Mine Train 20th Aniversary Death

Not sure if many of you were aware of this but apparently, today (7/7/04) is the 20th aniversary of a death on the track of what is mine train today. It was apparently a husband and wife who were trying perform a fraudulant accident on mine train to form a law suit against six flags st. louis. It happened just after the first lift in the helix following that. The original track still remains and but the cars were changed from the stand-up version to a sit-down style train. Just thought that was kind of crazy, all the employees around that ride were a little different today... Go figure... Just kind of interesting..

So thats who is haunting the tunnel now?

;)

I wonder if the Rail Blazer trains are still sitting somewhere or if they have been scrapped.

The only thing that haunts the mine train is the smell of a family of skunks. *** Edited 7/8/2004 6:22:12 AM UTC by CoasterMatt***

sfsl-eaglsebit, where did you read/hear about the fraud aspect of the this "accident?"

Area 2 is haunted by too many animals, Deer at Eagle, the cat at Waterstreet, the Racoon at Rush Street, and those pesky skunks that like to run around the place after close (I ran into 3 of them yesterday)

Almost everybody in St. Louis believes that the "accident" was set up so that they could sue Six Flags (owned by Bally Corporation at the time). I think that the Rail Blazer cars have been scraped, they used to sit in the graveyard/dump at SFSL. You can see the red rails of the Rail Blazer on parts of the Mine Train since the paint is peeling off so bad. *** Edited 7/8/2004 10:48:21 PM UTC by SFZIP***

For those of you too young to remember mine train was mine train before Rail Blazer as well as the now missing( and much better other side) to make way for Ninja.

As far as the "accident" and fraud allegation, these same 2 peeps had law suits pending at other amusement parks for "accidental injuries" at the time of her death.

The story from her husband changed 3 times on the night of the accident. One story he told was that he didnt realize that she was gone till the train returned to the station. Story 2 was they were holding hands and she was "ripped from his grasp in the corner". Story 3 was she started to fall and he grabbed her and held on as long as he could. Fraud??? Who knows, you decide. But let me add that she was found on the inside of the helix and she was standing on the outside side of the train. Did physics take a break for a few seconds 20 years ago?!

I think Rail Blazer was on the River King Mine Train side that is still at SFStL(#1?), and the other one (#2?)was removed for Ninja.(said above^) It was sold to Dollywood and ran there from 1989-1998, then was sold to Magic Springs.

---------------------------

Today also marks the 30th Anv. of the Disneyland America Sings cast member death. Ms. Debbie Stone was working in the then-rotating theater when somehow she moved between the theater's rotating outer wall and its innter stationary one. As the theater changed scenes, she was crushed between the two. *** Edited 7/9/2004 12:19:20 AM UTC by Dukeis#1***

^ You are correct in your guessing.

The old mine train station (#2) is now completely enclosed and is ironically used as a haunted house during fright fest. *** Edited 7/9/2004 12:32:22 AM UTC by CoasterMatt*** *** Edited 7/9/2004 12:32:55 AM UTC by CoasterMatt***

Yes, the tunnel is haunted by Stella. I worked the Mine Train for two summers (1993/1994 - 10 years after her death). We experienced the lights going out on us for no reason while we were walking the Tunnel, and other unexplained things happened from time to time. One evening when we were walking the track (which we did every night to gather items lost by riders), we were walking on the far side of the tunnel between the Mine Train and the Ninja. On a raised wooden beam/block we found a brooch. It was antiqued and had pearls on it, probably costume jewellery. It was perfectly arranged in the centre of the block with the pearl side up. It was not there the night before, and there was no way it could have fallen from either ride due to its location and perfect placement on the beam.

We decided it was Stella's. We kept it at the driver's console to remember her and the accident, both out of respect and in absolute terror (we were teenagers, after all). We did not know the full story, only that she had died on the ride. I have only today realized that all of this was real! Today the news was all about the Ohio State Fair, where a person lost their life (and several others were tossed from quite a height) when the Fireball ride fell apart. I began looking up my own history with Six Flags and found all of this to verify what I had been told when I was working there.

Regardless of the circumstances of her death (accident or attempted fraud), RIP Stella.