Aside: Dangerous Rollercoasters

Today I was doing a bit of research on extreme sports and roller coasters, and it just so happens that this evening I came upon a site called RideAccidents.com. While amusement park accidents are rare, they do happen, and they happen fairly often - they're just rare because it's like one a week for the entire world.

One article on the site struck me as especially interesting. In 2001, a woman, age 28, died of a ruptured brain aneurysm while riding Goliath at Magic Mountain in California. I found this link after reading another story about a 20-something woman having a similar fatality due to another ride.

The reason I was particularly interested in the Goliath article related to my own experience riding Goliath years ago. I've ridden quite a few coasters in my lifetime, and while some make me feel queasy, none have had the effect that Goliath did. I literally blacked out during a few seconds of the ride. All this time I thought I was crazy for experiencing that... I thought I had imagined it... but apparently, I'm not alone...

Other riders throughout the years report similar blackout sensations over on Theme Park Insider. It's scary to know that this is a normal feeling experienced by people who ride Goliath, but at least now I know that I'm not insane!