Woman described worrying symptoms moments after riding closed Six Flags ride linked to deaths
A woman described concerning symptoms after riding a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, which is currently closed.
The X2 roller coaster at the California theme park has a reputation among enthusiasts for being a particularly intense ride, and Six Flags refer to it as a 'rite of passage for the ultimate daredevil'.
Its design includes an element that means the seats can rotate 360 degrees as it hurtles around the track at 76mph, as well as featuring a 200ft drop and several half-loops.
However, over the course of 20 years the ride has been linked to several incidents involving passengers being hospitalised, and two people have also died after riding it.
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Among the people to have experienced a health emergency after riding X2 is 25-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson from Los Angeles, CNN reported.
After exiting the ride, Naomi collapsed and had to be taken to hospital, where doctors found that she was suffering with a brain haemorrhage.
"The jarring had damaged part of her brain, and it had begun to bleed," her dad Joshua Wilkinson told CNN.
Naomi's condition was so serious that she had to have emergency surgery and be placed in an induced coma to assist her recovery.
However, Naomi is not the only person to have started experiencing concerning symptoms after riding X2.
Just six days before Naomi was taken to hospital 40-year-old Pamela Guillen had been visiting the park and rode the X2 with her daughter on her 16th birthday.
During the course of the ride Pamela had repeatedly hit her head on the headrest during the jolts and rotations as the roller coaster went round the track.
Pamela needed assistance to get off the roller coaster when it arrived back at the start, and started being sick.
An ambulance was called and she was taken to the same hospital as Naomi, where doctors found a brain haemorrhage and gave her emergency surgery.
The medics who carried out treatment on both Naomi and Pamela also voiced their concerns in an email which was shared with a CNN investigation.
"In our professional opinion, the severe brain injuries requiring emergent neurosurgical attention were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride," the email read.
In 2022 Christopher Hawley, aged 22, rode the X2 roller coaster. When the ride concluded, he grabbed the handrail before kneeling down, saying that his head hurt, and passing out.
He was taken to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, where a scan revealed a massive brain trauma. Tragically, Christopher did not survive the injury and died the day afterwards.
Following his death, Christopher's family sued Six Flags for failure to warn, negligence, and design defects, with the case being settled in 2026 and the terms of settlement not being made public.
Ari Friedman is an attorney who represented Christopher's family, and said at the time: "This is not the first time someone has sustained a serious injury as a result of riding X2. X2 has been linked to previous incidents, where people received whiplash, head and leg injuries, and more, from the ride's sudden shuddering and jolts."
The X2 ride is currently closed, though Six Flags has not said why.
LADBible has approached a representative of Six Flags for comment.
Kit Roberts