It is common that many people lose their articles when riding amusement rides, especially thrill rides. Often the lost things are cellphone, glasses, money, jewelries and so on. Sinorides here gives a list of 10 unusual things that people lose on thrill rides — some tangible, some physical and some psychological. Keep reading for a strange trip!
- Dentures
Because dentures need to be removed daily and cleaned, they are not physically attached to the mouth, which has some serious comic potential. According to the lost and found staff at Disneyland, the park recovers “a lot of dentures,” including “full sets of uppers and lowers sometimes”.
- Glass Eyes
Like dentures, glass eyes aren’t surgically implanted into the wearer’s face. The glass eye is held into place by the upper and lower eyelids, and the prosthetic can be easily removed with a nifty suction device and cleaned using soap and water. But with the right amount of force — say, a jarring left turn at 90 mph (145 kph) — an artificial eye can be unintentionally ejected from the owner’s socket. This has happened at least once at Disneyland, and also at a U.K. amusement park called Blackpool Pleasure Beach, where the dredging of a park pond uncovered several sets of dentures, a wig and a glass eye.
- Celebrity Jewelry
Dietrich was a German-born cabaret singer-turned-actress who became a leading femme fatale in a series of Hollywood movies in the early 1930s. During an earlier visit to the U.K. in 1934, Dietrich spent a day at the family-run Blackpool Pleasure Beach. While riding the park’s newly built wooden roller coaster, The Big Dipper, she lost one of her pearl and gold earrings. Park officials searched, but couldn’t turn it up.
In 2007, more than 70 years later, construction workers dredged up an earring from a park pond while building a new ride. The delicate pearl jewelry matched Dietrich’s exact description and was in excellent condition.
- Memory
More than 10,000 people visited the emergency room in 2000 for injuries sustained on thrill rides. A 2002 report by the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke showed that 58 people had suffered brain trauma after being on amusement park rides that operated normally.
- Loaded Gun
In 2013, a woman riding the Dinosaur ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom with her grandson was more than a little surprised to find a loaded handgun in their seat. In 2007, authorities closed down Gillian’s Wonderland Pier in New Jersey when an off-duty police officer misplaced his loaded weapon in the amusement park.
TAG: thrill rides