Dad who fell to his death from Six Flags roller coaster levitated and made eye contact with other riders in bloody scene that ended with him plunging onto roof of haunted house

A dad who fell to his death from a roller coaster briefly levitated off his seat and made eye-contact with other riders who ended up covered in his blood as he plunged off the ride and landed atop a haunted house.  

The victim was killed at Six Flags Over Georgia in suburban Atlanta on Monday while riding the Goliath roller coaster at the theme park. 

Images circulating social media showed the victim falling head first over other riders and out of the rollercoaster, as families and small children recoiled in horror. 

Officials said first responders were called to the scene at around 4pm local time, and an investigation has been launched into how the man fell to his death. 

Witnesses told WXIA that they saw the man suddenly plummeting from the roller coaster, and said he struck parts of the ride multiple times as he fell to the ground. 

'The man started levitating in the air sideways,' witness Logan Conner said. 'We made direct eye contact with him.'

The Goliath rollercoaster reaches top speeds of 70mph and climbs over 200 feet in the air. The ride has now been temporarily closed, Six Flags said. 

Officials said the victim was riding with his son when he died, and other riders said the man's blood 'splattered over everybody' at the moment he collided with the high-speed rollercoaster. 

'He hit a girl two rows in front of us on the Goliath ride right where the pictures are taken,' one woman told 11Alive. 

Unverified images circulating online are said to show the man's final moments caught by the coaster camera.  

That witness said the man hit the rollercoaster at least three times during his fall, and said he 'fell behind one of the haunted attractions' at the Six Flags resort for Halloween. 

One rider said the victim fell at the moment that the rollercoaster was 'ascending up,' and immediately others 'heard a scream.'

'We looked down, and we see people running and panicking,' he said. 

'So as soon as that happened, as we're ascending, we got stuck, and we didn't know if it was a problem with ours or something else; maybe it was something else, but that was before we heard the news that everyone else has heard.' 

Another witness described the moment the rollercoaster struck the victim as: 'The ride hit him, and then he flew back up again, and it hit him again, and then that's when he was, I guess, flung from the ride.' 

'It went from having a great time to just screaming, 'Oh my God, what is happening,'' he added. 

'You don't see things like this happen. It should never happen.'

Following the tragedy, a Six Flags spokesperson said in a statement: 'We are deeply saddened by the guest incident at our park today. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the guest’s family, friends, and loved ones.'

'The park team and local authorities responded immediately, and we are cooperating fully with local authorities as they complete their investigation.' 

The spokesperson said the park was providing support for anyone affected, and would not be immediately commenting further 'out of respect for the family's privacy.'

In a separate statement, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation said it has also closed similar rides at other parks 'out of an abundance of caution.'

'The safety of our guests and team members remains one of our highest priorities,' the statement read. 

Cobb County Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid also called it a 'terrible tragedy' as she announced that the man's next of kin have been notified about his untimely passing.

'I cannot imagine the horror the patrons and employees witnessed today and my heart aches for the family who lost a loved one,' she said, asking the public to 'please keep in your thoughts the family of the deceased, those who were injured, the employees and leadership of Six Flags and our community.

'We are all grappling with how something so devastating could happen at a place that has given generations of families such happy memories,' Cupid said.

It remains unclear what may have caused the tragedy.

The Goliath, which was manufactured by Switzerland-based Bolliger & Mabillard, opened at the park in 2006, and its 200-foot top altitude makes it the tallest rollercoaster in Georgia. 

During about 3 1/2 minutes, riders 'navigate through razor-sharp turns and soar over colossal hills,' the website says.

It comes just one month after Six Flags Magic Mountain in California announced it was demolishing its notorious X2 rollercoaster, following a series of lawsuits alleging it had caused severe injuries to riders.  

The theme park had settled a wrongful-death lawsuit from the family of 22-year-old Christopher Hawley, who died after riding the coaster in 2022, and three other lawsuits alleging traumatic brain injuries were filed.

The ride had then been closed since the evening of July 12, after two women who rode the coaster less than a week apart needed to be rushed to the hospital.

One of them, 25-year-old Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, collapsed shortly after the ride ended and was found to have massive brain bleeding inside the skull that required emergency brain surgery.

She now remains in a vegetative state in the hospital, unable to speak or move and dependent on a ventilator.

Her family has filed a lawsuit against Six Flags on her behalf, with her attorneys saying that more than 100 people have claimed they suffered brain injuries from the roller coaster over the past two years.

Another woman, 40-year-old Pamela Guillen, suffered severe brain hemorrhages after riding the X2 at Six Flags in Valencia, California.

Her daughter, Camille Marquez, told CNN: 'We got off the cart and we saw my mom. She looked lifeless. Not a thought behind her eyes, nothing.'

More lawsuits would be filed in the coming weeks, the lawyers then vowed.