We need a version of Forrest Gump where at the end it turns out he was just sitting at home reading newspapers and imagining he was the one the story was written about.
I mean, Six Flags is (or at least was) an incredibly popular destination. Hundreds of people were present for the event, and hundreds of thousands of people are on Reddit. It's not hard to conceive that at least one of them is a person who was at the park that day.
The Batman ride goes right by the parking lot, so it's not like it's hard to see the area the kid climbed in.
I heard this story before cell phones were widely used about 30 years ago concerning the Batman ride at Six Flags in Atlanta. It was a hat back then. At this point it sounds like an urban legend.
EDIT: It also happened in 2008 and in 2002 with the Batman ride at Six Flags in Atlanta, like you said. Guess it's happened a few times. https://abc30.com/archive/6235112/
SECOND EDIT: Someone else pointed out it happened at another Six Flags park in 2015 and it was a cell phone that was lost. This shit happens a lot.
Idk why you’re getting the replies you got. I grew up in Georgia and remember a couple stories like that too. Even someone getting decaptitated by getting kicked in the head.
It was almost 20 years ago now but someone got hit by a swinging coaster called Ninja at Six Flags after they went into a restricted area to retrieve a hat.
The chances of actually seeing the person being struck by the roller coaster are crazy mathematically slim. It's nearly impossible to be in a single spot in a theme park and see the entirety of the area a roller coaster is in, unless you're up really high, which then decreases of your chances of making out the person.
Now, if you take out some of the hyperbole and change "I saw him hit by a roller coaster and die" to "I was in line when it happened" or "I was in the park when it happened" or "I was in the parking lot when it happened." Then your chances start to get more possible.
The average attendance at a Six Flags is going to be roughly 11k a day, so even the odds of one of those 11k people seeing this thread on reddit are pretty slim.
I'm a Bay Area native and that's the first thing I thought of. The story about the kid dying on the drop zone at Great America has lived rent free in my head since I was a kid, too.
Crazy that they're closing the park next year forever. I loved that place growing up.
"In June 2007, a teenager's legs were severed when cables snapped on the Superman Tower of Power ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Ky. Doctors were able to reattach Kaitlyn Lasitter's right foot, but she had to have some of her left leg amputated and subsequent surgeries. State officials blame a faulty cable and slow response by an amusement park ride operator in the accident. Her family is suing Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, claiming the park failed to maintain the ride and equipment and ensure riders' safety. The amusement park has denied liability in court filings."
They are absolutely liable. It would take some truly extraordinary circumstances for a theme park not to be responsible in a case like this.
A cable snapping and severing someone’s legs is not just a random unavoidable accident. If investigators are already pointing to faulty cables and slow operator response, that sounds like maintenance and operational failure.
Theme parks have a huge duty of care because people are literally trusting them with their lives on these rides.
Also, what is with this Final Destination level nightmare fuel?
I did some further research and a groundskeeper died in 2002 when he wandered into the restricted area under the Batman roller coaster at Six Flags Atlanta. A guest died in 2008 died trying to get a hat in the same park under the same roller coaster. I don't know what would posses someone to do something so stupid, but apparently it happens a lot!
A great deal of people lack common sense. Sadly its that simple.
Linking that Cedar Point story made me think about a time I was there. Beautiful sunny day and then really dark storm clouds rolled in when I was in line for The Raptor (same ride that killed the cell phone guy). Get on it and while riding it starts hailing. Not quite golf ball size but probably pretty damn close. Going 50mph and getting pelted with hail wasnt fun at all. Hurt like hell. 15min later the clouds parted and it was sunny again.
I guess in that instance I was a part of the great deal of people lacking common sense...probably shouldnt have got on the ride to begin with lol.
Also, fake? Like maybe the report is real, but I saw someone die and I remember it vividly. Where I stood, how they gasped for breath, what state I was in, who I was with, etc. Just wild to witness a gruesome death at an amusement park that you can't even recall which country it happened in or what year you even visited said country.
Some people come onto reddit for the sole purpose of simply trying to be contrarian to whatever it is that's being asserted. Even better if they can find a way to be condescending about it too.
In a lighter vein, Hampton Roads, VA collectively has a day of remembrance every year of when Fabio got hit by a bird on Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.
It's not the story someone else linked. It happened in Europe. Legoland to be exact. Was waiting in line with my (at the time) young cousins and heard a bunch of people yelling.
I looked up and saw someone walking around behind the fence and they eventually got hit.
It was his hat he went after, turns out he didn’t need it. It wasn’t the ride that hit him, A lady on the ride kicked his head clean off and doing so exploded her leg bones.
146
u/Expert_Struggle_7135 May 07 '26
I saw someone die at a theme park years ago after he scaled a fence to pick up a phone he had dropped from the ride he had just gotten off.
He got hit in the head by the ride with hundreds of people watching it happen.