02x08 - Fatal Attractions

[bunniefuu]

[light whimsical music]

- Do you remember when a safari
theme park went fully feral?

- Cars are, basically,
under siege.

Like, that's the thrill.

They actually put this
right in their logo.

- Could you believe
that the atomic b*mb

was once a major
tourist attraction?

- They will literally
sell you a ticket

to as close to that expl*si*n

as the army will let you get.

- Do you remember
back when a barrel

was considered a safety device?

- Come and watch these people

take their lives
into their own hands

and catapult themselves
over the falls.

- Police do get called, but
it's really just to make sure,

"Does everyone
have a good view?"

- These are the
things we used to do,

for fun, for money, or
maybe out of boredom,

that we'll never see again.

Were they dangerous?

Certainly.

Deadly?

Occasionally.

But boy,

wasn't it exciting?

[light whimsical music]

When I was little,

I used to love to go to
the Central Park Zoo,

and one of the highlights
was the pony ride.

Well, you might be
surprised to learn

that a century ago
in Los Angeles,

kids had the chance
to ride an animal

that was far more exotic.

[light playful music]

- [Dan] In the early 1900s,
there are these three forms

of public attractions
that are becoming huge:

zoos, circuses, and
amusement parks.

People are lining up
like crazy for them.

- [Henry] That's when a man
named Hubert Campbell

decides that he can get rich

by combining all three
into one attraction.

- Hubert Campbell is
a man on a mission.

He wants a visitor attraction

that has the feel of
a nature preserve,

sort of an interactive
zoo, and he hits on it.

He's gonna open
an alligator park.

- This guy's an
out-there character.

He used to perform in the

"Buffalo Bill Wild West" show.

He has a lifelong passion
for large reptiles,

and he's even earned the
nickname Alligator Joe.

- [Jason] So he gets a business
partner named Francis Earnest,

and together they
decide to bring

alligators to
Southern California.

They start the Los
Angeles Alligator Farm.

- [Henry] Admission is a
quarter, and for that low price,

visitors enter a world
of reptilian wonder.

- [Jason] This is not some
little sideshow attraction

where there's one alligator
or two or even 20.

This is Alligator Nation.

- [Austin] They bring
in 1,000 alligators

who just roam freely through
this barely contained park

in the center of a
residential L.A. neighborhood.

It's like Jurassic
Park with worse fences.

- Now, contrary to what
you might be thinking,

gators are not super trainable,

but somehow Alligator Joe

works his Alligator Joe magic,

and he has them doing
little tricks and stunts,

including going
down water slides.

- [Jason] Which is
pretty remarkable

when you think some
of these alligators

are, like, 15 feet long.

They even have shows
where you can watch

some of their trainers
wrestling with the alligators.

You put that on a billboard,

yeah, that's gonna
get people to come.

[lively orchestral music]

- The farm even lets you
handle baby alligators.

This is where Joe is
really onto something.

He's creating his own
lane, and people love it.

- [Adam] Families can just
mingle with the animals,

pose freely with no
barriers between them

and one of nature's most
efficient, ruthless,

and deadly predators.

- Parents are placing toddlers
on alligators for photo ops,

and other kids are riding them.

- As a kid, I would love
to see the alligators,

but I really would like a fence.

- [Natalia] The gift shop
even sells baby alligators

to take home.

They tell parents,

"Don't worry, when
they get too big

or bitey, you can come back

and trade them in
for a smaller one."

It's unreal to imagine.

- Normally, when
you go to the zoo,

you might get a stuffed
animal as a souvenir

to remind you of the animals
that you saw at the zoo.

You don't usually
get to take home

a live animal to
keep in your bathtub.

- [Natalia] There's also
this educational angle

to the alligator farm.

You can go see, like,

the eggs and incubators.

You can see them being hatched.

- There's even sort of a gator
ER where they can see gators

recovering from injuries,
which are pretty frequent

because alligators are
wildly territorial.

[alligator growls]

- [Natalia] Some of those
injuries were incredibly brutal

because when they fight,

they're taking chunks
out of each other.

- [Adam] Surprisingly enough,
the barriers around the park

are so shoddy that
alligators are escaping

and alligators are being
found in people's pools

and backyards all the time.

- [Henry] Yet for decades,
no one seems to bat an eye

at this horde of apex predators
in the middle of L.A.,

but eventually disaster strikes.

- In 1925,

Francis Earnest's
seven-year-old son

climbs into the enclosure.

One of those gators leaps up

and grabs Francis
Jr. by the hand.

It takes his uncle gouging
out the eyes of that gator

to finally get
the mouth to open.

By some miracle, Francis
Jr. survives this attack,

but no one's calling for the
Gator Farm to be shut down.

- [Henry] Eventually,
Alligator Joe's attraction

falls victim not to
lawsuits or bad press,

but annoyed neighbors.

- In the 1950s,
this part of L.A.

starts becoming more
densely populated,

and people have had
it with the park.

They're sick of alligators
roaming the neighborhood.

- [Lance] Today, alligator
farms do still exist,

and you can still
hold baby alligators,

but toddlers are not
allowed to ride them,

and you definitely can't

take one home with you.

- All right, so if alligators
weren't your thing back then,

there was a place
right across town

that gave kids a chance to
hop on another exotic animal,

one that would give them
an even wilder ride.

- [Austin] When the California
Alligator Farm opens in 1907,

there's another attraction

that's been around
for over a decade.

- [Lance] In the 1880s, a
Brit named Edwin Cawston

imports a whole
bunch of ostriches

to his farm in South
Pasadena, California.

He's planning to get rich

selling the feathers
of these birds

because they're really big in
ladies' fashion at the time.

- Most people in South Pasadena

have never seen an
ostrich up close before.

They're like these
dinosaurs running around.

Pretty soon, people are lining
up to gawk at the ostriches,

and he realizes he has this
entirely different business.

People will pay to see
the ostriches on his farm.

- [Henry] Cawston's Ostrich Farm

opens in the city of
South Pasadena in 1896.

Newspapers are soon
raving about it

as one of the nation's most
fascinating attractions.

- [Brian] I would go
to an ostrich farm.

I mean,

the whole point
of it is, like,

you're seeing something

that you would never see.

In no world am I running into
an ostrich on Staten Island.

- [Kavitha] People are
fascinated by how fast

they can move.

With a top speed of

over 40 miles an hour,

it's not long before
Cawston realizes

that if people are going
to pay to pet these things,

they will pay even
more to ride them.

- [Lance] Cars aren't a thing.

So for the average person,


of a dinosaur with feathers

is the thrill of a lifetime.

- [Henry] Of course, if
you can ride ostriches,

that also means
you can race them.

[rousing orchestral music]

- Ostrich racing becomes
a real thing on the farm,

but it's really hard.

You can't put a saddle on them,

only do your best to balance

and hang on for dear
life while they take off.

Most ostrich races finish

with nobody actually
on their bird anymore.

- Ostriches, in many ways,

are the worst possible
animal to pick

for a roadside attraction
because they're very aggressive.

They're also very territorial.

That makes them unpredictable.

- Ostriches are not
really built to be ridden,

and they don't really
like to be ridden,

so there tend to be injuries.

That's gonna happen when
you have people interacting

with large wild animals.

- There's one incident
where a male ostrich

kicks a farm worker 15
feet and then corners him

and starts pecking at
him and attacking him,

and other people have to come
and pull the bird off of him

before he kills this man.

- In 1913, in the Tournament
of Roses, there was a race,

and one rider was actually

thrown off his ostrich

and kicked 20 feet.

Then this ostrich just

takes off into the crowd,

so people are dodging
it left and right,

just having no idea
what's happening.

- [Henry] The Cawston
Ostrich Farm closes in 1935.

- It doesn't go away

because they are
endangering the public.

It goes away because the
Great Depression comes along.

- [Henry] But for a brief time,

Cawston's Ostrich Farm provided
the thrill of a lifetime.

- [Rutledge] You have to
remember, there is no internet,

there's no TV, there's
just experiences.

So when people went to this
ostrich ranch, it was amazing.

It was getting to do this thing

that so few people got to do.

- Today, you would
be hard-pressed

to find any place in the
United States of America

that would let you
ride an ostrich,

not just for the animal's sake,

but nobody wants
to be responsible

for you breaking your
neck riding a wild bird.

- Remember those scorching
summer days when you were a kid,

and you'd give anything for a
trip to a pool or the beach?

Well, in the '60s,
there was a water park

where they would let you
do anything you wanted

to beat the heat,

but you would take a
beating in the process.

- [Lance] In the late 1950s, Bob
Byers owns an alfalfa farm

along I-15 in the Mojave Desert.

He's struggling
to make ends meet,

but inspiration strikes him
when he sees all these cars

driving by on their
way to Las Vegas.

- It's a long, hot drive.

Temperatures can reach as high

as 110 degrees in the summer.

- So Byers looks at
his huge plot of land,

and he thinks,

"What if I could create

some massive swimming pools,

a place for families to stop,

cool off, and break
up this long drive?"

[light thoughtful music]

- [Brian] This guy gets a
backhoe and a couple of his kids

and digs out this lake.

He digs out these ponds.

He creates an oasis in
the middle of the desert.

He names it after his wife,

and Lake Dolores is born.

- [Henry] By the early '70s,

Lake Dolores grows from
a roadside water oasis

into a full-on water park,

complete with their
own commercials.

- [Commercial Announcer]
Good, clean, safe, fun.

A thrill a second.

Bring the kids.

- Byers has built this

massive 300-acre complex

dedicated to
ultimate summer fun.

[water splashing]

- But it's also very dangerous

because Bob is not an engineer.

- [Don] It was slapped together.

Wherever he found
cool junkyard scrap,

he made a ride out of it.

- This place is
basically spring break

meets a construction site.

- [Don] He builds these


where you go down headfirst

and then skip onto the
water at 50 miles an hour.

Some people would actually
overshoot the whole lake

and then tear up their chests

on the gravel on the other side.

- [Hakeem] The zip lines start
from a 90-foot hill.

You basically just have
to hold on for dear life.

If you let go too soon,

you're falling from a
two-story height onto gravel.

- And yet people love it.

They cannot get enough.

[funky upbeat music]
[water splashing]

- "These people can handle it.

These people won't drown.

Lifeguards, we got
no need for you.

These people are making
choices to come here

and have fun in a slightly
dangerous manner."

- People come all the way
from Frisco down here.

- Nothing like this
around anywhere we live.

- [Henry] But one
notorious attraction

truly stands out above the rest:

the stand-up slide.

- [Hakeem] The stand-up slide is
as crazy as it sounds.

You slide down standing

at a 60-degree angle.

- [Jason] It's madness.

If you fall, you
could get concussed

before you even hit the water.

- [Hakeem] And if you
happen to make it

all the way to the bottom,

the slide spits you out 15
feet above the lake's surface.

Imagine hitting the water

with the force of a
small car accident,

wearing nothing
but a bathing suit.

- [Brian] If they
didn't break a bone,

people were tearing
skin off on the dry part

'cause the aluminum that
didn't have the water on it

would get baking hot and
you'd be like: [squeaking].

- And to make matters worse,

people aren't just standing.

- People are pulling
off 360-degree

spins as they go down.

- [Jason] They're
cheating death,

and their friends are all
just cheering them on.

There is not a place on Earth

that would let
you do that today.

- [Brian] Bob had this famous
quote where he said,

"It's a little bit country."

Which means what?

Which means you may die.

- [Henry] Despite
their reputation,

or maybe because of it,

the stand-up slides
are a huge draw,

until the risks finally
catch up with them.

- [Hakeem] An off-duty
employee decides

he's gonna have a
little fun after hours,

and he goes down a slide
into a partially-filled pool

and ends up paralyzed.

He gets a settlement
of $4.4 million,

and that drives the
park into bankruptcy.

- [Don] Today, if you drive out
to the site of Lake Dolores,

you'll find that it's really

a shell of its former self.

- [Brian] There's something in
the American character

that must be admired.

This guy, Bob,

took American ingenuity.

He took American spirit.

He took American disregard
for some safety rules,

and he turned it into something

that people loved
for years and years.

I don't know, man, I
think we need more Bobs.

[water splashing]

- Thousands of
miles to the east,

there was another legendary park

where thrills came first
and safety a distant second.

[majestic orchestral music]

- [Kavitha] Action Park will
always be remembered

as the most thrilling
and dangerous,

and bonkers kids' park

in the tri-state area.

Nothing compares to it.

- I can't wait to jump
in the Tarzan pool.

- [Henry] How did Action Park

become known as the place
for death-defying rides?

It all began with the
very first attraction

when there was no park,
just a struggling ski slope.

- It's 1976,

and businessman Gene
Mulvihill is in a bind.

He used to work on Wall Street,

but he got chased out by the
SEC for breaking so many rules.

Now he is the owner of
a big, risky investment

called the Vernon Valley

Great Gorge Ski
Resort in New Jersey,

and he's bleeding money.

He can't use the ski
resort in the summer months

'cause there's no snow,

but he comes up with a plan

to use his land all year round.

- He comes up with
a bobsled-type run,

a 2,700-foot twisting chute

made of the cheapest
concrete you could find.

[bobsled rattling]

- The bobsled would be a
simple plastic seat on rollers.

A stick between your legs
would be there to apply brakes

if you went too fast.

Maybe.

[light gentle music]
[bobsleds rattling]

- [Henry] It's called
an alpine slide,

a ride that's becoming popular

at ski areas around the world,

but this one is going
to be unlike any other.

- Typical alpine slides
have a more gradual slope.

Mulvihill's is going to plummet

almost 1,000 vertical feet

in less than one minute.

- [Hakeem] You fly
down a mountain

in your own little vehicle,

whipping around turns,
winding, twisting.

It is pure exhilaration.

- [Henry] The ride
is so popular,

Mulvihill builds
Action Park around it,

attracting over a million
visitors every year.

- My kids love the rides.

- [Henry] But the alpine slide

remains its most
popular attraction

and its most perilous.

- I grew up around Action Park.

I had a T-shirt that had
the alpine slide on it.

However, I never actually
went on the alpine slide

because it was famous for
people getting hurt on it.

[bobsled rattling]

- There are so many problems,

starting with the handbrake.

First off, it's
just a wooden stick,

and they're so
poorly maintained.

It doesn't always work.

- There's also the issue
that the walls of the chute

are only about a foot high,
so if anything happens,

you go completely flying
off of this apparatus

at 40 miles an hour.

- [Brian] People would get
hurt, it would flip,

people would get
thrown out of it.

I saw all this firsthand.

- [Hakeem] Instead of the thrill
of skiing without snow,

the alpine slide becomes
the thrill of surgery

without anesthesia.

- It looks cool and super fun,

but injuries keep piling up.

- There's a 19-year-old
employee of the facility

who gets onto one of the

sleds with a faulty brake.

It fails.

He goes flying,

his head hits a rock,

and he falls into a coma.

- [Don] The family sues
Action Park and wins,

but somehow the place keeps
operating for another 16 years.

- [Henry] The place is
earning its nicknames,

like "Accident Park,"
"Traction Park,"

and "Class Action Park,"

but nothing seems to be
enough to earn it a shutdown.

- [Kavitha] Finally,
by the mid-'90s,

Mulvihill has encountered

all of these lawsuits,

and he's in debt,

so he's finally forced
to shut down Action Park,

and then it's converted
to a real water park

with actual safety
features and guidelines.

[park-goers chattering]
[water splashing]

- After Action Park was sold,

its new owners kept
the alpine slide open

for a final season
before demolishing it,

but riders had to
wear helmets and pads.

- Nowadays, if you go to any
zoo or wildlife attraction,

you will see signs that say,
"Don't feed the animals,"

but back in the mid-20th
century at Yellowstone,

there could have
been signs that said,

"The bears are hungry, and
they hope you brought snacks."

[geyser whooshing]
[lively orchestral music]

- In 1872,
Yellowstone in Wyoming

becomes our first national park.

After the Civil w*r, we
wanted something beautiful

that we could all take pride in.

- It's a place of
amazing natural beauty:

the hot springs, the
geysers, the falls,

but it turns out to be a place

that's not really
that easy to visit,

and it's not getting as much
attendance as was hoped.

- [Henry] Yellowstone
is looking like a flop.

So in 1919, a National
Park Service bigwig

named Horace Albright
has one big idea

to breathe life
into Yellowstone.

- Horace Albright decides

that the way to get
crowds to Yellowstone

is to give them a show,

and the bears of Yellowstone
are perfect to do just that.

[bear groaning]
[light orchestral music]

- [Martin] And so Albright's
idea is to provide

opportunities for people
to feed the bears.

So he creates feeding stations.

People drive into the park,
roll down their windows,

and offer food out the
window to the bears,

and the bears love it.

Even President Warren G. Harding

and President Calvin
Coolidge visit Yellowstone

and feed the bears.

- At first, this seems
like a win-win situation.

Park attendance is way up,

and of course, the
bears are getting fed.

- [Martin] The problem is
more and more garbage

is being produced
within the park,

and the park
administration needs

to get rid of that garbage,

and the bears will basically
eat absolutely anything.

So they decide to dump
all of the park's garbage

on a platform that the
bears can approach.

- They have this sign that says,

"Lunch counter for bears only,"

and then they build benches
so it creates a little stadium

that people can watch
just a few feet away.

- [Henry] But everyone
keeps forgetting,

they're quite literally
feeding a beast.

- The safety issue
is quite serious.

Grizzly bears at Yellowstone
reach about 700 pounds.

They're the apex
predator in the park.

[bear roaring]

- In 1930, a Texas woman
feeds a bear a candy bar,

and the bear says, "Thank
you," by mauling her arm.

From the 1930s to the 1960s,

an average of 48 people per year

are injured by the
bears at Yellowstone.

[bear snarls]

- [Don] Cars are attacked,
tents are ripped open,

campers get bitten and clawed.

- [Henry] In 1967, the
park is forced to face

the increasing danger

when bears k*ll two people
at another national park.

And the last thing
Yellowstone wants is a repeat.

- This is a huge wake-up call.

So the rangers begin a program

to return the bears to their
natural feeding habits.

Now, instead of bear
lunch counter signs,

you see signs that say,
"Don't feed the bears."

- So today, the
park is much safer.

The bears are wild again,

but it's also difficult to
see a bear in Yellowstone.

- [Martin] There's a part
of me that knows

that this was
irresponsible stewardship

of a natural resource, but
then there's a part of me

that would be like, "Oh
yeah, baby, sign me up."

I would love to have
seen something like this.

[bear groaning]
[birds chirping]

- So Yellowstone
decided that tourists

and predators should be
separated by safe distance.

But back in the '70s, there
was a family amusement park

that chose the opposite path.

[light lively music]

- [Jason] It's the 1970s,

and vacations are really
considered a luxury,

and only really a privileged few

can afford trips to Disney World

or some faraway theme park.

- So it becomes the
age of the road trip.

Families pile into
station wagons

and look for fun holiday ideas

that are within
driving distance.

- [Henry] In 1972,

plans are announced for
a new amusement park

in West Milford, New Jersey,

that promises to be wild,
thrilling, and car-friendly.

- It's a new kind of zoo

and radically different.

Here, the animals roam free,

but the people aren't
in mobile cages,

they're in little family cars.

- What's more
American than, like,

"I don't even wanna
experience nature

unless it's through the
windshield of my car?"

- [Henry] This bold new
attraction is dubbed

"Jungle Habitat,"

and it opens to great
fanfare in July of 1972.

- But this is not a petting zoo.

These are some of the most
dangerous animals in the world.

[tense dramatic music]

- Jungle Habitat
brings in 70 lions.

The San Diego Zoo only has nine.

[lion growls]

- In all, over 1,500 animals

up close, unencumbered,

and, very importantly, unfenced.

[lion growling]
[lively orchestral music]

- [Kavitha] Jungle Habitat
becomes a success

almost off the bat.

It has 250,000 visitors in
just its first three months.

Cars are lining up for up to
seven miles just to get in.

[lion growls]

- [Jason] But a
real African safari,

you are with trained
professionals

in vehicles especially
designed for the purpose.

In this case,

you're just driving
through in the family car.

- Animals are walking around,

looking at you
like you're lunch.

- [Henry] In this
drive-through attraction,

a vehicle is not
the safe space

visitors think it will be.

[lion growls]

- [Jason] From day one, cars
are basically under siege.

Baboons start to tear at cars.

Lions and tigers,

they're pawing and scratching

at the sides of your car.

But most people wanted
the animals on their car.

That's the thrill.

They actually put this
right in their logo.

[tense orchestral music]

- [Adam] You have to keep
the windows rolled up,

but this is in the early '70s,

before air conditioning

came standard in most cars,

which means that on, like, an


it's about 110
degrees in the car.

- [Austin] These cars are
dangerously hot,

so people begin rolling

down their windows.

- [Adam] Just months
after opening,

disaster strikes.

A man has rolled the window
down to call and taunt,

and tease a lion.

Let me just let that sink in.

A human being is teasing a lion.

- [Kavitha] And the lion reaches
in and mauls him from the front.

He turns around and
gets him from the back,

and somehow they
manage to escape.

- [Adam] Believe it or not, the
guy doesn't sue the park.

He blames himself
because, you know,

he taunted a lion.

- [Henry] Most park
visitors are thrilled

by the wild
interactive experience,

but Jungle Habitat's
suburban neighbors

are not so happy
with park security.

- Two wolves dig out
from under a fence,

baboons escape and send, like,

local schools into lockdown.

You got kangaroos and emus
walking down the street.

- Nobody thinks about
the neighborhoods

around these animal parks.

If those fences aren't
done the right way,

you got yourself a
crocodile in your pool

and a lion in your driveway.

[light thoughtful music]

- In addition to all of
these obvious safety issues,

it actually turns
out really expensive

to run a park like this.

- [Jason] Just to
feed the lions alone

requires 1,400 pounds
of horse meat per day.

Even though they've got lots
of customers coming through,

they're actually
hemorrhaging money.

- After just four years of
this death trap of a zoo,

Jungle Habitat finally closes.

[lion growls]

- Local legend has it

that there are still
some exotic animals

in the Jersey woods today,

descended from the original
baboons, kangaroos,

and ostriches that made a
break for it back in the '70s.

- One of childhood's greatest
pleasures didn't cost a thing.

The public swimming pool.

Now looking back, okay,
maybe it wasn't the cleanest

or the safest, but
unless you grew up

in a certain part of
Cleveland in the late '60s,

I can almost guarantee
yours wasn't the dirtiest.

- [Rutledge] In 1967,

Carl Stokes is elected
as mayor in Cleveland,

which is a huge milestone
because he's also

the first Black mayor in
any major city in the U.S.

[crowd cheering]

- [Henry] Riding the
wave of optimism,

he sets his sights
on an ambitious goal:

cleaning up Lake Erie so people
can swim in it once again.

The problem is the river that
feeds it is highly polluted.

- [Hakeem] Decades of industrial
waste plus raw sewage

have flowed down the
Cuyahoga River into the lake,

turning it completely toxic.

- It was really this gigantic
cesspool of pollution

and was sometimes
catching on fire.

Yes, the water was
catching on fire

because all of the
pollutants that were in it.

- [Kavitha] The lake
catches fire 13 times

between 1868 and 1969.

It's really not a
particularly safe environment

to be swimming in.

- So how do you turn
a filthy, toxic lake

into a swimming pool?

- [Don] Stokes hires an
engineering firm to design this

elaborate holding tank.

By hanging weighted vinyl
curtains from pontoons,

they create this
designated swimming area

that's separate from Lake Erie.

- It's kind of a crazy idea,

a pool that's a
part of the lake,

but it's separate but connected.

- Then they pump the area full
of 350 pounds of chlorine.

That's 400 times the
amount of chlorine

you put in your backyard pool,

and they're doing it every
day before the grand opening.

- On paper, this is a bad idea,

and yet people are like,
"Cool, we'll do it."

- [Henry] On July 4th, 1969,

Mayor Stokes unveils his
majestic new public pool.

- [Rutledge] Amazingly,
it works.

This section of the
lake is, in fact, clean.

The kids all go crazy.

They're excited.

People just start jumping
in to go swimming.

- [Henry] Cleveland is
proud of the success

of its latest attraction,

for one morning.

- Just a few hours
after the pool opens,

this massive storm rolls
in from the northwest.

[thunder crashing]

- And the nasty, dirty
water from Lake Erie

washes over into the
safe swimming area,

and the waves start ripping
open the vinyl curtains.

- [Don] Suddenly, swimmers
are scrambling to shore.

It's like something
out of "Jaws,"

but instead of a giant shark,

they are fleeing

a century of toxic waste.

- [Henry] By the next day,
the pool is totally gone.

- Unfortunately, Mayor
Stokes' vision is dead.

It's just too
expensive to try again,

and it turns out
that the chlorine

actually ended up
k*lling a bunch of fish,

which doesn't help
with the pollution.

But his efforts did
force other factories

to stop polluting local waters,

and now you can actually
swim in Lake Erie.

- If swimming in Lake
Erie wasn't your thing,

how about a trip to Hawaii?

With its serene
beaches, lush jungles,

and enormous volcanoes,
how could you resist?

In fact, there
was one attraction

that was so alluring it
would suck you right in.

- After World w*r II,

Americans become absolutely

fascinated with Hawaii.

- [Martin] This was the
era before statehood,

and the result is the visitor

is greeted by a wild, open,

naturally beautiful place.

You can climb up
to sheer cliffs,

you can walk up to
the edge of a volcano.

All of this is yours to
explore with no restriction.

- [Henry] One of the must-see
destinations is near Honolulu

on the island of Oahu,
the Halona Blowhole.

[water splashing]
[lively orchestral music]

- [Hakeem] The blowhole was
created thousands of years ago

when lava formed a vertical tube

right there on the shoreline.

And when it's hit
by a huge wave,

water just shoots up outta
that sucker like a geyser,

going 30 feet in the air.

It's like nature's
fireworks, only with water.

- The Halona Blowhole is
avidly promoted to tourists.

This is Hawaii's Old Faithful.

It has sort of all
the ingredients

of a perfect tourist attraction.

- [Martin] But this
isn't Old Faithful.

It doesn't go off every hour.

It goes off randomly,

and so that makes it
all the more dangerous.

- [Jason] This is an era when
cameras are just becoming huge.

Every consumer they're all
getting dangerously close

to get that shot.

[water splashing]

- [Austin] We see deadly
things, and we're like,

"I gotta get a
picture with that."

There's no fence,
there's no barrier.

There's not even someone saying,

"Hey, step back a little bit."

- [Martin] People have to
struggle to hold their footing

on very slippery but
razor-sharp lava rock.

And once you're in position,

you're going to feel the

geyser before you can see it.

- It will hit you with

the force of a small car.

It can launch you into the air

or suck you into the hole
and kick you out into sea.

Either way, you're
in for a bad ride.

- [Martin] The worst-case
scenario actually happens

to an 18-year-old
boy from California

who thought it would be funny

to stand directly
over the blowhole.

When the geyser comes up,

he's launched into the air,

and then he comes down
headfirst into the hole itself.

He's tossed around
like a ragdoll,

and then he gets
sucked out to sea.

- [Henry] Over the years,
safety fences are added,

but tourists don't
let that ruin the fun.

- [Martin] In the 2000s,
a couple of people

make their way close
to the blowhole

and get k*lled while doing it.

Ever since then, it's almost
impossible to get close to it.

- Today, we don't get to have
that magnificent experience

of feeling the power
of these things

when you're back 50 feet.

- I would love to have seen it

before the bars were put in,

before the viewing platform,

shoulder to shoulder with
a bunch of other tourists

who are jockeying for position,

to get the best possible selfie.

I would love to
have experienced it

without all of that.

[water pounding]

- So today you don't get
that same rush anymore,

but you also don't get
sucked into the Pacific,

which feels like a fair trade.

- We have spent billions
building giant roller coasters

and other elaborate attractions,

but some of the most extreme
thrills aren't man-made at all.

At the dawn of the 20th century,

one of the nation's most
iconic natural wonders

was transformed into a stage

for a terrifying new attraction.

[water crashing]
[bright orchestral music]

- Niagara Falls is this
amazing natural place.

It has 40 million gallons of
water going over every minute.

That's two Olympic
pools every second.

By the mid-1800s, it becomes
a very popular attraction.

- [Henry] By 1850,
attendance skyrockets

to over 80,000
visitors every year.

But to one woman, it's more
than just a natural wonder.

She sees her chance to
get rich and famous.

- In 1901,

Annie Edson Taylor
is a retired schoolteacher.

At 62, she recently
lost her husband

and is facing abject poverty.

- Desperate for money,
she draws inspiration

from reading an article
about daredevils

who ride the rapids at
the bottom of the falls.

But what hasn't been done yet

is going over the
falls in a barrel,

and she decides she's gonna
be the first person to do it.

[tense thoughtful music]

- [Don] It sounds nuts,
but Taylor spends

what little money she has left

on a custom-built pickle
barrel of her own design.

But remember, she's not
a structural engineer.

She's a music teacher.

- [Martin] She lines it
with mattresses,

creates a harness to suspend
her in the middle of it,

and then runs a tube into
the inside to pump air in

so that she can breathe.

There's a lot that
can go wrong here.

So she decides to
conduct a test run,

but decides to use her cat.

- She throws the
cat down the falls,

and the cat makes it,

so she was just
like, "All right,

that seemed to work." [laughs]

- [Henry] But Annie
needs one more thing

for a successful publicity
stunt: lots of publicity.

- Annie gets a
promoter involved,

and the promoter
acquires a barrel

and labels it
"Queen of the Mist"

and puts it on display
before the stunt takes place.

- The local papers picked it up.

Anybody you could think of

was talking about this woman.

The place was absolutely packed.

- [Henry] On October 24th, 1901,

Taylor seals herself
into the vessel.

[tense suspenseful music]

The barrel is placed
into the Niagara River,

where it bobs to the
edge of the falls

and then vanishes.

- [Rutledge] When Annie
goes over the falls,

it's a 167-foot drop,

and in that drop, she reaches


- She hits the bottom with
the force of a car accident.

Annie is thrown around inside

as the barrel makes
contact with the rocks.

- [Don] When the rescuers are
able to fish out the barrel

and crack it open.

There's Annie.

She's beat up, bruised,
and has a cut on her head,

but she's alive.

- This is the wildest part.

She gets out of this
barrel unscathed.

- I mean, she's like
the first stuntwoman.

- [Henry] After
Taylor's maiden voyage,

many others are all too
happy to follow her lead.

- Niagara Falls is promoting
this in their postcards.

- "Come and watch these people

take their lives
into their own hands

and catapult themselves
over the falls."

- [Rutledge] Each time
it's happening,

this is really
keeping Niagara Falls

on the forefront of what

was then social media.

Police do get called, but
it's really just to make sure,

"Does everyone
have a good view?"

- It becomes a phenomenon,
but doesn't always work out.

One person goes over,
the barrel crushes.

Another one, they found
nothing left but one arm.

Other times, they get
caught, and they roll,

and the person drowns.

It turns out that
it's really not safe

to go over Niagara Falls
in a pickle barrel.

- [Henry] Eventually, one
high-profile tragedy finally

pushes U.S. and Canadian
authorities over the edge.

- In 1951, a beloved local
stuntman named Red Hill

perishes in a barrel
attempt of the falls.

- Both countries impose fines

and even jail time for anyone

who tries this crazy stunt.

- As for Annie,

she's buried in the
Niagara Falls Cemetery

in a special section that's
reserved for daredevils.

- A thundering waterfall
is a thrilling attraction,

but maybe the best souvenir was
making it home in one piece.

- At its best, tourism
expands our horizons,

creates unforgettable memories
that makes us feel alive.

But in the 1950s, one
attraction flipped that script

by giving tourists
an expl*sive preview

of how the world might end.

[light thoughtful music]

- [Kavitha] It's the mid-1950s,
and people are partying hard

at the Sands Casino
in Las Vegas,

but the real attraction
comes just before dawn.

- [Jason] People have been
drinking and gambling all night,

and now these boozed-up couples

shuffle on up to these rooftop
bars and terraces,

they look to the
northwest, this black sky.

- Suddenly, the horizon pulses

and the sky is filled with
a bright flash of light.

- And the coup de
grace is the shockwave.

This violent boom
rattles windows

and hits people in the
chest as they gasp,

and then they raise
their glasses and cheer.

- This hard-partying Las
Vegas crowd has just witnessed

an atomic b*mb expl*si*n,

and they love it.

- [Henry] They're called
dawn b*mb parties,

and they're radioactive
showstoppers

that help build Las Vegas.

- It seems nuts now,

but atomic b*mb tests were

the perfect opportunity

for this young city of Las
Vegas to put itself on the map.

- [Martin] It's 1951, it's the
height of the Cold w*r,

and the United States needs to

continue testing nuclear

weapons as they improve them

and make them more powerful.

- [Kavitha] The government
chooses the Nevada Test Site,

about 65 miles
northwest of Las Vegas,

and they, of course,
notify city officials.

- [Jason] Now, you'd assume
they're gonna freak out

and say, "Not here,"
but the city government

and the casino owners,
they think, "Hot damn!

We are gonna get rich."

- [Negin] They lean
into it so hard,

they decide that Vegas is

gonna be Atomic City, USA.

- [Martin] And because
the federal government

gives them a schedule

about when these tests
are going to be conducted,

they realize they can
stage events around each

and every test.

[expl*si*n blasts]

- [Negin] This is a massive hit.

People are piling in to witness

America's, like, incredible
destructive power.

- [Kavitha] Casinos organize
Miss Atom b*mb beauty pageants,

and you even have the atomic
b*mb c*ck at bars.

- [Adam] Each
detonation is bringing

thousands of tourists to Vegas.

The owner of the
iconic Horseshoe Casino

says that the best
thing to happen to Vegas

was the atomic b*mb.

- Some people want
to get closer,

and so they will literally
sell you a ticket

to ride on a bus

to as close to that expl*si*n

as the Army will let you
get, which is 10 miles away.

- [Kavitha] So you
get off the tour bus

with, like, your lawn
chair and your sandwich,

you know, kind of like
a day at the beach.

- I like the lack of regulation.

I really do.

But, like, there is
something bananas

about going to
military-grade explosions.

[b*mb exploding]

- [Henry] Between 1951 and 1962,

over 100 tests are run at
the Nevada Proving Ground.

Meanwhile, the city of Las Vegas

brings in nearly $200 million,

but it's not all fun and games.

- [Adam] The military
schedules the detonations

where the wind pattern
will carry the fallout

away from the city.

However, there are native

communities and lots of locals

who lived in the
path of grave danger.

- [Martin] Homes and
ranches are destroyed.

Farm animals die.

Tens of thousands of
people develop cancer.

[pounding dramatic music]

- [Kavitha] In 1954, John
Wayne is sh**ting a film

called "The Conqueror"
in nearby Utah,

and 25 years later, half
the crew has cancer,

including John Wayne,
which is what he dies of.

- [Henry] By 1963,

the deadly effects of
the atomic b*mb tests

are painfully clear,

and the government bans
above-ground nuclear testing.

- Believe it or not,
nuclear testing continues

for the next three decades,

but it usually happens

in underground shafts,

and it's not until 1992
that the U.S. government

calls a moratorium
on all nuclear tests.

And ever since then,

no atomic b*mb has been
detonated on American soil.

- I think that life is long,

and I think that life
is boring at times,

and I think we all
need a sense of danger,

and they created the
illusion of danger

while also including a
little real danger in it.

- Remembering the attractions
that used to lure us in,

like riding gators,
feeding bears,

or front-row seats
at an atomic blast.

Some of our excursions
might have been extreme,

but risk led to reward,

and that's why our Hazardous
History was such a big draw.

[dramatic orchestral music]