Woman dies following ride on Goliath at Six Flags Magic Mountain (UPDATED)

I once thought I had a Heart Attack on The Beastie...but it was just heartburn;)
Just to add a little humor.

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You can't run and you can't hide...The Beast at PKI

Isn't it true that to rupture the vessels in the brain, you need to get a nasty whip lash from side to side or forward? Jeff said it, there was a pre-existing condition.

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Coasters- a little slice of heaven

I only wish I could go out doing something I love, like riding a coaster.

The plot thickens...

This morning, the LA Times reported that the Coroner's Office had claimed that the ride was responsible for the woman's death.

This afternoon, the Chief Medical Examiner issued a retraction saying that NO findings are complete at this time and it is unknown...and will be unknown for 4 to 6 weeks...whether the ride was the proximate cause of death or not.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

It's funny how everyone says that the aneurysm was caused by the helix. BUT, It could have been cause by the mid-course brakes. The brakes hit REALLY hard causing your head to quickly jerk foward and then backwards. If her head was tilted slightly to the left and back she may have hit her head. I can say this because it happened to me a few months ago and my head was sore a week after that. And if she had an aneurysm the sudden slam on the headrest could have aggravated it, thus causing internal bleeding of the brain (brain hemorrhage). Which 99% of the time means death.

Yeah, but wouldn't easing up on the brakes to make it less strong contribute to faster speeds, especially on the helix?

I don't think they'll shut the ride down it wasn't due to a ride malfunction. She had a medical problem and was not aware of it.I think the ride will go on as is.They might fet sued which is'nt SFMM fault,but they should'nt shut the ride down because it wasn;t a ride malfunction. If the lady was thrown out because of malfunctions of the saftey lap bar then they might shut it down.I don't think they can sue because of the warning signs posted before the ride.I don't think speed was a factor look at these rides that go from 0 to 80mph in 2 seconds it seems you could suffer whiplash from that.

The aneurysm wasn't caused by the ride... it was a pre-existing condition. Could the ride have caused the rupture? I'm no doctor, but it sounds like it's possible. If it wasn't the coaster it could have been anything else, including a hard sneeze.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

Superbatboy, the brakes do not grab that hard. In fact the brakes on Revolution coming out of the tunnel grab much harder than Goliath's ever do, and no one has ever dropped dead on it. It also has a high G section in its loop. If it was due to the ride someone would have died on Revolution under similar circumstances a long time ago.

Additionally, aneurisms can rupture at anytime and anywhere. Knew a guy who died in high school of one- while he was brusing his teeth in the bathroom.

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Willow? Yes, my name is Willow. Would you stop pecking on me on this big droooopppppppppp......

All the reports I've read point to the woman having a pre- existing condition that was unknown to her. It is possible the ride aggravated her condition, but just because she was on the ride at the time this happened to her doesn't necessarily mean her death was a direct result of riding it. I know of someone who died of the same thing and the only thing he was doing at the time was driving home. He hadn't been on any coaster or other intense rides in his entire life, it just happened. Just because he was driving his car doesn't mean it was his car that caused the whole problem either. It may have been the ride that gave the final blow.

It is very sad and unfortunate that this happened. Her family is going through a pretty upsetting time right now and my thoughts and prayers go out to the the friends and family she left behind. *** This post was edited by S.J.R. on 6/5/2001. ***

Well, if anyone heard the news today (Mon) the coroner said she had a pre-existing condtion but the rupture WAS caused by the roller coaster and it is supposedly closed again. SF of course denies the ride caused it, but if any SF official takes a spin, they would realize the G-forces in the helix would easily pop an aneurysm if it was already there. BOTTOM LINE in my book: the ride is extermely intense in the helix as I have experienced the "grey out" feeling, but for her, unfortunately, wrong place at the wrong time. The park cannot be faulted. Prayers for her family

I guess the intense helix could pop an existing aneurysm, but wouldn't SFoT's Batman, Mr. Freeze, andRunaway Mountain do the same thing? they all have very intense G moments. Batman turns you every which way and has a long high G helix near the end, and the Runaway Mountain pulls around 5 G's for 2to3 sec. at least. The accelleration on Mr. Freeze is VERY intense. I've never heard of anyone dying on any of these rides. If so then let me know.

I just came from SFOT and Titan was open. No one seemed to know about the death on Goliath.
If Goliath is closed because of this, then Titan would probably be as well. Even if onle temporarily.


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TITAN RULES!

When I rode Goliath I blacked out as well. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. The ride is very poorly designed. I hope they have the wisdom to shut the ride down for a while and see if there's a way to correct the problems. Also, about a year ago, didn't a woman from Hawaii sue the park because she claimed the rides gave her brain damage? Doctors did make a report that excessive g's can cause brain damage, though they said it was very rare. Maybe designers need to tone the g's down a bit on the newer rides.

This is very sad news. Condolences for the woman and family. As sorry as I feel for the victim, I don't think they should shut the ride down or COLLOSSUSize it. In the accident of Collosus, the death was caused by a ride malfunction, therefore it was retracked and toned down. In Goliath's case, however, nothing malfunctioned (according to reports). The park should just put up more bunches of signs everywhere warning the riders of potential danger to health if certain conditions are not met. Like someone has said before, most people should understand that extreme roller coasters are not for everyone. Riders with potential health problems should ride at their own risk. I know that this goes against the notion of family fun and saftey, yet again Goliath is not a family ride. Well, anyway, the media is goin to sensationalize this and other future mishaps as a blow to all roller coasters which will lead to tamer rides. Oh well, life does go on. The Lakers are still goin to win the championship by sweeping the whole playoffs. It's all good.

The question keeps coming up: How high is too high, how fast is too fast, how much force is too much. But while those might be valid questions, they ignore what has really been happening with rides. As the rides get taller and faster, the engineering gets better and better, with the result that the forces...the accelerations and the jerk loads...on modern coasters are far more tightly controlled than on rides built just a few years ago. It's easy to blame the ride because it's this big fast thing...but how does it compare to other rides where it really counts, on the accelerometer? I'll bet that even that helix doesn't produce forces as strong as other coasters produce in their pull-outs...!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.