KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Schlitterbahn co-owner Jeff Henry struck on the idea some time around 2012: His Texas company would build a water slide zipping riders from a height nobody had gone to before.
The notion looked particularly attractive because the Travel Channel wanted footage of the testing and opening to kick off its next season of "Xtreme Waterparks."
The Verruckt, then, became a chance to turbocharge the prospects of Schlitterbahn in Kansas City, Kan., after its ho-hum launch a few years before. Not only would this super slide elevate the heights riders could zoom down, it would bring buzz to the park.
By early 2013, Henry began sharing his inspiration to make Wyandotte County the site of the world's tallest water slide _ a process largely controlled by Schlitterbahn with little interference from any government regulators.
The Verruckt opened a year later in all its 168-foot, heart-stopping glory.
A well-oiled hype machine attracted media from around the globe to Kansas City, Kan., for the July 2014 opening. Political leaders jumped in on the promotion. Mayor Mark Holland was one of the first to try the 17-story drop and its subsequent stomach-collapsing 50-foot hump.
For the next two years, Verruckt drew such large crowds that Schlitterbahn suggested that visitors make reservations ahead of time. The sky-piercing slide capped decades of success for Henry's company. The company had custom-made spectacular rides in the past. This time it would push the envelope further.
Now following the death of 10-year-old Caleb Thomas Schwab on Aug. 7, an examination by The Kansas City Star of how the Verruckt rose from the ground shows how little stood in the path of an idea that appears, in hindsight, to have been dotted with warning signs.
Was the design of the ride too aggressive? Did it bake in too many hard-to-control factors? Did late-stage changes aimed at safety _ namely the addition of netting supported by metal hoops just above where guests would sail at speeds reaching 70 miles per hour _ pose added danger? And whose decision was it?
Was Verruckt too much, too fast?
An official investigation figures to take weeks, if not months, to complete. Schlitterbahn and others involved in building the slide have declined interview requests in the accident's aftermath. Yet signs show that a slide that took its name from the German word for insane encountered few obstacles.
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