California's Great America

California's Great America is a major theme park in Santa Clara that has operated since 1976. In 1980, tragedy struck when a 13-year-old boy was killed in a collision at the Willard's Whizzer roller coaster. Since then, the park has developed a reputation for paranormal activity among employees who work the night shift.

California's Great America rose from former pear orchards when the Marriott Corporation broke ground on October 24, 1973, opening the 100-acre Americana-themed park on March 20, 1976. Opening day admission was $7.95 and drew over 20,000 visitors, with 2.2 million attending the first season. But within four years, the park's signature attraction would claim a life that many believe still lingers among the rides.

On March 29, 1980, tragedy struck on Willard's Whizzer, a Schwarzkopf Speed Racer coaster named after Marriott founder J. Willard Marriott. A 13-year-old boy was killed and eight others injured when two trains collided in the station area. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission filed charges against Marriott, revealing that the company had known about braking system defects since at least September 1979. CPSC investigators uncovered 11 prior collision incidents at the Santa Clara station between 1976 and 1979 that went unreported. Park officials traced the fatal accident to "a mysterious electric signal that confused the roller coaster's computer." The ride continued operating with modifications until 1988; Gold Striker now occupies its footprint.

The 1980 death was not isolated tragedy. Over its nearly 50-year history, five people have died at the park: a 9-year-old boy fell fatally after intentionally jumping from Logger's Run in 1989; a 24-year-old Hayward man who couldn't read English warning signs entered a restricted area beneath Flight Deck in 1998 to retrieve his hat and was struck by a passenger's foot; a 12-year-old disabled boy slipped from Drop Tower restraints in 1999; and a 4-year-old boy drowned in the Boomerang Bay wave pool in 2007.

Employees working the graveyard shift have reported disturbing phenomena for decades. The ghost of a boy haunts the area where Willard's Whizzer once stood—footsteps on the bridge where the fatal ride operated, cold spots without explanation, and unexplained laughter echoing through darkened attractions. But he may not be alone.

At the Roast Beef Shop, legend holds that a worker froze to death trapped in a walk-in freezer. His ghost, wearing a blue shirt, allegedly appears nightly between 10 PM and midnight, screaming inside the freezer. In the 1980s, a food warehouse employee named Al reported that he and two coworkers witnessed "a man in a blue shirt walk into the produce freezer and walk right through the pallets of produce" before vanishing. Despite searching, they found no one.

The Paramount Theater generates consistent reports of a male apparition walking across the stage, cold spots, disembodied voices calling employees by name, and unseen fingers touching necks. In May 2015, a theater cleaner named Karen witnessed lights flickering while closing alone, then heard a voice command "Fire! Fire! Get out!" She felt something tap her shoulder and saw a ghostly figure run across the stage. That same month, another employee named Stephanie heard the identical "Fire! Fire! Get out!" command while closing the Action Theater alone.

Security guards at the Big Arcade and Drop Zone report a man's ghost appearing on cameras beside living guards who cannot see him. In 2015, park services worker Jared Coronado described hearing mysterious noises from Kidsville and screaming emanating from Drop Zone at 3 AM during his Halloween Haunt cleanup shift.

Near the wave pool where the 4-year-old drowned, a 2009 merchandise employee named Justine reported seeing "a smokey dark figure in a human-like shape, bending over slowly, and rising back up again" around 10 PM. The 4-to-5-foot tall shadow repeated this "very unsettling motion" multiple times before she and her coworker fled.

Even the carousel harbors secrets. In summer 1981, an employee named Kerry observed glowing red eyes on a carousel horse and heard an organ pipe note emanate from the closed, unmanned attraction. The IMAX Theatre produces whispers and lights that switch on and off without cause.

Whether echoes of the boy killed on Willard's Whizzer, the freezer worker, the drowned child, or other spirits drawn to this place of joy turned tragic, California's Great America's after-hours activity has become Silicon Valley legend—spoken of in whispers by employees who refuse to work certain areas alone once darkness falls.