On the 29th of April, 1972, Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio, opened for business.
The 364-acre amusement park included a $2,000,000 dark ride, a record-breaking roller coaster,
and numerous other entertainments and attractions. It was a hit. Within just a few years the park saw
visitor numbers in the millions and was known not just across the state but nationwide.
Little spoken of, however, were several bizarre freak accidents that took place within the park
in subsequent years and which cost several staff and guests their lives.
The first serious incident to take place occurred on the 24th of July,
1976, in the safari section of the park.
This attraction consisted of a 100-acre plot on the north side of the park,
divided into several different landscaped habitats and surrounded by tall double fences.
Within were housed a range of exotic animals:
elephants, zebras, giraffes, antelopes and, most prominently, a pride of lions.
Unlike other safaris, guests didn't enjoy the sights from their own vehicles but instead from
a monorail train which snaked through the safari area, and afforded excellent views of the animals.
Rangers patrolled the habitats in jeeps, armed with shotguns and radios in case of emergency.
Most of the time, however, their duties were to care for and monitor the animals.
The safari had been operating without major incident for two years when, one morning,
ranger John McCann was found mauled to death in the lion enclosure. The scene initially
baffled park officials. It appeared as though McCann had driven a King's Island jeep into the
lion enclosure, then exited it voluntarily while leaving behind his radio and shotgun.
He was then attacked by lions. Blood smears indicated that he might have
made it back to the jeep briefly before he was ultimately killed by multiple powerful bites.
McCann was 20 years old at the time of the incident. It was not thought that he was suicidal,
but colleagues did remark that he had often been careless around the lions before.
Many people reported that he had a habit of patting them on the head or
playfully tugging on their tails while working with them.
He had previously left his vehicle unarmed and without warning to rescue an antelope that had
wandered into the lion enclosure, and on another occasion had sustained a serious injury to his
neck after allowing a lion to climb on top of his vehicle... something which was very
much against the rules. While clambering up, the animal had slipped and its claw had passed
between safety bars and slashed McCann's neck - an injury which required multiple stitches.
Even after this frightening incident colleagues reported that McCann was extremely laissez-faire
around the lions, and continued to tug tails and pet them like domesticated animals.
The picture, then, was of a ranger who
(while no doubt passionate about his job) was extremely relaxed about his own personal safety.
Physical evidence collected from the scene suggested a sequence of events:
while driving his jeep through the lion enclosure to check on the cats,
McCann had stopped and voluntarily exited his vehicle,
most likely - it seemed - in order to relieve himself in the bushes.
While he was doing so he was attacked by one or more lions
and killed while trying to get back into his jeep.
In response to the death, King's Island fired the contractor who ran the safari part of the park
and took over operations themselves - something that would enable them to
terminate employees who did not take safety seriously.
Other than that, however, there was little they could do. McCann was found to be at fault by every
investigation into the incident, and King's Island faced no legal action as a result of his death.
At the center of King's Island stands a one-third scale replica of the Eiffel
Tower - an imposing construction of steel and glass which rises up to 95 meters (or 314 feet).
By riding up in a series of elevators, guests were able to get an excellent view
of the park from observation platforms at the midpoint and top of the tower.
The Eiffel Tower was the site of another incident on Friday the 13th of May, 1983.
At the time the park was hosting one of a series of "grad night" parties: evenings when
the park would be set aside for graduating high school students from the local area.
Among the students attending these special evenings was John Wesley Harter - an amiable
and well-liked 17-year-old, who made the drive to King's Island along with a large group of friends.
At some point in the night, however, having consumed some quantity of alcohol,
John became upset and parted ways from his companions.
John's group continued their evening without him, hoping that he would calm down and be
reunited with them later. They enjoyed a meal and then headed for the Eiffel Tower attraction
to get a view of the park lit up at night.
The group rode up to the lower of the two platforms, where it became apparent
that something was amiss. Operators were experiencing difficulties with the elevators,
meaning that they could not go any higher.
After taking in the view from this modest vantage point,
some of the group noticed something that looked like blood on some of the beams of the tower.
Assuming that some other students were playing a distasteful prank, they left the attraction.
It would not be until later that everyone involved would learn the truth:
John was dead. He had died after visiting the Eiffel Tower, where - for reasons
unknown - he climbed over a fence, up an emergency staircase, and out onto a beam above a lift shaft.
There he was struck by a counterweight and briefly entangled in elevator cables.
When the elevator next moved he fell, landing on the roof of the car. This
had been the source of the blood that his friends had seen on the beams of the tower.
Nobody could find an adequate explanation for what happened to John.
The sequence of actions he took in order to access the beam above the lift shaft were
so specific that it was clear he intended to be there... but friends and family thought
that suicide was vanishingly unlikely. It was speculated he might have been trying to jump
onto the top of the elevator car in order to ride it upwards for a better view - something which
was rumored to be done on a regular basis, but which the park had no record of ever happening.
In any event, fencing and signage around the Eiffel Tower was redoubled,
and it opened to visitors again after a thorough investigation. The park was
not found to be at fault for the incident, and the Eiffel Tower remains in operation.
It is a popular visitor attraction to this day.
The thing which both of these cases have in common is that King's Island was not responsible for what
happened. In the park's long history there have been incidents where the park was at fault...
but these two cases were both down to random chance, and bizarre and inexplicable choices
on the parts of those involved. Even when everything is done right, even when all
precautions are taken, the sheer unpredictability of human behavior will still play a role.