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A haunting simulation has revealed what it was allegedly like to ride one of the most infamous attractions at a water park where six people died.
YouTube channel Fern recreated a ride on the Cannonball Loop at New Jersey's Action Park, which operated from 1978 until 1996 and became known for serious injuries and deaths.
The water slide featured a 360-degree vertical loop and was described by the narrator as the "single most ludicrous ride in Action Park".
In 1982, Action Park opened Cannonball Falls, a pair of slides measuring 15 feet tall and 200 feet long.
The Cannonball Loop followed the next year, inspired by the Human Cannonball but with a vertical loop at the bottom of its drop.
Its advertised opening date was May 28, 1983, although it is unclear how consistently it operated, per reports.
According to Fern, park founder Eugene "Gene" Mulvihill designed it on a cocktail napkin.
"It's a ride to be endured, not enjoyed. It's called the Cannonball Loop. The idea is simple. A water slide about five stories tall with a 360° loop at the end. But the park keeps having to tweak the design since the crash test dummies it uses for testing tend to emerge headless," the narrator says.
Stories surrounding its testing included claims of dummies emerging with missing limbs and employees being offered $100 to ride it.
Gene's son, Andy Mulvihill, said the story of a test dummy emerging without its head was true and claimed he was the first person to ride afterward.
"I was wearing my hockey equipment when I did it," he said, per The Independent.
Mulvihill said that speed was crucial, explaining: "If you didn’t have enough speed, you’d fall and smash your face, and if you smashed hard enough, you could break your nose or knock out some teeth."
Fern's simulation follows a man named Derek as he gets ready to take on the slide.
After watching the rider ahead of him come out head-first but alive, Derek is hosed down by lifeguards to reduce friction.
"The lifeguards hose him down. Friction is the enemy here. Momentum is everything. This isn't just about fun. He can't afford to lose any speed, or he might not make it through the loop," the narrator says.
The clip describes alleged horror stories of riders losing momentum, falling inside the slide, and emerging injured.
"Derek's getting cold feet, but he can't back down now. Not after the Tarzan swing incident. He shoots into darkness. It's fast, brutal, and then he hits the loop. He crawls out dazed, bleeding from the elbow, but at least he's alive."
The Cannonball Loop was part of a park known for injuries. In 1984 and 1985, at least 14 broken bones and 26 head injuries were reported, and Action Park eventually bought the town new ambulances to handle hospital trips.
Six people died at the park between 1978 and 1996. Two deaths occurred within one week in 1982, when a 15-year-old boy drowned in the Tidal Wave Pool, and a 27-year-old man was electrocuted on the Kayak Experience.
The park's reputation was later explored in the documentary Class Action Park.
Action Park "was funny, it was weird, it was hysterical, but there was a darkness to it," filmmaker Seth Porges said. "People got hurt there. The hardest part of making this movie was: How do you portray that? A lot of people look back fondly on it as a coming-of-age experience. How do you reconcile the fun of it with the human toll?"
Fern's narrator also claims the true number of injuries remains unclear.
"The authorities only require Gene to report serious injuries, but according to Class Action Park, that leaves it up to him to decide what serious means," they said.
Action Park eventually closed in 1996, with the Cannonball Loop removed afterward.
As former visitor Kris Brennan summed up the park's reputation, trips there weren't about whether someone would get hurt.
"It wasn’t 'If someone gets hurt,' it was 'Who’s going to get hurt?'" they said.
