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NEED TO KNOW
- Siren’s Curse at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, malfunctioned on Tuesday, July 22
- Riders were forced to evacuate the rollercoaster by walking down its 160-foot-high tracks, per a local media outlet
- The rollercoaster has malfunctioned three previous times, including on its opening day on June 28 when riders were left dangling for nearly 10 minutes
Thrill-seekers were forced to walk down the 160-foot-high tracks of the country’s first tilt roller coaster when it broke down for a fourth time since opening last month.
On Tuesday, July 22, Siren’s Curse, the newest attraction at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, came to an abrupt halt at the top of its highest point, local news outlet Akron Beacon Journal reported.
The terrifying moment passengers were forced to evacuate amid the malfunction can be seen in a video posted on X. While holding onto the metal railing, those who had been on the coaster are seen slowly walking down the evacuation steps after exiting the cars.
“That walk down is definitely 10 times scarier than actually riding the ride,” one person commented on the clip, while another said, “I’m scared of heights. So if this happened to me, my bones would’ve melted, and there would be nothing left of me but a blob of skin.”
Craig Webb/Beacon Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
The malfunction came before riders engaged in the famous tilting portion of the ride that involves dangling over the Midway, per the Akron Beacon Journal. A spokesperson said the “delay” was caused by the coaster’s safety system.
“Its safety system performed as designed, but the ride could not be restarted,” spokesperson Tony Clark told the outlet. “Guests were safely escorted off the ride.”
The mishap was the second experienced by riders of Siren’s Curse in less than a week.
On Saturday, July 19, riders were mid-rotation at a 45-degree angle when the coaster stopped for about 20 minutes. Passengers had been previously forced to evacuate Siren’s Curse when it malfunctioned before the tilt on July 2.
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Prior to these instances, the ride got stuck in the terrifying tilt position for nearly 10 minutes on June 28, which was the coaster’s opening day.
Siren’s Curse was promoted as the “tallest, fastest and longest ‘tilt’ roller coaster in North America” when its arrival was announced in September.
Riders are tilted 90 degrees before they “flee from the beckoning call of the siren and plunge into the abyss” on the 2,966 feet of track at speeds up to 58 mph.
PEOPLE has reached out to Cedar Point for comment.
