Roller Coaster Decapitates South Carolina Teen

Rides featuring heart-stopping plunges and gravity-defying loops

(NEWSER) - For intense thrill-seekers blessed with strong stomachs, the Boston Globe offers this list of the 10 scariest rides on the planet:

• Superman Ride of Steel, Six Flags New England, Agawam, Mass.: Speeds of more than 77 mph and a 221-foot drop into a tunnel.
• X2, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, Calif.: 360-degree rotating seats and head-first drops.
• Fahrenheit, Hersheypark, Hershey, Pa.: At 97 degrees, the steepest drop in the US.

James Hackemer was thrown from ride

(NEWSER) - Rough story from the Darien Lake amusement park in upstate New York: A 29-year-old man who lost both legs in the Iraqi war is dead after falling out of a 200-foot-high roller coaster. James Hackemer lost his limbs to a roadside bomb in 2008 and just barely survived. "We shouldn't have had him for these last three years and four months," his mother tells the Buffalo News . "After he was hit by the IED, he died once in the field and once on the operating table." More»

(NEWSER) - Theme park operator Six Flags has declared bankruptcy, Bloomberg reports. The company has not had a profitable year since 1998 and is burdened with $2.4 billion in debt. Six Flags underwent a wide-ranging reorganization starting in 2005 when Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder became chairman. The company, whose 20 parks draw 25 million visitors a year, seeks to reduce its debt by $1.8 billion and eliminate $300 million in stock obligations. More»

Abu Dhabi, Shanghai also among locations planning impressive amusements

(NEWSER) - The big US amusement companies—Six Flags, Universal, SeaWorld, Warner Bros., MGM—have all seen the future, and it's in Dubai. That's where the world's largest playland—a sprawling $64-billion collection of theme parks, golf courses, museums and hotels—is going up, but it's only the most dramatic of projects in the works all over the Middle and Far East, the Los Angeles Times reports. More»

Try Napoleonland and Dickens World for starters

(NEWSER) - Roller coasters, water slides, and teacups are boring. Take a trip to one of these 10 strange amusement parks, compiled by Time .

• Napoleonland: Opening in France in 2014, this park is dedicated to the French dictator and will feature a water show reenactment of the Battle of Trafalgar and a re-creation of Louis XVI on the guillotine.