A gripping documentary reveals the tragic story behind the ‘world’s tallest waterslide’, which led to the death of a ten-year-old boy in 2016.
Caleb Schwab was at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas with his family for what was meant to be a fun-filled day, which quickly turned into a heart-wrenching ordeal.
Caleb chose to ride the park’s renowned ‘Verrückt’ slide, which was the tallest waterslide globally at that time, reaching an enormous height of 169 feet.
Launched in 2014, the slide attracted visitors from around the nation, becoming a major draw due to its towering stature.
Participants had to scale over 200 steps to reach the peak, before embarking on water rafts to race down the towering slide.
It was reported that riders could reach speeds of 70mph, but tragically, Caleb was decapitated while descending the slide.
The boy was ejected from the raft and struck the safety netting surrounding the slide, colliding with a metal pole, resulting in his instantaneous death.
In a statement following the incident, Schlitterbahn Waterpark expressed: “In our 50 years of providing an environment for families and friends to gather, we’ve never experienced this kind of devastating event. The safety of our staff and our guests is our top priority,” as reported by ABC News.
“We are parents and grandparents ourselves, and many of us had ridden Verruckt with our own children and grandchildren over the years it operated.
“At Schlitterbahn, we take safety very seriously. We support effective guidelines that increase guest and staff safety.”
Filmmaker Nathan Truesdell created a brief documentary on Caleb’s untimely death, utilizing news and promotional clips for The World’s Tallest Water Slide Was a Terrible, Tragic Idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulIcekOTOqg
Discussing the insights gained during the film’s production, Truesdell told The Atlantic: “There wasn’t a lot of science or ride engineering involved in the testing and design.”
“They were sending sandbags down and basically hoping that they didn’t fly off of the slide. The netting that ultimately ended up killing the child was added to prevent the rafts from flying off of the slide completely.”
Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry and senior designer John Schooley initially faced criminal charges concerning the young boy’s demise, but those charges were dismissed.
Tyler Miles, the operations manager at the time, also had his involuntary manslaughter charge thrown out due to inadmissible evidence.
Schlitterbahn Waterpark permanently closed in September 2018.