What happened to the Haunted Castle attraction at Six Flags Great Adventure?

On 11 May 1984 a fire broke out in the Haunted Castle attraction at the Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in Jackson, New Jersey.

The attraction was constructed as a single storey structure in 1978 using four commercial trailers. The attraction was only intended to last several weeks but it proved popular and eventually grew to 17 connected commercial trailers, joined together using various sections of plywood and wooden framing systems. Since opening in 1978 it had attracted more than 7.4m visitors.

The commercial trailers also housed an electrical control room and changing facilities for staff.

External surfaces consisted of large plywood sections projecting out into the park, while internal surface linings were of similar plywood sections - this created a convoluted travel path to the exits. Internal surface linings also consisted of synthetic foam, fabric, plastics and tar paper.

The structure had seven exits, including the main entrance which were equipped with emergency lighting, but there was no automatic detection or water sprinkler system.

How did the Haunted Castle fire at Six Flags Great Adventure start?

A visitor to the attraction was using a cigarette lighter to illuminate his way inside the attraction. He accidentally walked into a polyurethane foam pad, which ignited. Attempts to extinguish it were unsuccessful.

On the day of the fire the internal lighting system of the attraction (mainly strobe lighting) was faulty and would remain off for several minutes at a time, rendering the attraction in darkness.

What can the industry learn from the Ocean Ranger sinking?

Investigators concluded:

• Visitors widely accepted that the smoke was part of the attraction and didn’t sense any urgency to exit immediately
• There was no clear line of sight to the exits - part of the amusement design was to zig-zag through a maze, which made it difficult to escape
• Failure to detect the fire in its incipient stage by means of detection system or sprinkler system allowed significant and rapid development over a short period of time
• Apart from life safety risks, the construction of the units presented code violations for interior finishes not having fire retardant material, along with extended travel distances to an exit