The Theme Park History of Haunted Castle (Six Flags Great Adventure) 

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.

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?

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).

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.

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.

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.

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!!!!

Especially at a horror attraction. It disturbingly comes full circle.

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.

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

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.

Oh my god

That is creepy 😱

@@kcoolrule yep

yikes that is very creepy

Getting Final Destination vibes from that.....

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

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.

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.

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.

you and your dad are very lucky people

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/

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 😭

IT WAS fate that saved you and many other people from being in the wrong place at the wrong time that day in 1984!!!

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.

Watch any other video and you will have fun, I promise.

Sman MMO uhb

"Trust no one, Scully."

Thank you! We plan on covering more attractions from SFGA in the near future!

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!

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

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!!!)

shame on six flags for not taking responsibility and accepting the blame !!! ROT IN HELL SIX FLAGS CORPORATION!!

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.

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.

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

Yes!

what's her user?

@@iampause mmmshel_1 on Tiktok. Click on the video with the man wearing the fur hoodie

Thank you for watching!

that is very true and I totally agree with you!!!

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 !!!

I understand.

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.

Thank you Robert! We're planning on something special for Halloween, especially with all the haunts!

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.

*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.

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 :( :(

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.

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 :):):)

Did you read the book? Library has it.

Dark Knight replaced this castle. I love that ride but the energy there is funky…

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 :)

..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!!!!!!!

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!

The Special Effects Stages has been added to the list, thank you for the suggestion Nicholas.

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

Hercules has been added to the list, thank you for your suggestion Jeffrey.

I figured I would suggest parks i lived need. Hersheypark and Dorney Park have some interesting history to them.

I appreciate that, most of the suggestions we've received have been mostly from Disney and Universal. I probably would miss out checking the attractions from other parks without these suggestions.

Theme Park History Hershey 's chocolate world would be a good one too it's in the Hershey Park entertainment complex operated by Hershey Chocolate and houses a dark ride simulation tour of the plant. The park is run by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts both are run by the Hershey trust.

I don't think it may just be these poor unfortunate ones either. Have a look:eu.app.com/story/news/history/2019/09/26/six-flags-great-adventure-rolling-thunder-haunted-castle-lightning-loops/2432854001/ The place definitely has a history of death and violence which began in 1977.

This looked like a fire trap in every way.

your friend's uncle Dennis was A very lucky guy whom got out of the haunted castle attraction with his life in 1984!!! Im betting your friend and his family are very glad that his uncle Dennis escaped with his life rather than suffer the horrible sad fate of the 8 kids whom died in the fire at the haunted castle attraction in 1984!!

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.

I agree.

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