· Today marks the 30th anniversary of the fire that took the lives of eight teenagers trapped inside the Haunted Castle attraction on May 11, 1984. Frank McDonnell, a fire official for Jackson's ...
Haunted Castle was a haunted attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson Township, New Jersey.The original Haunted House was built prior to the fall "shoulder season" of 1978 to boost attendance and as a test for building a larger facility the following year. While it was intended that it be open only at night, the popularity of the attraction caused …
Frank McDonnell, a fire official for Jackson's Bureau of Fire Safety, was a 22-year-old volunteer for Jackson Fire Company 1 back in 1984. He remembers responding to the fire and says he …
six flags new jersey haunted house fire victims. June 14, 2021 Uncategorized ...
What caused the Six Flags Haunted Castle fire? (Only one side was operating the night of the fire.) The fire broke out shortly before 6:30 p.m., when a 14-year-old boy who was using a …
Botanical GardensHaunted Castle was a haunted attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson Township, New Jersey....Haunted Castle (Six Flags Great Adventure)Haunted CastleClosing date1979 (Original) May 11, 1984 (as Haunted Castle)ReplacedAlpen BlitzReplaced byBotanical GardensGeneral statistics8 more rows
Eight teenagersThe fire occurred on May 11, 1984, at the Haunted Castle in the Great Adventure Park in New Jersey. Eight teenagers, ages 15 to 19, perished in the fire. The Haunted Castle was a haunted house amusement in which patrons walked through a maze-like structure and experienced various scary scenes.
May 11, 1984Lane students were among those who perished in '84. The Haunted Castle at Great Adventure in New Jersey. Eight teenagers were killed in a fire there on May 11, 1984, including four seniors at Franklin K.
Constructed in 1976, it drew millions of visitors annually until it was damaged in 1982 in a storm. Facing declining attendance and a $500,000 repair bill, it was closed in 1984. Carmen Ricci, the owner, sold it in 1987 for $1 million, and it burned to the ground later that year just as demolition was slated to begin.
June 8, 1987The pier, which featured amusements rides and a haunted mansion among other attractions, burned down in a fire on June 8, 1987. The cause was "a weather-beaten electrical wire and leaking natural gas," according to an Asbury Park Press article from the time.
Both tracks interlocked at their vertical loop element. The ride's popularity declined in the mid-to-late 1980s, and a fatal incident occurred in 1987....Lightnin' LoopsSix Flags Great AdventureStatusRemovedOpening dateMay 23, 1978Closing date199234 more rows
Frank McDonnell, a fire official for Jackson's Bureau of Fire Safety, was a 22-year-old volunteer for Jackson Fire Company 1 back in 1984.
After the fire, Six Flags Great Adventure updated park structures with equipment that includes sprinkler systems, smoke and heat detectors and emergency generators, and added an in-house fire brigade, according to McDonnell.
Criminal charges of aggravated manslaughter were filed against the company, but a Superior Court jury in Toms River returned a not-guilty verdict.
A report on the tragedy released by the National Fire Protection Association said the structure was made of 17 interconnected commercial trailers and plywood frames. Fire consumed a foam pad inside the Haunted Castle and spread through the structure. Park President John Fitzgerald said the fire was a terrible tragedy.
Peter Smith , author of "Doorway to Hell: The Mysteries and Controversies Surrounding the Deadly Haunted Castle Fire at Six Flags Great Adventure," said it's still saddening, looking back on the fire. "Everyone who was at Great Adventure that day and anyone who lives around here will never forget that day, as long as they shall live," Smith said.
JACKSON – For more than four decades, people have gone to Six Flags Great Adventure for a day of fun, riding roller coasters, playing boardwalk-style games and taking part in other amusements.
The New Jersey Uniform Fire Code also requires a certificate of occupancy be obtained before certain attractions are opened to the public.
The families of four of the victims filed civil suits against Bally Manufacturing , the owner of Six Flags; Six Flags Great Adventure; and the Castle's builder, George Mahana, the owner of Toms River Haunted House Company, charging manslaughter and aggravated manslaughter. New York City Board of Education, the State of New Jersey, Ocean County and Jackson Township were also included in the various suits. Seven of the eight families later settled out of court for $2.5 million each; the eighth family chose to go to trial and was awarded $750,000.
Originally known as the Haunted House, the attraction was constructed of four aluminum semi-trailers when it opened in 1978. It was intended as a test for a more substantial attraction that was to be built the following year. The four trailers came from the Toms River Haunted House Company, owned by George Mahana, with scenes preinstalled. The lessee was responsible for the construction of a façade that would create the illusion of a haunted house. The park built a wooden front that resembled a white, two-story house with forest green shingles and shutters, contained by a wrought-iron fence and gates, and accentuated with stucco planters. The guide rails for the waiting lines were left over from the previous ride that had been on the site, Alpen Blitz. To help create the right mood, creepy music was played over exterior speakers.
At the end of the 1978 season, the attraction was disassembled and sent to Six Flags Over Mid-America, where it would continue to run from 1979 through 1982. The old façade was torn down and Botanical Gardens took its place.
Smith also says that diagrams of the castle and its exits used in the trial were inaccurate, and did not show a metal fence erected to protect actors from hostile guests, something that would have made escape more difficult, and was found at the scene. Great Adventure officials declined to comment on the film.
A second juror disagreed, saying that township officials were not derelict. Both jurors held the two companies blameless because they had been told by township officials that they needed no permit or sprinklers.
Eight days after the fire, a statement by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said a thirteen-year-old boy had called the police after hearing radio reports that investigators were looking for witnesses. The boy told the police that he had been befriended by a fourteen-year-old boy at the castle's entrance. He said the older youth, who appeared to be familiar with the castle, offered to guide him through. He said the older youth used a cigarette lighter to find his way down a long corridor that was dark because of a malfunctioning strobe light, and he eventually bumped into and ignited a foam-rubber wall pad. The prosecutor exonerated the older youth, who has never been identified, of any criminal wrongdoing.
During the subsequent criminal trial, the Jackson Township fire inspector testified that he had never inspected the castle. The township considered the castle a "temporary structure", even after it had been at the park for five years, based on the fact that the trailers were still on wheels. The castle lacked a building permit, a certificate of occupancy, fire and smoke detectors, and sprinklers despite repeated recommendations by the park's own safety consultants.
Glenn Vallach, a spokesman for the park, said the search was hampered in part because the haunted house had many mannequins and other life-like figures that could be mistaken for human forms.
The dead, burned beyond recognition, were visitors to the 200-acre amusement park and were believed to be teen-agers, Police Commissioner Richard Borys said.
The amusement park, in its third ownership, has been located in Jackson for nearly a decade. Six Flags took it over in late 1977.
The Haunted Castle, a walk-through amusement, was composed of seven metal trailers joined by walkways. Fire broke out shortly after 6:30 p.m. and raged out of control until about 8 p.m., according to police. It was confined to the castle, but police and park personnel quickly evacuated thousands of patrons crowding the park for a rock concert.
The park is located off Exit 7A of the New Jersey Turnpike. Park official Andrea Smeal said that, before the park opened last month, fire inspectors checked every ride and attraction. Had there been violations, the park would not have been permitted to open, she said.
Major Taranto said the dead were all found in one of 17 trailers that formed the walk-through Haunted Castle, which was set behind a cream-colored facade of turrets, skulls and ghoulish mannequins.
The prosecutor, Mr. Turnbach, said, ''The review of the premises has not revealed the presence of additional bodies.''
While park officials spoke reluctantly and limited reporters' access to the scene, authorities and witnesses described a fearsome holocaust in which wind-whipped flames soared into the night sky and temperatures of more than 2,000 degrees melted metal walls and turned interiors into raging infernos.
Arson was not ruled out in the blaze, which struck Friday night in the Haunted Castle at the Six Flags Great Adventure park in Jackson Township, nearly 50 miles southwest of midtown Manhattan.
The others, in addition to Miss Minter, were listed as Patricia Lynch, 18, of Yorktown Heights, N.Y.; Keith Berkery, 18, of Whippany, N.J., and Stephanie Peterson, 20, of Brooklyn.
While thousands of patrons poured into the park yesterday, reporters were restricted in their movements by park officials, who escorted them in groups to the scene and refused to allow them to talk to employees. One supervisor was overheard threatening to dismiss employees who were speaking to a reporter.
He added that some of the youths at the park had come to hear a concert by the rock and roll group Golden Earring.
He said that as of midnight the bodies still had not been removed from the rubble of the building, which was destroyed. The fire, which began at 6:35 P.M. in an attraction called ...
The attraction consisted of 14 aluminum trailers with a facade that gave it the haunted-house appearance. Last night, visitors to the scene said that the aluminum was melted, seared and blackened by the blaze.
A hotline number - (201) 928-2000 - was set up at the popular amusement park to answer questions about the blaze and the victims. The park is about 60 miles southwest of New York City in central New Jersey.
The fire, which began at 6:35 P.M. in an attraction called the Haunted Castle, was brought under control at 7:45 P.M. Seven people were treated for smoke inhalation and released from the Freehold Area Hospital, a hospital spokesmen said.
David Van Arsdale, a fire inspector at the scene, said the eight bodies were found in the rear of the building - a long, corridor-like maze. He said seven of the dead were in one group about 25 feet from a fire exit.