Ladbible X Whatsapp
  • iconNews
  • videos
  • entertainment
  • Home
  • News
    • UK News
    • US News
    • Australia
    • Ireland
    • World News
    • Weird News
    • Viral News
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Science
    • True Crime
    • Travel
  • Entertainment
    • Celebrity
    • TV & Film
    • Netflix
    • Music
    • Gaming
    • TikTok
  • LAD Originals
    • Say Maaate to a Mate
    • Daily Ladness
    • Lad Files
    • UOKM8?
    • FreeToBe
    • Extinct
    • Citizen Reef
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube

LAD Entertainment

YouTube

LAD Stories

Submit Your Content
Shocking footage shows dangers of 'world's tallest water slide' that tragically decapitated kid

Home> News> US News

Updated 13:46 24 Feb 2025 GMTPublished 13:27 24 Feb 2025 GMT

Shocking footage shows dangers of 'world's tallest water slide' that tragically decapitated kid

Caleb Schwab, 10, tragically lost his life while riding the Verrückt waterslide at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City in 2016

Anish Vij

Anish Vij

Featured Image Credit: ABC News/Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts

Topics: US News, Theme Park

Anish Vij
Anish Vij

Anish is a Journalist at LADbible Group and is a GG2 Young Journalist of the Year 2025. He has a Master's degree in Multimedia Journalism and a Bachelor's degree in International Business Management. Apart from that, his life revolves around the ‘Four F’s’ - family, friends, football and food. Email: [email protected]

X

@Anish_Vij

Advert

Advert

Advert

A 10-year-old boy tragically fell victim to the 'world's tallest water slide' almost a decade ago.

Caleb Schwab went on the Verrückt waterslide - translating to 'Crazy' or 'Insane' in German - at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City on 7 August 2016.

Verrückt was once the world's tallest waterslide, standing at 168 feet (51 meters) and capable of speeds of 70 miles per hour.

Advert

The way it worked is riders would board a raft and plunge down a near-vertical drop before being pushed over a second hill.

It was the tallest waterslide in the world at the time (The Atlantic)
It was the tallest waterslide in the world at the time (The Atlantic)

On the day of the accident, however, Caleb’s raft became airborne and struck a metal hoop and netting that was intended to keep riders inside.

The impact caused fatal injuries.

Caleb was also joined by two women in his raft who suffered a broken jaw and a face fracture.

Advert

Investigations into the incident showed that the ride had serious design flaws and wasn't tested properly.

It appears that engineering standards were overlooked in favour of breaking the world record.

POV footage below shows the dangers of the slide which took the child's life.

Verrückt was permanently closed after Caleb, who was the son of Kansas state representative Scott Schwab, lost his life.

The Schwab family received £15.8m ($20m) from numerous parties, including Schlitterbahn. Meanwhile, the two other passengers also made undisclosed court settlements.

Advert

Creators of the slide, Jeff Henry and John Schooley, were initially arrested on a charge of second-degree murder and 17 further crimes.

Caleb lost his life on the slide (Family Handout)
Caleb lost his life on the slide (Family Handout)

But in February 2019, they were both given the all-clear due to inadmissible evidence.

Judge Robert Burns said: "The court has grave doubts as to whether the irregularities and improprieties improperly influenced the grand jury and ultimately bolstered its decision to indict these defendants.

"Quite simply, these defendants were not afforded the due process protections and fundamental fairness Kansas law requires."

Advert

Nathan Truesdell for The Atlantic made a documentary about the horrifying ordeal in 2019, titled The Water Slide.

"My first thought was that it must have been a freak accident—what a horrible, horrible story," Nathan said.

"But once I took a closer look, I started to realise how complicated this story really was, and how this could have happened to anyone who went down that slide.

"There wasn't a lot of science or ride engineering involved in the testing and design.

"They were sending sandbags down and basically hoping that they didn't fly off of the slide.

Advert

"The netting that ultimately ended up killing the child was added to prevent the rafts from flying off of the slide completely."

Choose your content:

13 hours ago
14 hours ago
  • 13 hours ago

    Doctor shows how much medicine costs in the US compared to the UK and Australia with shocking results

    Not all healthcare systems were created equal

    News
  • 13 hours ago

    Grim searches prosecutors say alleged killer made before he 'poisoned wife's protein shakes'

    Jurors will also be shown a video of the two arguing shortly before her death

    News
  • 14 hours ago

    Police preparing for 'Trump visit to UK' as protesters vow an ‘even bigger’ response than last time he came

    The US president is unlikely to get a warm welcome

    News
  • 14 hours ago

    People raise concerns over worrying 'food noise' after using Mounjaro weight loss jabs

    Experts have revealed how to stop food noise with Mounjaro

    News
  • Shocking footage shows man jumping out of moving rollercoaster in 'life-saving' moment
  • Shocking photos show what happened inside world's most dangerous theme park where six people died
  • Chilling sign at entrance of slide in waterpark that saw one die and multiple injured riding it
  • People slam ‘disrespectful’ name of tilting slide at kids UK theme park