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It opened in 1978, in Vernon, NJ -

Eugene Mulvihill envisioned a theme park that was a little more extreme than what we're used to now.

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Action park or "Accident Park" - Somehow the park stayed open for 16 years after its first accidental death in 1980, earning more nicknames like "Traction Park" for causing so many scrapes and broken bones.

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The infamous Tidal Wave Pool -

This was a main attraction of the park when it was booming in the late '70s and early '80s, especially since the wave pool was the first of its kind in the US.

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Nearly 100 people needed rescuing when it opened - The park used fresh water in the pool instead of salt water, making it hard for swimmers to navigate the waves which reached over 3 ft (.9 m) tall.

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Creating jobs for lifeguards at least? - It's reported that 12 lifeguards were required at the pool every day, and that on busy days they had to save an average of 20-30 people from drowning.

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Better known as the “Grave Pool” - Three people died in the wave pool between 1982 and 1987, creating another morbid nickname: the "Grave Pool."

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How they got away with it - The park hid the number of injuries in the wave pool—and avoided fines—by classifying it as a swimming pool, which only made them legally responsible for having lifeguards and keeping the water clean.

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The Alpine Slide -

Riders would hop on a small sled and launch themselves down a 2,700-ft (823-m) concrete track. In theory, they could control their sled using a hand brake, but those were often broken. 

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Dozens of fractures and head injuries -

An employee reportedly said the sleds had two speeds: "slow" and "death awaits." Just one year proved that true, with 14 fractures and 26 head injuries reported.

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The first fatality - In 1980, an employee rode the Alpine Slide and derailed on a turn, falling down a steep embankment and suffering a serious head injury. He died eight days later.

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Was the ride closed? No! - Instead, hay bales were installed on the sides to catch riders who were thrown from the track, which was apparently a common occurrence.

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The Kayak Experience -

One of the more boring rides, because kayaks would often get stuck on the track or capsize, was also the second ride to take a life.

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Shocking news - In 1982, a man on the kayak ride stepped too close to an exposed wire in the water and was electrocuted and killed. The ride was reportedly drained for investigation and never filled again.

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The Tarzan Swing -

Nothing more than a slippery rope over water, this “ride” was infamous for belly flops and patrons shouting obscenities or exposing themselves whilst in the air.

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A valid reason to complain about cold water - The pool below the Tarzan Swing was filled with natural spring water that was much colder than the rest of the park, and the shock of the freezing water reportedly caused a man to have a heart attack and die in 1984.

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The Cannonball Loop destroyed test dummies -

Despite having no engineering experience, Mulvihill designed this slide, which is rumored to have left test dummies decapitated and dismembered.

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An unconventional method, to say the least - Mulvihill apparently gave US$100 cash to any employee willing to test out his slide, and a former employee is reported to have said that it "didn't buy enough booze to drown out the memory."

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Chipped teeth and painful memories - As you might have guessed, test subjects often didn't make it around the full loop, but instead face-planted at the top of it and chipped their teeth in the process.

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The solution? - They installed a trap door to retrieve riders who got stuck in the loop. Luckily the ride was closed about a month later by state safety regulators.

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Rigged go-karts - Ride operators figured out that the go-karts' speed limits of 20 mph (32 kmh) could reach 50 mph (80 kmh) with the help of a tennis ball wedged in the right place, allowing the go-karts to travel at automobile speeds with none of the same safety measures.

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Not the greatest employees, clearly - It's rumored that after the park would close, employees would take the rigged go-karts for a ride on the nearby Route 94.

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The town’s response to all this? Order more ambulances! - With an estimated 10 injuries per day in the summer, Vernon allegedly had to buy more ambulances to handle all of Action Park's incidents.

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Their "insurance company" was a front - In 1984, Mulvihill pleaded guilty to creating a fake company in the Cayman Islands to insure the park when no one else would, resulting in fines of US$300,000. He was also ordered to sell the park, but never did.

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That wasn’t their only scheme - An on-site infirmary seemed to handle minor scrapes and bumps, but it really prevented patrons from going to hospitals and formally reporting injuries.

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The park mostly employed teens and students -

Perhaps not so surprising considering some were persuaded to risk their health for US$100, Action Park often employed underage workers to supervise rides and administer basic first-aid without any training.

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Alcohol was in abundance -

Park visitors often got drunk from the numerous beer stands across the park, and underage attendants rarely checked if patrons were below the legal drinking age.

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Despite all this, no one went to jail for negligence - The park shut down in 1996 due to financial difficulty.

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Its lawless legacy lives on - 'Jack***' star Johnny Knoxville was in a 2018 film heavily inspired by Action Park's history, called 'Action Point,' where he plays a man who runs his own extremely unsafe theme park.

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No ruins or abandoned rides to reminisce on -

The park has been revived as Mountain Creek Waterpark, which still operates some of the water-based attractions left from Action Park's heyday—but with much fewer casualties.

See also: The scariest abandoned amusement parks in the world. 

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