[Applause]
at around 2 p.m. on the 28th of June
2008 a 17 year old boy on a trip to the
Six Flags Over Georgia theme park made a
fatal mistake for reasons unknown he
scaled two fences and entered a
restricted ride area and was
subsequently decapitated by a passing
train the horrific incident made news
nationwide but it was not the first to
occur on that same roller coaster Batman
the ride is a steel inverted coaster
replicated at several Six Flags parks
across America manufactured by Bolliger
& Mabillard it consists of a steel track
around eight hundred and twenty meters
2,700 foot in length at the time it was
the world's first inverted roller
coaster a name given because trains
dangled from the track rather than
running on top of it riders were secured
with over the shoulder harnesses and
completed the ride with their legs
dangling over the void initially there
was just one version of Batman the ride
operating at Six Flags Great America in
Illinois
once the concept proved to be successful
however management were quick to approve
clones of the ride for six other Six
Flags parks across the country the clone
at Six Flags Over Georgia opened in 1997
making it just over ten years old by the
summer of 2008 that was the summer that
Isaiah LaShawn Ferguson and his parents
came to the park as part of a trip
organized by their local church group at
around 2 p.m.
Ferguson and another boy entered the
restricted area underneath Batman the
ride there are conflicting reports about
why they did so some witnesses claimed
that Ferguson lost a hat while riding
the coaster and was trying to retreat
it others claimed that he wanted to
touch the right or grab the foot of one
of the riders as they went by overhead
still others speculated that the pair
were taking a shortcut to the entrance
of the ride in order to beat the queues
while the reason that the two boys
entered the restricted area is unknown
what they had to do to get there is a
matter of widely publicized facts the
dangerous area beneath the roller
coaster was protected by two six-foot
fences which the boys scaled one after
the other ignoring multiple highly
visible warning signs in the process
once inside the right area the boys made
their way to a spot directly under the
right track at the bottom of a drop it
was here that Ferguson was hit the train
was travelling at its top speed of 80
km/h 50 miles per hour when the incident
occurred a rider's dangling foot
connected with Ferguson's head and at
this speed the impact was significant
enough to completely decapitate him
killing him instantly the other boy who
had accompanied Ferguson into the
restricted area was uninjured somewhat
miraculously so too was the writer whose
leg had been involved in the collision
in the immediate aftermath of the
accident the ride was closed while an
investigation was completed he was
during this time that it emerged that
Ferguson was not the first person to die
in this manner in May 2002 a 58 year old
groundskeeper named Samuel Milton Guyton
was killed while in the same restricted
area again by an impact from the
dangling leg of one of the rides
passengers on both occasions the ride
was closed for little longer than a
single day just long enough for the
federal Occupational Safety and Health
Administration to inspect the ride and
deem it safe for passengers on both
occasions it was ultimately unknown why
the victim ended up where they were on
both occasions the incident was caused
by the same mechanism and yet no changes
were made in the aftermath of either
death
the clone of Batman the ride at Six
Flags Over Georgia still operates to
this day there is no Memorial on site to
either of its victims
you