to something since I’ve been alive, and it couldn’t have just been a fear of the house, she loves haunted houses, hell she worked in one that did burn down a few weeks after she started working. I fully believe she had some kind of premonition that day.
This looked like a fire trap in every way.
Also what I find strange is there isn’t any video footage of this court hearing release. You would think a case like this would have the press all over it. All I can find is an archived newspaper from the 80’s about the court ruling.
I was a kid when it happened. I there the day before the fire. And in high school I worked at six flags great adventure for 2 years. Do you have a video about Action Park in Vernon NJ. I went to sleep away camp for 12 years in the 80’s and 90’s. Every year they took us to Action park. From the time we were 6 or 7 years old 200 of us were brought there and allowed to just go nuts. I think The cannonball slide was still operational that first year. None of us had any idea that the park was dangerous or that anybody had died. Now there is a full length documentary airing on HBO MAX on 8/27/20 called Class Action Park. Apparently, Even though it’s been closed since 1996, no other park has beaten its record for most deaths
How sad and how horrible of Six Flags.
That is SO sad! They should have at least have a memorial plaque for them.
I agree.
One of my teachers saw the Castle a day before it burned down. He was only a kid at that time. None of my other teachers knew about it.
watching through all the theme park history video and dang this took a dark turn
This attraction and the death of a female on lightning loops almost caused SFGAD to close, luckily, great American scream machine helped saved the park from that fate.
That is true, SFGA has always denied the two tragedies were the reason why attendance at the park had fell in the late 80's.
What happened with Lightning Loops was a 19 old woman fell to her death on the ride because she was not secured by the restraints and the ride operator started the ride.
Since you're also covering haunted maze attractions, mind if you could cover the haunted mazes Universal Studios Hollywood use to have before the Walking Dead attraction like Van Helsing and House of Horrors?
I think you may have given me a great idea for what attraction I'm going to cover for Halloween, thank you for the suggestion Raphael!
Theme Park History Yes please!!! I have a very fond memory of the Van Helsing attraction. I swear, my family and I thought we would die that time XD We went in, thinking it would be like a show such as T2-3D, but oh boy... we sure were surprised when we just kept walking and walking and walking and then the scary stuff started. We really should've read the description of the attraction before we went in and have the scare of our lives!!
@@love1513 l love it it's so much fun making flash back past life look back at movie made intolerance maze in lullaby made queen Mary ship name jackie scary Mary part of the same place b340 the same place looks like a new DVD more
Interesting to see and know i’m reading the Action Park book as I use to be a current East Jersey resident though I never been around Action Park for now I am living in my home state of Ohio in Toledo how unfortunate for those tragic events regarding the haunted castle
Ah yes I’ve worked there on/off as a local for years, now they spray all props and spiderwebs with flame retardants to try to deter any flames
This was great in detail.
I’m so glad someone finally made a great video on this I was always wondering what really happened