Let's Go To Court! - 261: The Six Flags Haunted Castle Disaster

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

The Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure always drew a big crowd. People often waited for more than an hour to get into the spooky, dimly-lit corridors of the castle. But the Haunted Castle was scarier than the crowds at Six Flags would have ever imagined. The attraction was filled with flammable decor. It had very few emergency exits. There were no smoke detectors. Six Flags’ management was well aware of the Haunted Castles’ defects, but they refused to take basic safety precautions. Afterall, those efforts would have cost money. And now for a note about our process. For this episode, Kristin read a bunch of articles, then spat them back out in her very limited vocabulary. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: Storybook Amusement channel on YouTube, “The disaster that changed theme parks forever: Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure” The Documentary “Doorway to Hell? The Mystery and Controversy Surrounding the Fire at the Haunted Castle” “Officials recall code violations at Theme Park,” by Donald Janson, New York Times “Blaze fatal to 8 linked to lighter,” by Lindsey Gruson, New York Times “Worker at Great Adventure cites delay in reporting fire,” by Donald Janson, New York Times “Girl tells court about escaping fun house fire,” by Donald Janson, New York Times “Amusement park owners go on trial for fire that killed 8,” New York Times “Closing statements to jurors are made in park fire trial,” by Donald Janson, New York Times “Fire safety official criticized for testimony on fatal Jersey blaze,” by Thomas J. Knudson, New York Times “Charges dropped in Six Flags case,” Associated Press “Settlement in fire at park in Jersey,” Associated Press “Amusement park crisis management,” Joe Costal Rowan University YOU’RE STILL READING? My, my, my, you skeezy scunch! You must be hungry for more! We’d offer you some sausage brunch, but that gets messy. So how about you head over to our Patreon instead? (patreon.com/lgtcpodcast). At the $5 level, you’ll get 48+ full length bonus episodes, plus access to our 90’s style chat room!  

One semester of law school. One semester of criminal justice. Two experts. I'm Kristen Caruso. I'm Brandi Pond. Let's go to court. On this episode, I'll be talking about the Six Flags Haunted Castle disaster. Ooh. It's gonna be terrible. I don't know anything about this. I've never heard of this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You really excited to talk about it no okay i had big plans for this episode brandy did plans yep what kind of big plans when we switched to this format i thought to myself you know what you know what i like to do sometimes i like to do a light case yeah you thought this was going to be a light case and so hang on now and i was even thinking like you know some people they just want to hear a light case.

And now I can be that person for them. This week I'll do a light one. Instead, I'm doing this one. And it's like the most terrible case you've ever heard in your life. Oh, Lord. Yeah. Okay. But here's what got me.

I'd never heard of this one either. And you're going to hear it and go, how do we not all know about this? So there you go. Okay. All right. You're doing the Lurds work here. That's, yes. Yeah. All right. But like a sexy Lurd. Okay.

Obviously. The sexiest Lurd. Obviously. Hey, folks. You know what we have what a brand new popping popping piping hot bonus episode and it's meaty because we both have cakes on it hey this midwestern gal says it's popping it's piping it's piping hot is what i'm dropping it's hopping, it's piping, it's... Piping hot is what I wanted to say. Dropping, it's hopping. Yeah, it's dropping it like it's hot. I, you know what, I apologize.

You got two, you got a bracelet situation? I am wearing two bracelets. And they're jingle... And they're jingle jangling. That's first, that jingle jangle jangle. That's, yeah, like what am I thinking? Today's the podcasting day. That's right.

Anyway, you can check out that hot new bonus episode on our Patreon, where you will find it and 48 other bonus episodes. They say we have too many bonus episodes on there. I know. People keep saying it, but we keep cranking them out. Yeah. You know, if you don't sign up for our Patreon, we might start deleting those bonus episodes. This is all on you, friend.

Think about that. Why don't you? That took a weird turn. And I don't want to hear about, oh, it's a hard time financially for my family. Anyhow, should I tell you this story? Yeah.

Okay. I'm really excited. I don't want to. Okay. I love amusement parks, so. Well, you're going to hate this. Okay, great. What do you love about an amusement park?

Well, okay. I will say I used to love amusement parks. I've not been to an amusement park in years. I can't imagine getting on a ride now because of my anxiety. But weren't you always anxious? Like, what happened? Not like I am these days. Okay.

No, I mean, that was always what we did for family vacations and stuff. I've been to, I don't know, three different Six Flags. I've been to... Oh, listen to this. She's bragging. So many amusement parks. Okay, well, keep in mind that I have a hot tub, so you're not that cool. Well, I did it when I was a kid.

I was funded by my parents. Were you allowed to get all the cool snacks and stuff at the park? Yeah, I mean, we had snacks, but, you know. Yeah, us too. My dad always sprung for that stuff no he didn't tipping dots no problem any food on a stick great i never heard a lecture about how theme parks are like airports where they know they've got you where they want you and they can charge whatever they want for a

meal yeah okay anyway wait you guys ever go to disney yeah oh i used to live in florida you took They've got you where they want you and they can charge whatever they want for a meal. Yeah. Okay, anyway. Wait, did you guys ever go to Disney? Yeah. Oh. I used to live in Florida. You took your own food into Disney? No. Well, if it was allowed, I'm sure we did.

Yeah, I think it's allowed at Disney. I think you can take it and stuff. Okay, guarantee you. It used to be because I know we did when I was a kid. Guarantee you, anywhere it was allowed, that's what we did. Yeah. Or, more likely, we's what we did. Yeah. Or, more likely, we got by on snacks. Yeah.

And we watched, sadly, as other children ate $7 ice cream cones. Yeah. No, so my dad, my dad was not like that. My dad was not DP. Like, we ate lunch

at the restaurant, at the amusement park. Oh, so you were rich. Uh-huh. Oh, so money grew on treats. Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. I bet you all got sodas, too. Probably.

That's where the real money is. Yeah. Yeah, that's how they get you. I've riled her up, folks. Have we stalled enough? Are you ready to start? I don't know. Maybe not.

Okay. Have we stalled enough? Are you ready to start? I don't know. Maybe not. Okay. So I found out about this from a really good YouTube channel. It's called Storybook Amusement. And do I want to read the title of the video? Well, what did I call this in the intro? The Haunted Castle Disaster. Okay.

I'm not going to read the title of this. Also, there is a documentary from 2003, which is basically like the 1700s. Exactly. How'd you even find it? It's on Clips on YouTube. And the guy who made the film has put it up on his channel. Okay. Very helpful. Yeah. And I'm going to read you part of the title. Okay. Are you going to bleep part of it? No. No, I'm just going to say Doorway to Hell? And the question mark kind of serves as like a colon sometimes.

Do you get it? I don't think you do. Also, a lot of great reporting from the New York Times. Okay. Here we go. Uh-oh, I scrolled too far. We haven't even started yet. I'm self-sabotaging.

Picture it. Twas 1974, and Warner Leroy or Leroy, what are you doing with your tongue? My God. My God. Why are you doing with your tongue? My God. My God. Why are you saying my God like that? I'm going to do an impression of what you looked like just then. Okay.

I got a little something caught in my tooth here. And I'm just supposed to watch you do that weird shit? I thought I was doing it subtly, but obviously I was not. I could tell you for sure whether or not you used a tongue scraper this morning. That's too much. Got it all taken care of? It's done. Taken care of.

Thank you. All right. Warner Leroy, or Leroy, depending on how you want to say it, had a big idea. He wanted to open an amusement park. And he just, oh. He was just the guy to make that happen. And he just was the guy to make it happen. That would have worked.

You could have kept on going. No, I lost momentum completely. Warner had deep pockets. Oh, yeah? Yeah, he was the grandson of Harry Warner. Oh, yeah, Warner Brothers. Wow, very good. Okay.

I've been to three different Six Flags. I know that all of their stuff has the Looney Tunes on it. Oh, it all makes sense now! Yes! Yeah, I guess when you're the freaking grandson. Okay, all right. Yeah. His dad was also in showbiz.

He was the producer of a little film called The Wizard of Oz. Oh, shit. Mm-hmm. Warner hadn't gone the Hollywood route. He'd become a restaurateur in New York, and he owned some very successful places. But he couldn't shake the feeling that a really nice amusement park would do great in the Northeast. Disneyland was doing great in California. This newfangled thing called Disney World had opened in 1971 in Florida, and he thought, why not the Northeast?

Why not the Northeast? So he set his sights on a huge patch of land in Jackson, New Jersey. It was perfect. It had easy highway access, and it was just close enough to New York City and Philadelphia that he was certain he could bring in a crowd from kind of all over the place. He bought the land from a guy named Stanley Switlik. Switlik? Mm-hmm. Fun fact.

In 1935, Stanley opened the first parachute training tower in these United States. Wow. Okay. You want to guess who was the first person to jump off that tower? I don't have a clue. Come on, 1935. Think of someone cool. I have no idea.

Wow. Can't even think of someone cool. How about Amelia fucking Earhart? Oh, that is fucking cool. And afterwards, she said it was loads of fun. Wow. Mm-hmm. I can't believe you refused to play the game.

I never would have guessed Amelia Earhart. You know the only way to ensure a 100% failure rate, Brandi? Okay. At any rate, Stanley sold, you know, like 800-something odd acres to Warner. And, you know, this is when things got a little not great. See, Stanley was a big conservationist. And, you know, maybe Warner convinced Stanley to sell him all that land by telling Stanley that, oh, I just want to build an animal sanctuary on that land.

So he lied. Well, he said it would be a drive-through safari it would be great just people appreciating nature oops if they happen to hop on a roller coaster you know who are we to stop them right yeah yeah so stanley discovered that the land would actually be used to create an amusement park slash safari thingy. Uh-huh. Is that the word Stanley used? Yeah. Thingy.

And so he looked himself in the mirror and he said, let's go to court. And while he was there, he looked at himself in that mirror and he said, you know something? Hold on a second. I understand that I am not the main character of this story. And one day when a beautiful, big-titted Midwestern gal tells this story, I'm going to be totally fine with her fast-forwarding through this part. Oh, okay. Because I understand that she's just stalling before we get to a really terrible part of the story. Anyway, so he sues Warner.

The case went all the way to the United States. Supreme Court! And Stanley lost the case. Okay. This legal battle bankrupted him. Yeah. Yeah. Sure.

I am struggling today, folks. Do you need to wet your whistle? I don't know that it would help. I am struggling today, folks. Do you need to wet your whistle? I don't know that it would help. I've got three beverages here. Do you have a blue cheese crumble? Everyone, I had a wedge salad for lunch, and I'm convinced that it has fucked me. I am. You're just over here getting fucked by a wedge salad.

I think I went too creamy with my dressings and those crumbles. And let me tell you, I sopped up all those crumbles. And now the people are paying the price. Because I am having to clear my throat every 35 seconds. Poor Patty. You just can't say no to dairy. You know, for a while, I really did limit my dairy intake. Yeah.

And it made a, you know, a difference. Yeah. But I hated it. Yeah. Your life was a lot less happy. Is that a life I want to live? No. I don't think so.

Anyways. Do you still drink apple cider vinegar every day? No. But I really did feel like that helped I know, I know you did But it tastes like seeds It tastes terrible, yeah Did you ever do it? I tasted it one time and I almost died

Glad to have you with us Yeah, I should probably start doing that again. Can I just lick your foot instead? Gross! No, what's that gonna do? Probably the same stuff as the apple cider vinegar. Anyway, this legal battle bankrupted

Stanley and his family. Oh, shit. Yeah. Yeah, that sucks. And in the end, Warner got to do what he wanted to do with that land, which was build a kick-ass amusement park with, like, a little safari thing. Uh-huh. Also, it was honestly pretty awesome. He called the park Great Adventure. Ooh. It featured what was then the tallest Ferris wheel in the world, which was very cleverly named Giant Wheel.

Boy, that is clever. And, you know, it had all the stuff you expect, the log ride, also a petting zoo, which was named Happy Feeling. No, it's not okay. A petting zoo at an amusement park? Hey, it was also an animal sanctuary, Brandy. Oh, okay. There's really no limit to what this thing was. I mean, listen, I am here for a petting zoo.

I'm not mad about the petting zoo at all. Are you mad that it's called Happy Feeling? A little bit. Because I am. Yeah, it is. Seems really weird. Like, I'm going to have to excuse myself because I've got a happy feeling. Like, yeah, I think it's inappropriate.

Brandy. What? Now you'll never be allowed near a petting zoo. No! I was saying, for example, I wasn't saying I have the happy feeling. Patty. Patty, what do we think? Can we rewind that?

See what the evidence tells us? Like, I'm going to have to excuse myself because I've got a happy feeling. Anyway, Great Adventure was a hit. Every year, more and more people came to the park. In fact, Great Adventure was so popular that after just a few years, Warner was like, holy shit, this thing has almost gotten too big for me. So in 1977, he sold the park to Six Flags, and it became known as Six Flags Great Adventure. Seemed like a smart move. Six Flags was a big corporate jobby.

Yeah. They had a lot of experience. A lot of flags. Six of them. Count them. Bing, bang, boom. Do you know what the Six Flags are? It's the Six Flags over Texas.

Yeah. It's a Confederate flag. Don't worry. In 2017, they changed it. They're just all American flags now. Oh, they had a Confederate flag? Yeah, it was one of the six flags. Yes. Oh, great.

Yeah. Yes. Let's throw the swastika up there, too. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Great. I like them even more now. Yeah. All right. Here we go. 2017, you said?

Not a moment too soon. Not a moment too soon more now. Yep. All right, here we go. 2017, you said? Not a moment too soon. Not a moment too soon. Cool. Okay. As soon as Six Flags took over, they put in a couple bigger, flashier rides to attract more people. But that was expensive. Yeah. And so to make up for the cost, they decided to extend their season.

Until that point, the park had only been open in the summer, but now they'd stay open through the fall. And in an attempt to get people to actually come to the theme park in the fall, they decided to put in a new attraction. It would be a haunted house. Do you like haunted houses? I love haunted houses. I fucking hate them. What do you like about them, you weirdo? It's fun.

You like spooky stuff, do you? Yeah, I like scary movies. Yes. Yes. All right. I just pee myself. All right. Luckily, there was this guy, George Mahana, who owned the Tom's River Haunted House Company.

Oh. This dude literally ran a business where he would create a haunted house basically out of trailers and then companies would lease the trailers from him and then they would be the ones to create a facade on the outside of the trailers. Do you understand what I'm saying here? You get it.

So they worked out a deal with George's company and he provided four aluminum semi-trailers and inside of each trailer was a spooky set and the trailers all interconnected so that people would walk through it and you know and feel kind of like a maze yeah naturally the trailers were filled with spooky scenes they had actors in the haunted house they had a butcher and a vampire you know 17, 17-year-olds with stage makeup on. But they were terrifying. So Six Flags got those trailers and they built a facade.

I think the facade was too nice, personally. I mean, I looked at it and I'm like, I'd live there. It had those cute roof lines, kind of that German-looking thing, where it's white and it has the dark woodwork. Yeah. All right. Anyway, would you like to know what they called it? Yeah.

Take a guess. Make your – hit me with your best shot, Brandi. It's a haunted house. What do you call it? Well, you told us it was called the haunted castle. Well, later. But this one, this is, you know, first version. I don't know.

The haunted house. Yep. That's what they called it? Yes! Let this be a lesson to always try. Can you believe that lame-ass bullshit?

It's just called haunted house. Alright, so that's what they called it. Words cannot express how little the higher-ups at Six Flags gave a shit about this boy.

How few shits they cared. So few shits. So few shits. Almost no shits. They hoped, you know, that this would be a fun attraction. They figured they'd open it in the evenings and maybe it know, that this would be a fun attraction. They figured they'd open it in the evenings and maybe it would keep people at the park a little longer. Yeah. Maybe.

They did not have high hopes that this would be a hit. But it was. Yeah, I bet it was. Yeah, people loved it. It opened in 1978 and there was always a line to get in and people often waited more than an hour to get inside of it, which sounds terrible. I'd do it. Oh, my God, of course you would. Some kid comes up dressed as a vampire, and you're like, yeah! So the executives at Six Flags Great Adventure were just stunned.

So they started opening the haunted house during the day, and people still showed up in droves. After that first season, they were like, damn, we should probably set up a better, more permanent haunted house. Hmm. Did I say permanent? Don't worry. I didn't mean that. Mm-hmm. You meant like shoddily built. Yeah. Well, because the thing is, at the time, if you

built something with a permanent foundation, then that structure would have to pass like a building inspection and, you know. Yeah. Pesky little thing like that. You wouldn't want that to happen, like in something that a bunch of people are going to be walking through. Right. Yeah. Sure. Okay. Great. Okay, great. Well, you know, sometimes making things safer costs money, and we'd hate for a corporation to have to pay money. Yeah. I can tell we're all on board.

Okay. So this was not permanent because what they were doing was just putting a bunch of interconnected trailers on a plot of land. And that, my friend, is not a permanent structure. It's a temporary structure. And great news, you don't have to jump through hardly any safety hoops. Great. Yeah. Very temporary structure.

Awesome. Kay. At the end of the 1978 season, they shipped Haunted House off to Six Flags over Mid-America, and they looked at the park and they were like, hmm, no one seems to give a shit about the lame-ass roller coaster Alpen Blitz. Not Alpine Blitz. Alpen Blitz. Alpen? A-L-P-E-N. Doomed to fail from the start, I say. So they got rid of that thing and they put in a haunted castle. It was so cool.

They worked with the same company to put in this new, bigger, haunted attraction. This time the attraction was made out of eight aluminum semi-trailers with a control room in the center. Once again, Six Flags built up a cool facade. This time they made it a spooky castle. And the inside of the castle was basically like a mirror image of itself. Guests would walk in and if the line wasn't too long, they were told to go to the right. But if the lines were super long that day, then employees would open up the left side, which was exactly the same

as the right side. So, you go in. Ugh, they had the creepy organ music playing all the time. There's a fog machine, strobe lights. As soon as you walk in,

you see something called a rat lady. Yeah. What do you mean, yeah? Yeah, I mean, every haunted house has essentially that. It's a person with a rat on yeah what do you mean yeah yeah i mean every haunted house has essentially that it's a person with a rat on them does she know the rats yes okay oh so she and the

rat are good buddies does it down where the haunted houses are here in kansas city under the 12th street bridge there's a guy that the rat guy walks around he's got a rat on him puts it in his mouth he does all kinds oh god like a real rat yes it's a real oh fuck god anyway so then you pass that lady and then boom a butcher pops up to cut your head off and then you turn the corner and oh there's a coffin and then out pops the hunchback of notre dame or is it Notre Dame? What are we saying? Well, yeah. What? It's Notre Dame when you're talking about the Hunchback, Notre Dame when you're talking about the school. Oh, very good.

Thank you. I'm glad to have you here. Then there's the Phantom of the Opera dude. And then there's some lady who's, like, stuck on a wheel, you know. Oh, yeah. Doing one of these. And then when you can't handle any more of that, you have to go down this long black and white striped hallway. And as you walk down this super disorienting hallway, a strobe light flashes at you.

The effect was so disorienting that people were always running into the last wall. So they ended up putting up like this foam thing. Okay. You've never been through anything like this. I went one time with you when I was a child. Okay. And I hated it. Okay.

Then I haven't returned. Is this something you do like every year? No, I haven't done it in a long time. But like Worlds of Fun, our amusement park here, they do Halloween Haunt every year. And they've got like multiple of these little haunted houses set up that you can go through. What's your favorite thing? Is it the rat lady? No, there was like an asylum one the last time I was there.

And that was kind of cool. Geez, no. It was not false. It was like, you know, like creepy doctors and stuff. Boy, that's fun. Just like a room full of doll parts. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Yeah, that sounds terrible. All right. Okay. So anyway, blah, blah, blah. Once they got past that strobe light thing, then Frankenstein, boom, pops out. Okay. But it's not Frankenstein. It's Frankenstein's monster because I've read a book. Right. Okay. thing. Yeah. Then Frankenstein, boom, pops out. Okay. But it's not Frankenstein. It's Frankenstein's monster because I've read a book.

Right. Okay, great. Anyway. Then you're in a dungeon and there are spiders everywhere. We wouldn't care for that. Mm-hmm. What would you do? Would you freak out?

Yeah. Okay. Would you never enter a haunted house again? Well, are they real spiders? Probably not. Yeah, no. I think spiders are very hard to train. I think so, too.

And that's just my own experience speaking. Once you get through that, then you're in a cave. And then you're in a spiraling tunnel illusion thing. And you're totally off balance. And, oh, where am I? And then you're in a spiraling tunnel illusion thing and you're totally off balance and oh, where am I? And then you escape. Okay. Yeah, I'd go through that. Okay.

It was a pretty time-consuming attraction. It was like 450 feet of hallways. Yeah. People walked through at their own pace and it usually took them about 10 minutes to get through the castle. People loved it yeah just as you said oh i forgot to mention they had a moat around this thing and a drawbridge i mean yeah pretty cool cool but the haunted castle had some problems for one thing it didn't have air conditioning. The castle was basically an aluminum box. And that first summer, it got so hot that people regularly passed out inside the haunted castle. That's a real problem.

Mm-hmm. And for the employees. Yeah, employees, too, also passed out. So the next season, they retrofitted everything, added AC. Another big problem was safety, specifically the safety of the employees. The crowds inside the castle would sometimes get violent, especially when an actor who was just doing their job jumped out to scare them. And I guess sometimes people would go after these actors. Yeah. What do you mean yeah have you

well I've watched okay have you ever seen the like reaction clips of people like getting jump scared in a I would never watch such a thing oh this is like a series that oh okay it's like a whole bunch of these on the internet where they like film a particular spot at a haunted house and you see everybody's reaction to a jump scare. And a lot of people's natural reaction to a jump scare is to punch. Wow. Yeah. What's your natural reaction? To jump.

Yeah. I don't think I've ever just. That sounds so kangaroo like. Okay. Anyway. So the actors told management that the haunted castle needed more exits and maybe not even exits, just like they needed a way to quickly get from one hallway to another so that they could escape somebody trying to punch them. As it was originally designed, there were only two emergency doors on each side of the maze, and that just didn't feel like enough. These employees knew the castle better than anybody, and even they had a tough time getting

out of it quickly. Yeah. That summer, a safety expert toured the haunted castle and made several recommendations aimed at improving it. I think these recommendations were common sense. They recommended more emergency exits. They recommended adding a sprinkler system in case, God forbid, something were to happen. I mean, after all, the haunted castle was mostly made out of spray-painted plywood and paper mache decorations. There were no windows. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, if anything were to happen, it would be horrible.

Yep, absolutely. For what it's worth, Six Flags did make some of those recommendations. Make recommendations. No, they acted on it. Yeah, thank you. Oof. Did the Yeah, we all get it. Do you? Yeah, we're all following along. So they added some exits, but they didn't add sprinklers because sprinklers are expensive, Brandy. Yep.

Yeah. Who wants to spend money on sprinklers when you could keep that money in your own pocket? What? I just. What? There's this series on TikTok that I've been watching. And it's this guy who has bought this old church and he's turning it into a wedding venue. Okay.

And he talked about like his budget for it and everything. And I actually think it's here in Kansas City, too. Oh, venue. Okay. And he talked about like his budget for it and everything and I actually think it's here in Kansas City too. Oh shit. Okay. I'm not positive about that fact now but he talked about

like initially like I've watched this whole series and he's like this is the plan this is the budget whatever and then he found out

because he is making it a rentable venue to bring it up to code. He has to install a sprinkler system. Yeah. And it's $300,000 to put in this sprinkler system. Yeah. He did it because he doesn't have a choice, but it blew his budget just completely.

No, I'm sure it did. Yeah. But also, like, I've never been at a wedding that didn't have candles everywhere. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Six Flags also added some smoke detectors to the haunted castle. They were, like, little battery-operated ones that are really made for a home. Yeah.

Not really for commercial use. And here's the thing. Eventually, like the smoke detectors got vandalized or broken or meh. Okay. And then Six Flags decided, you know what? Too much work to keep these up. We'll just not bother with putting up new ones. Great. Anyway. So there's going to be a fire here? Is that what we're getting at? Perhaps. Okay.

Years passed and Six Flags Great Adventure soared in popularity. Okay. Oh, sorry. What? No. Nothing. What is it? Nothing. Speak. What is it? Nothing. Were you about to ask what year it is? Yeah.

It's almost 1984. Okay. Great. So by 1984, it was the third busiest amusement park. Sorry. We can cut all of that. I'm so sorry. Why are you sorry? Because I was going to ask, and then I was like, maybe she doesn't know or maybe she's about to tell us.

It's okay to ask. I'll just make fun of you relentlessly. So by 1984, it was the third busiest amusement park in the United States. Wow. Behind Disney World and Disneyland. Although another source said that it was the fourth busiest and it was behind Knott's Berry Farm or whatever. Oh, yeah. Have you ever been to that thing?

No. Neither have I. Dang. What do they do there? I don't know. Give you just tons of jam. That's what I always associated with it. Right, right.

But it's got to be cooler than that. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so popular. Obviously, right? Not saying I'd turn down jam. No, I mean, I'd like jam, too. But I don't need to go to a jam-themed amusement park. Yeah, I can just go to the store and be perfectly happy. Exactly.

So more and more people showed up at the park. Also, bush gardens. I don't care about that. If I want to see a bush, I'll just walk in on you in the bathroom, Kristen. Wow. Wow. Wow. Everyone, she has thrown her head back. She's laughing so hard.

So hard. Here's the deal, Brandy. The one day pass to see my bush is fairly expensive, but the season pass is only like 20 bucks more. So if you're going to spring for it, yes, yes, just go ahead and spring for it. You can come by whenever you want. Got a kitchen downstairs. Get yourself something to eat.

You know, that's not free. That's how I make my money. That's how you make the money. That's right. You guys serving up, dipping dots down there. So have I sold you on the season pass to my bush garden? I think I'm going to have to take it over. Oh, boy.

I've got to work on my sales technique. I've got to put in some of those flashy rides. You okay over there? I don't need to take a ride, ma'am. Boy. Boy. you okay over there i don't need to take a ride man boy boy you know you try to make a living out here i've almost got this thing off the ground then all of a sudden i hear i need a sprinkler system and i'm not doing it yeah yep so more and more people showed up to the park. Okay.

I've got a figure in here that cannot possibly be right, and I am ashamed for even having it. It says that the haunted castle brought in 1,600 visitors per hour. That cannot possibly be correct. I apologize to the people. That seems impossible. It is impossible. You know, I did have a bit of a problem. This documentary was very good, but, you know, the quality wasn't great. And I misheard a couple things. For example.

Okay. This is so stupid. I also had closed captions on. Yeah. Because I'm trying to. But, like, those are, you know, they're taking a guess, too, of what's being said. Okay. At one point, this guy was like, you know, and the 13-year-old boy was wearing a shirt that said Quiet brian on it and i was like quiet brian what the hell does that even mean like there has to be some significance did it say quiet riot yes

yes that does make more sense later he mentioned the shirt, and he said it a little differently, and I was like, oh. So, methinks I misheard the man. Okay. All right. So, brought in some amount of people every hour. Oh, my gosh. Can we believe it? By this point, Six Flags Great Adventure had purchased that haunted castle from the guy, you know, George Khanna.

Yeah. So now it was under Great Adventure's show operations department's control. Then they made some changes to improve the castle. For example, OK, people kept on assaulting these actors. So they added a sign out front letting people know that if they assaulted an employee, they would be prosecuted. So, yeah, take problem taken care of. That's it?

Yeah. They put up a sign? It was a big sign. That was the number one rule, if I remember the sign correctly. Great. Okay. Yeah, it kept happening, though. Yeah, I'm sure it did.

In particular, the poor dude who played the Phantom of the Opera had to kind of pop out of a hidey hole. I've never seen the musical. And when he did that, he would sometimes get punched. Yeah. So they added a kind of like cage-like fence to act as a barrier between the Phantom and the guests. That definitely improved the safety of the actor, but it also barred people from getting to the closest possible exit. It also meant that if there was some sort of emergency, that actor wouldn't be able to guide people to safety. They'd be on their own. to safety. They'd be on their own. Also, something that is still kind of up for debate is whether the park made it a habit of chaining shut an emergency door near the strobe light. They say they never did that. Others say they did. Management got sick of people kicking out that emergency door. You know, in some cases, I guess they'd just leave and go smoke pot. So they changed it shut.

Okay. The important thing was that people loved the haunted castle. Teenagers in particular loved it because if you wanted to just go in there and hang out for a really long period of time, you could. See, back when that safety expert made their initial set of recommendations, they'd advised that the park put in an additional emergency exit near the hunchback actor. But the folks in charge really hated that idea because if they added an exit in that spot, it would mess with the facade and the building wouldn't look as cool. So instead of adding an exit to that area, they just moved the actor. And again, that was probably a good move for the safety of the actor.

But it wasn't good because without an employee in that spot to keep people moving along, People could kind of hang out and accumulate. That's what teenagers sometimes did. Yeah. A bunch of loitering motherfuckers. You really hate loitering, do you? At what age, Brandy, did you look at a group of teenagers and think, I don't like that? 20? 19? I was going to say, I probably was still a teenager.

Another thing people sometimes did because the haunted castle was so dark was they'd walk through the castle with their lighters out in front of them. Great. Yeah, it's the 80s. Everybody has a lighter. Fuck, yeah. And you've got these scared, jumpy people navigating through a highly flammable structure with lighters out in front of them. Over the years, Six Flags received seven reports recommending that a sprinkler be installed in the haunted castle, along with emergency lighting and, you know, easily accessible emergency exits. But recommendation, schmecommendation.

The haunted castle was safe, right? No. No, it doesn't sound safe at all. Nope. No, it sounds fucking ridiculous. And by the way, this thing is, what, in its fifth season now? That's not a temporary structure, my friends. On April 1st, 1984, the Jackson Township held its annual fire drill at Six Flags.

And everybody felt really good about it. The firefighters even filmed themselves rescuing someone from the highest tower in the haunted castle, which made for a great video, but wasn't super relevant because that tower was used for storage. I was going to say, are people going up into the tower? No, no one's up in the tower. It's a fucking facade. You're a facade! No, I mean, if anyone ever needed rescuing, it would be stuck in the maze of flammable hallways down below.

Then, not long after that fire drill came May 11th, 1984. It was a Friday, and about 15,000 kids were in the park. It was a big day for field trips. A ton of nearby schools brought their students out to Six Flags for an awesome end-of-year trip. Yeah. Sounds amazing. Right? Yes.

How come we never got this? Yeah. Probably because there's no Six Flags here. There's a world of fun. So literal. That night, the rock band Golden Earring was scheduled to perform a concert in the park. Uh-huh. Radar Love. Wow.

That's what they sing. Yeah, they also sing Twilight Zone. It was their number one hit song in 1982. See, I had to look them up. But you... Right? Isn't that what they sing? Radar Love?

I mean, yeah, but it's one of their lesser known hits, so I didn't write that one down. What? I don't know. Can you sing a little for us? No. My goodness. Okay. You're really keeping your talents to yourself today, aren't you?

Suzette Elliott and her best friend, Tina Genovese, were pumped to be at Six Flags. They were 15 years old. Actually, I'm sorry. I believe Suzette was 14. Tina was 15. And they were students at Victory Christian High School. And they were at Six Flags because they'd won a contest for collecting the most Campbell's Soup labels. Oh.

Is that not the most 80s thing you've ever heard? Yeah. It's wonderful. Children, gather round. There was a time when we used to collect labels. Do you remember the Yoplait yogurt lids? Yeah. Somehow we were going to stop breast cancer with those things, remember?

I do. But you didn't eat enough yogurt to make that happen, Brittany. I ate a lot of yogurt. I did my best. And Yoplait is my preferred brand. Oh, really? It is. So they were at the park hanging out.

And while they were there, they met these two cute boys, Joey Beiruti and Nick Kayaza. Nick was 18 and Joey was 17. One source said that they were on like an unofficial senior skip day. The other said that this was like a field trip. I don't know. Were they bad boys or not? We just have no way of knowing. trip. I don't know.

Were they bad boys or not? We just have no way of knowing. So the four of them started hanging out and talking and Nick had on this bandana and he let Suzette wear it for the day. Are you feeling the flirty vibes? Yeah. Yes. And so they all decided to go to the haunted

castle together. But before they got in line, Joey and Nick bought Suzette and Tina some Italian ices. Oh my gosh. I know. You and I would have been dying. Yes. It would have been the best thing that had ever happened. Yes!

Yes! Was it a... Never mind. Okay. I'm thinking one time we got flirted with at like a soccer complex and then we were like, we got to come back here every weekend. We were very cool. So I had gotten my haircut that day. Great clip. So I knew for sure that I was looking good that day.

Is that a true story? That's a true story. Anyway, so they all get in line, and Suzette and Tina had their Italian ice, and the line moved at a rate of about 10 guests per minute. So the employee, I don't think I need to point this out. What I'm trying to tell you people is that the employee at the front would gather groups of roughly 10 people and let them in every minute. Like about every minute? Yeah.

Do you understand? Yeah, we're getting there. I don't think you do. When their time came in line, the guy told Suzette and Tina, oh, sorry, you can't take food in here. You're going to have to finish those before I can let you in. So that's what they did. They temporarily gave up their place in line so they could finish their Italian ices and go in with the next group. So the group that was now in front of them included a 13-year-old boy who attended a nearby middle school and another boy he'd just met that day at the park.

The group went inside, and soon it was time for Suzette, Tina, and Nick and Joey to go inside, roughly a minute later, as I have explained. We get it. They were joined by— They really sucked down those Italian Isis. I mean, there couldn't have been much left, right, after you're in this line? Yeah. And Italian Isis are so delicious. Yeah.

It's delicious. I want one so bad now. I know. I know. So they were joined by a group of boys who were all on a field trip from Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn. Franklin K. Lane High School in Brooklyn. They were 17-year-old Jose Carrion, 17-year-old Sammy Valentin, 17-year-old Lenny Ruiz, 18-year-old Eric Rodriguez, and 17-year-old Christopher Harrison. And Christopher had graduated from Franklin K. Lane already, and he was just tagging along

with his friends that day. So they all go inside the haunted castle. And something happened. The strobe light in the castle was malfunctioning that day. So that long hallway was at times just completely dark. And again, because people had kept running into that final wall on the hallway, they'd added that pad. And that 13-year-old boy who was with the other boy he'd just met that day said that that other boy was holding his lighter so they could see. And he accidentally lit that pad on fire.

And it was terrifying. The pad lit up almost immediately. I'm sure. The boys tried to put it out, but they couldn't. So a woman behind them told them, hey, you need to get out of here. We need to run. So they ran.

A group of four other adults came around the corner and saw the flames and assumed it was part of the attraction. Yeah, I think that would be very easy to do. Yeah, I mean, so the haunted castle had a fog machine and in some areas it had that lighting that's supposed to look like fire. So that's what they thought it was. And it wasn't until they got closer that they realized, oh my god, this is a real fire. So they started screaming, fire, fire, fire, and they raced for the exit.

The group behind them, which included Jose and Sammy and Christopher and Nick and Lenny and Eric and Joey and Tina and Suzette, heard those people yelling fire, but they were in a haunted house. Yeah. They thought it was part of the attraction. Of course they did. Of course they did. So they kept going. The temperature inside the haunted castle rose so high that the AC kicked on, and that literally fanned the flames. Mm-hmm. A cloud of thick black smoke surrounded the teenagers, and it was chaos. Employees tried to help people, but they were short-staffed that day. The actor who worked at the butcher station led people out of the castle, but he later said that people were very confused because the creepy organ music and all the effects were still on. Yes.

And some of them genuinely didn't understand that he was leading them to safety. And this was not part of the attraction. When something goes wrong, you have to be able to have like lights that you bring up and like. Exactly. You turn everything off. Exactly. So that you get people's attention. Yes. Yes.

Yeah. So people started kind of flooding out of the castle, talking about a fire. And at first, you know, the employees were like, well, yeah, okay, we've got special effects in there. They did sometimes hear people say, oh, there's a fire in there. And, you know, there was never a fire in there. But this guy, Gary Kaplan, who was working outside the castle that day, said, okay, well, where did you see the fire? And he expected people to tell him where they always saw it.

Yeah. But instead they mentioned a different location. And Gary was like, oh, my God. Mm-hmm. And Carrie was like, oh, my God. So unbelievably, he ran inside the castle to try to save people. Meanwhile, that group of teenagers was still inside, completely disoriented, breathing in smoke, unable to see. Suzette tried to find Tina, but she couldn't.

So she did the only thing she could think to do. She crawled. Yeah. She crawled and crawled and crawled. She crawled so quickly and violently that she broke all of her fingernails and her hands filled with splinters. She used that bandana that Nick had given her to cover her mouth and nose. And she kept crawling and kept crawling and kept crawling but eventually she couldn't crawl anymore she had inhaled too much smoke but she'd gotten far enough Gary Kaplan went in as far as he could, and he got to the area with the coffin, and that's where he found Suzette lying on the ground.

Oh, my gosh. He picked her up and carried her outside. God, I have goosebumps. I have goosebumps, yes. Suzette did survive, but she needed immediate medical attention, obviously, so she was taken to the hospital. This fire spread so quickly. It took four and a half minutes for the entire structure to catch fire. Oh, my gosh. Holy shit. Yeah, everything in there is flammable. Absolutely. And there's no safety measures in place. There's no sprinklers. There's nothing. Yeah.

Someone had reported the fire, but it seems maybe they at first underestimated the danger because they just called the two firefighters that Six Flags had on duty that night. Those two firefighters got there right away, but, I mean, they couldn't do anything. Within a few minutes, six flags called in firefighters from a bunch of surrounding areas, and they showed up in droves. Fifteen fire crews arrived on the scene, 200 firefighters from 11 nearby communities. They all worked together to extinguish this fire. It took them about 70 minutes. Wow. But they were working without a critical piece of information. They were under the impression that everyone had escaped.

And for that reason, Six Flags Great Adventure continued to operate as usual. Holy shit, they left the rest of the park open? Yes. While people are burning to death inside of the haunted castle. To be fair, this happens in four and a half minutes. Yes, absolutely. So I can see, like, you're not going to be able to shut everything down immediately. Like you're not going to be able to shut everything down immediately.

But I think it says a lot about how little they had prepared for something that I think could have easily been foreseen. Yeah. Like the fact that you don't even know how many people are in your attraction at all times. I mean that. Yeah. So, yeah. I mean, that... Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, everything went on kind of as usual. The Golden Earring concert

went on, and at one point, the lead singer did point out, like, hey, look at that, you know, cloud of billowing smoke, but everyone assumed things were okay.

Wow. Or at the very least, under control. Soon things were okay. Wow. Or at the very least under control. By 7.41 p.m., the firefighters had taken care of it. They started kind of moving through the rubble.

And they discovered what they thought were eight mannequins. Oh, my gosh. In reality, they were the bodies of Jose Carreon, Sammy Valentin, Christopher Harrison, Nick Kayaza, Lenny Ruiz, Eric Rodriguez, Joey Beiruti, and Tina Genovese. They'd been found in the spot where the hunchback actor used to be placed the spot where the safety expert had recommended installing an emergency exit yep most of their bodies were found piled on top of an air conditioning vent because they'd been trying to get fresh air yeah they died. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. They had to be ID'd by, like, the keys in their pockets and their jewelry. The park did close two hours early that day.

They offered guests a free pass to come back anytime in light of the inconvenience. Oh. Once word got out that children had died in this fire, people absolutely freaked out, of course. Of course. I'm not sure how long it took for the bodies to be identified, but, I mean, it was a process. Yeah. And this part is unbelievable to me. According to the documentary, and I also saw this in another report, some of the parents showed up at the park,

some of them with, like like their kids' dental records, trying to get to where their child had died. And by the way, the park opened as usual the next day. And they weren't let in until they would pay the one-day pass. You're fucking kidding me. I am not. Now, I saw something else that, you know, said that, you know, I guess they later came out and said, oh, you know, that was a misinformed employee.

You know, we got that taken care of. But. Holy shit. How are you not prepared? Yeah. For the families to come to identify? Like, how do you not have someone stationed out there absolutely good god people were outraged of course one woman who had been

in the haunted castle when it caught fire told the philadelphia inquirer that she and her husband had tried to get out using an emergency exit door, only to discover that it had been locked. The National Fire Protection Association wrote at length about all the basic steps that could have been taken to prevent this tragedy. People needed to be held accountable for this horrific and, in my opinion, preventable loss of life. And the Ocean County prosecutor agreed. in my opinion, preventable loss of life. And the Ocean County prosecutor agreed. He promised the public that a grand jury would look into this. So this is where the documentary was very interesting.

He pointed out that Six Flags brought in a lot of money, and so did their parent company, Bollies. And so while the prosecutor was like, yeah, you know, a grand jury is going to be convened, he also said that he was certain that this fire had been started by a 14-year-old boy and that the emergency exit had not been locked that day. Okay. He's certain about that? Right. How could you possibly... How could you be certain? Sure enough, the grand jury returned indictments for manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter against Six Flags Corporate and Six Flags Great Adventure.

They also returned indictments for manslaughter against two executives. Zzz. Thanks a lot. I was going to clear my throat and try again. I guess I won't be doing that now. Anyway, these assholes were named David Palczyk of Tom's River, New Jersey, and Larry Cochran of Chicago. of Tom's River, New Jersey, and Larry Cochran of Chicago. So David was the general manager of the park at the time of the fire,

and Larry had been the GM before him, and he was now the president of Six Flags Corporation. But here's the thing. David and Larry really didn't want to go on trial. Oh, they didn't? No, they didn't. They were busy. Yeah, that's tough for them. In fact, they didn't really want to do on trial. Oh, they didn't? No, they didn't. They were busy. Yeah, that's tough for them.

In fact, they didn't really want to do any of this stuff. So they applied for Ocean County's pre-trial intervention program. What the fuck's that? Glad you asked. Okay, so this program allows people to perform community service in exchange for their charges being dropped. To be clear,

I think this sounds like a great program. I do, too. It's like a diversionary program. Yeah. It sounds great if you're like... In this case, we're talking about people who died due to negligence. Right. No.

Catch me jaywalking? Okay. Absolutely. Community service. Got too much pot on me? That's legal now. Take a walk. Got too much pot on me? That's legal now. Take a walk.

So both men applied for the program and they were rejected. Thank goodness. But they applied again. Were they rejected a second time? Indeed they were, yes. They applied a third time. What fucking happened that time? The prosecutor intervened and advocated that the men get into the program and they got in. You're fucking kidding.

I am not. And just like that, it became official. No one would serve any jail time for the deaths of eight teenagers. Holy shit. The children's families were devastated. They couldn't believe that these guys were going to get a slap on the wrist i don't even know if you can call it a slap on the wrist or are they picking up litter on the highway hands held right for the for the prosecutor to advocate for them yeah that's right i felt like i said

no they absolutely got their hands held. That's not a slap on the wrist. Yeah. Holy shit. I have to say, I think the documentarian was on to something like these are powerful businessmen. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure the tax dollars that were brought in from this business made a big difference to the county. Wow.

At a preliminary hearing, the attorneys for Six Flags Corporate and Great Adventure asked the judge to require the prosecution to give exact details on what exactly their clients had done that fit the charge of, quote, recklessly causing the deaths under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life. OK, so remember how that whole safety expert guy came in and was like, hey, these are the things you should do to make this safe and then how you didn't do those things. And then as a direct result of that, people died. Well, no, let's blame that teenage kid with the lighter. Let's not. Let's not.

This is ridiculous. Yes. Holy shit. So, you know, the defense is there there they're saying this to the judge oh we we need to hear exactly what you mean and judge mark addison who is no stranger to being sassy said they aren't charging that you did anything they're charging that you did nothing. Exactly. The companies went on trial on May 15th, 1985. If convicted, they'd have to pay fines of up to $300,000 apiece.

Wow. Adjusted for inflation, that's only $850,000 per company. Wow. Right? Yeah. For eight teenagers? Holy shit. The prosecution argued that Six Flags had ignored repeated safety recommendations. Yes. I mean, you can guess the prosecution's case. Yeah. The defense argued that this was an act of arson. A sprinkler system wouldn't have stopped this fire from spreading, which meant that the park wasn't responsible for what happened. How do you know that a sprinkler system wouldn't have stopped this from spreading?

We'll get to that. And I'm sorry. To be fair, I should say not stopped it from spreading, but not stopped it from starting. No, from killing people is what they're trying to say. The deaths would not have been prevented by a sprinkler system. Could have been prevented by that emergency exit that you were told to put in. Yeah, maybe. Also, why the hell wouldn't a sprinkler system work in this situation?

Anyway, we'll find out soon. Okay. Okay. One interesting thing was that the judge didn't allow the defense to list arson as a defense against the manslaughter charges, which I'm very glad. Yeah, me too. So there's some talk of, I mean, this kid who is the one who potentially set this fire, he has been identified. He was identified as a witness, but he was never called to the stand. Yeah.

Some sources identify him by his initials and stuff. And from what was said in the documentary, this kid did have a history of starting fires. Okay. This kid did have a history of starting fires. Okay. I think even if this kid did intentionally start this fire, that is foreseeable. Absolutely. Unintentional start is totally foreseeable when you're in a giant trailer filled with flammable decorations. Yes. No sprinkler system.

No clear emergency exits. Well, two. And as the host of this attraction, you are the one liable for that risk. Mm-hmm. Yeah, there has to be safety measures in place in case somebody brings a lighter inside the attraction, inside your very flammable attraction. I almost said transaction that time. I thought you were going to say trans attraction.

I thought you were going to say trans attraction. And I think the good folks at Six Flags would have a lot to say about that. I bet they would. Oh, boy. They just got rid of the Confederate flag. Don't make them move too fast. So a ton of the testimony in this trial was about sprinkler systems and whether a sprinkler system would have prevented this loss of life. And the general consensus was, yes, duh, a sprinkler system would have absolutely made a difference.

Paul Stott, who was the assistant chief of the Bureau of Construction Code Enforcement, and wow, that's a long title, had inspected the scene of the fire and said, yes, a sprinkler system would have put out this fire. The reason these teenagers died was because the fire wasn't put out at its initial stage. He also pointed out all of the many ways that the haunted castle wasn't up to code. But on cross-examination, an attorney for Six Flags pointed out that the Jackson Township didn't have a fire inspector to enforce these building codes. And Paul had to be like, okay, fair enough. In 1979, the township received a warning that they were violating state regulations by not having a fire inspector. Wow.

So maybe this was the township's fault? Wow. Mm-hmm. Six Flags employee Gary Kaplow, who rescued Suzette from the fire, testified that they had been short-staffed that day. And when he'd first found out about the fire, he tried to go into the control room to call for help. But the control room was locked from the inside. He said that there was one fire extinguisher per route in the haunted castle

and that he, as an employee, had never received any instructions on how to use it. Yeah, that's not the least bit surprising to me. He also said that it was very common practice for people to either use matches or lighters to either help them see in the attraction or just light cigarettes and smoke as they walked along. Okay. Mm-hmm. Then, in a very upsetting twist, two expert witnesses, Chet Shermer and Ralph Jensen, testified for the defense.

They were members of the National Fire Protection Association. And actually, Chet, or Chester, as it were, was the chairman of the organization. So his words had a lot of weight. Yeah. of the organization. Oh. So his words had a lot of weight. Yeah.

They said that they'd conducted their own private study, and they determined that a traditional sprinkler system would not have turned on in time to prevent any of the teenagers from dying. Other members of this organization were horrified by this testimony. Yeah, that seems... organization were horrified by this testimony. Yeah, that seems. Yeah, my personal opinion, I guess you can buy anything. Exactly. That's what that seems like to me. Yeah. So this testimony disgusted people so much that it actually prompted a policy change

within that organization. And from that point forward, they had a new deal where basically, hey, if you want to perform your own independent studies, that's fine. But you need to clearly state that your opinions are your own and they are not the opinion of the NFPA. Yeah. But that policy change was obviously too late for this trial. That middle school boy who who is now 14, testified about seeing the other boy accidentally touch his lighter to the foam pad at the end of the strobe light hallway. The defense made a big point about

how the defendants had met all the local requirements, which were basically none. None, yeah. Local officials had told them they didn't need a building permit. Because it was temporary. Yeah. See, to me, this is why you can't let an organization be so big and powerful.

Because you know they didn't want to do all that extra stuff. And so the township is just like, oh, sure, fine. Yeah. We're just happy to have you here. Yeah. Bringing in money. Yep. We'll take those tax dollars.

Mm-hmm. They called two business ethics professors to the stand who testified that the corporation had acted reasonably. They'd gotten all these safety recommendations and they'd accepted some and rejected others. That was reasonable. It showed that they weren't just dismissing everything out of hand. In closing statements, the prosecution argued that the executives at the park had, quote, been too indifferent, reckless, greedy, and callous to install sprinklers and smoke alarms, even though they'd been repeatedly told that they

needed to. That's why eight teenagers died. But the defense urged the jury to think about the testimony from their expert witnesses. Even if they had installed sprinklers, they wouldn't have made a difference. The defense also, I think, did a nice job of being like, hey, you know what? We fully admit we didn't take all the precautions that we should have. We're going to change things up for sure. But you know what? The prosecution has not proven that our clients had a conscious disregard for a I fucking disagree. They didn't meet their burden of proof. I disagree.

I completely disagree as well. The jury went into deliberation, and on Saturday, July 20th, 1985, they acquitted both companies of all charges. You're fucking kidding. I'm not. Holy shit. Yeah. What do you make of that? That is nuts to me.

Mm-hmm. The jury foreman later spoke out saying that the township was more responsible for the fire than the amusement park was because they should have done some inspections. Did he say that from a roller coaster at Six Flags where he was using his new free lifetime pass? Probably. What do you make of this? I don't even know. One of the fathers of one of the victims said something to the effect of, I guess these corporations were just too powerful. Yeah. I actually thought that once the two individuals were removed, that you have a better chance of getting these corporations, these entities. Yeah, because why do you care about the corporation?

Exactly. I'm shocked by this. I am too. It's really upsetting. Holy shit. This was absolutely not a temporary structure. No. And I agree that the township fucked up.

Yeah, they did. But an amusement park like that, they have to know the risks. Yeah. They did know the risks because a safety expert laid them out for them. Not they had to know. They did know. They 100% knew them. Ten years later, the lead prosecutor on this case, Kevin Kelly, said, quote, I've tried 35 to 40 murder cases over the years. You win some, you lose some. But as long as I live, I'll never understand how that jury returned that verdict. It changed me as a lawyer and as a person. That case took years off of my life. The horror those kids must have

experienced being trapped in there. I can't even begin to realize the horror they must have felt as those flames raced toward them. It was a case of the almighty dollar over what should have been done. Yeah. This whole thing was devastating for the victims' families. After this criminal trial. We get some civil suits. Yeah. Some civil suits.

And I say after, but obviously it was all going on at the same time. After this criminal trial, they filed civil suits against Six Flags Corporate, Great Adventure Corporate, Bally Manufacturing, the Mahanas, and Jackson Township. Seven of those lawsuits were settled out of court for about $2.5 million each. million dollars each um one family the bay rudy family took their case to court and the court awarded them 750 000 boy yeah i i don't understand no six flags never created any kind of memorial to the victims in 1980 Better not to acknowledge what. Better pretend it just didn't happen. Yeah, just forget this happened. Well, you know, they were totally blameless. Right.

In 1989, the site of the haunted castle was turned into a botanical garden. At some point, it became home to the cyborg cyberspin. Yeah. Classic ride. And when, I can't believe this happened. When this documentary was made in 2003, the dude who made it went to the park and discovered that not far from the former site of Haunted Castle. Six Flags had a new attraction, and it was called Castle Escape. It was a virtual reality game,

and the goal was to escape a burning castle. For fuck's sake. Can you believe that? No. Yeah, I don't even know. Holy shit. There is a silver lining to this story, and I think it's a big one. This tragedy led to much stricter regulations on amusement parks.

They are now required to have automatic fire and smoke detectors. Duh. Yeah. What was that? I said yeah. It sounded so weird! It sounded like a switch to shut off disorienting

effects. Yes! Yeah. Lights that you have to bring, that you can bring up. Yep. You're jumping ahead. But yeah. And also you have to have clear exit signs and lights leading the way to the exits. You also have to have sprinklers, even though who needs those, right? And so who knows how many people that has saved right but that's the story of the six flags

haunted castle fire holy shit i cannot believe the way that criminal trial ended me neither first of all i can't believe those dudes got community service. Yeah, no shit. And I can't... I do not understand a jury not finding that the corporation involved was

at least in some way at fault. Sure, you can say that the township was also at fault, but that doesn't mean that Six Flags wasn't at fault. Yeah. No, it's so upsetting. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. This is deeply upsetting.

Yeah, I'm sorry. No, it's okay. My commitment to you is that the next time I tell a case, it's going to be lighter. You're going to do a light, light one? Well, I mean, I thought I was going to do a light one here, and then I found this one. I just, I couldn't believe that this isn't more well known. Yeah, no, I've never heard of this. Apparently, some of the schools where the students attended, like they had memorials put up, you know, small memorials. But that's it. Yeah.

No, Six Flags is not going to acknowledge that that ever happened. See, it's funny. In a way, that doesn't surprise me. But the castle escape thing. That is. That's horrible. me. But the castle escape thing? That is. That's horrible. Yes. My God.

Like nobody stepped in in that planning process. And was like, hey. Hey. Hey. Is this a little too close to the actual tragedy that happened here? That none of us were held accountable for? Right. Anyway.

That is that, ma'am. Fuck, thanks for that. Sorry. This vine. Is it? Will you ever go to another haunted house again in all your days? I don't know. I mean, maybe you can because, you know, hopefully.

Hopefully there's safety things in place. Yeah, but there's still a rat lady and, you know, who wants to see that? Lots of people pay to see that. The guy really puts it in his mouth yeah i've seen it seen it happen oh all up in there okay that's enough did i tell you that kit what what was that face nothing what something about something in the discord we'll get there when we get there okay okay did i tell you that my ferocious dog kit murdered a possum the other day not really but so i was outside with the dogs what'd she do so all of a sudden a possum started climbing up the fence. Kit runs over, I guess grabs it.

And of course, it starts playing possum like it does. And Kit looked at that thing so wide eyed and was like, I guess I'm a murderer. I killed it. I called the dogs in and, you know, the possum eventually shook it off and walked away. Oh, my gosh. But, oh, Kit was just like. She beside herself. She was like, I'm a natural born killer.

I am a ferocious beast. I knew it. I knew it this whole time. All 30 pounds of me. Oh, Lord. Oh, my gosh. Should we take some questions from the Discord? We absolutely should.

How do you get in the Discord? What happens there? What is it? Where is it? Who is it? Boy, we got to take you in to get tested, ma'am. The Discord is our 90s style chat room. You can jump on in by joining our Patreon at the $5 level or higher.

And when we record, we get in here and we say, hey, folks, you got any questions for us? And then sometimes people do have a question for us. And then we read a few here. And that's all I want to say about it. What is your face about? Okay. I don't have an answer to this question, but it's too timely not to at least bring it up.

Okay. Funny Bunny asks, I'm about to leave Six Flags over Texas. No. What's your favorite roller coaster? Oh, shit. Oh, that is weird. Yes. No wonder you made that face.

Yes. Funny Bunny, I don't have an answer for you. No, we cannot. No judgment. Just saying. Whoa. Whoa. It, we cannot. No judgment, just saying, whoa. Whoa. It's too weird.

Whoa. We have never gotten a question about Six Flags ever. Ever. And it happened today. That's weird. Michael the Hot Wet Summer wants to know, Kristen, do you regret going down to one case a week now because it allows Brandy to draw out her cases as an intentional affront to you? Okay, everyone.

Our bonus episode this week? This woman. Let me tell you. That was on the regular episode. That was not on the bonus episode. Where I told you... Oh, wait, no, no, but also on the bonus episode this week. Yeah, I was trying to recap the stuff and you were like, speed it up.

Well, you were recapping every damn thing. Yes, everyone, my fear with this format change is that Brandy, out of insecurity, will just talk slower so that the episodes are up. I'm not talking slower. I talk pretty fast. Are you going to recap shit? Okay, moving on. Oh, I know the answer to this. Okay, The Ginger Snapped wants to know, if you were going to dress up as a Barbie to attend the Barbie movie, which one would you dress up as? Okay.

I had this Barbie when I was a kid. She was like 90s Barbie. Yeah. I don't know what her official name was, but that was very much the theme. She had basically Kelly Kapowski hair. Beautiful. Yeah. Long, dark hair with a significant

bang. Sure. And then she wore this like neon bodycon dress. It's kind of scooped in the back. But long sleeves. Yes. And then she had tennis shoes on with it.

No. No like really cool tennis shoes. No. Loser. No, like really cool tennis shoes. Okay. That's what I'd wear. That's what I'd dress up as. How did they make that happen, though, with the tennis shoes? Did the tennis shoes have a heel on them? Because Barbie's foot is naturally in a heel shape.

It's kind of an oversized tennis shoe situation. Gotcha. Yeah. It's even possible that she didn't come wearing the tennis shoes and I put the tennis shoes on her. Now that I'm thinking of it. That's very possible. Okay. I've got two outfits in mind.

Okay. And they're going in wildly different directions. One is the 1950s Barbie. It's the one-piece swimsuit, black and white with the sunglasses, the high ponytail, the tennis shoes. Ha ha. Just kidding. No. Why would you wear tennis shoes? Stop it. The tennis shoes. Ha ha. Just kidding. No. Why would you wear tennis shoes?

Stop it. The other one. I'd be full on holiday Barbie. Oh, yeah. Don't you dare take me out of the box. Velvet ball gown. Yes. Yeah.

Yes. Absolutely. Mistletoe all over me. Yeah. Flowing hair. Yeah. Tiara. Oh, yeah. Coarse. Yeah. Flowing hair. Yeah, tiara. Oh, yeah.

Coarse. Yeah. Oh, my God. I've got to see that movie. Me too. I can't wait to see it. I'm so excited to see it. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Oh, my gosh. Okay, I kind of want to talk about this because I'm very fired up about something that I have no skin in the game on. What is it? Okay. Heather Too Clever asks,

Kristen and Brandy, how did you fare in the storms that came through this week? So Friday, we had crazy storm come through the metro. Like 100 mile per hour straight line winds. So lots of limbs down, stuff like that. Okay. My neighborhood has no mature trees, so we have like, we had like nothing in our area. Just giggling at poop jokes. What?

Never mind. Don't, just keep going. Anyway, but lots of areas around here have tons of mature trees and have lots of issues from it. People were out of power for days because trees fell down, took power lines down. Anyway, okay. The city of Overland Park, which is in Johnson County, came out this week. They had a city council meeting and said, sorry, folks, we're not doing any citywide cleanup. It's too expensive.

You're on your fucking own. Really? Yes. Wow. They said a citywide cleanup would cost them $1.5 million and they're just not doing it. Wow. I think that's nuts. Wow.

I think that's nuts. Okay, we need to figure out who in that office owns 25 horses and says she's the heir to the Campbell's fortune. Because that seems weird. Yes, I think it's nuts. So I went down a very deep rabbit hole on this. I read all of the comments on the community page. deep rabbit hole on this. I read all of the comments on the community page. And apparently, they recently

also announced that they have like a hundred million dollar surplus in the budget. What? Yes! So people are so fired up! Well, yeah, that's what that money's for. Yes! What, are they going to have like the best barbecue they've ever

had in their lives? I don't fucking know, but is that their plan? Too bad about your trees. Instead, they listed a bunch of volunteer organizations that you could reach out to to see if they'll help you. Fuck you. Seriously, I think this is nuts! I think big trees involve.

Are the city council folks, do they own tree hollowing companies? We need to get to the bottom of this. Let's quit this podcast and do a deep dive into this. I'm starting a whole new podcast about Overland Park's refusal to clean up the storm mess. And people are like, oh wow, you two must live in Overland Park. No! No, we don't. We live nearby and we just think it's weird. We think it's

fishy, alright? I already gotta ask this one too. I don't have an answer for it but it's too timely. What is it? Am Narbarian wants to know, have you ever been to Marge Cheese Castle? What? What is that?

We gotta look that up. I'm looking it up right now. Let me tell you, if I drove by a place called Mars Cheese Castle, I would have to pull in the phone. I would have to enter. What if there's a moat and instead of water, it's cheese.

Obviously. It's nacho cheese. It's a cheese shop and bakery with an assortment of meats and spreads plus a. What? What? A small souvenir store. It's got a fucking gift shop. It's a store with a gift shop.

Brandy will take one hoodie. One long sleeve tee Yes Hmm I feel like something else A keychain I was just about to say No, no

What? I take it back Snow globe Nope Snow globe with a hunk of cheese in it Fridge magnet Very good Anyway, it's in Kenosha, Wisconsin

And we must go now Yeah And it looks like a fucking castle. Let me see. You clicked the wrong thing. Well, for fuck's sake. This is what I had up when I turned it. That's pretty cool.

Yeah. I would have no choice. I would have to. I have to. I have to go here. I would have to make entry into that castle. This is the inside. Look at all the cheeses.

I mean, I would expect no less from a cheese castle. They got a picture of the gift shop? It's beautiful. My God. It's beautiful. Anyway, we're going to have to wrap it up because i gotta get all my rug to go to marsh cheese castle oh my dog at your homework wants to know people names or cutesy names for pets oh man that's tough i love people names for pets norman has joked for the longest time about having a dachshund named Daryl.

Yeah. Which is the only time I've ever seen my dad uncomfortable. And boy, do I have a dream of making that happen one day. Yeah. I got to go with human name. I love the, I love, I think I've told this story before, but when I was in cosmetology school. Are you talking about when you kicked the dog?

No. When I was in cosmetology school, there was a woman who came every week for her roller set. And she would bring her dog with her and it would sit in her car while she got her roller set done. And it was a German shepherd named Heather. How long does it take to do a roller set? I mean, it's like an hour because you got to sit under the dryer. I'm about to full on Karen over this. Yeah. Yeah. Did you make sure that Heather had plenty of air in the car? I don't, I don't recall regularly checking on Heather.

You sound like a dog kicker. I'll just tell you that right now. I love a big, goofy dog. Yeah. Named Heather. No, that's too serious a name. I don't like it. I reject it. I reject it. I saw this dog on TikTok the other day.

And it's like, he like pops his head up from behind a couch. His name was Gary. I like that. Yeah. Okay, yeah, it up from behind the couch. His name was Gary. I like that. Yeah. Okay, yeah, it really depends on the name. Yeah. Gary. Gary.

There's something about a man's name. You don't want a dog named Heather, though. No, I don't. What about Barbara? No, I think I like men's names for dogs. You don't want a dog named Barbara Brown? Although I have a dog named Dottie. Yeah.

You named your dogs after people. Yes, I did. Yeah. In fact, it's true. Yeah. But that was more for, you know, Norman and I love that movie. You know, it's a whole thing. But I mean, I really love the name Pickle for a dog.

Yeah, that's cute. Love the name Cookie. All right. Do you like food names? Sure do. Sure do. Ooh, Queen Nikki wants to know, Brandy, I'm debating Olaplex treatments. Are there any products that do the same thing but won't drain my entire account?

Isn't Olaplex, like, going to cause all your hair to fall off your body? And, like, isn't that the one that's getting all those lawsuits to fall off your body and like isn't that the one that's getting all those lawsuits am I making stuff up you're making a face no I don't think they have a bunch of lawsuits oh never mind when when I got the pants suit off of them I am also thinking about when but that is a different story no Olaplex had a lot of lawsuits really am I about to school you on stuff hang on let me so no so Olaplex can a lot of lawsuits. Really? Am I about to school you on stuff? Hang on. I don't think so. No, so Olaplex can have adverse effects if you use it too much.

That's any protein product. It's a protein product. If you get too much protein in your hair, it causes your hair to become brittle. Olaplex won a bunch of lawsuits. They sued a bunch of people who tried to copy their product. Oh, really? Yeah. Matrix and L'Oreal used to make a knockoff and they had to stop. Wow.

But then they did a workaround because then they just put it into their Leitner. It's an all-in-one step now. Hmm. Yeah. I see. Yeah. What did you find there when you looked up? Yeah. There's lawsuits? Lawsuits? Yeah. I see. Yeah. What'd you find there when you looked up? Yeah. They're bringing lawsuits. Yeah. Customer complaints. But it looks like, okay, it looks like what you're saying,

you know, users reporting hair loss and you're saying that that's just an effect of... So your hair, if you over protein hair, it can become very dry and brittle. It's the same result as having not enough protein in your hair. So a lot of people then continue to treat it with protein when really what they need is moisture at that point. I see. Yeah. It's what we call a vicious cycle. It is a vicious cycle.

Ooh, Justin82 wants to know, did you both have skippets in the 90s? You bet we did. Sure fucking did. Yeah. I used to love that fucking thing. Sure fucking did. Yeah. I used to love that fucking thing. I did too. And I loved that it had the counter on it. Yes.

Man. But sometimes I'd do it and do it and do it and do it, and then I'd look at it, and I thought I did way more than it said. Devastating. Yeah, it was devastating. So did you move the little numbers? No, I wasn't a fucking cheater. Very sorry.

Oh, at any rate, wants to know, are you into the Duggars? I've just found the Digging Up the Duggars podcast and I've binged through eight episodes in one day. OK, I'm not familiar with that podcast. I'm not familiar with that podcast either. But I need to look into that. I sure do. Have you watched Shiny Happy People? I have not watched Shiny Happy People, but I used to watch the shit out of 19 Kids and Counting and the whole time, like, watched it like a train wreck.

You loved it? Yeah, I couldn't. I mean, I was very uncomfortable with it. How else are you going to watch that show? I could not stop watching it. Oh, God. Yeah. So I need to watch shiny happy people and check out this podcast obviously i i've thought about doing josh doug yeah you should oh god it's so awful yeah not nearly as light and fun and happy as the case i just covered. Right, no kidding.

So he has small children and his wife is still married to him and so many concerns. Yeah. Dong Dreamcatcher asks, favorite summer cocktail? Now, mine's real loose i don't have a very specific one but if you've got a summer cocktail on your menu that includes pineapple juice you bet your ass i'm gonna order it oh yeah that's the key to a summer cocktail for me i don't know what your looseness has to do with anything you got a favorite summer cocktail hmm Hmm. I'm always a vodka seltzer kind of gal. But that's not really a fun answer, is it?

It's not. No. I apologize. You want to put a little umbrella in it maybe? Sure. Okay. Sure. A cherry perhaps?

There we go. Woo, festive. Ooh, Tits McGee wants to know, what is something you thought as a child would be a much bigger deal? Mine is quicksand. I remember strategizing how I would get out of it if I ever got stuck in quicksand. I thought that shit would be everywhere.

Was that a cartoon thing? Because I thought the same thing. I was like, we all need to be prepared. Mine is, well, this is unfortunate timing. timing catching on fire yeah how often they taught you and like drilled into you stop drop and roll yeah which apparently they don't they don't teach anymore even yeah because that's not the way to do no you're supposed to like you need to put a blanket on you and whatever well what if you don't have a blanket

just pat it out pat it out okay pat it, but I remember like being taught stop, drop and roll. Yes. Constantly. All the time. Yes. Hmm. Yeah. You know what I was also always on the lookout for?

What? Amnesia. Yes. Felt like that could happen any time. Any moment. Any moment I'm not going to know who I am or where I've been. Ooh, Shella Fornia says, normal or nah? Putting the toilet seat down before you flush.

My husband says I'm weird for doing this, but I honestly think it's gross not to. Yeah, no, I always put it down before I flush. I watched this episode of, I don't know, CSI. No, I think it was CSI. Uh-huh. What else would it have been? I don't know. Maybe it wasn't.

Maybe it was like a medical drama. Anyway, this woman was really sick or died or something, and they went and they investigated her house. It had to have been, maybe it was house. Maybe it was an episode of house. Anyway, it's not important to the story. Anyway, she stored her toothbrush on the back of her toilet. Oh, no an episode of House. Anyway, it's not important to the story. Anyway, she stored her toothbrush on the back of her toilet. Oh, no.

So every time she was flushing, she was getting poo particles in her toothbrush, and then she basically got dysentery from it. Yeah, that's terrible. No, everyone should know, when you flush, those poo particles go flying.

Into the air. That's the sound of poop particles going everywhere. Put the fucking lid down first. If you're that curious, lift it up after the flush is completed. Hey, it's not out of curiosity. You want to make sure everything went down. That's yeah. Do I need to scrub the bowl?

I need to do any follow up work. That's right. Yeah. Thank you very much. Then you go back in, you do a secondary inspection. You don't watch the whole thing go down. You poop particles everywhere. All right, very good.

I'm way more passionate about this than I realize. Well, it turns out you're doing deep dives into all kinds of stuff. You're a woman with many passions, and I respect it. Okay. Brandy Step Away from the Penguin asks, what's a cute London story? Okay. I've actually got two that happened. One happened yesterday.

One happened today. Okay. Yesterday. This made me cry. London is very big into like determining relationships at this point. So like she constantly tells me like, you're my mom. I'm your daughter. Yeah.

Jack's my brother. Daddy's my dad. Like that kind of thing. And so she was telling me that I was her mom on the car ride to my mom's to drop her off before I went to work. And so then I told her that being her mom is my favorite. Yeah. So that's my favorite thing is being your mom. And she goes, my favorite is being your daughter.

Oh, that's so sweet. She's so sweet. Okay, then today we were driving and it was a really sunny day. She always points out like if it's sunny or cloudy or partly sunny, partly cloudy. That's also a big thing for her. And she said, it's very sunny today. The sun is poking my eyes. That is a great way of putting it.

Yes! That's how it feels. It is how it feels. I love that. Yeah, the sun is poking my eyes. This is on par with her water volcano space. Yes, water volcanoes, yes. For fountains.

It's like there's... It's all very accurate. It is. I respect it, London. All right, we are now moving on to Supreme Court inductions. You get inducted into our Supreme Court by joining our Patreon at the $7 level or higher. This week, we are reading your names and your first celebrity crushes. Megan. Lance Bass. Tori Adams. Danny Phantom. Megan Olsen. Ryder Strong. Marissa Jordan. Kovu from The Lion King 2. I don't know

who that is. I don't think I ever saw Lion King 2. That seems like a straight-to-DVD number. It might have been. Emma Seeler. Sean Biggerstaff as Oliver Wood in Harry Potter. Oh, yeah, and then she points out where I made a mistake about this on an episode. Somebody else put this as their answer, and I said I thought he was the person who made the announces the games,

Quidditch games. Turns out that he's the captain for Gryffindor so I've never been more wrong. How do you feel? I feel all right about it. Amber Potter. Orlando Bloom.

Cassandra R. JTT. D-Bits. The Fonz. Ay! Married to a Marty. Matthew McConaughey. Amanda Baker.

Devin Sawa. Ellie Johnson. Nick Jonas. Stephanie Mitchell. David Boronad. Borion. Thank you, Brandy. Samantha M.

Devin Workheiser. From Ned's Declassified School Survivor Guide. I don't know what any of those things are. Don't know about school or guides. Shandeen. Ooh, Benny the Jet Rodriguez. Hell yeah. Aaron Fisher McClintock. Joey McIntyre.

Diana C. Diana See. Zach Morris. Allison Howerton. Ryder Strong. Lyndon Newman. Michael Landon. April Black. The Raven from CBBC's Raven.

I doubt they had this in America, but I want to clarify, he is in fact a human man. Not an actual raven. That's one hot-ass bird. Joe Streets. Christina Ricci. Holly Jacobson. Sean Cassidy. Katie Krainak.

Leonardo DiCaprio. Kate Davis. Scarlett Johansson. Jamie Castro. Joe Jonas. Welcome to the Supreme Court! Thank you, everyone, for all of your support. We appreciate it so much.

If you're looking for other ways to support us, please find us on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Patreon. Please remember to subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen, and then head on over to Apple Podcasts and leave us a five star rating and review. Then be sure to join us next week when Brandi will be an expert on a whole new topic. Podcast adjourned. And now for a note about our process. For this episode, I read a bunch of stuff, then regurgitated it all back up in my very limited vocabulary.

So I owe a huge thank you to the real experts. I got my info from the documentary Doorway to Hell, the mystery and controversy surrounding the fire at the Haunted Castle, and the video The Disaster That Changed Theme Parks Forever, Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure by Storybook Amusement on YouTube, as well as reporting from The New York Times. For a full list of our sources, visit lgtcpodcast.com. Any errors are, of course, ours, but please don't take our word for it.

Go read their stuff.