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The Luna Park Tragedy Pt2 · DEADBUG SAYS

• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: You are about to partake in a dead bug podcast and as always, this podcast might not be suitable for everyone, especially children.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: So if you're ready to proceed, I'd ask if you one thing, sit back, shut that pleasure given my viewers, and enjoy.
• 0:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: And if by chance you do enjoy it, please take a moment to rate it.
• 0:36
  [UNKNOWN]: You
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: On that cold Saturday night, been June 1979, under the glowing arch of Sydney Harbour Bridge, Luna Park's famous neon face grinned, as it always had, but tonight that grin seemed more sinister.
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: Because inside the ghost ride, that 180 meter maze of near total darkness, dancing skeletons, bragging heads, the crude imitation fireplace with the fan blown streamers.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Everything changed in minutes.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: thick black smoke began pouring from the tunnels.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: The riders who had noticed real heat from the fake fire, moments earlier.
• 1:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now realized there was no special effect.
• 1:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: A carriage emerged from the tunnel and flames, then the inferno took hold.
• 2:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: two young attendants, Tony Jacob, Frank Boatana, ran in through the smoke, opening doors, fire escapes, to try to help.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: They were forced by the toxic of humans to leave.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Firefighters arrived at 10 footing BM, the columns of smoke, rising 100 meters into the air,
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: They battled low water pressure, literally sucking it out of the harbour but sell something they'd never done before.
• 2:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: It took over an hour to bring the blaze, harshly under control.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: At first, everyone hoped that the ride would land.
• 2:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: But around 11.30pm, as the wreckage cooled enough for the searches, with generators to enter.
• 3:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: truth emerged.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Seven bodies were found, and the child remains.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: The victims were melted, looking like giant Jesus candles, sitting on the right.
• 3:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: At first,
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the firefighters thought they were mannequins, more grotesque, props, from some horror film.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is the story of those seven people who they were, what they were doing on night.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now that families were shot at,
• 3:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: It has also the story of the two survivors who walked away physically and harmed, but were forever marked.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And Scott, emotionally, from the incident.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it is the beginning of the official search for answers.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: The police investigation then moved with startling speed, and the coronial inquest that followed.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: delivering a verdict that satisfied no one, that left deep lingering questions, scarred on the public psyche.
• 4:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let's start with the people.
• 4:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: On one side of the tragedy was the Gods and family from Warren and regional New South Wales.
• 4:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: John Robert Gods and a truck driver.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: And his early 30s had brought his wife Jennifer, everyone called her Jenny, and their two sons to Sydney for a holiday.
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: Damien was six and Craig was four.
• 5:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: They had spent the full happy day watching a colorful pagan parade near the Opera House, visiting Toronto Zoo, riding the Big Dipper a lunar park, and this was to be the last ride of the night.
• 5:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: I guess it's safe to say the last ride, forever.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: With the ghost train making ghosts of a mall.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jenny had stepped out of the line to buy a mall ice cream that they get enjoy when the ride was finished.
• 5:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: She waited near the exit, cones in hand.
• 5:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: On the other side were five boys from waverly college in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
• 6:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: They were inseparable friends who played rugby together that day in the under 12s and under 13s.
• 6:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: After the game they attended Mars at St. Mary Magdalene's church in Rose Bay.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then took the bus to Circular Key and the ferry across the harbor.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: There would be that last.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: They had negotiated it with their parents for months.
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Billings, Richard Carroll, Michael Johnson, and Seamus Rahili were all fattened.
• 6:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jason Holman, 12, was the youngest, and the little hangar on, as he later described
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: carrying a back scratch-a-hied one at the shooting gallery.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: They were laughin' and flickin' hot chips at each other in the shore and line up, as closing time approached in the park.
• 7:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was Jason, who would later say, the best night of my life.
• 7:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: The fire changed everything in an instant.
• 7:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jason was last in line.
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: His four friends had already boarded in pairs.
• 7:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: Hard broken that he wouldn't be sitting with them.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: As his carrier approached the entrance, a ride attendant suddenly grabbed him and yanked him out and threw him over the barricade down to the ground.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jason protested and he put me down with the fuck you doing.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm supposed to be following those guys.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: was pulled clear just in time.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: He stood outside on the ground, back scratcher in hand, watching in horror, as the smoke thickened.
• 8:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: The flames erupted, exploding from the tunnel, the seams in the wood.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: This fire was just not seen later, recalled, quickly added control, and massive dwarfing us.
• 8:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: He waited for his friends to come out.
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jenny Gods and saw the smoke rising and felt something was terribly wrong.
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: She flung the ice creams away.
• 8:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: I started feeling really strange, sick in my stomach, chicken with my mother.
• 8:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: The smoke seemed to realm the screams that in the same happy screams, or pretend the screams she will remember.
• 8:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Reality hit, unless she was usher though, the evacuating crowd.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: A radio journalist approached her almost immediately, my performing hand, asking when she'd last seen a family.
• 9:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: She just muttered something in shock.
• 9:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Come on, be in the store, it was any language.
• 9:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: Inside the ride, the gods and family had tried to escape.
• 9:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: John's body was later found, melted, outstretched, over his two small sons.
• 9:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Protecting from what could not be protected from trying to shelter them from the reapers, bone, and fusing together.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: They'd love to carriage and perish together in the smoke, the flames, the intensity.
• 9:55
  [SPEAKER_00]: The four wavily boys were discovered in another section.
• 9:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Richard, Michael, and Seamus, near the entrance and further towards the center of the ride.
• 10:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: All seven died from burns and carbon monoxide poisoning.
• 10:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: By the early hours of Sunday, June 10th, the park gates were crowded with distraught parents.
• 10:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jason's mother and father waited shivering.
• 10:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: The parents of his four friends waited, too.
• 10:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: A policeman eventually drove Jason home, and then those papers that are already coined the name for him, nor is the luckiest boy alive.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: But he didn't feel lucky.
• 10:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: He felt guilty, and he had already begun to wonder.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jenny Godson was left as the source of Iva of a family.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: In the days that followed, she would say that the day before that fire was the happiest day of her life.
• 11:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: It was magical.
• 11:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: The contrast with what came next was unbearable.
• 11:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: The immediate half the math was chaos and grief.
• 11:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: Loona Park was shut down on the spot.
• 11:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: It would remain closed for three years.
• 11:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: Sidney woke to the headlines of horror as its beloved fun park was the sight of a gruesome farewell.
• 11:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: The city was stunned.
• 11:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: This was a place of childhood laughter, memories, and neon magic.
• 11:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: Not tragedy, not death.
• 12:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Police moved quickly, the detective inspected the dug night of the North Sydney Police who led the investigation, told reporters within 24 hours that there was very little doubt.
• 12:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: The fire had originated from the electrical fall near the roof of the ghost train building.
• 12:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: The awesome and suspicious circumstances were ruled out early.
• 12:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: But even in those first days, some would be there.
• 12:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Notice things that didn't quite fit.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Firefighters observed that the Switchport area was largely intact, and consistent for a fire of electrical origin, and although no one dares say the words suspicious, there were more than a few that used the words questionable logic, and police cover up.
• 13:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: Riders like Sue Manning, a 19-year-old youth group leader, had felt real heat from the imitation fireplace, and also believed she'd seen small flames inside.
• 13:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: She said to her friend, whoa, I seems like real fire.
• 13:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: But they'd assumed that it was part of the show.
• 13:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Other witnesses, Jeff Farlow, a 14-year-old,
• 13:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: coming out from the fireplace and the sides, but thought nothing of it at the time.
• 13:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Some smelled smoke minutes before the blaze became obvious.
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: No one reported that anyone had been smoking and staff said they'd regularly clean the litter and that there was none to be seen.
• 14:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: Despite what the police and the firefighters have been telling the press,
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: The ride had no history of fire trouble, and it's 44 years of operation.
• 14:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Staff also noted that the usual attendant who patrolled inside the dark ride was not there that night.
• 14:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: The afternoon shift worker had left early for birthday party, and had not been replaced.
• 14:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: The park had been inspected three times in the previous six months for structural, mechanical, and electrical issues.
• 14:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: All past their checks of flying colors.
• 14:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yet back in 1977, North Sydney Council and the fire brigade had flagged the ghost train as a fire risk, and given the park two years to install safety upgrades, including a sprinkler system, emergency lighting, and mocked exits.
• 15:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those upgrades had not been completed.
• 15:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: In fact, they hadn't even been started.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: The formal process began almost immediately.
• 15:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: A coronal inquest was opened at the Gleab's Corner Court under coroner Kevin Sidney Anderson.
• 15:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: It ran from mid-August to late August 1979, and heard from the dozens of witnesses, riders, staff, experts, firefighters, police.
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: Evidence was presented on the ride's construction.
• 15:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's lack of modern fire suppression, the inspections, the behavior of the patrons, and the rapid spread of the fire through the old timber structure.
• 16:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: On the 3rd of September 1979, coroner Anderson delivered his fine things.
• 16:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: The cause of the fire, he stated, cannot conclusively be stated.
• 16:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: expert evidence suggested the permanent wire and detractions were unlikely to be the source of the ignition, though that possibility could not be completely ruled down.
• 16:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: The most probable explanation he concluded was the ignition of flammable litter by a cigarette or match carelessly or recklessly discarded by a person riding on the train.
• 16:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Patrons had a habit of ignoring the no smoking signs, and this regarding food wrappers and other litter.
• 16:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: But he added, how the fire was ignited, the evidence couldn't show anything conclusive.
• 16:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: On the question of responsibility, the coroner was clear and critical.
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: Luna Park's management and staff had failed in their duty to care for its patrons.
• 17:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: There had been a mocked reluctance to implement recommended fire safety measures, despite clear advice from the council and the fire brigade 18 months earlier.
• 17:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: Cost cutting played a role in the failure was serious.
• 17:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yet, Anderson ruled that it was not a high degree of negligence necessary to support a charge of criminal negligence.
• 17:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: And no criminal charges were laid.
• 17:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: The seven deaths were ruled accidental, caused by carbon monoxide poisoning and burns.
• 17:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: The findings brought some official closure.
• 18:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: The park's safety practices were condemned.
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: Recommendations were made to review our rights.
• 18:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: But for the families, the pain was only the beginning.
• 18:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jenny Gardson had lost the husband and both of her children in one night.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: She would later say she wanted to know how they died and the truth.
• 18:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jason Holman carried survivors guilt for decades and would eventually voice his own suspicions of his sin as the behavior.
• 18:39
  [SPEAKER_00]: The four sets of parents who'd lost their 13-year-old sons, boys who'd finally earned a night of freedom, were left with unimaginable grief and pain.
• 18:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: The city mourned, but has always life moved on.
• 19:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Lunapag eventually reopened in 1982 under new management with changes to the site.
• 19:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: The ghost train was gone forever.
• 19:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: The mere mention of it brought thoughts of death.
• 19:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: And it was replaced in time by other attractions.
• 19:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yet even in 1979, as the coroner's report was released,
• 19:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: The speed of the initial police conclusion, the ignored safety warnings, the absence of an attendant inside the ride, the fact that some riders had smelled smoke and seen flames.
• 19:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: But this missed them as part of the show.
• 19:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: These details knocked.
• 19:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Firefighters had noted the switchboard looked undamaged.
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Witnesses described the fires suddenly forosity.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: The official story was accidental, but the human stories had old bodies of a mother left holding, mountain ice creams.
• 20:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: Of a 12-year-old boy pulled from his carriage in the last second and out of the ground.
• 20:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: And the years that followed those questions would only grow louder.
• 20:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: New witnesses would come forward.
• 20:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: Allegations would surface up at the conduct and the validity of the investigation itself.
• 20:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: But that deeper probe, the one that would challenge the official narrative,
• 20:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: with that belongs in the next episode.
• 21:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: For now, on that June night in 1979, in the months of the inquiry, the followed, seven lives were lost.
• 21:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Two survivors carried this scarce, and an official verdict was delivered.
• 21:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, sure.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: It explained a lot.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: It satisfied the requirements of the law at the time.
• 21:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the grieving families for them.
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: The ones who waited at the gates for Jenny Gardson rebuilding a life alone.
• 21:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: And for Jason Holman growing up with the memory of flames and absent friends.
• 21:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: left the hollow space, where full understanding should have been.
• 21:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: The lights of Luna Park eventually came back on, the laughter returned, for no generations.
• 22:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: But the smoke from that night, the haze that hung over the water front, had never fully
• 22:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Going in the sink, the side of your keys Coal little shine under the leaks You left your scarf on my chair back Red thread hanging like a thin crack
• 23:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: my thumb keeps moving and it stops same old corner, same old stop and I keep the door crept like maybe you come back one more time one more time come back, come back, take this thing
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Come back, come back before I break broken.
• 24:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: You shirt and yourself The rain on the still mud on my shoes Every small thing still points to you The kettle clinks and those still I poured too much out of habit And the whole room feels your name Like a note I can't explain
• 25:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Take this steak Come at, come at before
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're halfway down the block, if you start at the corner, stop if you miss me Just a little turn around, make it some more Come back, come back, take this lake Come back, come back before
• 26:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Going in the sink beside your keys Call a little shine