A heartbreaking documentary investigates the "world's tallest waterslide" that tragically decapitated a young boy.
The Verrückt - which means "insane" in German - was the world's tallest waterslide, standing at nearly a staggering 169 feet tall.
The record-breaking ride was based in the Schlitterbahn Water Park in Kansas City and measured taller than Niagara Falls.
It allowed thrill seekers to travel at a staggering 70 miles per hour, and fall down the vertical 17-story chute.
But in 2016, tragedy struck at the record-breaking attraction and claimed the life of 10-year-old Caleb Schwab.
On August 7, the Schwab family, known for their involvement in Kansas politics, visited the water park on a complimentary day offered to elected officials.
Caleb and his 12-year-old brother split from each other when they arrived at the deathly ride, with Nathan taking the plunge first and then Caleb and his two sisters following behind.
The 10-year-old's raft went "airborne," causing the young boy to hit the netting above the slide. The result of the collision decapitated him, which ended his life instantly.
His body was floating at the bottom of the slide in the pool when staff ran over to attend to him. The employees immediately called emergency services and cordoned off the area to prevent other park-goers from seeing the horrific scene.
At the time, the park released a statement addressing the incident, which read: "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," per 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," they continued. "At Schlitterbahn, we take safety very seriously. We support effective guidelines that increase guest and staff safety."
Schlitterbahn added that safety has "always has been our top priority" and that they will "continue to review our safety procedures".
Three years later, The Atlantic produced a short nine-minute documentary about the shocking fatal event titled The World’s Tallest Water Slide Was a Terrible, Tragic Idea.
The nine-minute film was made by Missouri filmmaker Nathan Truesdell, who first heard about the incident on the news, and set out to investigate the opening of the slide, the tragedy, and the aftermath.
The short film explained that the devastating ordeal happened due to "gross negligence, lax state regulations, and the consequences of hubris," according to the publication.
At first, Truesdell thought that it was a "freak accident" but then "once I took a closer look, I started to realize how complicated this story really was, and how this could have happened to anyone who went down that slide".
"There wasn't a lot of science or ride engineering involved in the testing and design," he said. "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."
Verrückt first came about in 2012 when Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry teamed up with senior designer John Schooley to construct the ride in hopes of securing a Guinness World Record.
A grand jury filed charges of second-degree murder against the pair due to Caleb's death but a judge dismissed the charges.
After a lengthy legal battle, the 10-year-old's family was awarded nearly $20 million in settlements from the companies involved as per court documents.
Verrückt has remained closed since the accident, though the water park planned to re-open it.
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