Everything known about 'euthanasia coaster' that has a terrifying simulation and 'kills everyone that rides it'
In 2010, Lithuanian artist Julijonas Urbonas unveiled his now-infamous Euthanasia Coaster designed to give you the final thrill of a lifetime before taking your life. Over a decade on, it remains a point of morbid fascination and controversy.
The topic of euthanasia is no doubt a polarising one, but that hasn't stopped people continuing to come up with ways to help facilitate it - whether that's the 3D-printed suicide pod in Switzerland or Urbonas' 'Euthanasia rollercoaster', designed to kill all those onboard.
A first of its kind design, the coaster was branded a 'hypothetical death machine' that 'riders only need to ride once', and all these years on people are still wondering how it all really works.
So, here's everything we know about the so-called Euthanasia Coaster, digging into why it was created, how it works and whether it will be built in real life, as well as a simulation aimed at demonstrating how a death would really play out onboard the ride.
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What is the euthanasia rollercoaster?
Lithuanian engineer Julijonas Urbonas was the brains behind the design which is essentially supposed to be a thrilling experience to take the edge off the very sad end.
The 1,600ft coaster, which would go at speeds of up to 223mph, sees each passenger experience a series of looping tracks, which get smaller and smaller as the rollercoaster progresses, eventually leading to death.
Fitted with a button for the ride to push to start the 1,600-ft drop, it puts riders 'close to... terminal velocity' before stopping and having them 'supported on an air pillow'.
The YouTube channel 'Great American Coasters' shared a horrifying first-person simulation video of what would happen if the coaster was real, and it's very scary. Take a look:
Why was the euthanasia rollercoaster invented?
Urbonas came up with the concept in 2010 during his PhD.
Having previously worked at theme parks before, he shared that a potential real life 'Euthanasia Coaster' would make the act of suicide less 'boring' and more personal.
"I want to stress that I do not encourage assisted suicide, nor do I discourage," he said.
"I just state the fact that euthanasia is legal in some countries, and it is executed in an extremely boring fashion, proposing 'humane' voluntary death could be more meaningful, personal, ritualistic."
He continued: "I use the term referring to physiological, semantic and aesthetic definitions of pleasure. GLOK aka G-force induced Loss Of Consciousness as well as cerebral hypoxia are often accompanied with euphoria.
"Even though nausea and discomfort may take part as well, they would be very momentary. It is also quite possible the rider would barely be aware of all of it being already deprived of sensorial awareness or unconscious."
How does the euthanasia rollercoaster actually kill you?
The 1,600ft coaster would essentially crush a person to death internally during its 223mph drop.
Each passenger on the ride would experience a series of looping tracks and it would take around 60 seconds to go through all of them.
While the speed is insanely fast, it’s more the force which kills the passengers.
Urbonas explained: "Riding the coaster's track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death.
"From there, you would begin experiencing a blackout and ultimately you would eventually lose consciousness and die."
The coaster would put passengers under 10 G-force, and for context, Formula 1 cars reach a G-force of above 6Gs when taking a bend, and the Apollo 16 comes in at 7.19Gs at a maximum.
So, you can imagine just how much force is upon a person (about ten times their own weight) as it presses down on their ribs, lungs and other internal organs.
The only way to survive the euthanasia rollercoaster
While you might think that a person riding the coaster would be pretty set on their choice, there’s always time to reconsider.
Essentially, there is only one way to survive the ride.
The sole passenger in a single-coaster cart would be allowed a few minutes of contemplation at the top of the 1,600ft drop before they go past the point of no return.
Once up there, they have two buttons, a ‘fall’ button which would drop them into the death loops, or an ‘abandon’ button, which would let them leave the ride.
Urbonas also revealed to us in a previous interview another way a person could survive.
He said: “A possible usage is the ‘hacked’ thrill ride which was suggested to me by an aeronautic engineer who visited the coaster’s scale model during an exhibition. She said, ‘Your machine could be hacked, you know.’
“Using anti-g trousers that prevent pilots from blackout and fainting, I believe I would survive the ride and turn it into the most extreme thrill ride.”
While it’s unlikely you could get your hands on trousers which are used by astronauts, you could just use the buttons provided and the ride would stop and you could hop off it and be saved.
Will the euthanasia rollercoaster ever be made in real life?
At this stage, the coaster is just an art concept, and has remained as such since its inception 15 years ago.
There doesn't look to be any plans for making it a reality, and given how the suicide pod in Switzerland went down, there could be a multitude of legal and ethical hurdles in the way if it really ever was made.
Britt Jones