Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Carl Horner

Members
  • Posts

    1
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Carl Horner's Achievements

Newbie

Newbie (1/14)

  • First Post

Recent Badges

0

Reputation

  1. Hello Scott and friends! I just printed out all 14 pages of your awesomeness on the Racing Whippet and The Dips from Westview Park! I grew up in Mars, adn loved going to both Westview Park and Kennywood. Aside from being just plain old fun, I'm doing some research on the two coasters at the park for a book I'm writing that actually isn't about theme parks. (Even though, conicidentally, I was a Senior Production Designer at Walt Disney Imagineering on the Tokyo DisneySea theme park from 1996 thru 2001, and won a THEA Award for my efforts.) Outrageous as it sounds, I fell out of one of the two coasters when I was 6 years old. My dad literally grabbed me in mid-air as I was sailing out of the car and saved my life. Thankfully, he was the strongest man I ever knew, and had amazing reflexes as he was a Conductor/Brakeman for Penn Central/Conrail; and was used to working on moving trains, etc. Form what I just skimmed in your thread, it sounds like I fell out of The Dips. All I remember is a big hill that we dropped down, and a sharp curve at the bottom where I was thrown off of the seat, onto the floor, and then up into the air. I'm pretty sure I remember a chrome bar that pivoted down to lock into place, and i even remember thinking that it was too far away from me and wasn't going to hold me in. Apparently I was right. I remember sailing up into the air, looking at trees, thinking, "I'm Superman!!!" as I started to sail out of the car. I felt my dad's fist slam into my low back as he grabbed me and yanked me back into the cart and slammed me to the floor where he kept me pinned until the ride was over. Later, I was told that I was hysterical at the first aid station(?) for 45 minutes, and don't have any recollection of that time. I do remember eventually sitting underneath a spinning ride with hard, fixed umbrellas that whirled up into the air in a circle, and getting splatterd with puke as someone on the ride above vomited. Hell of a day for a six year old. And as this was back in the early 70's, and I wasn't mamimed or anything, we didn't even get any free tickets or anything. Yes, there are times to be litigious... Unfortunately, both of my parents, Carl and Josephine Horner, are both passed and I can't ask them which coaster it was, specifically. Do you or anyone else have any thoughts on which once this might have been? It kind of haunts me, and I'm actually pretty emotional writing this down for the first time. Also - Is there any truth to the rumors that the mob had been dumping bodies with concrete shoes in the small pond up front? I remember there being one of those chain swing rides on a small island at the center of it - which may or may not be accurate. My mom told me that they did find bodies in the pond when they drained the pond after they closed the park. I haven't been able to find anything on the internet about that, So I thought I'd ask while I'm at it! Semi-lol Thanks for all of the awesome pictures, and I plan on hanging out now and again as I am very home sick; and kind of over California in a lot of ways! Godspeed, C
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/