Deadly Fun, Part 3: Pennsylvania Amusement Park Fatalities

Hersheypark's SuperDooperLooper (Credit: MexicanLlama400/Coasterpedia)

All this month we've been exploring Pennsylvania amusement parks, some still popular and others long forgotten, and the dark tragedies that unfolded there. Of course, while every preventable death is a tragedy by definition, there is something particularly sad about dying amid throngs of smiles and laughter, and these stories serve as a stark reminder of the fickle, delicate and unpredictable nature of life and just how quickly it can be taken from us.

And yet, we can't also help but marvel at just how rare these tragedies are, considering the millions of visitors who've passed through the gates of the following parks, some of which have been in operation for over a century.

Hersheypark (Dauphin County)

Hersheypark has been in the news a lot in recent years, and not always for the best reasons. In July of 2025 a child drowned in the park's wave pool in full view of lifeguards, while the following month another child had to be heroically rescued by park guests after walking along the elevated tracks of the monorail. In April of this year, the park again came under fire after a toddler was injured by a wolf after crawling under a fence into a restricted area of Hersheypark's ZooAmerica. And then there was the recent Dolly Parton kerfuffle, when the park responded to a tweet mourning the country music queen's death with a tone-deaf tweet of its own bragging about how Hersheypark tickets were cheaper than a Dollywood pass.

Yet, fatal accidents at this thriving park have been few and far between since its opening in 1906. However, a few well-known tragedies are still remembered by park aficionados.

On July 25, 1975, a stunt diver from Hollywood, Florida, with four decades of experience met his demise at Hersheypark, where he had been hired to perform that summer. While performing at the park's Aqua Theater for a crowd of 900 spectators, 58-year-old Russell Dotson accidentally lost his footing from the top of a 12-foot ladder, falling onto the concrete surrounding the pool. He was pronounced dead at Hershey Medical Center.

William David Harter

On the afternoon of August 25, 1977, a teenage employee was killed while performing maintenance on the newly-opened SooperDooperLooper ride. William David Harter, 16, was part of a group of workers performing adjustments to the ride, which, according to park manager Paul Serff, had been experiencing malfunctions. The ride was suddenly activated, causing Harter to be struck by a car. He was taken to the Hershey Medical Center, where he died about an hour later. 

White Swan Amusement Park (Allegheny County)

The Galaxi coaster at White Swan (Credit: BrooklineConnection.com)

Established in 1955, this short-lived amusement park on the border of Moon and Findlay Townships opened with just seven rides. Under the ownership of brother and sister Roy Todd and Margaret Kleeman, the park expanded to about 40 acres and, in its heyday, featured a sizeable children's section, a giant slide, a Scrambler, Ferris wheel, a steel roller coaster (Galaxi), a Mad Mouse coaster, and a miniature train billed as the longest of its kind in the state.

On July 11, 1979, the city of Pittsburgh sponsored a trip to White Swan for about fifty underprivileged inner city children. One boy who attended was 11-year-old Frederick Bulls. While riding the miniature train, Bulls and several other children began jumping off and on the train. After jumping, Bulls slipped on a rock and fell under the wheel of the last car, causing his left leg to be horribly mangled. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Ohio Valley Hospital. 

 

The incident caused a major controversy at the time, with the victim's family filing a lawsuit claiming that race had factored into the park's slow medical response, while the park pointed out that chaperones had been unable to keep the children under control despite repeated warnings and that the victim's own mother, Clara McCray Bulls, had been one of the chaperones. It also didn't improve matters that the park manager, George Bodner, refused to contact, meet with or apologize to the victim's family. It wasn't a good look for White Swan and attendance began to wane.

The park closed permanently after the 1989 season after PennDOT purchased the park to reroute a highway. The rides were auctioned off the following year. The Mad Mouse found a new home at Lakemont Park in Altoona, where it continued to operate until 2003. The Galaxi coaster was sold to a park in texas, and White Swan's Tilt-a-Whirl is still in operation at Knoebel's Amusement Resort in Elysburg.
 

DelGrosso's Amusement Park (Blair County)

The Bland Park aerial swing

DelGrosso's Amusement Park can trace its roots to 1907 when the Rinard Brothers brought their carnival to the Bland family farm to entertain the residents of Tipton. Fred Bland opened Bland Park twelve years later with a picnic grove, playground and a small dance pavilion. The park remained virtually unknown outside of Blair County until 1946, when it was purchased by Fred and Mafalda DelGrosso. The DelGrosso family made several improvements, adding a variety of rides and concession stands, and during the 1980s the DelGrossos invested millions of dollars in additional improvements and renovations, growing the park into the beloved amusement resort most of us know today.

A dark day in the park's history occurred on August 7, 1942, when it was still known as Bland Park. Evelyn Edmondson, a 17-year-old girl from Tyrone, fell sixty feet to her death after a support cable on the aerial swing snapped. Three of her friends were also injured in the mishap. A State Police investigation later determined that the ride's owner, Joseph Burket, had never had the ride inspected, which wasn't required by the state at the time. The investigation also revealed several additional damaged cables on the same ride. If there is a silver lining, it's that Evelyn's death wasn't in vain; the 1942 Bland Park tragedy attracted the attention of lawmakers, leading to stricter regulations for the amusement park industry.

Harveys Lake Picnic Grounds (Luzerne County)

Opened by the Lehigh Valley Railroad in 1891 as the Harvey's Lake Picnic Grounds, this park featured a large dance pavilion, steamboat rides, and a bowling alley in its earliest days. As the park grew in popularity more attractions were added, such as a carousel, penny arcade, yacht races and fireworks displays. A lakeside hotel was proposed, but was never built.

In 1902, the picnic grounds were the site of a murder when James Larkin, an old woodchopper and railroad worker who lived in a shanty on the park grounds, was stabbed to death inside his hut by Samuel Keller. In December of 1906, disaster struck when a fire of suspicious origin destroyed the original dance pavilion. Also destroyed was the park's original carousel, which had been stored inside the pavilion for the winter. As a result, the picnic grounds remained closed until 1909. A new dance hall was erected on the site, but this would burn down in 1973. The park's first roller coaster, which was of the figure-eight variety, opened in 1910. A miniature railroad was later added to the park, along with a shoot-the-chute ride and a new W.F. Mangels carousel.

In the 1930s, the park was purchased by the Hanson family, who added a roller coaster known as the Speed Hound. During the Hanson era other rides were added, like a Ferris wheel, a Whip, and bumper cars. In 1946 the figure-eight coaster was dismantled and a new ride-- the Twirler-- built in its place.

On May 31, 1948, 22-year-old foundry worker Martin Kane suffered fatal injuries after being thrown from the Twirler. Kane, and his friend, John Reh, were riding in the front seat of the six-car Twirler, which traveled in a spiral. In the car behind Kane and Reh were their female companions. One of the women became frightened on the ride and Kane turned around to comfort her, rising part way out of his seat. Kane was thrown from the car into the heavy timber understructure of the ride, along with John Reh, who was attempting to save his friend. Kane died instantly, while Reh was taken to Nesbitt Memorial Hospital with a skull fracture. Reh would recover from his injuries.
 

Croop's Glen Park (Luzerne County)

Opened on May 28, 1917, on the property of Benjamin Franklin Croop and situated across the main highway from the Hunlock Creek railroad station, Croop's Glen became a popular destination for family reunions, church picnics and other gatherings in the days before the Great Depression. The centerpiece of the park was its 60-foot-high waterfall, bathing pools, bath houses, and an impressive 8,750-square-foot dance pavilion. A second, smaller dance pavilion, built on stilts and straddling Hunlock Creek, was constructed at a later date. In 1917, Croop's Glen also featured a carousel, shooting gallery and concession stands. Construction of a 4,000-foot-long Philadelphia Toboggan Company roller coaster begun a few years later.

Croop's Glen would eventually become a beloved local amusement park, but, strangely, it was a fistfight involving Mr. Croop's son which gave the quiet little picnic grove the publicity it needed to grow.

On July 4, 1917, 20-year-old Stanley Croop was at the picnic grove when he got into a heated argument with a barber from Nanticoke named Stanley Stortz. Things got heated and the fracas culminated with Croop giving Stortz a sound thrashing. Stortz immediately demanded a rematch, challenging Croop to a bare-knuckle boxing match. At the time, bare-knuckle bouts could last any number of rounds, and were usually fought until one fighter knocked the other unconscious. The date was set for July 26, and the fight would take place at Croop's Glen. Croop enlisted a veteran local pugilist, Al Dewey, as his trainer. Tom Quigley served as referee.

Word of the fight spread among local sportsmen and gamblers, and, as a result, more than 1,500 spectators showed up at the tiny picnic grounds where some Sunday school class had probably picnicked just days earlier. The fight only lasted four rounds-- Croop knocked Stortz out cold-- but from that day on, everyone in Luzerne and Columbia Counties knew about Benjamin F. Croop's park.

While Croop's Glen enjoyed immense popularity, its life was short, fizzling out in the early 1940s due to highway expansion and industrial development. It also didn't help that the park wasn't immune from the occasional catastrophe. In June of 1930, a group of Shickshinny High School students had quite the scare when the roller coaster car in which they were riding completely jumped the tracks at the bottom of a dip. Miraculously, there were no serious injuries. But this was a harbinger of things to come. Two years later, on August 7, 1932, 45-year-old James McCall was catapulted from his car while riding the coaster, sustaining serious internal injuries and a fractured skull. He was taken to Nanticoke State Hospital, where he passed away three days later. But before anyone had the chance to forget James McCall's tragic death, disaster struck again.

On June 29, 1935, the park was the scene of a picnic hosted by the Nanticoke branch of the Luzerne County Unemployed League. The main event that day was a baby pageant, and seven hundred people, mostly women, crowded into the smaller of the park's two pavilions to witness the spectacle. This pavilion, erected on stilts, straddled Hunlock Creek. Unfortunately, as the babies were being examined on the judging table, the weight of the crowd was too much for the floor to bear, causing it to collapse and sending a mass of humanity into the water. Ambulances from throughout the region raced to the scene, and 111 park patrons were treated for injuries at Nanticoke Hospital alone, while several others were treated at the scene by local physicians. 

Miraculously, no lives were lost, but Croop's Glen was tied up in personal injury lawsuits for years. Between the legal woes resulting from the accident and a decline in attendance resulting from WW2, the park's demise was inevitable, and Croop's Glen passed away quietly sometime in the 1950s.

Paxtang Park (Dauphin County)

Opened in 1893 as a trolley park for the East Harrisburg Street Electric Railway Company, this 40-acre park offered little more than a pavilion and picnic benches until 1905, when its first roller coaster, the Coaster Flyer, was constructed. This simple figure-eight coaster operated until 1914, when it was replaced by the Coaster Flyer II. This coaster was torn down in 1922 after the trolley company decided not to renew its lease on the property. The park was then taken over by Newark-based Kerstetter Amusement Company and several new attractions were added, including a Ferris wheel, carousel, dance pavilion and a bigger John A. Miller-designed roller coaster, the Jack Rabbit. It was this coaster (also a figure-eight design) which cost an 18-year-old Harrisburg resident his life. 

On August 16, 1925,  John Cahill was seated in his car as the ride plunged down the first dip. The car had just reached the next turn when it began to jerk violently before coming to a complete stop. Cahill was thrown from his seat and fell thirty feet through the wooden trestlework, landing in a crumpled mass on the ground in front of hundreds of horrified onlookers. He was rushed to the Harrisburg Hospital, where he succumbed to a fractured skull without ever regaining consciousness.

John Cahill

By the time of Cahill's death, the park was already in its death throes, with the new owners missing tax payments. The amusement park would close for good four years later, though Paxtang Park was reborn as a greenspace with hiking and biking trails in 2020. Sadly, this new version of the park also seems to be headed in the wrong direction, with numerous negative reviews citing unsafe conditions and criminal activity, picnic areas that have been vandalized and overgrown with weeds, and trails that are in disrepair and strewn with trash. Some also report a "creepy" feeling while on the trails-- caused, perhaps, by the restless spirit of John Cahill.

Dorney Park (Lehigh County)

The Lehigh Valley's most famous amusement park can trace its roots all the way back to 1860, when Solomon Dorney built a trout hatchery and picnic grounds on his sprawling estate. In the 1880s Dorney built the Mansion House Hotel, which stood in the center of the park and eventually housed the park's arcade until it was demolished in 2005. Around that time he added the first rides, which included an old mill ride, a Ferris wheel and a scenic railway roller coaster. In 1899 a trolley line was built by the Allentown Traction Company, which caused the park to flourish. The trolley company operated the park until 1923, when it was sold to Robert Plarr, Bill Ruske and Ray Sandt. Today, Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom is the fifth-oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States.

One of the saddest days in the park's 166-year-long history occurred on July 12, 1940. Eight-year-old Donald Hassler, just a week shy of his ninth birthday, attended the park for his church's Sunday school picnic. Donald was riding the miniature Ferris wheel with his sister when he stood on his seat and forced his head out of a tiny opening on the door of the cage-like car. His head struck the steel framework, fracturing his skull. Park manager Robert Plarr rushed the boy to the hospital, but he died along the way.

Olympia Park (Allegheny County)

Built in 1901 by the Pittsburgh, McKeesport & Connellsville Railway Company as a trolley park, Olympia Park once stood near Walnut and Juniper Streets in Versailles and featured a carousel, picnic pavilions, a scenic lake with rowboats, roller coaster, aerial swings, roller skating rink, miniature railroad and a dance hall.

Yet it wasn't a ride which factored in the tragic death an 8-year-old boy in 1930. It was management's decision to add a rifle range to the park. No, not a midway amusement where patrons plink milk bottles with air rifles-- an actual rifle range with actual live ammunition.

Of course, the rifle range was intended to be used during the park's off-season, but allowing locals to fire bullets on the grounds of an amusement park at any time of the year is a terrible decision, and it was a decision that cost George Stevens his life. On April 21, 1930, three young men-- Fred Dutton, Henry Uccellino and Girard Golden-- were taking target practice at the Olympia Park range (operated by the Mt. Washington Rifle Club), unaware of a little boy who was playing in a neighbor's backyard on Hallock Street, about three hundred yards away.

Uccellino fired a shot, which was followed by the scream of a young child. The men raced to the source of the cry and found George Stevens lying on the ground with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was carried into the home Mrs. J. Siljander, in whose yard he had been playing, and was pronounced dead by a doctor who was summoned to the scene. After it was revealed by park management that Uccellino, Dutton and Golden were not members of the rifle club, and that they had not been firing in the direction of the targets, the three men were arrested (Uccellino, incidentally, would be arrested for the fatal shooting of a gas station attendant during a robbery that took place just a few month later). 

Naturally, local papers printed scathing editorials about the foolishness of locating a rifle range inside an amusement park (Common sense should have recognized the danger and refused even to think of issuing a permit for it, wrote the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) and the blame was pinned on the park's superintendent, James Moore. Two days after the child's death, the city promptly ordered the range to be shut down and revoked the Mt. Washington Rifle's Club permit. Olympia Park never recovered from the tragedy, and the combination of bad publicity, lack of public transportation to the park, and wartime attendance drops forced its closure less than three years later.

Sources:

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, April 30, 1917.
Bloomsburg Morning Press, July 27, 1917.
Harrisburg Telegraph, Aug. 17, 1925.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 22, 1930.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 23, 1930.
Berwick Enterprise, June 9, 1930.
Berwick Enterprise, Aug. 10, 1932.
Berwick Enterprise, June 29, 1935.
Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 7, 1942.
Altoona Tribune, Aug. 28, 1942.
Hazleton Standard-Speaker, June 2, 1948.
Carlisle Sentinel, July 26, 1975.
Harrisburg Evening News, Aug. 26, 1977.
Pittsburgh Press, July 12, 1979.