Teen Thrown from Ride at 'Most Dangerous Amusement Park.' He Died Days Before He Was Supposed to Be His Brother's Best Man

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Action Park was a New Jersey amusement park open from May 1978 to September 1996
Throughout the park's time open, it became known for rides that were thrill-seeking at best and dangerous at worst
The death of George Larsson Jr. is explored in the 2020 documentary, Class Action ParkThe Larsson family continues to remember a beloved family member whose horrifying death still shocks people to this day.
George Larsson Jr. was just 19 years old when he visited Action Park, located on Route 94 in Vernon, N.J., with friends on July 8, 1980.
The infamous location for summer fun was the subject of a 2020 documentary, Class Action Park. Created by filmmakers Chris Charles Scott and Seth Porges, the film features the first comments from the Larsson family after they settled for $100,000 and were "subject to a gag order for years," per NJ.com. Esther Larsson and Brian Larsson, George's mom and brother, appear to share their side of the story of his untimely death.
George was riding the 2,700-ft. Alpine Slide, which riders would navigate on small sleds that could only accelerate or brake. The trip to the theme park had been a last-minute decision.
"He wanted to go to Action Park, so I loaned him the money in the afternoon, and a friend of his went over there to meet him," Esther shares.
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"He goes onto the Alpine Slide, and he's going down the hillside. And the cart break, I don't believe, was working," Brian says of the accident. "He went off the track and, in flipping down the hillside, and into some rocks. And he hit his head on the rocks.
Esther was at home when she got the call her son had been injured. Her husband and Brian were working together when they got the call that George was in the hospital.
"I didn't think it was any big deal because he was so athletic," Esther shared. "I thought scrapes or bumps or something, maybe a cut, but I had no idea how awful it was. When we got to that hospital, he had been moved to another hospital. I saw the bed that he had been in, and there was blood, all over the pillowcase, all over everything."
They rushed to the other hospital, where they got their first look at George and learned the extent of his injuries.
"When I first saw my brother, I knew he was hurt bad. I just knew, real bad. They were checking for brain waves to see if he still had brain waves. And not only once, but obviously two times or three times, multiple times, just to see if he was with it or not with it," Brian said.
"There was no sign that he was going to wake up," Esther said, noting a family member who was a doctor came to independently examine George and confirm there was nothing further they could do.
George died of his injuries on July 16, 1980. The entire family was distraught, with Esther confessing that between the rectory and the hospital, "We were walking across the street and I deliberately walked out in front of a truck."
"At that point, my husband pulled me back, and he just screamed at me, 'What were you thinking?' I was thinking I couldn't live with that kind of pain. It just, it hurt so much. And here, 39 years later, I can still feel that pain."
It was also devastating for Brian, who was due to get married days later with George as his best man. He noted, "Everything was in a cloud." Further, Gene Mulvihill, owner of Action Park, never contacted the family or the hospital to check on what happened to George after emergency services transported him out of the park.
Action Park claimed that the Alpine Slide wasn't responsible for George's death. Rather, they claimed the rock he came in contact with was, and that could have happened anywhere. To protect the park's image, Mulhivill and his team alleged that George was an employee of the park using equipment after hours, so as to not report his death to the state.
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In reality, George worked at the sister ski resort, but never at Action Park. He was also there during regular business hours. Later, Esther would learn, "The State of New Jersey told them they could not open for the 4th of July, and they wanted to open for the 4th of July, but they never removed the rocks that they were told to remove."
"And when my son went on that ride, the car flipped him off and his head hit the rocks," she says, noting his visit was just four days later."
The incident would reveal that Mulhivill had "fake liability insurance in the Cayman Islands." As a result, the family was informed that any payout from legal recourse would be minimal.
"We eventually settled for $100,000," Esther says. The family, traumatized by what they experienced, moved from New Jersey to Florida as they attempted to heal.
While George Larsson Jr. was the first to die at Action Park, he wouldn't be the last. At least another five deaths and countless injuries were attributed to the park from 1980 through its closing in 1996. Mulhivill died on Oct. 27, 2012, at the age of 78.
Class Action Park is streaming on HBO Max.
Read the original article on People