Fire In the Hole is a very strange but fun Dark Ride/Roller Coaster at Silver Dollar City in Branson Mo. First opening to the public in 1972 as the park’s first roller coaster. It was designed in-house by Silver Dollar City. On July 9th, 1980 there would be a tragedy. An unfortunate accident that would leave 23-year-old James Frederick Polley dead.
What happened to James Frederick Polley
James Frederick Polley was in the front car of Fire in the Hole when the mistake happened. Roller Coasters will all have maintenance bays for when work needs to be done to the trains. There should never be people on them when they enter this area. They are not built to accommodate people being in them. On this fateful ride, and for whatever reason the track got switched. Sending James Frederick Polley into the maintenance bay where his head struck a low-hanging object. He was pronounced dead later that day.
How did it happen
We know that the train that James Frederick Polley was riding got incorrectly transferred. The exact reason though seems lost to time. Either it was an operator error that sent the wrong train into the bay or an incorrect button press on the coaster’s operator caused it. Coasters are regulated but the majority of restrictions on roller coasters are mandated by the theme park industry. This was built in-house so it is possible that one wrong button press could have achieved it. But that does seem unlikely. The most likely scenario would be the first one. That whatever empty train they thought was going to be sent was incorrectly not transferred.
The Aftermath
As is the case with all tragedies at Theme Parks is that changes to procedures were put in place. Not just to Fire in the Hole at Silver Dollar City, but to all theme parks. Nothing like this has happened since. It’s sad that James Frederick Polley had to lose his life in the process. Yet cases of incidents on roller coasters can be so fascinating for a very good reason. It is precisely for the reason that they are so rare.
Thanks for Reading!
If you found this review helpful or informative would you please consider sharing this with your friends, family, and fellow Roller Coaster Enthusiast? Also if you have any questions, thoughts, or memories about this incident or James Frederick Polley please add those in the comments. Please follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/themeparkcoastercrazy/
Rail Blazer Death at Six Flags St. Louis