Buckeye Lake Amusement Park

The Park's most famous ride was the roller coaster, the Dips, and every brave visitor would not call his day at the Park complete without a ride on the coaster. Locals were familiar with the sound it made, the "click, click, click," as the cable met the cog that pulled the coaster car to the top of the first hill. We knew that in a few seconds the screaming would begin as the coaster made its way down the highest incline, out over the Little Lake, making its turn and roared back into the station. The Dips belonged to the Park Company and had been built around 1930. Henry Langham was the man in charge (in the 40's)  each day at 10:00 to 12:00, they walked the Dips looking for loose boards, nails, bolts or anything that would cause trouble. The Park didn't close at night until the Dips closed so everyone watched the Dips to see when they turned out their lights. The Dips didn't run in the rain as the brakes would not work. There was always a cop stationed at the ride to watch for drunks or to watch the money as many a day

the ride brought in $5,000. There was usually a long line to ride the coaster. It was rare when someone was killed on the ride, but a man from Baltimore, Ohio was killed when he stood up on the turn. In 1937 a man either jumped or fell out and was killed. A little child, last name Wolf, was playing on the framework and fell into the Little Lake and drowned. Quite a record for such a ride until 1958 when it gave its last ride. The night it crashed, eighteen people were on board the three cars which were just beginning the last trip of the night. The cars were going up the first big incline and were nearly to the top, when the cable broke and a one inch pin that was to stop the cars if this happened, sheared off, and the cars came roaring back down the hill.

Carl Biddle witnessed the mishap and said one of the passengers told him that it was his first ride and thought nothing of the fact that it was going backwards. Bobbie McKay, son of Park manager Bob McKay, was at the ride and hopped in for the last ride of the night. He was not hurt!!

No one was killed! Most severely injured were Sylvia Seagle, an O.S.U. student; Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Long of Zanesville, John Cruit, age 18, Lancaster; Robert Levenson of Bexley; Arlene Rosenthal, age 16, of Bexley and Owen Miller of Columbus.

The coaster was twenty-eight years old at the time of the mishap, and a check with state offices in Columbus showed that the ride had last been checked in 1955 (this was 1958), but the state inspector felt it had been checked more recently than that.

The Dips never ran again. Each year it went into a worse state of disrepair and pictures were constantly being printed in the papers showing its neglect, until one day, with the help of God, a big storm blew it down into the Little Lake and then, indeed, another era ended!