Drop Zone, 1999
The Drop Zone “free-fall” tower at Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara, California never meant for the name of their ride to be taken literally. Unfortunately, on August 23, 1999, a 12-year-old boy from Sunnyvale, California, named Joshua Smurphat slipped out of the ride’s safety harness and fell 207 feet. The boy, who suffered from mental and physical disabilities, was killed when he hit the ground. But until that day, no one in the ride’s history had been harmed.