Tamar Fellner was visiting Holiday World theme park on May 31, 2003, when she tragically died. She was one of many Roller Coaster Enthusiasts who had congregated at the park for an event called Stark Raven Mad 2003. The whole point of which is to celebrate Roller Coasters as a community. What resulted is one of the saddest events that affected the park, the community, and all who loved Tamar Fellner.
Tamar Fellner loved Raven
The Raven Roller Coaster was the whole point of Stark Raven Mad 2003. She had traveled from her home of New York to this event to ride Raven with other enthusiasts. Holiday World installed Raven as their first roller coaster for the 1995 season. Raven was designed and manufactured by Custom Coasters International with trains supplied by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company.
Raven is a wooden roller coaster that takes riders deep into the woods to experience drops, sharp turns, and a tunnel. Most of the ride is through the woods giving it that Edgar Alan Poe vibe the coaster is themed to. Raven was kind of a big deal with enthusiasts at the time. It had won numerous Golden Ticket Awards for being an excellent coaster.
Tamar Fellner and her final ride.
Sifting through what is proven can be very difficult in cases like this. So what do we for sure know about that night? Tamar Fellner was checked by a ride operator and cleared for her ride. She and one other person were sitting in the back row. When the train came back to the station her seat belt was unbuckled. Eye witness reports from that night said they saw her standing up during the ride.
During the course of the ride in the second half one hill ejected her. She was later found by the park and was pronounced dead on her way to the hospital.
The Blame Game
The narrative goes one of two ways on this tragedy. One is that Tamar Fellner was completely at fault, Unbuckling her seatbelt and standing up during a roller coaster is not safe. It is her fault because she purposefully ignored all the safety recommendations.
The second narrative is that the park is to blame. That Holiday World was very loose with the restraints. The ride has a lap bar that should make it not possible to even stand up if properly lowered to the rider’s lap.
Usually, when the Blame Game happens you will find the truth somewhere in the middle. Two years after the accident there was a lawsuit. Holiday World did settle it out of court. Which at least legally means they take some of the responsibility.
Conclusions
Tamar Fellner loved roller coasters. As to exactly what happened that night we will probably never know. When visiting parks try to be safe. If something doesn’t feel right then trust your instincts. Mega fans of coasters lose their fear of coasters and forget why they made our pulse race in the beginning.
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