What was supposed to be a day filled with fun turned into a freak accident and an unimaginable tragedy when 10-year-old Caleb Schwab took a ride on the world’s tallest waterslide.
The ride, called Verrückt, meaning ‘Insane’ in German, saw riders plummet down the almost vertical 17-story chute – measuring in as taller than Niagara Falls.
Caleb and his family visited the Schlitterbahn Waterpark on August 7, 2016, as part of an ‘Elected Officials Day.’
Unfortunately, the raft carrying Caleb became airborne on the ride’s second hump, forcing the boy into the metal supports covered in nets above the slide, decapitating him.
His father, Scott, recalled he told Caleb and his other son, Nathan, 12 at the time, that brothers stick together, to what Caleb replied, “I know dad.” However, the staff at the park separated them.
Following the tragedy, it was Nathan who informed his parents of his brother’s tragic passing.
Caleb Schwab, the boy who tragically died on the Verrückt water slide at Schlitterbahn in Kansas in 2016, would have celebrated his 14th birthday today… 😢 #calebschwab #RIPCalebSchwab #VerrucktTragedy pic.twitter.com/ek6bsB9vJR
— Josh Bacon (@JBTheCarFanatic) January 23, 2020
Recalling the fateful day, the boy’s mother, Michelle Schwab, said: “[Nathan] was screaming, ‘He flew from the Verrückt, he flew from the Verrückt.'”
She added: “There was a gentleman who wouldn’t allow me to come close enough to see what was going on, and he just kept saying, ‘Trust me, you don’t want to go any further’. I kind of knew in my mind that I shouldn’t see it, that I probably don’t want to see it.”
The devastated father said, “Six went to the park and five came back,” adding he didn’t even remember driving back home.
A 2019 documentary depicting the tragic incident revealed safety concerns. “There wasn’t a lot of science or ride engineering involved in the testing and design,” The Water Slide documentary maker Nathan Truesdell said. “They were sending sandbags down and basically hoping that they didn’t fly off of the slide. The netting that ultimately ended up killing the child was added to prevent the rafts from flying off of the slide completely.”
According to a whistle-blower, “The only inspections we did were riding down slides once and saying, ‘It’s fine for the rest of the day.'”
DEADLY RIDE: Aerial footage shows crews disassembling Schlitterbahn’s Verruckt water slide in Kansas City, Kansas, where 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was killed in August 2016; the ride was promoted as the world’s tallest water slide when it opened in 2013. https://t.co/7zI5sNiEZq pic.twitter.com/CmndCNmXY1
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) October 30, 2018
The ride’s creator, Jeff Henry, envisioned creating the world’s tallest waterslide despite lacking formal engineering credentials, which eventually led to the tragedy.
Despite these safety concerns, the park did open in 2014, with a two year delay.
A grand jury brought charges of second-degree murder against Schlitterbahn’s co-owner Jeff Henry and senior designer of the slide John Schooley that they later dropped.
Currently, the park operates under new management.
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