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Headlong into ruin:
the two teenagers Carolyn Spangler (left) and Dawn Woodard from Arlington, Texas, on the new »Shock Wave Roller Coaster« (1978).
"Everyone should have the opportunity (...) to escape the real, criminal world for a penny or two and be able to immerse themselves in a better, purer and more holistic one for a short time," promised the American roller coaster pioneer LaMarcus Adna Thompson (1848 -1919).
Photo: Pete Leabo/AP
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»Father of gravity«:
Roller coaster tycoon Thompson built the »Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway« in the amusement park Coney Island in 1884 (in the background a successor from 1911) and received dozens of patents for the technology of the roller coaster.
It is almost forgotten that John G. Taylor from Baltimore received a patent for his "Improvements in inclined railways" as early as July 2, 1872.
That is now exactly 150 years ago, it was a rollercoaster (although still very primitive).
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection / IMAGO
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Russian Mountains:
Strictly speaking, the history of the roller coaster begins even earlier.
Namely in Russia, where people built wooden structures around the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow in the 15th and 16th centuries and poured water over them – and the icy slide was ready (illustration from 1842).
Photo: 1842 / Collection Jonas Kharbine Tapabor/ IMAGO
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Import product:
The French soldiers are said to have brought these wooden constructions back home, where they were called "Russian mountains".
This example is a variation: the sleds were placed on rails and given wheels - so sliding fun was also possible in summer (colored lithograph from the 18th century).
Photo: Artokoloro / IMAGO
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Animal Amusement:
Another precursor to the modern roller coaster is the Lehigh Coal Company's coal hauling railway in the mountains of Pennsylvania (painting by Karl Bodmer).
Donkeys pulled the empty wagons up the mountain, where they were loaded with coal and (thanks to gradient and gravity) slid towards the valley.
The beasts of burden rode down the mountain in their own wagon – which, according to roller coaster expert Frank Lanfer, “was so much fun for them that they stubbornly refused to have to go back under their own steam”.
The company thought that what a donkey likes, a human must love.
And from 1873/4 he transported coal down the mountain in the morning and people in the afternoon.
Photo: Historical Picture Archive / Corbis via Getty Images
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Walk in!
The first amusement ride that actually ran a figure eight was built in 1898 at Coney Island, the oldest amusement park in the world.
In Germany, the Munich showman Carl Gabriel had a related construction made at an agricultural exhibition in 1908 and called it the »Auto-Luft-Bahn«.
A year later, the invention conquered the Munich Wiesn – from that point on, the Germans too were addicted to speed.
Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection / IMAGO
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Fun brake:
In order to prevent the cars from flying out of the curve or taking off on the hilltops, brakemen drove with them for a long time (as can be seen here in the picture) and throttled the wild ride at certain points.
Security systems only came into use over time.
Photo: AP
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Breaking a neck and a leg:
early on, the designers tried the upside-down looping experience – which didn’t always end well (the photo taken on Coney Island was taken in 1903).
The "terrible triplets" built by roller coaster pioneer Harry Traver in 1927 were particularly notorious: just the day after it opened, a woman died while riding the "Lightning" coaster in Revere Beach, Massachusetts.
After her lifeless body was taken away, the ride started rattling again 20 minutes later, according to Patrick Hook in his 2019 roller coaster work »Ticket to Ride«.
Photo: Photo12 / IMAGO
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sit down
Roller coaster at Dreamland amusement park in Coney Island (1935).
"People with broken bones or sprained collarbones left the coaster so often that an infirmary was set up next to the exit," wrote Jay Ducharme about the legendary wooden roller coaster called "Cyclone" by pioneer Harry Traver.
Photo: E Phillips / Fox Photos / Getty Images
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Nun Thrills:
Knowing full well that there is life after death, these nuns face danger calmly.
Roller coasters had their heyday in the 1920s.
After the crisis in the amusement ride caused by the global economic crisis, world war and post-war misery, interest in the rides increased again in the 1970s: A true »Coastermania« broke ground, according to the sociologist and game theorist Sacha-Roger Szabo in his work »Rausch und Rummel «.
Photo: AP
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Record nudity:
If the adrenaline rush isn't enough for you, you can also get naked as a test of courage - revealing students on a roller coaster in Thorpe Park in Surrey, UK.
81 men and women dared and made it into the »Guinness Book of Records« in 2004.
In order not to disturb anyone, the nude ride took place before the amusement park opened.
Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images
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On the »Corkscrew«:
Visitors to the »Corkscrew« at Knott's Berry Farm, an amusement park in Buena Park, California (1977).
The tracks got faster, higher and wilder.
In addition, the first all-steel roller coasters appeared.
Thanks to high-strength alloys and new welding techniques, faster and faster routes became possible.
Photo: George Brich/AP
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A ride for the death-defying:
the »Colossus« was built in 1979 at the Six Flags amusement park in California.
The visitors threw themselves from the 35 meter high "hills" over a distance of 1.4 kilometers - and at up to 100 kilometers per hour (photo from 1979).
Photo: Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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One's friend...:
The girl on the left doesn't look all that happy – daring people on a wooden roller coaster in Kansas (1990).
According to game theorist Szabo, so-called "hypercoasters" appeared at the end of the 1980s, which blew up all dimensions in terms of route, height and driving sequence.
In Europe, hypercoasters were set up in Holidaypark and Europapark, for example.
Photo: Cliff Schiappa/AP
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Adrenaline alert:
»Colossos« is the name of this 1344 meter long, almost 60 meter high roller coaster in Heide Park Soltau.
Designed by rollercoaster pioneer Werner Stengel, it is Europe's largest and fastest wooden rollercoaster.
Photo: Heide Park Resort 2022
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The ultimate kick:
The »Demon« in Copenhagen's Tivoli amusement park is a gigantic steel roller coaster.
Roller coaster expert Frank Lanfer explains why people voluntarily subject themselves to this martyrdom and also pay money for it: »These are attempts to escape the boredom of civilization (...).
The industrial man plagued by monotony is looking for new, gigantic experiences on the terrifying constructions.
He seeks the limits of his own ego in order to experience himself.
He is looking for a piece of his own happiness.
Roller coasters are the primal screams of mankind that have become material.«
Photo: Kim Nielsen/AP
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From 0 to 240 in five seconds:
The currently fastest roller coaster is in Abu Dhabi and is called »Formula Rossa«.
Because of the high speed and also because of the sand, the passengers have to wear goggles during the Teufelstour.
Photo: Alvaro Leiva / IMAGO
