The 1984 Great Adventure Amusement Park Fire

A haunted house is built to be disorientating, dark, and spooky; it makes the visitors confused and scared by design. This is to be expected but, for 14-year-old Suzette Elliott, the Haunted Castle at the Great Adventure Amusement Park in New Jersey would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. 

In May 1984, Suzette arrived at the park with her friends as part of a scheduled school trip. They had been looking forward to the trip for a while as they had been promised a treat after they had done such hard work over the semester. She sat on the bus with her best friend, Tina Genovese, and the two girls chatted excitedly about their plans for the day and which rides they wanted to go on. They spent the whole day jumping between different rides, going on high-flying roller coasters and slower rides as the day began to draw to an end. As they went on the rides, they joined up with a couple of older boys; 17-year-old Joseph Beyrouty Jr and 18-year-old Nicola Caiazza. Just before they were scheduled to leave the park, the girls decided to go to the back of the park, to one of the more forgotten corners with some of the less popular rides with the older boys. Here they found the Haunted Castle, the cartoonish building looming above them. The line was pretty short so they decided that they would have enough time to have one last thrill. Sadly for them, that’s exactly what they would be getting.

As they waited in the short queue, they nervously discussed what they thought would be hidden behind the walls of the Haunted Castle as they discussed ghost stories and vampires. When it was their turn to enter, they were ushered in with 5 other boys, all of whom were Hispanic. They cautiously walked into the building together, linking arms so they could guide each other through the darkness. Through the flashing lights and scary sounds, they began to make their way through the winding passageways when a man suddenly jumped out at them, dressed as the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The teenagers shrieked when he ran at them, but quickly laughed it off as the scare actor disappeared back into the dark. One of the Hispanic boys decided that this was his cue to get his revenge, and suggested that they should all hide in the corner and wait for the Hunchback to return so that they could give him the fight of his life just as he had to them. The kids excitedly agreed and they all patiently waited together, keeping their eyes peeled in the darkness for the scare actor to reappear. They were only waiting for about 5 minutes when they heard a cry that scared them to death: Fire! Almost as soon as they heard the call, they began to smell the smoke as it surrounded them in thick clouds, immediately choking them all. They were trapped, stuck in the dark and had no idea which way to turn to escape. They were terrified and quickly realised that it was becoming harder and harder for them to breathe. The older boys tried to take charge and began to direct them towards the exit but they were all being pushed to the floor by the other panicked visitors as they tried to escape. Adults and children alike were rushing through the horror maze to safety, but no one stopped to help the terrified teenagers that they were pushing to the floor.

As they were stepped over, the teenagers began to wonder if this was the end. They were choking on the thick smoke as it covered the corridor, blurring their vision even further. Now that the other visitors had all run out of the doors, the children were left alone to figure out how they could survive as they tried crawling along the floor. They were vaguely aware of which way the other people went and so tried to follow them but as they pushed harder for the exit, the more exhausted they became. They each began to succumb to the smoke that had quickly filled the room and their lungs, forcing them to lie down together. Joseph Beyrouty tried to continue down the corridor and made it partway back to the entrance before collapsing, leaving Suzette as the only conscious person in the building. She was trying her best to get back to safety but she was struggling and seeing her friends collapsed on the ground, she feared that she would be next. How do you think it would feel to be so close to the exit but not know which way to go, as you slowly choke on the air around you? She knelt for a moment to catch her breath, taking small shallow breaths to lessen the smoke inhalation but she was struggling. She quickly realised that she couldn’t get up again, her lungs burning from the smoke and she worried that this would be it and she would surely die alone in the Haunted Castle as it claimed more ghosts.

Gary Kaplow had been working at the park for a while and today, he was in charge of supervising the Haunted Castle maze. It was normally a pretty easy day with limited visitors so he was on his own, although there were meant to be a few of his other colleagues working with him but it seemed that they were busy elsewhere, leaving him alone. At 6.30 pm, he was waiting for the groups to leave the castle so that he could close it down as the day came to an end. Suddenly, he heard screaming coming from the building but, given that it was a haunted house, this was not unusual. That’s when someone ran from the exit straight towards him, shouting that there was a fire and that people were trapped inside. He could tell that the visitor wasn’t joking, the look of fear as real as could be. He quickly ran into the building as he shouted out for anyone who needed help, but he was just met by the soundtrack of the witches and ghouls and couldn’t hear any actual people over the racket. As he looked down the corridor, he saw the thick black smoke rolling towards him and he ran back through the fire door to the control room to close down the ride but there was no way to get in. He suddenly remembered that the room couldn’t be opened from the outside and needed a staff member inside but, following understaffing issues, there was no one available. He was alone and had to think quickly. What could he do to save the lives of the people still inside the ride?

Gary looked back at the Haunted Castle and could see smoke billowing from the windows - he only had one choice. He ran to the back of the building and phoned security, begging them to help. The security quickly told him they had already been informed of the fire by visitor and that he should focus on getting people out of the building. Gary leapt into action and began directing people out of the building. As he explored further into the smoky corridor, he stumbled upon Suzette who was still clinging to life. Seeing the child, Gary picked her up and took her from the burning building, saving her life. She was barely conscious and had no way of telling her saviour that her friends were still inside. Tragically, they were left in there, with no one knowing that they were even there and that is how the Haunted Castle gained 8 more ghosts that day.

Soon after the accident, the owners of Great Adventure Park were charged with aggravated manslaughter as they failed to take adequate fire-prevention measures. The corporation's defence argued that patrons often used lights or matches to navigate the maze, despite being instructed not to. This was not seen as a good enough excuse, as it was proved that the understaffing of the ride and the lack of alarms meant that people were not able to be saved in time, causing the deaths of 8 children. Eventually, though, a jury found the company innocent, although they said that major safety restrictions need to be updated to ensure this didn’t happen again. Instead of criminal charges, monetary settlements were reached instead. The family of one of the eight victims, 18-year-old Nicola Caiazza, was awarded $2.5 million, which saw them receive an immediate payment of $250,000 and other payments over the next 30 years. Of course her family, like the other families who lost loved ones, didn’t care about the money. The money wouldn’t bring back their poor children who died alone and scared in the dark, the children who would never see their families again. They died just as their lives were beginning and money would never be able to fix that.