Action Park operated for 20 years with near-hourly injuries and no liability insurance, finally closing in 1996 only when creditors forced bankruptcy proceedings.
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At 1:01:00 · chapter starts 55:10
Action Park's wave pool was marketed as thrilling entertainment but functioned as a recurring death trap. In 1982 alone, 15-year-old George Lopez drowned in the wave pool and 27-year-old Nathan Langenthal was electrocuted in the whitewater kayak ride — the New Jersey coroner officially ruling heart failure by electrocution. State investigators later found a short circuit in one of the wave-producing fans, yet Action Park's owner Eugene Mulvihill told reporters Langenthal had 'probably had some kind of stroke.' In 1984, 20-year-old Donald DePass drowned after rocketing off a 10-foot slide into the pool. In 1987, 18-year-old Greg Grandchamps drowned in the wave pool; the prosecutor's investigation found lifeguards had not attempted CPR after pulling him out. Marketing director Vernon Merritt's response — 'we're not quite sure he was not resuscitated' — became one of the episode's darkest moments of corporate deflection.
Action Park's wave pool killed at least three visitors — 15-year-old George Lopez in 1982, 20-year-old Donald DePass in 1984, and 18-year-old Greg Grandchamps in 1987. After Grandchamps drowned, investigators found lifeguards hadn't attempted CPR. The park's response: 'We're not quite sure he was not resuscitated.'
In 1982, 27-year-old Nathan Langenthal died in Action Park's whitewater kayak experience. The coroner ruled heart failure by electrocution; investigators later found a short circuit in a wave fan. Eugene Mulvihill's response: 'He probably had some kind of stroke or something.'
Action Park denied electrocution killed Nathan Langenthal in 1982 even after the coroner ruled heart failure by electrocution and investigators found a short circuit in a wave-pool fan.
Action Park didn't close because of a death or public outrage — it closed in 1996 because creditors discovered the park had been operating with zero liability insurance. After 20 years of near-hourly injuries and rides built by non-experts on shoestring budgets, it took a bankruptcy filing to shut it down.
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