The Tragedy Of The World's Tallest Waterslide: The History of Schlitterbahn
2023 ж. 29 Қыр.
1 690 975 Рет қаралды
Join us on Expedition Extinct as we look at the history of Schlitterbahn Water Parks and the Tragedy of The World's Tallest Waterslide. The place for families, made by families changed water parks forever.
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Schlitterbahn
Jason Thompson - • Dragon Blaster Schlitt...
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i'd like to see dreamworld Australia wipeout the world's first Vekoma Waikiki wave super flip
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Expedition Oakwood!
"They based the slide off of roller coasters." Guess they forgot the part where roller coasters are ATTACHED to the tracks. Not just carts speeding through bends and loops on nothing but hope and prayer.
Don't even need an engineering degree to figure that out. I knew that when I was 10
If this guy wasn't stopped I bet he would have tried to put a loop in one. Smh
0
Adventure park, that you?
Yep, all,roller coaster have "upstop" wheels to keep them on the track. There is absolutely no way a hill like this can be safe. The physics say there is an extremely fine line between the raft not being able to get over the hill and flying off it. Just as an example I have had the opportunity for several years to judge "model" roller coasters at amusement park "science days". These "roller coasters" use a marble to go down the track and never have any hills. I sometimes ask the builders why they don't put any hills in. I know the answer. It's always, "we couldn't get the marble to stay on the track, it always flew off."
Imagine killing a 10 year old and destroying your family's business because basic engineering was just too much of a hassle for you.
Right?! You would think that if the person responsible doesn’t know anything about engineering they would hire some good engineers given the potential liability.
@@rommy143- that’s what Walt did.
Because I'm sure that's what they did when he woke up that morning was making sure the kids would die and businesses would fail that was his goal.
@@IzzyTheEditor......thats? thats not what theyre saying...? honey idk how old u are, but i do know ur too old to have the reading comprehension of a 5yo
killing a 10yo in the most violent way possible, in front of the little boys brother no less
The terrible thing was that they were already fully aware that the raft would sometimes go airborne, and yet they covered this up. This wasn't even just a one-time accident, people were already getting injured repeatedly and they ignored it until someone finally died.
if it wasn't the son of a politician, the incident would've been brushed aside or at least not a big deal would've been made of it.
Sad, but my thought exactly!@@kavinh10
Probably the reason he was let on the ride as well. He did not meet age limit and most likely weight limit either
Republicans hate regulations so corporations get away with murder but who cares. Right? They are working on our behalf 😏
And noone went to jail.. Outrageous.
I work with Schlitterbahn in South Padre Island back in 2012 as a lifeguard. The company didn’t want to hire professional cleaners, so they LITERALLY made us scrub the river ground AND the sewers. At one time, a team of lifeguards were cleaning inside the machine that made the waves of the river. The machine somehow turned on, crushing one lifeguard inside the tank. I remember seeing the ambulances helicopter taking him away. He was declared dead the same week. This company did everything they did to save a dime, and threatened us our jobs if we didn’t scrub the tanks. I’m so glad Schlitterbahn got what they deserved
jfc
Plenty more life guards out there! Best to start scrubbing!
I remember that didn’t they not want to report it to osha
Boo-fuckin-hoo. "I couldn't sit on my ass all day, getting paid for doing nothing" is all I heard. Get your shine box!
Yoh!! 😮
I remember this all happening and thinking "well, some rider must have done something dumb" and not realizing till later how much the builders disregarded accepted safety standards. Really sad story
The father of a victim was a politician who consistently voted against regulations.
Did the father chance his voting after this? Politicians like this frustrated me so much, who constantly vote against things that would make it safety and better for everyone.
@teijaflink2226 yes, he spearheaded the new law.
@@andreajohnson1212 shocking he tured straight round and started voting for safety. 🤔
@loosilu He also cashed in on $20M rather than the $300K liability damages limit law that he voted for in his home state.
What really bothers me is that this all could've been avoided if they didnt have an "airtime hill" on a slide.
Ikr? The dude was hellbent on building a rollercoaster slide.
@@Sir1188 Yup. It'd work on a coaster because of the safety mechanisms like brackets that fold under the lip of the rail, holding the car down so it doesn't go flying off the track. That ain't gonna work on a slide... *_facepalm_*
Like, yeah. They could have still gotten the record for tallest slide, and saved millions in R&D. But they were determined to get a f&*k off large airtime hill on a slide.
10000000000000% THIS
"Airtime Hill" lowkey sounds like the name of a Sonic the Hedgehog level..... What is that exactly???
I happened to be in New Braunfels in 1979 that first weekend that Schlitterbahn opened. I didn’t know anything about the park, but I spent a day there. It was a fun day. I was 19. Years later, my daughters and I visited the then expanded park frequently. The slides became more aggressive and my middle daughter and I were hurt on one of them when our heads hit the top cover. The slides were too steep and fast. I never took my daughters back. The park wasn’t fun anymore. I was heartbroken to hear about the ten year old boy’s death and the other riders’ injuries. Jeff lied and lied some more. Greed.
Cool story bro.
My best friend is a design engineer, and he pointed out that the ride should have been called Klage instead ("lawsuit" in German). This was a disaster waiting to happen.
I’ve lived in the Kansas City area my whole life, and you’re right. That slide had a bad reputation in Kansas City way before that kid lost his life on it. Hell, Schlitterbahn Kansas City never had a great reputation as a whole. It was always a disappointing water park.
I'm a structural engineer. I know how much we get paid for jobs like this. There is 0 chance that paying an engineer for a safer design is more money than building the slide over and over and over again.
This situation is a perfect example of hubris. You know Jeff had the $$ to pay engineers to design & build a safe, quality slide. What a shame Jeff wanted all the "glory." This is why states' license engineers.
If I think back to my grade 10 physics work I can figure out that you cant just put this together and hope for the best. Newtons laws , speed, launce angle etc. Absolutely insanely stupid what happened here. Oh and a net for safety. Nylon strings becoming blades that would cut you to bits at high speed. Ok the pieces wont go missing. Wow Stupid beyond comprehension. This is so absurd. And why do some others study to become engineers? While uneducated lunatics are left on their own to engineer an engineering structure but leaving out the engineering part and leave it to back yard mechanics. And then actually put real people and kids on the ride? Do not try and understand it. It in a dumb league of its own. Anyone with half a brain cell will never understand it. You need no brains then you would maybe find it ok because you have no idea how to think.
The Dunning/Kruger effect at its finest. The poorly educated think they're the smartest people in the world.
Yeah this guy seemed to be extremely arrogant and stubborn. Didn't like to be told what to do. In other words a p.o.s
Yes but think of the short term gains/savings. -them probably
33:10 "I'm not going by the standards. This has never been attempted, so I'll be redefining those standards." Me having heard this same explanation regarding the Titan sub and hearing about its implosion due to "redefining standards":
Hind site is always 20/20. To be fair however, they obviously had a decent engineering acumen.... this was after all only one of dozens of rides. One of their parks from the time is STILL in operation under their control.
ROTFL I was about to post a sarcastic reply re: he was fresh off being fired from Ocean Gate but you beat me to it!
Family" dogs kill 50 people per year in the US. Humans are insane.
Scary when you think about the fact that proponents for pushing trans ideology are, in their own words "building the plane as we fly it." They are redefining the standards in opposition to truth. Instead of using real science and evidence they are choosing to ignore it for feelings and personal bias to push proven damaging and harmful things on our children.
See, every time I hear about this Schlitterbahn, I think about the original Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas. Which is still open, and still super popular in the summer. Here in Texas, Schlitterbahn still has a great reputation and most people never even knew there was a Schlitterbahn park outside of the state.
Okay man thank you for this, I was at the start of the video starting to panic thinking one of the bright spots of my childhood killed somebody 😂
@@TheGoIsWin21Sadly, it kinda did. All the parks were owned by the same people, the same people who were grossly negligent in design and testing to the point that a 10-year-old was killed. All the parks and the dangerous culture that permeated throughout were basically one and the same. No worries, though, Cedar Fair is a good company known for focusing on quality over quantity in their investments and operational aspects, as well as a solid safety record. I highly doubt the Texas parks will suffer under them.
@@alexlents4689 no the New Braunfels one was already good before all this
Originally it was to be built in San Marcos. But the San Marcos council refused to allow it. San Marcos was and is run by corrupt officials that didn't want to grant the Schlitterbahn family opportunity
Had a guy from texas who heard about this. Got to tell him i use to work the ride when i was on a shift. It was crazy bad, and he never knew about it being in kansas.
"Rafts were launching into the air" Me: Oh no... "Nets were added to the slide" Me: *Oh no...*
You should add: "Nets were added too low to the slide." That's even worse and factual.
I remember The Atlantic did a short documentary about this slide that used many clips from the slide and news of the tragedy to tell the history of the slide, and there this was one clip from the opening of the slide where a news reporter was interviewing this boy where they asked if he was going to go on the slide. The boy said no, and when he was asked why, he said the slide looked very scary. Little did they know that boy ended up being the smartest person there that day.
I think I watched that clip!!!!
The Atlantic piece is far more expertly done than this rather amateurish video. It also spells out how the park owners chose Kansas because it has the most lax government regulation of amusement parks (thanks to the Trump party). This slide could never have been built in a blue state.
My brother and I rode that three days before the accident. It's not a ride. It was extremely rough all the way down. Like being tossed of a 40 story building in a raft with a weight on it. It wasn't fun. It wasn't even thrilling to be honest. Just felt dangerous.
I was looking for the comment of someone who rode it, damn that’s crazy, I can’t imagine what it was like to hear that just a few days later someone died
The roughness is one of the things that stood out the most to me as well. I hadn't been on a waterslide that rode that rough. It felt like an old wooden coaster the way it shuffled and bumped along the flume.
@@thicccarteronxbox9930 What's odd is when I came off the slide, I thought to myself how dangerous it felt? It was rough.
@@j-coasters Did you see the red 'stain' on the slide before they tore it down? You could see it from the highway. I can't imagine what else that would be. I don't think I would call it a water slide. At all. It's more of an adventure seeking thrill? Certainly not a ride. Amazing it was around that long.
@@thicccarteronxbox9930 I rode it too and it was not worth the wait and it wasn't that exciting. I remember it feeling unfinished back then and even weighing 220 pounds it felt like it would take off. I don't remember the timeline of when I went it was on a road trip in 2014 or 2015
I love your style. A lot of channels focus on the gore and horror of what happened to this poor young boy, wheras you focus more on the story of the slide and WHY this happened, going in detail with the measures taken by the park to hide the issues with the slide. Really nice work, love your channel!
Me too. It wasn't immediate gore and horror, but the whole story of how the park came to be, expanded, etc. I liked and watched the whole show.
I think I have to disagree. I'm still confused about how the child died. It would have been nice if the video mentioned the cause of death and possible factors (was the weight of the raft too low? was it the raft that kept malfunctioning? what about other injuries?)
@@ViaThroughTheWindow due to being too light to ride, the raft took to the air after going up the hill after the first drop. There's netting above the hill to keep people from flying off. The boy hit his head on one of the metal bars supporting the net and was decapitated, if I remember correctly. Nothing malfunctioned, the design was just bad and the raft was too light to ride.
@ViaThroughTheWindow Medical professional here. He died from a broken neck from impact with slide structure. He was *not* decapitated. One of the medical terms for a broken neck where the break is a complete break between the skull and the top of the spine is "Internal Decapitation". This does *not* mean actual decapitation where the head is physically detached from the neck. It means "badly broken neck on or around the c1 vertebra". Its actually not immediately fatal in 30% of cases. And it can be survivable. But. The media saw "decapitation" and ran with it, cooking up gruesome stories about it. So I havent seen the actual records but my guess is to cause internal decap, his head impacted the slide railing or structure while his body kept moving, which broke his neck. Children are very prone to this kind of injury in high speed accidents, due to their proportionally larger head and smaller body than an adult.
@@childofcascadiaI’m very curious on how that sort of injury is survivable. If the spinal cord is severed, isn’t that it for the body? I guess I could see survival with total paralysis or a vegetative state, but when there’s such a drastic break it shocks me that it has even a 70% survival rate. I assume gruesome stories accompanying this particular instance were a combo of the term “internal decapitation” and the fact that there were pictures of blood at the bottom of the slide with “two tarps”. The other two women sustained significant injuries as well though, and I’m sure there was some level of laceration or blood release from the severity of the boy’s injuries. The two tarps could be anything, from pieces of the raft, bone fragments from the one lady’s jaw, to an actual body. I for one am thankful enough that the scene wasn’t nearly as grisly as media makes it out to have been.
The first time I ever watched something about this accident, I remember there were a lot of comments where people blamed the other riders. They said the boy died because the woman riding behind him lied about her weight. I don't know how stupid one has to be to believe that the safety of a ride would depends on the words of riders about their weight, but even that aside, the fact that the safety of the ride was at all dependent on the riders' weight to the point where the weight being off could actually mean a possibly fatal accident would occur just says to me that the ride never should have existed in the first place.
There are plenty of extreme attractions out there that if you were to come in underweight or under height you would be under a large risk of dying. I don't understand how people can dismiss the fact that millions of people who rode this slide did not die XD. It's like saying if a 1 in a million people on airplane dies, then all air travel is unsafe. It became unsafe when proper maintenance was not done and the lack of informed rules in riders age, height and weight were not met. The main criminal negligence here was improper communication of risks and allowing a 10-year-old to ride this slide. Not teaching the crew on how to properly position the people riding the slide. And proper maintenance done on the slide. And the biggest design flaw anyway was probably the net itself. Using metal bars, it was unsafe method of stopping rafts if they were to go airborne. Also not to mention there are incidence in rollercoaster that were perfectly designed with "engineers and physicists" rating at about 4.5 deaths per year across the US due to the same issues. The difference here I suppose, was communication.
@yushkovyaroslav Not to mention that the original age requirement by professionals was 16, then the team working on it lowered it to 14, before removing it all together.
ill bet politicians were paid off to let safety standards become non-existant
33:07 Not following industry standards and "redefining standards" reminded me of the Oceangate debacle.
Agreed
I can assure you the Oceangate Titan was safe and effective.
@@Mogamishuthat seems to redefine "safe", as for effective: sure, only to what end?
@@Pengochaneffective in getting down there, not as effective in *staying* down there lol
@@triangulum_moriI mean, technically it was pretty effective at staying down there once...
This sounds a lot like the OceanGate thing where the CEO ignored safety because he thought he was redifining the industry. Both ended in tragedy.
Personally, I see the sub implosion as a win. Nothing better than less 1-percenters. The closer to zero it gets, the better.
Yep. Don't fuck around with physics, is the moral of the story 👍
I’ve had to explain to a lot of coworkers that the Titan explosion was not an one off. Rich people with big egos do dangerous stuff that hurts people all the time because they didn’t want to deal with the guidelines that ✨exist for a reason✨.
@@FreeValenI heard a phrase once, "safety guidelines are written in blood" and thats.. pretty fitting.
Yep. And both pushed ahead without adequate testing.
Jeff: "No model for this exists" RollerCoaster Tycoon 2: "Am I a f****n' joke to you?!"
First of all, great video on this topic. I was unaware of how much the builders were hiding from the public about the lack of safety for the ride. My father was a carpenter working for someone higher up at the park and our family was given season passes for a few of the first years. What I remember most about the park was the wavy river and the wet handprints of all the kids along the walls trying to time their jumps with the waves and leave the highest handprint. My brother and I would have a blast doing this for hours. Now as a grown-up, all I can think about is Caleb's brother and family, and all the time and fun they will never get back with him. RIP Caleb, I'm so sorry.
Your heart is in the right place.
😊
the fact that this guy ended up getting more punished for using drugs than killing a child is insane
But unsurprising...it's the USA...
Everyone’s anger, justified or not, doesn’t dictate the results in a court of law though. People should also be angry that the state had essentially no oversight or laws on the books that would protect the public and protect that kid when riding amusement park rides like that. Trying to charge the park owner’s with murder and solely focusing all anger on those individuals is just as absurd. Unfortunately, this case is similar to a lot of workspace law in that much of safety code is written in blood. Why did lawmakers in the state decide that there shouldn’t be any regulations on the amusement park industry in terms of rides and that letting those same parks police themselves was sufficient?
@@extragoogleaccount6061 the park knew of multiple injuries before the death happened so yeah they should have been charged hard for murder
@@Pj287. find a roller coaster, besides ones for kids, that do not have injuries reported on them as well. Six Flags Fiesta Texas has the Rattler (funny thing about Fiesta Texas it was originally built and run by the insurance company USAA and one of their subsidiaries) and similarly that ride had to be toned down multiple times due to injuries that were occuring. A death even occured at the similar Texas Giant roller coaster with a guest falling out of their seat in 2013. While each death is tragic and the Schlitterbahn family likely should have done more to ensure the ride was safe for everyone they let on, technically they were following the regulations and guidlines at the time.
Or trying to purchase sex from human traffickers
as an engineer, I dont think the biggest contributing factor was just his lack of formal education albeit lacking strong foundation is dangerous but there's plenty that is certainly learned throughout your career. I think it was likely his disregard for other professionals and his own arrogance to think he knows better than anyone that did him in. Money, power, and a hungry ego are the most dangerous thing in the universe.
100%
Very true. Most of the accidents and "incidents" I've seen happen have been because of disregard of regulations or guidelines. Also, what you point out is exactly why multidisciplinary teams are needed for projects, especially where health and safety are concerned.
i agree his lack of formal training was not the issues it was his pride and the disregard for safety if after the first few injuries if they stopped and found a way to fix the issues to make it safer instead of just sweeping it under the rug if he would have head some of the formally train people and got their input on it on how to try to keep the original vision intact but make it safe but as you said arrogance and ego and his own pride got in the way there have been plenty of people with out formal trianing to go on and make amazing things but they also let those who knew more chime in on it
As an engineer myself, I agree. I have a strong preference to have any critical work of mine verified by others and thoroughly tested. Why would I take it personally, if I failed to see an issue that someone else noticed? I would be grateful to them for noticing it before something bad happens. Being proud of one's accomplishments is a good, natural thing. Being blinded by pride is just beyond stupid.
I agree. If they would have taken the injury reports to heart and worked on the ride and taken their time they could have gotten to something safe without any formal training. In the end it was hubris that caused the death.
As a 4th generation New Braunfels citizen and former Schlitterbahn lifeguard and bartender, great job researching for this video! Such an extremely sad situation for everyone but it was very interesting to see this level of detail about a major event so close to home
I was a lifeguard at the New Braunfels location around when this happened. It was absolutely horrific to hear about.
*_"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled."_* - Richard Feynman
Excellent …he was referring to the challenger disaster
They were so obsessed with having the worlds tallest slide that they ignored all the laws of physics.
Yup!
And their obsession got someone killed and the "Justice System" was a joke for for patting him back on the shoulder.
And why didn’t it have to be inspected and proven safe before it could open
They were so obsessed with whether they could. They didn't stop to think whether they should.
@@ruthanneluvsvacuuming6653 It wasn't required by law
I remember this slide from before it opened. My mom said that it was gonna kill someone. I didn't believe it. But just wow.
I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a more well-researched video on KZhead. Down to the small detail about how they opened their South Padre Island location to compete with Edinburg’s struggling Super Splash park (which happened to close a few years after). Great job!
There is like zero information on the accident itself, from the weight of the riders to the seating position. If I remember right, it was 2 98lb females and a 50lb boy, with the boy in front, creating the perfect recipe for lift off.
I rode that slide *6 days* before Caleb was killed on it. I had gone to the waterpark with my twin brother's baseball team,. My dad was the coach, and a lot of the boys on the team had sisters who i really liked to hang out with, and they also got to go, so it was a really cool day. The slide was all we talked about on the car ride to the park. We sprinted to it the second we got in the park to get our names put in for a reservation. I remember spending all day excited to ride it. Then finally, it was our designated reservation time! The boys were all teasing us girls about how "dangerous" the slide was and how we could "totally fly right off!" Of course they were playing off of the news stories we had read about the crash test dummies coming out of the rafts. We all thought the news stories were greatly exaggerated for thrill and advertisement, and that there would be no way the waterpark engineers would *actually* open a ride if it was still dangerous. None of us got hurt that day, but less than a week later that boy died on it. The news constantly put up the photo of Caleb in his baseball uniform. I remember feeling so ice cold looking at that. I had just gone on the ride with a good number of boys that looked exactly like that, my brother included. Boys who would have almost an identical baseball uniform photo for the news to put up. Horrific. I hope Caleb's family is doing as alright as they can now.
Your story really paints the reality and random nature of such disasters. This thing should never have been allowed to be built.
How did your friends and family react to it?
@@rainscratch It wasn't a random act of nature, it was the calculated greed of the park owners and the insistence of a state Senator, the boys father, that regulations such as safety were bad for business. Greed is what took that boy and I hope his father never forgets he was complicit.
@@1ManNamedDan Do you always misquote what people say so you can use it against them. They didn't say it was a "random act of nature." They said it was the "random nature of such disasters" and followed it up w/what you've just described, only in a nutshell! You're barking up the wrong tree!
@@1ManNamedDanThe random nature of the fact it could’ve been her or any of the boys she was with.
I don't understand how it's even cost effective to build, tear down, rebuild, and delay openings. It would have been cheaper and obviously safer to have professional consultants throughout the process.
"Ya", Sure they could be paid off. Money fixes everything.
Its ego effective
cost effective because Jeff saved on paying an external company to do so. But this probably wasn't mainly about costs, it was about making good on missing deadline goals... and ego
Yeah but then those professionals would have said the entire slide was designed unsafe..
@@mystickyonyourface which was true
I remember seeing this on the news when the tragic incident happened. I saw something that looked like red paint splashed all over the net and the second part of the slide. It was a horrific scene and they vividly described this on the news of how and what happened. It was so shocking I recall this scene clearly. They later removed the clips. My heart sank when I saw the boy’s photo on TV news. They didn’t announce how much they settled out of court then, wow $20 million now I know.
Yeah, it's one of those horrible things you see that many years later you can still picture in your mind absolutely perfectly, like it's been burned into your brain. Ugh, it's awful and sometimes wish it was something brains didn't do.
@@LadyBeyondTheWallyup, no wonder why some turn to drugs. More power to ya if you can power through without the need.
Something like this happened to me on a water slide a few years ago. It was the kind you go down without a raft, and there was an overhead ceiling to the slide. The angle was so steep and I gained so much speed that I went airborne and hit my head on the ceiling several times and lost control of my body altogether for a couple seconds.
Yikes. I hope you reported it. Scary
I watched that episode they filmed for the slide with my dad when it was first released. My dad is an engineer, and when he saw the design he mentioned that it was very dangerous. The idea of the slide all hinged on the weight of the riders, which is not safe in my fathers eyes, or my own. I remember him saying that someone could get killed if the float ever went airborne during the finished ride. It wasn't long before we heard about the kid who was killed on the slide, and I realized that my dad was right. The whole story behind this slide has made me very weary of any water slides at the parks I have been to.
Most of them are safe, but there's always ways the rider themselves can potentially mess things up and get hurt. I remember trying to see how fast I could go down a waterslide as a kid by arching my feet and back a certain way, and I was starting to get pretty high up on the walls of the slide. At the end of the day it's on you to know your own limits, and be safe, or not ride something that gives you a bad feeling. Your dad sounds like a smart guy. Don't always wait for proof that he's right to listen to him, haha.
@@majorpwner241 You don't get a trial run in a computer simulation to see what actions will get you injured on a ride, so the ride has to be constructed with the possibility that a rider might accidentally or deliberately position themselves in an unconventional way. The whole nature of this sort of design is not suited to a water park ride, the idea was taken from rollercoasters which was foolish.
I have never, and will never, go on a water slide because of stories like these. My 8th-grade class went to a water park for our pre-grad trip, and I only went in the lazy river. I haven’t been to a water park since.
Wary is the word I believe your looking for.
@@majorpwner241 Kids do not know their own limits, and building a slide that relies on the riders' judgement to save their own lives is negligence.
The moment in RCT when you build the ride, but don't test it before opening
I was tempted to put a clip of that in
Clearly never built Dinghy Slides in RCT very known to fly off 😂
We did a computer simulation of building coasters in physics class.... unfortunately my version came off the tracks from being too fast
sounds like the loop at action park that got built and not tested properly before use.
Fiasco Forest's folly
That poor wee child an avoidable tragedy, your heart just breaks for the family. Safety should always be put first.
I watched this special before the tragedy. its always unsettled me that something seemingly harmless and lighthearted could turn out to be so dark
Jeff Henry talking about ignoring safety models because he was making something that models didn't exist for sounds exactly like what Stockton Rush said about his Titan submersible. We know how that went.
Exactly - I don't follow any rules because we are making new rules kind of thing.
I REMEMBERED FOR IT, EXACTLY IN THAT MOMENT. Dude, that's awesome, I could not imagine, someone other will have same thinking processes.
Yes. But at least Titan only mashed flat a bunch of ultrarich hubris enthusiasts...including the "Jeff Henry" of that story himself...
I’ll never understand why they thought it was a good idea to put a *hill* on a water slide with no upstop system
Because Jeff wouldn't believe anyone who told him his idea was fundamentally flawed. I suspect a combination of riches and meth convinced him that he was a genius. No one could tell him squat.
To be fair tho, there are many waterslides in operation today with hills. For instance all the Masterblasters (invented by this family, now manufactured by White Water), the ProSlide versions, and some Polin slides that relies entierely on gravity with no water-jets or LSM. There is also that slide in Italy in Caneva Aquapark that is famous for its hill where you're likely to go airborn. And of course none of them feature any upstop.
The craziest part is that @29:14 you can see what look like some sort of upstop or alignment system at the start of the ride... yet they decided it wasn't needed at the hill...
I think their upstop system was the netting. It did its job.
I remember seeing this. A 10 year old decapitated in front of others and what was supposed to be harmless fun. Horrific. Apparently there was blood all the way down the slide. RIP Caleb. Your loss of life may have saved many more.
So there was nothing to keep the raft on the slide except the weight of the passengers? And that wire netting was a horrible idea.
My heart sinks every time I see that picture of Caleb. I still think about his older brother who witnessed the aftermath.
IKR Everything just didn't add up.
'Schlitterbahn' is not a made up german word. It realy exists in german language and means "sliding surface made of ice or smoothed and icy snow". We used to make these in winter in the schoolyard when I went to primary school 😊 Oh and the news anchors in the video funnywise pronounce 'Schlitterbahn' 'Schlidderbahn'. So it sounds like my regional german dialect 😅
Kansas has a huge German immigrant population, not modern mind you but from the wild west days. German Mennonites I believe was the majority.
Texas actually does have a German dialect (Texas German) and New Braunfels is part of the belt of cities that has it. It’s not a surprise that it’s pronounced the way it is given that’s how the dialect sounds anyways (imagine a Texas-accented German).
@@Dr-Weird I just googled "Deutsche in Kansas" (Germans in Kansas) and found a lot of websides in German language about the best German restaurants, stores or bakeries there. Oh and blogs by people who moved from Germany to Kansas or planning to do so. I didn't know this is a thing.
@@ClementinesmWTF I knew about Texas German before, but now did a bit more research. I liked that in English it's 'airplane', in German it's 'Flugzeug' and in Texas German it's 'Luftschiff', what means 'airship' in German. Confusing 🙈
Rare/weird example of the t to d switch, but instead of an English word (like water being pronounced 'wader' and metal 'medal') it affected the German word's pronunciation here 🤣
As always, a wonderful presentation. Thoroughly researched, and presented with great storytelling skill. Every video of yours that I've run across, even if on a topic I don't typically follow, I find it a compelling story. Even if I can't watch it all in one sitting, i keep going back to hear the full story. Kudos!
Very sad story. I will keep all of the people who were injured on this ride and their families in my daily prayers 🙏
The horrific and tragic irony is that Caleb's family was there that day because it was Kansas lawmakers day at the park, as his dad was a state representative. The reason the park was built in Kansas was because of the lax laws Kansas had regarding waterparks. I cannot believe they ever allowed them to SELF INSPECT safety. Especially with safety experts having concerns with this ride from the beginning. Had Kansas had stronger laws regarding waterparks, this wouldn't have happened to Caleb. It probably would have happened somewhere else though.
Completely agree, it's very horrific, tragic and disgusting. I only bring politics into this because it is a central element given the entire circumstances from why the park was built there to who was there. A Republican lawmaker's own son becomes a victim of the typical Republican stance on regulation. The notion that people and their business goals will be self-regulating and do not need govt regulations or most regulations is very sorely and extremely misguided. Not everyone has ethics or acts wisely. As this video and all the coverage of this accident and these water parks clearly show, undereducated or poorly educated people do not understand what (as in how much) they do not understand. Ignorance is a great pusher to foolish ventures. Henry could have hired some very qualified people to help design this, might have been able to open it on time and not wasted money on rebuilds and likely come out ahead financially (avoiding the delays and rebuilds) and without hurting multiple people and decapitating a child who had no idea what could happen to him.
Another example of why government is the worst way to do anything. The park rules said "No one under 14 allowed on the ride." A politician's son is allowed on, even though he's 10. Said son is killed. It's the park's fault?
@@KutWrite The weight was not met. It would been enough to put another kid on top or the raft to be able to carry weights for cases like this.
It was calebs father that helped pass that law, then fought for tighter laws after his sons death ! He has to live with that and payed the ultimate price !
KANSAS is a RED REPUBLICAN state! REPUBLICAN states HATE rules and regulations! Unlike the very, very BLUE state of Maryland! For example: MARYLAND forbids development on our Barrier Islands unlike Florida! Barrier Islands protect the mainland. Assateague Island State Seashore and National Park is only used for Camping! Development is not allowed! Sanibel/ Captiva Island got slammed by Hurricane IAN! These REGRESSIVE Southern states need to learn from smarter Northern States! IMHO! 🤔🤔🤔🤔🇩🇪🇨🇭🇺🇸💚💙💚💙💚🌊🌊
Should have left the air time hill out. That was the dangerous part. Would have still been a record breaker without it
This reminds me of the Titan sub disaster. A businessman with a big ego that has complete disregard for all those “pesky” engineering requirements that saves lives.
Physics works behind known constants so there isn't even any guessing involved.
You are hands down the best channel. You cover the history in such detail and background. I LOVE IT!!! DONT CHANGE A THING
This is a terrifying story. Thank you for telling it but man… this is going to stick with me. So many moments of people saying “no, you can’t do that”.
Thanks for watching
Land of the free!
*Edit* - I wanted to post this on here because the video doesn't mention it. Caleb Schwab died on that waterslide, yes, but he didn't.... merely die. He was *decapitated*. His head was RIPPED OFF HIS BODY by that netting. The two women he was riding with were also injured, including skull fractures and a broken jaw - and from what I've heard from within the waterpark industry, the woman who was riding behind Caleb was injured by his detached head hitting her in the face. I'm not saying this to shock you, so much as I want you to understand just how shocking and horrific this incident was, far more than you think it is. I want you to hear this and know just how extremely criminally negligent the Henry family was in designing and building this thing. I am furious at these murderers and I want you to be furious at them too. When the Verrukt tragedy happened, I worked at in the engineering department of Whitewater West, one of the biggest waterslide manufacturers in the world. We had an ongoing relationship with the Schlitterbahn people, as we had built a number of their slides and had been consultants on a number of others. I recall the day this event happened, I came into the office, found the news of the dead child, and had a series of horrified reactions switching between "oh, that poor child" and "for the love of god, PLEASE tell me that wasn't us". Turns out that not only had we not built the slide, nor had we officially consulted on it, but apparently several of our engineers had told them that slide was a bad idea. The essential problem of that slide was kinetic energy. Water velocity is a variable, as it can be affected by a lot of different things including wind, ambient temperature, water temperature, slide temperature, variables in the contaminants and solutions in the water, etc. Friction is a variable, due to rider weight being a variable, so because friction and thus water velocity can never be an accurately known thing, you'll never be able to accurately predict the remaining kinetic energy of the raft as it crests them hump of the slide. This means you'll either get "close enough" and the vehicle follows the desired trajectory, "not enough", so the vehicle slides back down to the middle of the slide, or "too much", and the vehicle gets airborne when it goes over the hump. 'Close enough' is not a reliable category, it's like flipping a coin and needing it to land on its edge. Possible, but impossible to control or predict. 'Too little' is the next best thing, the ride did not go as desired but nothing tragic happened. 'Too much' is an absolute disaster, AND IF YOU'RE BUILDING A RIDE THAT HAS "ABSOLUTE DISASTER" AS ONE OF THE MAIN POSSIBLE OUTCOMES, YOU DON'T BUILD THE GOD DAMNED SLIDE, YOU F*CKING MORONS. I am, and will always remain furious at the fools who built this travesty. I'm even more furious with the prosecutors who fumbled the murder case, because it was, indeed, murder - these people KNOWINGLY put the public in danger of death due to their negligence and incompetence, but worst of all is they were TOLD the ride was fundamentally unsafe and they opened it anyway - that's not manslaughter, that's murder.
No one would like to hear the grisly nature of the boy's death. But you are correct, it hammers home just how negligent the designer/s and builders of this thing were. The variables you mention are something that are impossible to factor in for absolute safety. This horrific death trap should not have even made it past a rudimentary sketch.
It was an "internal decapitation" which means his head was not detached from his body, but his spine was severed when his neck snapped...
wow this is a lot more tragic than they were reporting back then.
This was the first I'd heard of the "internal decapitation", so I suppose that makes it less..... no, no it doesn't, it doesn't make it any less horrifying. But what horrifies me most is anyone who knows about design would look at this concept and shudder because it could never, never be safe, and these assholes went and built it anyway, and that makes me angry.
@@rainscratchmaybe try speaking for just yourself and not others, it’s important to know exactly what happened so some idiot doesn’t come on here and scream I CAN MAKE THIS WORK and cause this to happen again. The point of knowing what happened is to prevent it from ever happening again, the second we start ignoring these tragedies or pretend to know all the facts is the moment it may happen again.
Ty for making this video. I first saw the Schlitterbahn on a show called The Most X-treme: Waterpark edition. I would never have known the truth if it wasm't for this. I spent the last 10 years thinking it was a safe Waterpark and that the Varrukt was safe too. Boy, I'm glad I was nowhere near that place.
Lived about 15-20 min from this park and went there a few times as a kid. I was always too scared to ride Verruckt but I had some friends that did. Looking back, I'm glad I stayed away from it.
I was a lifeguard at that Schlitterbahn for four summers, '11 to '14 so I wasn't there for the accident but that slide always gave me a bad feeling. I never got to operated it because they only let the more experienced lead lifeguards run it. Which is understandable since most of the regular lifeguards weren't even 18. When the details of the accident came out, I was shocked that they let that kid ride in the first place. According to the rules when I was working there he was too young, too short and placed in the wrong spot on the tube for the ride. In front ahead of two larger adults the front of that tube catching air was almost inevitable with that kind weight imbalance.
I was wondering about that, meaning about his size and his location in placement. As a kid who rode a lot of rides, water and otherwise, i remember having to wait out my turn in order for heavier/larger riders to be allowed on certain rides to balance the weight, etc.
Exactly, at the very least he should have gone in the middle. but even so the total weight of the raft may have been too low, so two big noes the rider operator could have spotted and prevented. But you can see in this very video they seemed to often put the younger kids in the front seat, so the park wasn't instructing the operators properly either.
KANSAS is a REPUBLICAN state! The so called "PRO-LIFE" party! Where Life begins at conception and ends at BIRTH! All they really care about is MONEY! IMHO! MARYLANDER here! 🤔🤔🇩🇪🇨🇭🇺🇸💙🌊💙🌊💙🌊💙🌊💙🌊💙🌊
I'm baffled that you and two others are discussing the placement of a rider on a ride *as a factor in how safe the ride would be*. That should never be a factor whatsoever. The ride should work with no riders on it, with four obese people on it, with any random mix of small children and giant adults etc. There needs to be a big TOLERANCE around the possible scenarios. The moment you're building a ride that only works safely under certain conditions that require a team of lifeguards to oversee you're already recklessly endangering people.
I was a lifeguard at KC schlitterbahn from its construction (they hired us early and made us do jobs such as sweeping newly built footpaths and sanding and painting lockers) from roughly 2008ish-2010ish. I remember in 2008 there was a selection of lifeguards as to who would be supervisors, one of the supervisors chosen was the general manager of this park when the accident occurred. I remember being salty I was passed over but looking back I am glad I moved on...that being said, almost 100% of the equipment used in that park was driven north from texas...picnic tables, lockers, section of ride...they also brought their entire labor force from texas as well. Point is...I think they were trying to cut costs in every way they could. The general manager who I knew back then was a pretty nice guy...hardworking too...oh well.
I lived in KCK at the time Verrückt opened. I remember anticipating the slide's opening, and every time we drove past the park, I was disappointed to see it still in construction. I was really small and thin, but I wanted to ride it so badly. I remember trying to gain weight just to meet the requirements to ride. I also went to Schlitterbahn every year with my dad's family and my old church, which have both since been cut off from my life. The memories there are bittersweet. I watched my older cousin ride the slide and was so jealous because I was still too small to go myself. My family told me that I'd be able to ride it one day when I'm older. Then the incident happened. The the court case followed and I followed it closely only to find that the slide wasn't properly made. Since I was around Caleb's age, I thought a lot about what could've happened if it were me. I had nightmares, I would pray for Caleb's family as if I knew them personally, and had a fear of waterslides after that. I'm not scared of waterslides anymore, but this video reminded me of that time. Everyone thought it was cute that I felt so much for a random kid because of a waterslide I was obsessed with, but it's anything but cute. Someone got decapitated. It's infuriating that they could let something like this happen.
As a child, I would have had all the trust in the world that the mature adults who owned and designed the slide would have put safety of the riders above all else. As an adult, I have seen what the pursuit of money can influence all matter of horrible disgusting decisions. I don't trust anyone anymore. Not until I verify their intentions.
"Everyone thought it was cute that I felt so much for a random kid" do they not have sympathy on your home planet? No wonder you've cut them out of your life.
I was around his age also. When the ride was finally open my dad would always say when driving pass the park that we will go on it eventually and I would say no way everytime
it truly is anything but cute. to this day, i am certain that moments like this are the reason why we age, it tears out a bit of innocence piece meal. All of a sudden, you don’t feel invincible anymore. I watched a girl of my age, who waited next to me on a bike to cross the street die. She went over with the light still red and got t-boned by a car, impinged between the car and the guard rail. I still haven’t really got over that to be honest with myself.
im in kck too. people stil regularly visit his grave, myself included.
If you've ever seen this slide in real life, the pictures don't do it justice. It's incredibly high, and incredibly steep. It just looks wrong. It looks like exactly what happened, would happen. I prayed it would never open, and I swore none of my family would ever touch it.
Yup. I’ve lived in the KC area my whole life and something about that slide just never seemed right to me. It was massive and it looked kind of eerie lit up at night. To be honest, Schlitterbahn Kansas City never had a great reputation to begin with.
@@97I30T facts. Lol I remember seeing it before they put the cage on it, and I could just imagine kids launching off of it right at the top of the hump. You know the place. Lol then when they added the cage I knew the physics had to be off, and that they knew it. It was just... so weird.
Trial and error method of testing. Sounds super safe and smart. I also find it nuts that they would reused old steel and other building materials for their rides. Sounds dangerous too.
Oh boy, ETP just uploaded, wonder what today's topic is. *Sees Verruckt on the thumbnail*....... Oh no
It’s time
Jeez. I remember watching a show on television about this when they were still designing it. It was supposed to be this incredible waterslide. The dummies they sent down kept losing their heads.
Yeah!
And that's how Caleb passed sadly enough. I can't imagine the horror from the other riders on board. I can't remember where I read this but heard Caleb's head had hit one of the passengers behind him and that was one of the injuries suffered. So tragic and I had no idea how rushed this project was as well as not being designed by a real engineer. Had I known that, I would have never stepped into the raft. Three days before the accident! I had no desire to go to the park, but my brother wanted to go so we did. That slide was not fun. It was rough and not in the least bit enjoyable. I made a comment below that it was literally like being tossed of a building in a raft with weight in it!
@@ExpeditionThemePark That was excellent and tasteful. Thank you. It was hard driving by that slide before they tore it down. So sad.
When the tragedy occurred I could hardly think of it beyond through the parents’ perspective and somewhat of the general others who were there, witnessed it… but to be a passenger with Caleb… unspeakable trauma. I loved water slides, roller coasters, all that stuff as a kid. I never had any fear, having fully trusted that the engineers knew what they were doing and there’s “no way” adults would allow these things to be built and put their (brand) name on it if they didn’t make completely 💯 sure it was totally safe. There are still no words to describe the individual nor collective trauma things like this cause.
@@Kurt1969🫣🫣🫣
I remember seeing a special on the construction of this slide on Travel Channel years ago. And even in testing, the raft flew into the air and they did almost nothing to fix it. Even as a kid I was perplexed. Then years later I heard this on the news and all the memories came back. The engineering negligence on display was absolutely appalling.
My wife and kids and I were on a brand new “alpine coaster” in Leavenworth WA recently. It functions similar to a traditional roller coaster, but the rider has control over the brakes. I got mine to the bottom and stopped, and my daughter came in on the next coaster behind me. To my horror, I saw my wife come flying in to the unloading area full speed where she crashed into the car containing my daughter. She claimed her hair was in face from the ride down, and combined with the darkness of night, she was unaware she was at the end of the ride. Either there is no automatic braking function, or it malfunctioned and allowed this collision to happen. There was some soreness, but otherwise everybody was ok and walked away. If somebody were passing between the cars, a serious injury could have resulted. Watching this documentary makes me wonder if this attraction is just another accident waiting to happen. Most of the people injured on the slide probably never reported them to the park, or likely shrugged them off. I’m realizing now we may have made a mistake not bringing this to the attention of the owners of this ride.
This feels like something that would have happened in the 70s or 80s, not just a few years ago.
Yeah I think there was a water park in New Jersey that had several deaths, and I don't even think that's why it closed -- but that was the '90s, so the possibility of death probably added to its popularity and mystique 😂
@@VidaBlue317 Action Park, yeah. Not many people died, at least as compared to amusement parks in general at the time and supposedly none after the late 80s. Injuries were a different story, though. They had a ride not unlike this one, but it was fully enclosed on the hill. It shut down the first time in the 90s.
@@VidaBlue317 I went there, it was called 'Action Park'. I was a teenager as were my friends. The place kicked the hell out of us, we were all sore and black and blue, we saw several people get hurt there. Crazy how easily you could get hurt.
Welcome to Republicans' America. Take away all the safety laws that were written in blood in the 80s because you care more about companies than people, then be shocked when the laws you got rid of would have saved your son's life. Truly no care at all for anyone's well being. They only care about shoving as much money in their pockets as possible. Well, he got his wish. He sacrificed his son for 20 million dollars. And they say human sacrifice doesn't exist anymore.
I will never get over the discount prostitute for 10 day passes. This guy really messed up his entire family’s futures.
I thought prostitute was some kinda typo... I've since finished the video
Probably not, actually. Just put a bit of a dent in the net worth...
The best part is, I’m pretty sure the park had closed for the season at that point and it never reopened so those passes were useless. I hope he paid with the passes because he was too broke and didn’t have all the cash but he was probably just being a cheap ass like he was know to be.
This tragedy has always been in my thoughts. Being born and raised in Niagara Falls Ontario, where we had one of the first water parks, this story and tragedy always stuck with me. The fact that they first said there would be an age restriction of 16, but then basically crossed that out and said 14 and then the boy that was tragically killed was 10 is outrageous, for so many reasons! Age shouldn’t really have anything to do with it, it should definitely be on your height and weight when it comes to rides…… along with many many other safety factors, . But there were so many things wrong with this ride, these “designers”, “these engineers”, if you want to call them that, were extremely negligent. I hope that Caleb is flying high in a place that is actually fun, miraculous and most importantly where he can never get hurt… for all of eternity.. ❤🙏🏼
The amount of time and research you put into this video is truly amazing. Very well done!
I worked for a museum where accident reports were taken extremely seriously---everything double documented, scary lawyers in suit meetings once a month, video footage reviewed, recommendations for improvements that had to be implemented and documented in the form of who specifically took care of what and when and how....I say this to say take that stuff seriously as it should be taken. If you're ever working for a company that's asking you to shred such documents, or hide evidence, or lie about what you've seen, please know that you may be temporarily saving your job, but in the long run when the s---t hits the fan, you're going down with the ship, and usually it's the little guys that get thrown to the wolves first before they ever get to the ones at the top. Even worse is by helping cover up something like this, you put potentially other visitors, clients, employees, or yourself at risk for injury or death because someone thinks making a buck is more important than safety or human lives. Don't be the reason someone doesn't make it home.
I seriously have to ask what kind of museum are you working at where people are getting injured where lawyers are coming in monthly. Doesnt sound like a museum Id want to go to.
@@brianfitch5469 Why do you assume that 1 can only know information pertaining to his profession ? Some of us are wise because we enjoy investigating our interests and learning . In so doing we compile vast stores of information that we sometimes reference, from time to time, to shed light on a variety of subjects and circumstances to be helpful.
@@jimwednt1229 you still didnt answer my question. What kind of museum retains so many injuries it needs monthly mandatory lawyer meetings. Your comment makes no sense. Never did i say anything about knowing things outside a profession. Im asking about his profession in the museum industry.
It's despicable that nobody ended up going to jail for this. It's insane that they decided not to retry the case, especially when they concealed and destroyed evidence... Sounds like home cookin' at the DA's office to me. Unconscionable.
Any one person who would have went to jail for this would have been a scapegoat. This took many, many people’s’ incompetence to occur.
Every person who had a part in designing, building, and okaying this disaster of a ride should currently be serving time in prison for murder. They knew it wasn't safe. They opened it to the public anyway, and they ripped the head off of a 10-year-old child because they apparently thought professional engineers don't know anything and should be disregarded when they say the ride is inherently and grievously unsafe.
Double jeopardy had probably attached, so the prosecutor didn't get a second chance. It's frustrating, but I wouldn't want to live in a society where prosecutors could just keep trying people over and over until they got a guilty verdict. Unfortunately, that means that sometimes we have to let some of the truly guilty walk away.
@@trishoconnor2169 in my opinion, it should have been a mistrial and they should have been retried.
@@larrywalsh9939 But that's not how the Constitution works. If the mistrial is after the trial is officially started, then I don't think they can try again. In this particular case, that's very frustrating. They probably could have gotten the indictments without showing that video to the grand jury, and then they might have been able to get it in at the actual trial, when the defendants' attorneys could have added whatever information they felt appropriate. But now we'll never know. I just hope those men have carried a sense of their responsibility for this. I think it would have been good if the settlement of the lawsuit had included a requirement that on a regular basis they be shown age-progressed photos of what Caleb would have looked like if he had lived. Caleb at 11, at 15, at 20 … That's the person their eagerness to be the biggest and fastest took away from the world.
Over the years I think I can say that I have saw a several videos on that topic. IMO yours is one of the most detailed so far.
Poor young lad and of course his family and friends , no winners here . So sad 😢
It's absolutely wild watching this because my dad was business partners with Jeff BEFORE Schlitterbahn was founded, and designed rides for it in the 80s. I've heard a lot more than this from his firsthand account.
I appreciate that you didn't use the channel's normal intro music for this one. It was a nice way to show respect for the tragedy of it. Kudos for that.
I get it.
I would have appreciated if he wouldn't have used the sensation gasping intro that he did.
@@Delibro - Can't please everyone.
@@smileychess yes you can, just leave the sensation gasping intro, so easy.
@@Delibro And then someone else would complain about something else. If it bugs you, watch something else.
I was there just a few weeks before this boy died. We were around the same age at the time, and my family was going to go on this ride if my sister wasn't just under the height limit (she was even younger than me). We decided not to, and while we were at home, some time later, my dad told me the news about the boy. It was terrifying to know he was around my age and was killed so brutally.
Randomly got this as a suggestion. Casually opened it thinking I'd watch 30 seconds and move on. Ended up staying for the whole thing. What a story!
As an engineer this is a really good case study. Thank you for this
Yeah. Rides can be created well in-house. The Beast at Kings Island is a great example: tallest fastest and longest wooden coaster when it opened, and built by 2 people at the park with no experience in Coaster engineering, and here it is over half a century and 50 million+ riders later with not a single incident on the record. To be fair, they did consult with someone who had been designing coasters for decades, and apart from the stats, the ride plays it pretty safe, but they actually used physics calculations rather than solely trial and error, and the ride was extensively tested over a long period of time.
I can't believe they didn't take weight, speed and gravity into consideration when designing this ride. Seems like profit was more of a motive and safety was overlooked and took a back seat.
this was so thorough and well put together
The horrific engineering aside, the cover up was so much a part of this tragedy too. It astounds me how the narcissistic need for power and adulation will validate any means one will use to get it. I could NOT live with myself. 😢
Because you're presumably not drowning in money. Money is the currency of personal power...and we all know what power does. Mr Henry simply didn't give a crap, because he never once in his life had to...
This is one of the most tragic theme park accidents ever [right next to Great Adventure's Haunted Castle fire, another accident that could've been avoided], and there were so many red flags that were ignored. I feel really bad for Caleb's family.
His father routinely voted against regulation of businesses. Reap what is sown.
@@chellesama8256🙄
@@chellesama8256 That doesn't really say much dude, you're grasping at karmatic straws for that one.
@@chellesama8256 I agree but disagree as well. That little boy didn't deserve to reap what his father had sown, except in a Biblical sense which is abhorrent to me but probably acceptable to his parents. Every god I have ever studied is either a fraud or an evil being. Imagine you are a good god, now imagine that you know everything that has and will ever happen, now imagine that you are all-powerful and can right any wrong with a mere thought. There is no evidence that all of these things can be true of god at the same time. Evil is allowing or enjoying the pain of another against their will. Good is wanting to ease or erase that pain no matter who or what is experiencing that pain. What all-knowing, all-powerful god that isn't evil could allow children to have excruciating bone cancer and die slowly? That happens all the time in our world along with a trillion other atrocities that god allows (if he/they exist). I'm still a spiritual person, I just don't believe in all-knowing, all-powerful, benevolent beings. I believe in small gods or spirits that can grant favors but can't fix or see everything.
@@chellesama8256 Disgusting way to think. The poor boy had absolutely nothing to do with that, and his father didn't deserve his death for it. That you have likes on your reply is absolutely abhorrent and says a lot.
Caleb Schwab hit the overhead hoop so hard he was decapitated. There was a news clip soon after the accident that showed the bloodstained slide - that was legitimately disturbing to see.
How in the hell, I mean how does one gets decapitated, how can they go so fast?
@@XxXnonameAsDXxXthe weight of the tube. Doesn’t matter how fast they were going.
😢😔💔
@XxXnonameAsDXxX He wasnt decapitated. He suffered "internal decapitation" which is basically a medical term for a severe neck break where the skull/head seperates completely from the vertebrae but is still attached to the body. Its actually survivable in about 30% of cases if the damage to blood vessels and spinal cord isnt too severe and treatment is given right away. But the media saw the word "decapitation" in the medical records and ran with it. But basically, he broke his neck badly at the base of the skull. Does it make it any less awful, no. But, as a medical professional it bothers me that the media says he was "decapitated" to make it more sensational and gruesome, this is a young boys life we are talking about.
@@childofcascadiathanks for cleaning that up! Your comment would be good not just under a reply so other read it
We lived within 30 minutes of this place and I worked just 5 minutes away, near the Nascar track. My wife asked me multiple times if I was interested but I always told her no. I didn't think there was any way it could be safe, knowing how lax safety can be in the midwest. This is one of those cases where I wish I was wrong and people didn't have to die, but I am glad I didn't agree to give it a go lol.
Prayers go out to the family who lost their little boy.
My sister could have been hurt on this ride. Something that wasn't mentioned in this video was the velcro seatbelts that would easily come apart. My sister's came undone on the hill and if she hadn't snapped it back down, she likely would have been injured or worse. I grew up going to this park. It was fun, unique, and worth going to with friends and family. But it hurts to know that after all the cover-ups and failures, the charges were dropped.
You're telling me they actually used velcro for safety restraints on this ride? Jesus...
Not every failure warrants or requires a conviction. It does sound to me like the consequences of this disaster were swift, severe, and equitable. While maybe not everyone that failed Caleb was held accountable, it doesn’t like Mr. Henry will ever leave this behind him
I am no engineer, but as soon as I saw the netting over the top of the slide, I instantly cringed as I imagined being shredded on the netting or my head slammed against the hoops holding up that netting if the raft went airborne -- which is exactly what ended up happening to someone. How could that not have been obvious to the designers? Did that basic insight actually require a higher education? Goodness!
They were rich, arrogant, and didn't give a crap...
@@stevetournay6103 And one of the 'designers' had a history of being a meth addict
That is basically what happened the little boy flew up and hit his head on one of the steel netholders and he.was decapitated. 😢
A lot of their rides had that netting.
It's clear that your not an engineer because you would have seen the simple solution to this problem. Just remove the netting. Easy peasy.
I lived in San Antonio and this was a big deal... I saw it on the news and the first words out of my mouth was "someone is going to die on that ride", then it finally opened and sure enough. Sad that money gets in the way of peoples safety.
If we could see that, you would think those certifying would have too. 😢
@@karyncremeens9376 money gets in the way of a lot of thinking. I know this ride wasn't based on San Antonio, but there was a lot of anticipation because there were a lot of stories about it on the news. They spent a ton of money "developing" this ride and if social media has been a bigger thing back then, it would have been all over that too. The news was all they had and it was on a lot. But money got in the way of being able to see the flaws.
Riveting! Thoroughly researched, using a wealth of resources to bring the history/tragedy/case to viewers in an informative, engaging and sensitive manner. Clear presentation, with events documented in chronological order covered with an impressive and professional narration. I'm very impressed with this video but devastated and frustrated that safety was once again third, behind profit and ego. My heart goes out to Caleb and his loved ones, especially as the demolition of the site moves to erase the tragedy. Thank you for ensuring viewers never forget.
I remeber being at that park when theyre were still building it, and another time when they were testing it, and then one last time a week before the accident. It just looked like an accident waiting to happen. The whole kansas city park always felt rushed and half done to me. It was a weird feeling after seeing the news about the accident because a week before I almost rode the slide but bailed last seccond. Ever since then, before they took the it down, seeing the slide in the distance whenever I had to drive by felt so ominous.
Oh absolutely. The rest of the park just looked so cheap and half baked. The service at the concession stand was abysmal too.
Wow. You did a great job on this documentary. The manner in which you handled the child's death was respectful and considerate. RIP Caleb.
Thanks for the video. It was very informative, respectful to Caleb, and interesting.
The most diabolical consequence of ego and greed. Wishing peace and healing to the family of that beautiful boy.
The worst part of it all is that the accident, construction problems before that, and testing problems before even that, would have likely all been avoided if qualified engineers had been hired to design and test the ride.
They DID consult with engineers, including engineers from the company I worked for at the time, Whitewater West. The engineers told them things they didn't want to hear, so the henry family refused to hire them as contracted consultants.
I recall at the time the report was the child should not have been allowed in the ride due to age and weight, but the parents insisted he not be left behind. The child was allowed to ride and that's the last thing he ever did. Sad.
@@carriecree1789I hadn't heard that, can't verify - however, I do know that the boy's father, the Kansas state representative, I believe, he was not on the ride. I don't know who were the two women on the raft with him.
@@larrywalsh9939 Scott Schwab was not on the ride but an interesting fact is that he is one of the lawmakers that happily allowed such insane, unsafe, unregulated waterparks to even exist in Kansas. Very sad his son lost his life for that, but that fact was always quite bone chilling to me. He is part of the cause of his own son's death.
Open air waterslides have never looked safe to me. All it would take is some kid freaking out or breaking the rules to end in tragedy. At least with roller coasters, you're strapped in.
Poor Caleb. So tragic. Just hope he didn’t suffer. Heartbreaking.
He was decapitated at the top of the hill when the raft flew off the slide - he died instantly.
"neither did Henry Ford, but he built the car" no he didn't lmao
I went to Schlitterbahn and rode the Verrukt on Saturday August 6th 2016. Won 3 tickets from my Church to go earlier in the summer (Life Mission Church) which Caleb Schwab ALSO attended. Gives me a cold feeling everytime I think of that.
8:05 for anyone interested, insano is still open and working, it’s located in Fortaleza, Ceará. i grew up watching people go down this slide (but i never had the courage to do it myself). they even made a mini version of insano in the 2010’s. the difference is that the park in brazil actually followed safety protocols and had qualified engineers building (and maintaining) the slide. it’s crazy to think that the same person who came up with the idea for insano was so horribly irresponsible and made something that put thousands of people in danger and killed that sweet boy. he and the other culprits should be rotting in prison
The American waterslide should never have been formatted as a rollercoaster type slide in the first place
Eu sou Americano mas ja foi la 3 vezes, eu adoro Beach Park e o Insano. Tambem gosto muito a piscina de ondas! 🤙🏻
@@danielbrennan9122 eitah!! Muito interessante!!
@@baixinha_bullrider Eu amo Ceara' muito! 🫶🏼
I disagree, you accept that there is possible risk on any form of entertainment ride, anything can go wrong, in this case I'm betting that Caleb was too light for the ride, blame the operator who let him on.
I live in Kansas City and I remember watching it get built. I’m a huge daredevil, but something looked off about this slide. So I was never really keen on trying it. My best friend asked me if I wanted to go on it with him. I told him no, something is off about that slide. I think someone may actually die on it. Two weeks later I was proven right. How awful. I wish I had been wrong.
I'm so sorry you never got to go on that ride
@@allancouceiro9255 I’m not. I was right about it.
@@vholt1000 I hope one day you fulfil your dream of riding a slide like this
Nice to know that the idea of getting on a TV show was worth a child's life.
Amazing video! This is my first experience with your channel. I was amazed at the detail and depth of your research. You got a new sub from me!
Thank you so much!
Im from New Braunfels, schlitterhahn was always such a big name, brought in lots tourists, also a popular summer job for the locals. Doesnt help the rivers nearby are a big deal in their own right. This episode hit me the closest to home despite the incident being at a further location. My heart goes out to Caleb's family
Nice profile picture.
I'm from New Braunfels too. Did my time as a lifeguard at Schlitterbahn. I remember when the story of the death came out. It was absolutely awful.
I grew up there too, left in 82. i personally didnt care for schlitterbahn, we hung out at stinky falls in highschool
I am from San Antonio, and in the late 80's to early 90's after our neighborhood summer swim leagues we would always end the season with a trip to Schlitterbahn. It was such a great park because there always seemed like there was tons to do, especially when they opened up the other parts of the park, and they would let you bring food and stuff so it wasn't even that expensive. It's sad they got so big and let money and crazy ideas not only kill Caleb but ruin the legacy of their family as well.
I graduated in 1980 from high school our class went to the Dude’s Ranch and lazy river. I remember a group of us girls getting caught in an under current after being flipped out of the inter-tube. Luckily I could swim but a couple of girls couldn’t. The struggle became really intense with a lot of screaming and panicking. Fortunately several white boys who were strong swimmers came and rescued them. I love water and fell in love with Schlitterbahn. As an adult I took my kids there in the 90’s. I rode all of the insane rides and ran off and left my kids with their friends, which I would never do as a cautious mother but something about that park brings the kid out in me. I hate to hear of this tragedy which could have been avoided. I also think back about the safety of some of the rides I been on. I believe he didn’t receive enough time, and the “good ole boy” system was at play. Texas is a hot mess when it comes to justice. But karma is real, imo.
There’s a huge difference between designing and actually building the structure. No one deserves to die the way Caleb did.
This case is something I float back to from time to time. And thanks to this video, I've learned that these people sold slides to major corporations. The fact that there are/were wild Schlitterbahn slides is, to me, mildly terrifying.
I mean, I am not sure how people forget that there were millions of riders that went on the slide, because 1 of them died... Sure, it's tragic, but we average 4.5 rollercoaster deaths a year in the US... The main issues here were poor training, maintenance and communication. If anything, the main design flaw was the metal netting, not so much the slide. And the negligence was allowing a 10-year-old to ride it. Especially in the front. (Due to his low weight the raft became nose light and lift of just like an airplane would, if he was sitting any other position, nothing would have happened) And that's the negligence of not having that communicated and executed properly.
I'll never forget this