Ravine Flyer

The first Ravine Flyer is inarguably the most infamous and well-known defunct Waldameer ride. PA Route 832 (known locally as Peninsula Drive) was constructed beneath two of its dips in 1924 with permission from the park.

In the late evening of August 7, 1938, the coaster's train stalled in its drop over Peninsula Drive and began to valley between two hills. What happened next varies in accounts. Some say that a young man rose out of his seat to see if another train was approaching, and others say that his sister became hysterical and he stood up in an attempt to calm her down. But regardless of why he stood up, he lost his balance, and fell out of the train, hitting the ground on Peninsula Drive either 18 or 30 feet below. He died in hospital a day later as a result of injuries sustained, most notably a fractured skull. There were either 9 or 10 riders in the train at the time of the incident. The man was 19-year-old Clarence Sersch, and his sister was named Mary or Mae.

The reason behind the ride's demolition also varies in accounts. The park claims that the ride was inspected and cleared of any wrongdoing, but that park owner Alex Moeller's wife was so distraught over the death that she requested it be removed. Old newspaper clippings claim that the coaster was discovered to have structural issues, and that a locked wheel assembly had caused the train to stall in the dip. Either way, it never operated again following August 7, 1938, and was demolished shortly afterwards. Its station was retained, and converted to a picnic grove, though it also held several dances in the first half of the 1900s.

70 years after the closure of the first Ravine Flyer, it was replaced by Ravine Flyer II, which operates on much of the same plot of land the first coaster did.

Type: Wooden out-and-back roller coaster

Opened: May 28, 1922

Closed: August 7, 1938

Drop: 90 feet

Designed by: John A. Miller

Built by: Harry C. Baker and George Sinclair