New Jersey’s Action Park – often referred to as the “world’s most dangerous amusement park” operated from 1978 to 1996 and inspired many harried stories and urban legends. “Class Action Park,” “Accident Park” and “Traction Park” are some of the names ascribed to the loosely run theme park. The wave pool was known as the “Grave Pool.”

The park became internet legend much in the way the ET video game did. While it was ideal for teens looking for reckless fun, it was sometimes too reckless. In 1980 an Alpine Slide rider was thrown off the concrete bobsled ride and died. A person was electrocuted in the White Water Kayak Experience and another visitor drown in the Roaring Springs ride. The wave pool claimed two lives, one in 1982 and the other in 1987.

A new HBO Max documentary titled “Class Action Park” chronicles how the amusement park came to be and how it existed for so long in America’s litigious society (hint: the owner is said to have faked insurance coverage).

As surf parks map out a new wave pool frontier they build on lessons learned from the fast-and-loose 1970s and 1980s. Class Action Park is now streaming on HBO Max. Check here for a book about the park