Those who reached him first "just realised he was dead and didn't try to revive him", she added. When Jeff and Schooley erected Verrckt, the state charged, they had knowingly created a deadly weapon. Instead of using fundamental mathematical and physics calculations to design and build the ride, the two men had rushed forward relying almost entirely on crude trial-and-error methods. And although they realized that their finished product guaranteed that rafts would occasionally go airborne in a manner that could severely injure or kill the occupants, they went ahead and opened the ride anyway. No one had ever done anything like this.". Something clicked in my head, and I just re. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital There are two Bible verses on the back of Caleb's headstone. Within a few seconds, the raft reached the bottom of the hill and swooped up the second, 55-foot hill. . The raft tipped forward. (The same netting system had been placed on Schlitterbahns Master Blaster rides.) The Travel Channel crew asked Jeff why the slide was not working. He posted a $500,000 bond and surrendered his passport. Loretta Racette. In a documentary, The Water Slide, footage showed rafts filled with sandbags repeatedly becoming airborne during testing. Today, August 7, is the fifth anniversary of his horrific death in August 2016. Behind him were two young womenone 32 years old and the other 25sisters who lived near the Kansas-Nebraska state line. "I looked over and saw his broken neck and him sliding down the slide leaving a blood trail," a witness aid.. Caleb Schwab, the son of a Kansas state legislator, who was killed on a slide at Schlitterbahn water park, died from a neck injury, Kansas City police said. A boy who was decapitated on a water slide is remembered five years on as witness accounts resurface about the mum having to be held back from seeing the horrific scene. He gave river tours, and he operated a petting zoo. Something went wrong, please try again later. Well, man, if I dont ever see you again, its been fun, he said to Schooley, trying to be lighthearted. Here are 4 things you can do to improve, The State of Black Tampa Bay: An Exclusive Town Hall, New Ybor speakeasy honors Madame Fortune Taylor,, Does your ex have a warrant? You read it quietly and are reminded again that Caleb Schwab should still be here. Authorities have yet to explain how it happened. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Miles and the Kansas City Schlitterbahn itself were indicted for aggravated battery, aggravated endangerment of a child, interference with law enforcement, and involuntary manslaughter. - December 23, 2022. (Even an astronaut couldnt handle it, Jeff later told me. Caleb Thomas Schwab, Kansas Politician's Son, Dies On World's Tallest Water Slide. Jeff Henry often said that his goal in life was to make customers of his familys legendary water parks happyto put a smile on their faces, to give them a thrill or two. It was a beautiful vision. Had Jeff discovered his natural talents in almost any industry other than water parks, he might have had a harder time pushing the limits with his creations. This was news to everyone, even at Schlitterbahn. To attract more customers, Bob erected two slides that dumped guests into the Comal. Aug. 8 2016, Updated 5:55 p.m. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission only has jurisdiction over traveling amusement parks, like pop-up carnivals. J. Groves reported that when his raft went airborne, his face and forehead struck the netting and a metal hoop, causing his right eye to swell shut for the rest of the day. A humid breeze presses down on the dead summer grass. Passengers board a three-person raft and experience a 17-story drop before being blasted back up a second massive hill to drop down another 50ft. It was. In the water park business, Jeff was considered a genius of sortsan out of the box visionary of waterpark designs, wrote Tim OBrien in his 2006 book Legends: Pioneers of the Amusement Park Industry. And as if that wasnt enough, they were going to have to invent a special conveyor system to transport the rafts back up to the top of the platform. Dad Scott previously told Good Morning America of the last time he spoke to Caleb just before he set off for the ride, which has now been torn down. Tell Jeff were going to let him graduate so that he no longer has to come back to school.. Caleb Schwab, the son of a state lawmaker, sustained a fatal "neck injury" at around 2:30 p.m. while riding the 168-foot-tall "Verruckt" (meaning "insane" in German) water slide, the Associated Press reports. The two sisters who had ridden behind Caleb, both of whom suffered facial injuries, also received a settlement, of an undisclosed amount. Jeff, Schooley, and the brother of Jeffs assistant piled into a raft. If any raft had left the surface, that ride should have been shut down, and I would have gone straight there to figure out what was wrong, he said. To get even more ideas, he pored over the history of Roman aqueducts and leafed through Jules Verne novels. When he was in meetings, he pulled off his boots and propped his bare feet up on the table. Investigators and detectives from the Kansas City Police Department, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, and the Kansas attorney generals office also arrived at Schlitterbahn. A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government. The second was the Dragon Blaster, a watery version of a roller coaster (a water coaster, Jeff called it), which used high-pressure jets of water to push tubers up and around chutes instead of just sending them straight downhill. The case is being investigated as a civil rather than criminal matter, yet details are vague and authorities have disclosed little information about what caused the tragic accident. A free day at Schlitterbahn. To have committed a crime, they would have had to have known that their actions could result in injury or death. Article continues below advertisement As his raft passed the second hump, it soared up the ridge, causing the metal support of the netting to break off and decapitate him. Jeff often said that his goal in life was to make Schlitterbahn customers happyto put a smile on their faces, togive them a thrill or two, he told me during one of our conversations this summer. When Caleb reached the top of the platform, he could see the sprawl of Kansas City, including the downtown skyline, some sixteen miles away. He said he wanted to return to Verrckt, which closed immediately after Calebs death but still loomed over the Kansas City landscape like some grisly monument, so he could find out what had gone wrong. The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools, West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians. The two men were approached by producers from the Travel Channel who said they were looking for an episode to lead off the new season of their popular TV series Xtreme Waterparks. All that came from Schlitterbahn was a statement from company spokesperson Winter Prosapio, who said, We honestly dont know what happened. She added that Schlitterbahn was deeply and intensely saddened for the Schwab family and all who were impacted by the tragic accident., Kansas City reporters began digging. Caleb Schwab, the son of a state lawmaker, sustained a fatal "neck injury" at around 2:30 p.m. while riding the 168-foot-tall " Verruckt Verruckt Verrckt is a German word meaning "insane" or "crazy" and may refer to: Verrckt (water slide), a water slide at Schlitterbahn in Kansas City, Kansas, United States, formerly the tallest in . I get up every day and think about all the great people who work at Schlitterbahn, he said. The two other occupants -- Hannah Barnes and Matraca Baetz -- suffered. He named the park Schlitterbahn, which means, roughly, slippery road in German, and hired his children to help him manage it. He said he wanted to raise their three children in a small town, just as he had been raised. I always set out to break all therecords, Jeff told USA Today. as to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. (Jeffs attorney dismissed her accusations, claiming that such statements are common in contentious divorce proceedings. According to Texas Department of Insurance spokesman Jerry Hagins, the inspector is charged only with making sure that the ride is in sound condition and meets the manufacturers specifications. In other words, a water park is allowed to police itself. You really dont know.. I listened to the wind rustling through the cedar, oak, and cypress trees, and then I noticed Amber staring at me. ), Man, are they hitting that net up there? Parents relive horror after son, 10, was decapitated on water slide, Caleb Schwab, 10, was decapitated on a water slide in Kansas five years ago, This 168-foot tall slide at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark was billed as the world's tallest, The view from the top of the terrifying ride, Gatecrashers storm inflatable water park by jumping in for free during heatwave, Boy, 8, dies after drowning in swimming pool in front of family and sunbathers. She was also a member of local gang which was known as "The Drapes". It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes . The slide has been closed since Caleb's death on Aug. 7, 2016. The others are in Texas: in New Braunfels, South Padre Island, Galveston, and Corpus Christi. There are so many questions remaining about the rides construction. aftermath image of Caleb's death out of her head. But one of his lawyers acknowledged that Jeff didnt have such training. His daughter Amber did meet me. It was a Sunday afternoon, August 7, 2016, the temperature a pleasant 78 degrees, as ten-year-old Caleb Schwab began the 264-step climb to the top of Verrckt, the worlds tallest waterslide, which loomed like a colossus over the forty-acre Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City. It was a Sunday afternoon, August 7, 2016, the temperature a pleasant 78 degrees, as ten-year-old Caleb Schwab began the 264-step climb to the top of Verrckt, the world's tallest waterslide,. He stepped into the front of the raft, and an employee secured him to his seat with a Velcro belt and a shoulder strap. Over the next several days, more Schlitterbahn employees rode Verrckt without problems, and on July 10, after thirty months of work, the slide opened to the public. There is no single federal agency responsible for enforcing rules and regulations at Schlitterbahn, which is monitored by the states Department of Labor. When I returned the call several hours later, just after 7 a.m., he picked up on the first ring. He said he wanted to raise their three children in a small town, just as he had been raised. They asked Jeff if he had any projects in the works. There are members of my family who would like to commit me to a facility because Im suffering from depression. Its scheduled opening back in 2014 was delayed reportedly due to alarming complications including one that saw water rafts detach from the slide and fly off into the air. | (Photo: Facebook) The Christian family of Republican Kansas state Rep. Scott Schwab attended a worship service just hours before the lawmaker's 10-year-old son, Caleb, was decapitated on the Verrckt slide at the Schlitterbahn . alized the time had come to do it, he told me later. A half century earlier, in 1966, a Houston accountant named Bob Henry toldhis wife, Billye, that he was tired of city life. That boat flew. The slide is 168-feet tall and has 264. Over the next two days, we spoke four times, despite his lawyers demanding we stop. Certified by the Guinness World Records as the worlds tallest, the slide is no stranger to controversy. Suddenly, it was hurtling downward: it must have felt to Caleb as if hed fallen off a skyscraper. Schlitterbahn was perhaps not the scene of a freak horrific accident, the prosecutors were saying, but the scene of a crime. This is the best life I could ever imagine., Jeff was so busy with his own projects that he barely had time to go to New Braunfels High School, and when he did, he often showed up for class barefoot. By Timothy Bella. Three riders inside a rubber raft would plummet down a nearly vertical seventeen-story drop at speeds reaching up to 68 miles per hour. Where to park for free at Clearwater Beach? And he saw before anyone else what we could do in New Braunfels.. You go back, you fix it, you make it work, you keep it safe, he said. . As a boy, he was the classic river rat, a Huck Finn in cutoff shorts who spent almost all his free time on the Comal. Caleb's head collided with a net and a semicircular metal hoop that arced over the top of the slide. What could be better? Details remained murky about what happened on Sunday to Caleb Thomas Schwab on the 168-foot-tall "Verruckt" - German for "insane" - that since its debut two years ago has been the top . Get email updates with the day's biggest stories. I want to have the biggest, the tallest, and the fastest rides at my parks.. Caleb Schwab was decapitated in 2016, when the raft he was riding on the Verruckt waterslide went airborne and hit a metal pole supporting a safety net at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas. The first was the Boogie Bahn, which allowed riders to actually surf on boogie boards over a thin, fast-flowing sheet of water that shot over a sloped surface. When he wasnt working on Schlitterbahn rides, Jeff exported his inventions around the world. Senator's son, 10, was 'decapitated when he was thrown through raft harness and into safety net before plunging 50ft down the world's tallest waterslide'. It was as horrible a moment as you could imagine, a person who was there told me. It was a matter of pride.. I recently drove to the original Schlitterbahn, in New Braunfels. Caleb Schwab died on Aug. 7, 2016, when his raft on Verruckt went airborne on the slide's ascent, causing him to come into contact with a metal pole that supported a net installed to keep . 'S biggest stories a rubber raft would plummet down a nearly vertical seventeen-story drop at what happened to caleb schwab's head reaching to... And Matraca Baetz -- suffered rustling through the cedar, oak, and Corpus.! Was a statement from company spokesperson Winter Prosapio, who said, we four! 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