Abandoned - Schlitterbahn Kansas City

In 2005, the quickly growing Schlitterbahn Waterpark company unveiled their ambitious plans to build a massive waterpark resort in Kansas City, Kansas. What would ultimately be built in 2009 was something a bit underwhelming. However, the park would open Verruckt, the world's tallest waterslide and one which would embroil the park in controversy and scrutiny for years. Ultimately, following this disaster, the park would close forever and be left abandoned. Join me today as we find out how this happened.

Travel Channel - @BrightSunTravels

The Indictment -

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Bright Sun Films 2024

Presented in 4K

[larrywalsh]

I worked at Whitewater West when this happened, and we had partnered with Schlitterbahn a number of times - we'd built most of their waterslides for them. The day the boy was decapitated (yes, his head was ripped off), when I came in to work and heard about it, I had a mixture of reactions between "oh my god, that poor boy" to "oh my god that poor family" to "oh, my god, PLEASE tell me we didn't build that!!" - not only were we not involved in that particular waterslide, but apparently when they asked us to consult on the design of it, our engineers told them a flat NO - that thing was a stupidly dangerous design, and COULDN'T be made safe. So they went ahead and built it without engineers.

[ZGryphon]

The most surprising thing about Verrückt is that it wasn't built 20 years earlier in Action Park.

[visionsofjanuary]

So here's a fact not as many people know: Jeff Henry did eventually get sent to prison, but it was for drug possession with the intent to distribute. In late 2018 he was arrested at a hotel in the KC metro area for "possession with intent to distribute methamphetamines, possession of drug paraphernalia, drug possession and knowingly hiring a person selling sexual relations." My wife was working at the front desk at that very hotel when it happened, so I heard all about it the next day.

The fact that it took that to send him to prison and not the death of a child is ridiculous.

[patrickracer]

As someone who has spent most of my working life a water park lifeguard, the fact that they lobbied the state government to not have state safety checks is rather disturbing to me

[SueBobChicVid]

I love the historical details. Too many channels just cover the "abandoned" aspects of these locations. The maps, satellite images, and overlays add a lot of interest for me. I appreciate the research and effort that must go into these videos.

[misterkad]

I knew Caleb when I helped volunteer at our church's vacation bible school that year. I can still remember being confused as to why he missed a day, and when I got home I saw that my mom was freaking out on the phone. Seeing the news hit like a freight train. He was a good kid that was taken way too soon.

[venomousnate]

The Verrückt accident is one of the most horrifying incidents I’ve ever heard in an amusement park.
No engineering background, flawed design, and rough testing. It should have been heavily modified or scrapped it because of too much danger.

[TimReeb]

I've lived in the KC area for over a decade and I remember all of this going down. Schlitterbahn was pretty popular but it wasn't surprising that this tragedy killed not only the park but the company too. I remember a lot of people, myself included, being upset that they were reopening the park so soon. But it sounds like the company was overly ambitious and poorly managed, and its own hubris did it in.

Also this is a hell of a way to learn that we're getting a Margaritaville

[A.tess]

I love the 2008 curse for these Abandoned places. Always comical to see that year and know nothing was going to go their way

[badbirdkc]

This video really downplays the horrific details of the accident. When the news broke, even the media was so stunned by it that they used coded language essentially meaning: "You don't want to know." Caleb was decapitated. The slide was literally covered in his blood while his two passengers, total strangers, finished the ride, trapped with his body in the raft. Verrückt stood over the site like a tombstone. A monument to greed, negligence, and hubris.

[PatrickRoy]

Living in Kansas City when this happened, it’s sad to see how all the events unfolded and eventually killed the park after so much anticipation of its opening. Such a tragic event that took place that day.

[dylanbolger]

I rode Verrückt before the tragedy happened. The only time I had ever went to the park. My family was in KC for a family road trip and we had heard about the water park without knowing much about it and wanted to give it a shot. I was somewhere between 14 and 16 years old. We were just about to leave for the day and I wanted to make my mark and say I rode the ride. I rode it, and man it was fast. I remember not having the most amount of confidence once finally reach the top of the stairs. Lifeguards/workers didn’t seem to put the most amount of care into safety, as it seemed like they weren’t the most engaged/interested in the safety measures they had to have people follow. After hearing about the accident months later, it was scary to think I rode the ride that had taken a child’s life of one not much younger than me.

[MattCooperKay]

How could anyone with even an ounce of sense, look at that hill and think "yeah, that looks right"?

[shea.marie]

I'm a KC local and was in high school when this happened- I remember knowing several teenagers who worked there and witnessed it happen. Needless to say they were pretty traumatized from it and it shook the entire community. The park knew before even building it that it wasn't safe, and it never even passed safety testing appropriately. Total negligence and very sad :(

[MarlynMon.r]

"If I had a nickle every time abandoned attractions turned into margaritavilles, I'd have two nickles. It's not a lot but it's weird that it happened twice."

[ragnarokncc]

The abrupt transition from the relatively somber intro to the breathless “WHATSUPGUYS” at 0:33 is just wonderful. I died laughing.

[SuperCosmicMutantSquid]

This whole situation reminds me of the whole Titan Sub situation where people were far more concerned with being seen as revolutionaries in their fields that they thought they were above safety and rules, and that tragedy would either be too impressed to hit them or they were just that clever to avert it.

[danielrauch]

Margaritaville looking at abandoned parks: “it’s free real estate”

[jenniferwood]

It’s now a Menards and Camping World. You could see the ride from the highway (quite a ways away) and it took awhile to get it taken down. It gave me the creeps every time I saw it.

[evesixphoenix]

12:29 that massive bloodstain on the slide is so haunting. I can't imagine how traumatizing for all the guests and staff that witnessed it.