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FIRST ON FOX: Early last month, on the day after the Fourth of July, more than a dozen people found themselves trapped upside down on a malfunctioning ride along the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey.
Charlotte Hacker and Emilia Gordon, both 13, were among the passengers on the Wipe Out ride at Playland’s Castaway Cove when it got stuck that evening.
The two friends were interviewed with their parents’ permission, recounting to Fox News Digital the terrifying experience of dangling midair with no idea of when they would come down.
“We were stuck upside down for five to seven minutes, and it doesn’t seem like that much to the people that were down watching us, but we were up there, and it felt like an hour,” Hacker said on Saturday.
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The girls went to the boardwalk to celebrate Gordon’s 13th birthday, which was the following day. They said they often ride the attractions there and decided to try the Wipe Out because it was new.
The ride swings like a pendulum, repeatedly turning thrill-seekers upside down while its passenger compartment spins. Only this time, the ride inexplicably stopped with everyone suspended upside down.
“I seriously thought I was going to pass out,” Gordon said. “You try to put your head up, but you literally can’t. You can barely get it up at all.”
The girls, seated next to each other, tried to carry on mundane conversations to distract themselves while blood rushed to their heads.
Visitors enjoy an evening on the Ocean City Boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Image)
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“I remember thinking that the lap bars were going to open and that we were just going to fall,” Gordon said.
Family members on the ground waiting for their kids to get off the ride were terrified as well, the girls said.
“My uncle was there too, because we were all with my cousins, so he was also freaking out,” Hacker said.
Eventually, the ride’s operators managed to get it moving again, but to the girls’ dismay, it kept on going. Once the ride finished, they said they weren’t let off for another few minutes.
It is unclear what caused the apparent malfunction, and if any injuries were reported.
People walk past the site of the former Gillian’s Wonderland Pier on the boardwalk on July 28, 2025 in Ocean City, New Jersey. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
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Hacker said the ride did not close, adding that there were some people who stayed in line and rode it after they got off.
“When we came off, people were literally clapping,” Gordon said.
The amusement park offered ticket refunds to the girls, which they didn’t think was sufficient after what they went through.
“That ride is five tickets, so they just gave back our ticket but [Hacker] only got three back. I got five. But still, after all that, I feel like you expect more,” Gordon said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Ocean City Fire Department, Ocean City Police Department, the ride’s operator and the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs for comment.