In 1984, Six Flags St. Louis, which at the time was known as Six Flags Over Mid-America, converted its River King Mine Train into a state-of-the-art stand-up roller coaster. Whether foul play or negligence it, unfortunately, led to Death on Rail Blazer.
It was a very new concept at the time. Because there were not many made at that time. The first standup roller coaster premiered in Japan in 1979. The first one to ever operate in the United States was at a park nearby in Kansas City called Worlds of Fun, for the 1983 season.
Sensing the competition from their Kansas City rival park Six Flags decided to respond to the challenge. They converted their famous Arrow Mine Train into a new stand-up roller coaster for the operating season of 1984. Besides the new trains to accommodate the stand-up position, they also did some paintwork for the track to give it a fresh look.
Death on Rail Blazer
Rail Blazer was to be short-lived. Only operating for three weeks. Stella and Carl Holcomb decided to take a trip to St. Louis because they wanted to visit Meramec Caverns. While in the area they decided to take a trip to Six Flags Over Mid-America.
Stella and Carl road Rail Blazer blazer on Saturday, July 9th of 1984. They rode in the back row. Reports from that day are that Carl was on the left and Stella was on the right. From Carl’s description of the incident, it is most likely the beginning of the helix after the second chain lift where Stella was flung from the train.
After the ride, Six Flags employees, and Carl were able to find her body. After falling out of the ride she must have hit her head on a nearby tree. She was pronounced dead later that day. From this point, a lot of finger-pointing as to why Stella was flown from the vehicle began.
Death on Rail Blazer never made clear
The park at the time claimed that it was impossible that she would have fallen out of the vehicle because the restraints would not have allowed it. All three restraints remained locked when the train pulled back into the station. There was a theory that maybe she had fainted and that caused it. An autopsy later found no evidence of that.
Carl who had been holding Stella’s hand on the ride blamed Six Flags for the entire thing. Many have claimed that Carl was to blame. That he pushed her at the right time from the ride to kill her. While we don’t have all the answers here, nothing I came across lead me to believe this to be the case.
Tragedy becomes myth
As it is to be expected when a person dies in an amusement park, there are going to be stories of that person haunting the grounds from then on. Ghost stories about Stella haunting The River King Mine Train have been whispered about since the incident. Most of which comes from Park employees.
For the record, I have ridden The River King Mine Train probably north of 200 times in my lifetime, and I’ve never felt anything funny on the ride.
If anyone has any more information than what’s been provided here please share it in the comments.
For more insight into this tragedy, you can read more from stltoday.