ZM's Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley - Fletch, Vaughan & Hayley's Fact of the Day (of the Week!) - Roller Coaster Week!

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Vaughan buckles us in for a Loop-de-Loop through Roller Coaster Week!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ZM Podcast Network. Play ZM's Fletch, Vaughn, and Hayley. Hello and welcome to Fact of the Day of the Week. This week, Vaughn the Carnie straps us in as he corkscrews us through a week of rollercoaster Fact of the Days. It's time for... Fact of the Day, Day, day, day, day. Today's Fact of the Day and this week is Rollercoaster Week at Fact of the Day.

I must actually find the email to say thank you for the person that pointed me in this direction. Where is he? What is his name? His name is Mike. Mike. And Mike Hiscox I think lives in the UK. I don't know if you can just talk about his

like that. It's his name and he is sick of this nonsense. Okay, sorry. Mike H is his email thing but he thought what he did is he composed this in his work email and then sent it to his personal email and then sent it to me. Right. His personal email.

Rocking a Yahoo. Is he? He's rocking a Yahoo. Yahoo.co.nz. He said, I found some facts. I thought you might be able to use one of these. Some of them that we have used before and I was just like, well, actually the first one he sent was about a roller coaster.

So I was like, that's cool. Yeah. I think we could do roller coaster week. There'll one he sent was about a roller coaster. So I was like, that's cool. Yeah. I think we could do Roller Coaster Week. There'll be enough interesting facts about roller coasters. So today's fact of the day is the first roller coaster in 1884 was... Well, I don't know if I'd be trusting an 1884 roller coaster. It only went real slow. Oh, okay.

It only went real slow. How slow? It was nine kilometres an hour. And you sat sideways in it. Oh, really? Like side. I hate when you go on a bus or a train and there's a sideways. Backwards?

Backwards is worse. Backwards I feel sick. Backwards, side just puts you right off. Yeah. I've got to start facing forward. That's my way to travel. It was by a man who had made his millions in the hosiery business, stockings and such.

Oh my God, pantyhose. LaMarcus Thompson. He'd lived in Central, not Central America, Middle America. Yeah. But when he got sick, he was like, well, I'm going to go and live by the seaside. And the seaside he chose to live by was New York.

Oh, yeah. And he did not like that all of the attractions in New York were what he considered to be hedonistic places like brothels and saloons. And he said we needed some good old fashion fun. Yeah. So he invented a roller coaster that, yeah, you sat in sideways and from the high point

it just rolled down a series of ups and down hills. Oh, yeah. And it was on the, in Coney Island, along the pier. Yep. So for a start, you were just looking at the pier and then he said, you know what? We could just paint anything and put it up and we could do it like it's a tour of America.

So it was called a switchback railway. That was what the first roller coaster was called. And you would look out one way and go down and then you get to the end and they'd put it in a little lift and they'd lift it up and then it would go back down the other way. Oh. And you would face different ways in each direction so that you would see a different painted scene.

Wow. So that was the first one that was commercially invented. Are there photos of it? Yep, there's old black and white photos and drawings of it. Because it sounds like it would be rickety. It would be very rickety. Have you been on a wooden roller coaster? Yes.

They're so fun. I've been on a wooden roller coaster? Yes. They're so fun. I've been on the one in, what's the one in California? Knott's Berry Farm. Yes. That's the big wooden one. I've been on that one. That's amazing.

Is that what they use for the opening of classic 90s family sitcoms, Step by Step? Step by Step. Step by Step. D bar D. Fresh Turtle. Sure, and that would be in San Fran. Knott's Berry Farms. No, because that view. Inland, is it? Step by step. D by D. Fresh turtle. And that would be in San Fran. Knott's Berry Farms.

No, because if you... Inland, is it? It's inland. Yeah, no, no, no. They photoshopped it. It's the world's worst photoshopping. Is it? If you remember the TV show Step by Step,

it was like a modern day Brady Bunch. Dad with kids meets woman with kids. Patrick Duffy, Suzanne Somers. Oh, what a comical mixing of different families. I remember there being a roller coaster on the intro. At the start, yeah. There was a roller coaster right at the end. That was a wooden roller coaster.

That's very cool. That one at Knott's Berry Farm. Very cool. Yeah. So that was invented and opened in 1884, the switchback railway of Coney Island, to stop people seeking sinful activities, such as brothels and saloons.

Yeah. I've got a lot of other fact of the days about roller coasters. I'm really excited. I'm excited for this week. Tomorrow I will teach you about a roller coaster that for half the day worked and for half the day played. What? Okay, you've hooked me in.

Can we go live Friday from the roller coaster at Rainbow's Inn? You can. Absolutely. We can sort that out for you. Thank you. Absolutely. It's good. It's over in like 20 seconds.

The corks grow. Is that it? Yeah, yeah, that's it. Today's fact of the day. I told you I was going to tell you about the roller coaster before rollercoasters Because Are we going to make it to the end of this week without

Sorry my brain just went Ronan Keating It should be in the background every day I don't know if it should be Chili Peppers love rollercoaster You give me that funny feeling In my tummy It's got to be Ronan It's got to be Ronan.

He's got to be Ronan. How many songs about roller coasters have there been? Let me type in roller coaster. We have Bleach's Roller Coaster. Who? Bleach's. Bleach's Roller Coaster. Oh, that was the guy that was... Bleach's.

Yeah. This is the guy that was... Jack Antonoff. Yeah, Jack Antonoff Yeah Jack Antonoff Right His band There is That song

There is Aaron Watson has a song Called Rollercoaster Ride Jonas Brothers have a 2019 song Robin Thicke Ronan Keating Red Hot Chili Peppers

The uncancelled Robin Thicke When his dad died Or did we recancell him I don't know Where's he at On the canceling scale? It's a soft...

Okay, carry on. Okay, perfect. It hadn't even crossed my mind. One of the earliest coasters in America wasn't a full-time roller coaster. I told you roller coasters invented yesterday by a man who wanted to take

New Yorkers away from debauchery and sin for their entertainment. Well, there was a roller coaster before that. It was the Monch Chunk Switchback Railway. Monch Chunk. Monch Chunk. I hate when someone calls me a Monch Chunk.

Same. I'm always like, excuse me, it's been a long winter. It's been a long winter. I'm a little bit Monch Chunk-y. I'm a little bit Monch Chunk. I'm Monch Chunk-y. I'm Monch too much and now I'm a little bit munched chunkies. I'm a little bit munched chunk. I'm munched chunkies and I'm ours. I'm munched too much and now I'm chunk. So this was a

gravity railway. It was built in 1872 to haul coal between coal mines. Oh my god, it's the original gold rush from Rainbow's End. Correct. Correct. So it would go up. Yeah. When it was empty, it was pretty light.

So they'd have some oxen to pull it up, or some draft horses to pull it up the hill. They'd load it up with one and a half tonnes of coal and then just be like, huff, push. And it would go, whew, down a track. And they'd ride it. 50 miles an hour through the valley. So it got to the point where everyone was like

that whizzes past our house and shit, that looks fun. Oh, that looks like a good time. Any chance we could sit in it? So then in 1873 it was in the morning it would haul coal.

It would haul it back up empty all the way to the top and then people would jump in and they'd pay 75 cents each. Yeah. Which would have been a decent amount back in the day. Yeah. 75 cents each. And then they would ride it. Nine miles.

Nine miles. That's a long way. It's a long walk. Oh. Or you could sit in it while it was being pulled, but then these draft horses, they're used to pulling it empty, not full of people. 30,000 people rode it in 1873.

Wow. You might be thinking, seatbelts? Nope. Nope. Hold on. They sat in the coal carriage. Yeah. You just held on.

I was looking up photos. Obviously no video of it, but there are some photos. And people had taken their own chairs like they were sitting on like crates and boxes you wouldn't want to get a sooty bum no

what are those warehouse $12 chairs those white ones the plastic ones about $12 is that the inflation has inflation hit a beautiful white plastic lawn chair

it used to be like $5 you want to wait until a Boxing Day sale if you can't afford to wait because you'll get those things for $5 let me look $5

14 14 14 14 yeah 14 is the current white classic resin chair

I tell you what yeah I don't mind seeing one collapse under some weight awesome that little crack before the collapse

I'm a leaner on a chair even outside on one of those I'll be leaning on it and it'll be wobbling and then you go down. Does your wife not say, don't lean on the chairs?

That's what I did, Aaron. Don't lean on the chairs. I always say that the kids don't lean on the chairs. My mum still says that. Break your neck if you fall over. Don't tell me what to do.

I'm an adult now. Yeah, don't tell me what to do. So the railway, the Munch Chonk, isn't there anymore. It got taken away. It never got any safe,

but also no reports of any accidents or deaths as a result. As a result of it. They were just, the carriages would have been like so heavy. There's no way they would have ever come off, right? Yeah, and sometimes we cotton wrap ourselves

these days, don't we? 50 miles an hour. What's that? 60 miles an hour is 100k, so 50 miles an hour is up over 80. That's a good line. You're rocketing along on a rickety-ass old track. I would have thought coming off would have been a very real... It was straight, but it was also straight down a hill.

And no loops or anything. No loop-de-loops. No loop-de-loops. Wimps. No loop-de-loops. So today's fact of the day is before someone built an official roller coaster, there was just a really steep hill that they used to bring coal down on a track and they used to let you ride it in the afternoons.

Play ZM's Fletch, Vaughn and Hayley. Oh, my God. I think I just shut vote compersentials on the last page. I'll never know who to vote for now. I was just actually shut it to Google how old when Catherine the Great,

Catherine the Second in Russia. You might be thinking, but Vaughan, I thought it was Rollercoaster Week. It is Rollercoaster Week. It is.

You can't bail out on it. Because somebody messaged me saying, have you heard of the Russian mountain? The Russian mountain. And I say a splash mountain. Nay, I haven't.

Well, imagine splash mountain. Yeah. But then a Russian cold snap hits and the hydroslide has an ice coating to it. And you have a Russian mountain, which was predated roller coasters, but technically weren't roller coasters, but technically weren't roller coasters, but technically weren't toboggan tracks, but close, but also technically not a water slide.

Yeah, okay. Russian mountains, the first one was opened in the 15th century. So, what was that? The 1600s. By the way, this annoys me too. It annoys me as well.

I feel like we shouldn't be saying 21st century when the first two numbers of our century that we're currently in are 20-0. Because no one says I'm in my 37th year when they're 36. I know. No one says that. It's annoying.

It's technically correct. I hate it. 18th century is the 1700s. It confuses me and I have to stop down every time I'm saying it to think what century we're in. Same, same. So we're in the 21st century. Are you okay?

Yeah, I'm just massaging my bicep. I've got a little knot in it. I'm just digging in. Aggressively, might I say. Yeah. Aggressively rubbing yourself. I just wanted to look like you might have pulled something. I'm scratching, he's rubbing.

We're all over the show. So the 15th century, 1600s, Russians started building giant wooden slides that had sides on them. Yeah. And then when the winter would start to come, they'd obviously pour a bit of water down there. The Russian winters are so cold,

it would freeze and stay frozen all winter, where then they would get a block of ice, a thin sheet of ice. So they would put ice on ice and then sit on top of that ice on some sort of seat, and they would ride down these things called Russian mountains. Jeez, you'd go fast. 50 miles an hour.

Whoa, okay, yeah. So what's that? Is that 80? 80. Far out. Just over 80. How big were the signs on these chutes? Yeah, slippery as well,

because if you turned your body weight, you go, whoop. It was the old days, so they were high, but not like... Not hydroslide high. Not open hydroslide high. So it was very popular amongst the upper class. Catherine II of Russia, when it got to her, now I just checked, she lived from

1729 to 1796. Is she the great? She was the second great. Oh yeah, she is Catherine the Great. Okay. Oh, yes, okay. There was a Catherine before, but this was the first. Did she ever pinch on for... Oh, is this the one that the TV show is about?

Yeah, Catherine the Great. That was good. It is good. I finished a series and then forgot to start the next one. Oh, watch it. Nicholas Holt plays her husband. Oh, no, I didn't like that. Al Fanning, you didn't like it.

I hated it. Why? I don't know why I just hated it. Really? Yeah, I tried. I gave it a good few episodes.'t know why I just hated it. Really? Yeah, I tried. Like, I gave it a good few episodes. I think you might be wrong, Hon. Yeah, I know.

Go again. No, go again. Once you get used to Nicholas Holt just being a horrible person. There were definitely some funny lines in it. Yeah. Go again. Maybe I'll give it a bit more of a go. So she loved the Russian mountains so much that when it got to summertime,

she wouldn't have it. So she had one built for her. Now, this sounds dangerous if you've ever been on. You know if you see in a factory a long thing of rollers and you just push a box down and it's just – Oh, my God, like airport security. Yes. I always go –

Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever been – I've been to a couple of parks for kids where they've got one of those in place of a slide. Now maybe kids are lighter so they skim over the top, but my fat bottom got pinched. Oh, okay, yeah. So this could be dangerous.

So she put in rollers, a giant Russian mountain with rollers. Okay. And rolled in it because she said she loved it so much. So people would come to her house because she was the only one that could afford to do this. And she would go down. Look, I don't want to be negative,

but it does sound like you've, on Rollercoaster Week, you've brought in slides and luges. I was thinking like general theme park. Yeah. The roller that she had and hers is where we get roller coaster from. Oh, okay. Apologies. No, I jumped on board with him,

and I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Because they would coast down. Yes, okay, on the rollers. A roller coaster. They would coast down a roller, and that's why when it spread around, and there were these, the rides that predated what we call roller coasters now,

were called roller coasters, but you were literally just coasting on some rollers. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It makes sense. I've never thought about the name. How dare you, sir? I know. Well, no, sometimes you go off script, and I'm just saying it did sound like we were doing slides.

Yeah, and it evolved and we got the evolution of, and like we were doing slides. Yeah. And it evolved during the revolution of and then we included some Russian Tsars and leaders and monarchies and then we got to it. So you're pro-Russian now? Yeah, what's your stance? Past Russia, big fan.

Russia of old.. Russia of old. Right, the Russia of old. A fascinating country. Yeah. A fascinating country. So today's fake of the day. You're telling me you're tuning in on a 1700s Russian Fabergé egg? Oh, absolutely not.

I wouldn't. I'd have a Fabergé egg. I'd have a Fabergé. I wouldn't know where to put it. And I'd say to people, have you checked out my Fabergé egg? And shout out would say, stop putting the Fabergé egg out. It doesn't go with the Scandinavian decor. It wouldn't.

It's too glittery. It's too glamorous. It's too much. And I said well they were right extorted the Russians this whole time they probably had their own Scandinavian

Fabergé eggs. in the middle of them and then you open that one and then there's another egg and then you open that one. Oh that's right and then there's another doll

and then the last doll is always a bit like the bad effort. It's not even a doll it's like a little nugget. It's a nugget. A nugget of wood. You'd always lose the little nugget. It's a nugget. It's a nugget of wood. You'd always lose the little nugget.

Yes. Because you'd line them up, and then the nugget would fall off or roll off the table. It would roll and coast off the table, bringing us back around. So today's fact of the day is that Russian mountains, or what they were called,

predated roller coasters, but only worked in the winter. Today's fact of the day, we continue roller coaster week. Good. Today we're going to do some wham, wham, wham. We're doing the fastest, the longest, and the highest.

Okay, good. Wow. Fastest roller coaster. We go to Abu Dhabi. Oh. I didn't know roller coaster. We go to Abu Dhabi. Oh. I didn't know they had roller coasters. Abu Dhabi. They've got everything. Yeah. I'm also surprised the only one of these

three things is in Abu Dhabi or the United Arab Emirates because they do things like they build extravagantly expensive things just to say that's the something something in the world. Is there a outdoor theme park in Dubai? Because they've got everything for tourists. Abu Dhabi is just up the road.

Yeah, I know. Abu Dhabi, I don't remember there being. I've been there a couple of times. I don't remember there being a massive theme park. Ferrari World? Oh, yeah. Oh, I remember the car racing stuff. Has that got a roller coaster?

Ferrari World has the Formula Rosa. It is a roller coaster that was opened in 2010. It is the world's fastest roller coaster where it will reach a maximum speed of 240 kilometres an hour. Is it one of those ones? Is it one of the... Fastest? Yes, you reach...

Is it an electromagnet where they... Is that the one, like, you know, the Superman ride on the Gold Coast where it goes from zero to a bajillion? Oh, and it pulls, yeah. And it just goes... And you're super fast. I love those.

So it is... The track is 2.195 kilometres long. Yeah. And you'll get round it in one and a half minutes. So you're honking. Yeah. And you reach 4.8 G. Jeez, wow.

4.8 Gs at the takeoff. You want to go to the toilet before. Here's a bloody Formula Rosa POV, world's fastest coaster. Oh, wow. That's an incredible video. That looks so much fun. I encourage you, not while you're driving,

but to YouTube Formula Rosa POV. Far out you're hurtling. The longest roller coasters to ride around the world while you're driving, but to YouTube, Formula Rosa POV. Far out, you're hurtling. The longest roller coasters to ride around the world is the Steel Dragon 2000, which held the title, it's in Japan. Geopan? Geopan. Geopan.

Geopan. Yeah. It's at the Nagashima Spa Land Resort Amusement Park. That's a mouthful. Cut it right back down. That sounds nicely. You can have a roller coaster and then a hop on. And a spa.

Oh, my God, you hop into a lovely little spa. It's the longest roller coaster in the world. It is four kilometres long. Whoa. And will take you a long time to get around it because it's not like super fast. Yep. But it's very up, down, round,

like old school roller coaster, big up at the start, the rest of it's kind of woodley doodley. Woodley doodley, you heard it here first. It's woodley doodley. That's the term.

The highest roller coaster in the world. Is that one in America? Yes, the Kingda Car. What is the one they built and they had to shut down or redo? Was that a hydra slide? You know, people kept dying on it.

Yes, the one that was, you went too vertical. Yeah. And people were like hitting the, where it started to slope again, they were hitting it too hard. Yeah. No, I don't, I'm not familiar with the situation. Yeah, well, thank God. Ah, and it shoots straight up.

It goes 90 degrees up. Is that the one you showed a video of yesterday? I showed you the picture of the King of the Car. Yeah, I've been on a version of that. There's one at Knott's Berry Farm called the Accelerator. Same thing. It pulls you back and then shoots you fast forward and you go up almost 90.

Maybe. And then down. This just takes off. You hit 5G in it. So even the Gs are more than the... Yeah, right. But it's because you go straight up. From the ground level, you go up 139 metres straight up.

Yeah, yeah. And then at the top, you turn over, and then as it comes down, it twists and twists and throws you down. Almost like a roller coaster that goes up the Tower of Terror and then goes down. Down the other side. Like if you're familiar with Dreamworld. I would think it would be higher than the Tower of Terror yeah it's an incredibly high structure and then just shoots right rest of

the year i know i know it's roller coaster week this week but and maybe we should give it a uh like a break next week but maybe in a few weeks we could do log flume week someone did suggest because you couldn't do log flume right on the heels of a roller coaster. Now I'm just watching the Kingda Car bloody POV video from Six Flags. It goes straight up, eh? Yes. By your mind. Yep, it's very tall and very vertical.

With a VR headset, they could film something that would adequately sort of like give you the, I mean you wouldn't get the G but you'd get the feeling. Here it goes, it's going up, it's going up, it's going up. Man, that is insanely tall. It's still going up, still going up, still going up, still going up, still going up. It goes up vertical. And got to the top and whoa!

Going down, going down, going down, going down, going down. And the cork screws down. It goes up vertical down. That's insane. That's pretty wild. I mean, I'd just love to go on it. Jump on YouTube and watch a whole lot of different roller coasters around the world. So today's Fact of the Day was a little summation of the fastest, longest, and highest roller coasters in the world. It's Roller Coaster Week at Fact of the Day.

I've been loving it, Vaughn. Thank Vaughan and Hayley. It's Rollercoaster Week at Fact of the Day. I've been loving it, Vaughan. Thank you very much, Hayley. I've been telling you facts about rollercoasters. And today it does have to take a grim turn. Oh, dear. It's going to take a little bit of a grim turn. About people, the deaths related to rollercoasters. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, what are you looking up there? I wanted to know how many people have died from shark sharks. Oh, this is a thing. So the Wikipedia page, coastopedia.net, list of deadly rollercoaster accidents. The oldest one is 1930. So like 90 years ago. What is it?

93. Three. There's seven left. That's 93 years. Why did that take so long for me to work out? I panicked. You did panic. Yeah, you math panicked.

I math panicked. The first one, 1930. So really, when you take into account it's been 93 years, it's 90 years. We're having many years. I've math panicked again. It's not bad at all. Okay.

How many people all up? There have been 37 reported deaths on roller coasters. Okay. That's safer than sharks. It's safer than swimming in the ocean. Well, I wouldn't even say sharks. Shark deaths, very few and far between. Given the amount of humans in the ocean at any given time.

And the amount of sharks in the ocean at any given time. Yeah. Cars, bikes, all things. Guns. Drugs. Boats. Crocodiles. Hippopotamuses.

Yep. People chucking on lollies. Yeah. Trains. Smoking. Yeah. Yep. Smoking.

Smoking. COVID. Spent around for way less time, taking way more lives. Yeah. 37 recorded deaths from roller coasters. 18 recorded from mechanical failures. 10 recorded from falls from roller coasters. Oh, that's bad.

Five from people who have been struck by the roller coaster, maybe not even went on the roller coaster, but it's a death by roller coaster, so it counts. Well, they were walking on a roller coaster track. And four from others. Okay, others. It is a bit grim.

It is death. Other. Okay. Others. It is a bit grim. It is death. Other. So, other. And the others interested me too. When I heard other, I was like, what could possibly be?

The fire in the hole roller coaster at Silver Dollar City. In 1980, an operator switched the train to go into the service area unaware that riders were on. The entrance to the service area had a low roof.

All passengers escaped serious injury except for one man who did not hear the shouts to duck Oh! That was in 1980. What? Another one, and this is one where Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America in 2003, a girl with a heart condition died after riding a roller coaster. She had a known heart condition and had been seeing a cardiologist but had said she didn't because the sign at the thing said if you have a cardio, you shouldn't be on this. 1944, in the other category, a fire started at the Palisades Park,

which destroyed the park's rides. And unfortunately, some people were stuck on the roller coaster when the fire broke out, so they died. And Loch Ness Monster at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg a park employee found blood

yeah on the last car unidentified reasons probably a nosebleed that's not I wouldn't count that as a death wait

that's under other it goes down blood yeah but it didn't add up to our it didn't those are the four things under other. Right. But there was some there.

That's why. Okay, so it's not, okay. I mean, still horrible that there have been that many, but it's not what you would have thought. Falling would be terrible though. I've never had that problem when the belt goes over and there's lots of room. There's never room.

No, no, it's clicked in. Because when I went to Ramazan not too long ago, there's that big one that you go up and then it goes over. And I remember being upside down and feeling like, this isn't enough. I feel wiggly in here. That's because of the weightlessness when you're upside down. Yeah. Because I remember

someone explained that to me. It feels like that gets loose but it also is coinciding with the fact that it's at that moment where you're weightless. Yeah, I know. Love that ride. I love that ride. It's soiding with the fact it's at that moment where you're weightless. Yeah, I know. Love that ride. I love that ride. It's so good. Yeah, it's really something. Some of the more interesting ones.

In 2011, a man died on the Superman ride of steel at Darien Lake because he was a war veteran who had both of his legs amputated. And so he slipped out from under there because he couldn't put his feet on the ground. Couldn't put the feet on the ground to secure himself how like it's dark but

let's take into account how many millions of people literally on I think at last count there was early in the wake I saw something in the vicinity of six and a half thousand roller coasters around the world and people are constantly riding them and have been for nearly a hundred years it's a thrill ride and most of these are things that have been for nearly 100 years. It's a thrill ride

and most of these are things that have been taken care of by now. So today's fact of the day, the grim sign to finish Rollercoaster Week on is there have been 37 recorded deaths on rollercoasters in 93 years. Fact of the day, day, day, day, day. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Great work, guys.

10 out of 10 if I say so myself. I'll do a 9.6. Is that enough for you to review this podcast with a high rating and then tell all your friends? You sound very insincere.