Caleb Schwab’s Tragic Death



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On August 7, 2016, Kansas State Representative Scott Schwab took his family to Schlitterbahn Water Park in their home state for elected officials day. [1]
10-year-old Caleb Schwab was excited to ride the Verrückt (or “Insane”) water roller coaster - an aptly named ride. He was tall enough to ride on his own.
Rep. Scott Schwab and his late son, Caleb (image: The Sun)
So that morning, Caleb boarded the water coaster without a care in the world. But things went horribly wrong.
When the raft carrying Caleb and two other park goers hit a turn, it went airborne. The raft hit into a metal pole holding netting and Caleb hit his head, decapitating him and killing him instantly. The other two riders had non-life threatening injuries.[2]
The gruesome scene following Caleb’s death. Yes, that is bloody water. (image: ABC 13 Houston)
Freak Accident? Experts say “no.”
Amusement park rides and water rides are risky. There are several deaths each year because of them. Most of them are caused by rider error, mechanical error, or health issues. But none of these deaths have shocking details like Caleb Schwab’s did. In fact, many agree that his death was negligence on the designers’ part and that Verrückt had fatal design flaws. [3]
The conception of the Verrückt water ride
In 2012, Schlitterbahn Water Park co-owner, Jeff Henry wanted to capture the attention of producers on the Travel Channel. He was on a mission to conceive something big. [4]
Henry’s idea was to design a water roller coaster. But not just any water roller coaster. He wanted it to be the tallest and fastest.
He teamed up with long-time friend and business partner John Schooley to design the ride and out of it came Verrückt (a German word meaning “insane“). A decision that was described as “spur of the moment.”
Neither Henry or Schooley had any math, science, or engineering background. And they fast tracked construction of ride to coincide with the filming of the Travel Channel show, X-Treme Water Parks.
Court documents state that Verrückt did not meet safety standards or industry practices. The ride was a disaster waiting to happen and disaster did happen.
The worst part is Henry and Schooley both knew about the fatal design flaws of the water coaster yet they let it open anyway. They knew rafts would go airborne based on the test runs.
The Verrückt Water Roller Coaster (image: AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Jill Toyoshiba via Texas Monthly)
The ride opened in the summer of 2014 and in the short two years before Caleb’s death, 11 people were injured on the ride. Some of these reported injuries were head, back, and neck injuries. [5]
Schooley and Henry were both charged with negligence for the death of Caleb Schwab (but the case was eventually dismissed). The Schwab family received a $20 million settlement from Schlitterbahn and in 2018, a judge ruled Verrückt be torn down for good. [6]
In 2019, The Henry Family sold the Schlitterbahn chain to Cedar Fair (an amusement park company known for Cedar Point in Ohio). They did not opt into buying the Kansas location and it has remained closed since 2018.

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