What to Know
During a time when there’s so many different things to be worried about in the world, there’s still so many true blue thrill seekers out there. And what do these adventerous types do when they want a pure adrenaline rush combined with a good old fashioned screaming session? Well, they ride a rollercoaster, of course!
Unfortunately, for those who love to hit up a certain Six Flags rollercoaster that people come from miles and miles away to experience, it’s recently been shut down after a serious investigation. Apparently, due to the intense high speeds and rotating seats on the X2 rollercoaster, there’s been some incidents that have been linked to multiple brain injuries.
Adrenaline junkies beware — this rollercoaster is under serious investigation.
According to CNN, in less than a span of a week in July, two women in a California hospital were found to be suffering with “alarmingly similar brain hemorrhages.” Their severe injuries were said to be similar to what doctors normally find in patients who have been through a high-speed collision or violent physical attack, but, neither had experienced anything like that.
What they did have in common was that they had both ridden an “extreme” rollercoaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in the Los Angeles area called the X2. For those who love a good rollercoaster that’s chock-full of surprises and thrills, the X2 is known for its “rotating seats, near-vertical drops, and unpredictable movements,” per CNN.
Unfortunately, it’s all not fun and games when it comes to this super intense ride as due to a record of injuries from those who have ridden the ride, the X2 rollercoaster has been shut down for the time being and is under investigation, The Guardian reported.
The X2 is responsible for multiple serious injuries, including disabilities and even death.
The CNN investigation has found that the X2 rollercoaster has been linked to over a dozen reports across 20 years of serious injuries and hospitalizations. Shockingly, some who have ridden the rollercoaster even suffered “life-altering disabilities, fell into comas, and two died of their injuries,” per CNN.
CNN reported that despite warnings from park visitors and medical experts, officials at the theme park and state regulators allowed the ride to remain open up until July 12, 2026, when it closed down.
Two women who rode the X2 and suffered injuries from it spoke out about their experiences, per The Guardian. Pamela Guillen from Hawaii rode the rollercoaster and she claimed that her head “banged against the seat’s headrest” to the point that she lost consciousness and needed to visit the hospital. She received a CT scan that revealed she had a severe subdural hematoma and brain compression.
Just days later, Naomi Greer-Wilkinson from Los Angeles wrote the X2 and lost consciousness, per The Guardian. Sadly, she was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and remains in a coma.
Some are sad to possibly see this legendary rollercoaster go, but most know that an intense ride is not worth a serious injury.
Even though the X2 is advertised on the Six Flags website as the spot where you can “enter the fifth dimension,” there are certainly drawbacks to riding an intense rollercoaster that’s causing such serious injuries.
Most folks in this Reddit thread are scared to think about a ride that could go back into operation that’s so very dangerous. One person wrote, “Sad to say but it’s game over. These accidents shouldn’t happen on any ride ever. Six Flags is missing something with this ride and they’re not going to figure it out.”
Another individual in the thread shared their thoughts. They wrote, “It’s insane the amount of rallying I see behind all the victim-blaming. There are no other roller coasters that have this many verified reports of injuries across major news outlets that are still running.”
Another brought up what something like this could do for Six Flags in terms of legal ramifications. “More lawsuits incoming for sure. you just can’t have this happening to people, a ride like this is supposed to scare not kill you,” they wrote. Another person commented, “This ride is a concussion machine. Search these forums and you’ll find dozens of accounts reporting a head slam on the final raven turn.”
Hopefully, the theme park gets everything figured out when it comes to the X2 and there are no more serious injuries or casualties on the horizon.
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