Rare clip shows ride where teenage Disneyland worker suffered one of the worst deaths imaginable
There is rare footage of a now-closed Disneyland ride that someone died on just days after it opened.
Back in 1974, 18-year-old Deborah Gail Stone got a job at a Disneyland resort in Anaheim, California, in the hopes of making some extra money before she went to college.
Her job was to greet visitors attending the new 'America Sings' attraction that had been brought in to replace the 'Carousel of Progress' ride that had been moved to Magic Kingdom in Florida.
The attraction was pretty much a rotating theatre where various animatronics would sing songs from American history.
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However, on 8 July, 1974 just nine days after the America Sings show opened tragedy struck and cost the teen her life.
At the end of each performance there was a 45-second interval where the host would ask the guests who'd just seen the show to leave and would welcome the next bunch of guests.
During that time the attraction would rotate and reset, and at 11.00pm it is thought that Deborah got stuck between a rotating wall and a stationary one, becoming trapped between them.
The poor girl suffered a horrific death as she was crushed between the walls, with the next group of people coming to see a show reportedly mistaking her screams as part of the new show.
One member of the audience realised something was wrong and tried to raise the alarm, but it was too late to save her.
America Sings would be closed for only a few days, reopening to the public on 11 July with new safety lights and walls that someone would have more of a chance of escaping if they became trapped between them.
Deborah's parents reportedly filed a lawsuit against Disney and received a 'small settlement' as a result.
The attraction itself would remain open for almost 14 more years, closing on 10 April, 1988, after which most of the animatronics were moved to Splash Mountain.
The building was initially used as office space and for storage, in 2015 it was redesigned as the Star Wars Launch Bay.
Since it hasn't been in operation since 1988 footage of what happened inside America Sings is pretty sparse, but there are clips of it in action circulating on the internet.
It's disturbing in the way that only animatronics that tumbled down the Uncanny Valley can be, though if robotic animals singing songs from American history is your thing then you're in luck.
Topics: US News, Disney, Disneyland, Theme Park
Joe Harker