Six Flags Over Georgia has stripped the word “Dead” from its Halloween event title after a fatal fall from the park’s Goliath roller coaster.
The annual attraction is now branded “Dr. Fright’s Party,” a sanitization made out of respect for the family of Hassan Kariem, 42, an Atlanta-area teacher who died at the Austell park on Monday, the park said. The original name, “Dr. Fright’s Dead Man’s Party,” was deemed inappropriate in the wake of the tragedy.
“We were deeply saddened by the recent incident at the park,” Six Flags Over Georgia president Richard Pretlow said in a statement.
“We also continue to keep the guests and team members affected by this tragic event in our thoughts,” the statement continued.
Pretlow insisted that all park rides undergo rigorous daily, weekly, monthly and annual safety checks. The Goliath coaster, from which Kariem was ejected, remains padlocked and closed to riders even as the park resumed operations.
The amusement park shuttered for four full days following Kariem’s death before reopening on Friday. The closure allowed for an initial investigation while the park consulted with authorities and assessed its Halloween programming.
The fallout has extended far beyond Georgia. Sister coasters at Six Flags Great America in Illinois, Magic Mountain in Los Angeles, Great Adventure in New Jersey, Canada’s Wonderland in Ontario, Carowinds in North Carolina and Kings Island in Ohio have all been grounded as a precautionary measure. These closures affect multiple Bolliger and Mabillard-built rides sharing design lineage with the Goliath.
The fatal fall marks at least the eighth death at Six Flags Over Georgia since the park opened in 1967, with three of those fatalities tied directly to the park’s coasters. The deadliest previous coaster incident occurred in 1989 when an 11-year-old child died riding the Z-Force coaster.
Kariem’s death has prompted scrutiny of both the park’s safety protocols and the manufacturer behind the Goliath. Six Flags Over Georgia and Bolliger and Mabillard, the Swiss firm that designed the coaster, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Post.