As children are left ‘shaken’ by a terrifying waltzers fiasco, we look back at some of the worst fairground disasters ever from horror injuries to huge fires
Waltzer car comes off Edinburgh fairground ride as children scream
Theme parks are usually full of thrills, fun and joy but sometimes accidents happen that result in terrifying tragedies.
For the most part, these rides are safe but recent history is littered with horrifying cases where things go wrong.
Just this month, children were left “shaken up” at the Galactic Carnival in Edinburgh as a waltzer car hurtled off track. The grim moment a fairground ride went “flying” with children inside was caught in terrifying footage. Thankfully no-one was hurt, but others haven’t been so lucky.
The Mirror looks back at some of the most shocking fairground disasters – where ordinary family days turned into horror.
READ MORE: Fairground terror as waltzer car hurtles off tracks while families scream
Battersea Big Dipper Disaster – London, 1972
The wooden rollercoaster had been a funfair favourite since it opened in 1951. But in 1972, everything changed. A rope snapped while the ride was high in the air. At first, some riders thought it was just a prank but the panic soon set in.
The brakeman tried to trigger the emergency rollback brake but it failed. One of the carriages derailed, smashing through the barrier, with two more crashing on top.
Five children were killed and 13 others injured, making it Britain’s worst ever fairground tragedy. The ride was dismantled and has not been rebuilt.
Haunted Castle Fire – Six Flags, New Jersey, 1984
This haunted house attraction was made of seven aluminium trailers and plywood frames. When a foam pad inside caught fire, the blaze tore through the structure within minutes.
Eight teenagers who were trapped inside the building tragically died. Their bodies were so badly burned that investigators couldn’t tell them apart from the fake skeletons used as props. A year later, a private investigator claimed the fire was arson and blamed the park for failing basic safety checks.
The tragedy forced Six Flags to revamp its fire protocols and even add its own in-house fire brigade. State laws were also changed, spurred by grieving families who demanded better protection for others.
The Smiler Crash – Alton Towers, 2015
It was supposed to be a thrill ride but instead, it became one of the UK’s most shocking rollercoaster accidents.
A fully loaded train on Alton Towers’ famous ride The Smiler collided with an empty carriage at 20mph. It wasn’t a mechanical fault but a chain of human errors. Earlier that day, a test train had stalled mid-ride due to wind, triggering the safety system. But different engineers, unaware of its location, overrode the block resulting in the next train to crash.
Two teenagers suffered life-changing injuries and needed leg amputations. The ride reopened just a year later. In 2018, the victims sued Merlin Attractions for negligence, pointing to a long history of technical issues.
