Buzz
Historians widely credit the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair as the birthplace of the traveling carnival, commonly referred to as a carnival. From their inception, carnivals gained a notorious reputation, which persisted for years. This infamy stemmed from two main factors: the inclusion of controversial attractions like “freak shows, gambling games, and burlesque performances,” as well as the unethical and often fraudulent behavior of carnival workers. These practices included rigged games, fake exhibits, displays of nudity or scantily clad women, bribing officials, and even physical altercations with attendees, known as “clems.”
Despite their controversial image, carnivals remained immensely popular, largely due to the thrilling rides they offered. Many of the most beloved rides featured on this list originated or were refined during the early 20th century, with one even predating the carnival itself.
Discover the fascinating stories behind 10 of the most popular carnival rides.
10. Roller Coaster
The modern roller coaster traces its roots back to Russia’s ice slides, which were 600-foot-long (183-meter) ramps. Riders would climb a 70-foot-tall (21-meter) tower and then sled down at high speeds. At the bottom, they would slide down a parallel ramp, bringing them back to the starting point for another thrilling descent.
In 1784, Catherine the Great revolutionized this winter activity by adding wheels and grooved tracks to the sleds, allowing them to operate year-round at her palace, even during the summer months.
The French introduced a key innovation in 1817 when Belleville Mountain in Paris became the first slide to secure cars onto tracks using their wheel axles. Another advancement came from Paris’s Aerial Walks, which implemented a mechanism to pull the cars back up the track for repeated rides.
9. Carousel
Thomas Bradshaw created the first steam-powered carousel in 1861, though the carousel itself dates back much further. Originally made of wood, these early merry-go-rounds featured stationary horses. Live animals or people were often used to power the rotating platform when mechanical means were unavailable.
In 1870, Frederick Savage introduced the “galloping mechanism,” an enhancement to Bradshaw’s design. This innovation used a steam engine to rotate a drive shaft fitted with a cog. The cog engaged with an angled bevel gear attached to a vertical pole, which in turn rotated a ring gear in the canopy, setting the carousel in motion.
Savage further improved the ride by adding gears and an offset crank mechanism to the steam-powered horses, enabling them to move up and down at staggered intervals. He also introduced varying heights for the horses and extended the poles through holes in the platform, allowing them to shift slightly forward as the ride accelerated.
8. Ferris Wheel
The Ferris wheel was designed to showcase American engineering at the 1893 World’s Fair. Its creator, George Washington Gale Ferris, based the design on the bicycle wheel, with the lower half suspended from the axle by downward-spoking rods and the upper half supported by the lower half. Unlike a bicycle wheel, which rests on the ground, the Ferris wheel hangs from its axle.
Ferris’s design provided exceptional stability for the 1,200-ton (1088 metric tons) structure. Its safety was proven when Ferris himself rode it during a storm with 100 mph (161 km/h) winds. Priced at fifty cents per ride, the Ferris wheel was an instant success, with riders claiming they wouldn’t trade the experience for ten dollars.
7. The Witching Waves
In his article about Coney Island’s independent rides, Jeffrey Stanton details the origins of the Witching Waves. During the early days of the automobile era, people were fascinated with the idea of riding in or even driving cars. The Witching Waves ride was designed to fulfill this growing fascination.
Invented by Theophilus Van Kannel in 1907, the Witching Waves debuted at Coney Island three years later. The ride features a large oval track with a flexible metal floor. Hidden beneath the floor are reciprocating levers that create a wave-like motion, propelling rider-controlled cars across the surface.
The 1917 film Fatty in Coney Island, starring Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton, features actors riding the Witching Waves. The scene is filled with chaotic antics as the cars move unpredictably, collide, crash into obstacles, eject passengers, and even make one rider feel sick.
6. The Whip
W.F. Mangels, a renowned manufacturer of carousels and carnival rides, particularly for Coney Island, created the Whip in 1914. This ride features open, horseshoe-shaped cars with rounded fronts, accommodating one to three passengers seated on a bench with a safety bar. As the cars move along a circular track, their attached arms periodically “whip” them back and forth, creating a thrilling experience.
Several Whip rides remain operational today, including one at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pennsylvania, built in 1918, and another at Kennywood Park in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, constructed in 1926. Although manufacturers produced various versions over the years, the Whip is no longer in production.
5. Bumper Cars
In the early 1920s, Max Stoehrer and his son Harold patented an “Amusement Apparatus” that evolved into their Dodgem cars. They equipped the cars with unique mechanisms that made them hard to control, causing them to move unpredictably and collide with other vehicles.
Essentially, the Stoehrers provided riders with the excitement of safe, simulated car crashes. Partnering with Ralph Pratt, they established a company to construct floors and roofs for customers to operate their purchased cars. Over time, they enhanced the vehicles with improvements, securing additional patents in 1920, 1921, and 1923.
4. Tilt-a-Whirl
Richard Kautz, author of The Science of Predictable Random Motion, calls Herbert Sellner’s 1926 creation, the Tilt-a-Whirl, a “devilish contraption.” The ride features cars mounted on individual circular platforms that glide smoothly along a track with three identical hills.
Kautz notes that the ride would be dull if the cars were fixed to the platforms. Instead, they rotate freely around a central pivot, introducing an element of chaos. This design causes the cars to spin unpredictably, alternating between clockwise and counterclockwise motions, leaving riders guessing what’s next and often regretting their pre-ride snacks.
3. Bounce House
John Scurlock, an American engineer who worked for NASA and taught at Tulane University, invented the bounce house in 1958. Inspired by the inflatable covers he designed for tennis courts, he noticed his employees enjoyed jumping on them. This led him to create a dedicated inflatable structure for bouncing and playing.
Scurlock’s creation was designed to offer children a fun and energetic way to play. Bounce houses rapidly gained popularity at events like parties, fairs, and amusement parks, providing a secure space for kids to engage in physical activity.
The safety of later versions of his original design, developed by others, came under scrutiny after a Little Tikes Jump n’ Slide was lifted 50 feet (15 meters) into the air during strong winds, injuring two children who fell out—one onto asphalt and the other onto a parked car. Space Walk executives assert that heavier, more durable bounce houses are safe.
The Mayo Clinic reports that children suffer injuries on trampolines and in bounce houses annually, ranging from sprains and fractures to severe head and neck injuries. To prevent such injuries, they recommend constant supervision, limiting use to children of similar size and age, ensuring the bounce house is securely anchored, and avoiding use during high winds or storms.
2. Rotor
Invented by Ernst W. Hoffmeister of Hamburg, Germany, and built by Anton Schwarzkopf, the Rotor debuted in 1955. In the United States, due to patent disputes, the Velare Brothers were granted rights to build portable Rotors, while the Anglo Rotor Corporation handled stationary models.
The Rotor uses centrifugal force to press riders against the inner walls of its wooden cylinder as it spins. Once the ride reaches its top speed, the floor drops, leaving passengers suspended on the wall. As the cylinder slows, riders gradually slide down and land safely on the lowered floor.
The Rotor was part of a mid-20th-century trend to create innovative and exciting amusement rides. Its unique design offered a thrilling experience distinct from traditional roller coasters, making it a popular attraction. Today, variations like the Round-Up and Gravitron continue to entertain at carnivals worldwide.
1. Bumper Boats
In a 1997 Automobile Magazine article, Seth Gussow traced the origins of bumper boats to the 1930s. Inspired by the Stoehrers’ bumper cars, these boats became popular for giving many their first chance to pilot a powerboat, much like the Dodgem cars introduced people to driving.
A collaboration between the Dodgem Corporation and the Lusse Company mirrored the Pratt and Stoehrer model. Two buildings worth $27,500 were constructed and mortgaged to the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC), while Dodgem provided fifty cars valued at $20,000. PTC was tasked with building a channel for the boats. Like their car counterparts, the bumper boats were a huge success.
