Originally published 2-2-2018
In 1972, Kings Island opened a coaster that changed the amusement park industry forever: The Racer. While many wonderful websites and blogs chronicle the story behind this great, classic ride and the impact it had on the industry, today we will be talking about the ghost that allegedly haunts the Racer and the facts, or the lack thereof, behind the story.
The main account told involves the apparition of a little boy (about 9 or 10 years old) wearing white, 1950s-style clothes spotted by security guards, employees, and/or concerned parents past closing or shortly before. "Racer Boy," as he has come to be known, has especially been spotted on the stairs next to the lift hill and the back turn-around. The boy is never there when employees go and check.
There are also stories of people seeing this little boy walking around Coney Mall toward the Racer and then disappearing as well as a few sightings of him walking in front of the queue entrance.
Austin Eversole formerly worked as a supervisor for several years in both Action Zone and Coney Mall. He said, "[A fellow employee] was working after hours one day, and he was driving his golf cart and there’s a barn back there that we have to go to to get plush toys for the games...behind the Racer. He was driving back there to go into the woods and he saw this little girl or little boy, he didn’t know, it looked like a child...and he slammed on his brakes because he thought that he saw somebody, and he ended up hitting the barn. And when he hit the barn, he brought us [supervisors] all to go over there because there was somebody back there, and there was nobody back there, it was just us."
"We [Paravizionz] actually saw a shadow of him as we were walking underneath the [Racer] roller coaster," said Lee Allen of Paravizionz Paranormal, who has done several paranormal investigations of the park.
If you look around online, you will no doubt hear the "origin story," if you will, of how this ghostly little boy ended up at Kings Island.
According to legend, the Racer's trains come from the Shooting Star wooden coaster at Cincinnati's Coney Island. Supposedly, one day in the 1950s, the train pulled back into the station...minus a passenger. Employees found a little boy dead in a valley in the tracks. He had apparently fallen from his train and was crushed to death by the next. When the trains were moved to Kings Island for the Racer, the ghost of this boy came with them.
While an intriguing story, it's largely fictitious.
First, there were deaths on the Shooting Star. Two in fact. In 1947, Lucille Clemons, 40, fell about 20 feet from the Shooting Star. She suffered a fractured skull and died the next day at a hospital. Clemons' husband initially claimed she had stood up to grab her hat, but he later stated that, "She has never worn a hat as long as I've known her." He later contended she had been ejected when it "hit a bump and she was sort of raised up from her seat."
In May, 1966, William Bomkamp, 18, was killed on the Shooting Star in a similar manner. After the last train of the night pulled into the station, ride attendants noticed a passenger was missing. Bomkamp was found on the track at the foot of a "small dip" about eight feet from the ground. Bomkamp was dead on arrival to Bethesda North Hospital. His seat-mate told police Bomkamp had "just toppled out backwards."
The Bomkamp story almost certainly is the inspiration for the "Racer Boy" origin story. Consider:
- Both stories involve young males dying on the Shooting Star
- Both stories involve the victim being discovered after employees notice they are not in their seat
- Both stories have the victim being found in a dip in the tracks.
It's important to point that both stories are obviously very different: Bomkamp was older than what "Racer Boy" is described as, Bomkamp died 10 years later than the supposed "Racer Boy" and Bomkamp was not run over by the following train like "Racer Boy" supposedly had. In other words, there is no evidence for the "Racer Boy" story happening exactly as described.
Damningly, Kings Island officials confirm that the Racer's trains were custom-built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company and do not come from the Shooting Star. The Shooting Star trains were a different gauge than the Racer trains.
It's certainly possible that there is a ghost of a little boy on the Racer. There have been many witness accounts, as talked about earlier. However, one thing for certain is that this ghost is not connected to the Shooting Star.
So that leaves one question: just who is the "Racer Boy?" Unfortunately, it's unlikely we'll never know the answer.
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