Two women were rushed into emergency brain surgery within six days of each other after riding one of Six Flags Magic Mountain’s best-known roller coasters, adding to a long record of serious injuries associated with the attraction, according to a CNN investigation.
The X2 roller coaster at the Valencia, California, theme park has remained closed since July 12. Six Flags has declined to say what prompted the closure, while California regulators say an inspection remains underway.
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Serious technical problems and severe injuries: What makes X2 such a questionable thrill?
(Photo: Robert V Schwemmer / Shutterstock)
X2 is known for seats that rotate 360 degrees as riders travel at speeds approaching 80 mph through steep drops and abrupt changes in direction.
A review of medical records, court filings and depositions found that the ride has been linked to more than a dozen reports of serious injuries and hospitalizations over nearly two decades. Some riders suffered permanent disabilities or fell into comas, while two died after injuries linked to the ride.
“I personally don’t think head injury should be an expected risk from going on a roller coaster ride, and there is no reason a ride can’t be properly designed to prevent injuries like this,” said Lyndia Wu, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of British Columbia who researches the effects of roller coasters on the brain.
Research suggests traumatic brain injuries caused by roller coasters are generally very rare, although Wu said individual high-risk attractions such as X2 may warrant further study.
Six Flags has said only that “the ride remains closed at this time.”
The company has previously defended the coaster in court, arguing that riders are warned of the inherent risks involved in amusement rides and that X2 is routinely tested. Its attorneys have also argued that the forces generated by the attraction are not sufficient to cause traumatic brain injury in a “normal” rider using it “as instructed.”
Three neurosurgeons who treated the two women injured in July disagreed.
“In our professional opinion,” they wrote, “the severe brain injuries requiring emergent neurosurgical attention were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride.”
Pamela Guillen underwent surgery and fell into a coma after riding the California roller coaster
(Photo: Pamela Guillen)
Years of injury reports
X2 opened in 2002 as X and was redesigned and reopened as X2 in 2008. It quickly became a destination for roller coaster enthusiasts.
But reports of serious injuries accumulated.
In 2014, 17-year-old Selena O’Neill developed a severe headache, vision problems and difficulty walking after riding X2, according to court records. She later suffered a seizure and was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma, a dangerous accumulation of blood around the brain.
Doctors attributed the injury to the ride.
Internal Six Flags records obtained during her lawsuit showed that at least five previous X2 riders had gone to hospitals complaining of head pain, according to court filings.
Pamela Guillen with her fiancé before the accident
(Photo: Pamela Guillen)
In 2020, Sheila Katerelos, then 50, said her head struck the back of the headrest while riding X2. She later became nauseated and dizzy, dragged one leg and began slurring her speech. Doctors diagnosed her with a traumatic brain injury and multiple subdural hematomas.
The following year, 46-year-old Lucy Alvarez experienced dizziness and head pain after hitting the back of her head during the ride. Nine days later, doctors diagnosed her with a traumatic subdural hematoma.
Her attorney said she continues to suffer memory problems, balance difficulties and chronic migraines.
As complaints mounted, some riders began posting online about how rough X2 had become.
“It honestly felt like a boxer punched me in the head twice,” one Reddit user wrote in 2018 before offering other riders advice on how to brace themselves.
Rider dies hours after X2
In June 2022, 22-year-old recent college graduate Christopher Hawley rode X2 with his brother and cousin.
According to court records, the men said their heads repeatedly struck the seats as they were thrown around like “rag dolls.”
Hawley became lightheaded after leaving the attraction, then collapsed and lost consciousness.
Surgeons discovered severe bleeding that was forcing his brain toward one side of his skull. His brain swelled dramatically during emergency surgery, according to court records.
Hawley died less than 10 hours after riding X2.
The neurosurgeon who treated him compared the injuries with those seen in “shaken baby syndrome,” while the medical examiner listed the cause of death as blunt head trauma from “a park ride accident.”
The X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California
(Photo: Robert V Schwemmer / Shutterstock)
An expert hired by Hawley’s family later said Six Flags’ internal records showed at least 70 complaints of head or neck injuries involving X2 in the three years before his death.
Hawley was the second death linked to the attraction.
In 2010, 28-year-old Hilda Farias died after riding X2. Medical experts suspected an existing brain abnormality ruptured because of the intensity of the ride. Her family later settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
After Hawley’s death, California officials ordered X2 closed for inspection. The coaster reopened within days.
Court testimony later showed that maintenance workers had replaced a wheel on one of the train cars before regulators inspected the ride, something state officials were allegedly unaware of.
Ride safety expert Brian Avery, a professor at the University of Florida, said multiple traumatic brain injuries associated with the same attraction represented “a clear safety signal” that should prompt a comprehensive review.
Hawley’s parents sued Six Flags in 2023. The case was due to go to trial in September but was settled Wednesday, according to court records.
His head was slammed around like a 'rag doll.' Christopher Hawley, a 22-year-old college graduate, died after riding the California roller coaster
(Photo: Hawley family)
Two emergency surgeries in six days
The latest incidents occurred this July.
Hawaii resident Pamela Guillen, 40, was visiting the park with her family for her daughter’s 16th birthday when she boarded X2.
According to ambulance records, Guillen repeatedly struck her head against the headrest. When the train returned to the station, she had to be helped out and began vomiting.
She soon lost consciousness.
“Mommy, please wake up,” her daughter Camille Marquez recalled telling her. “I kept rubbing her thigh and kept shaking her to wake up and she wouldn’t.”
Doctors found a severe subdural hematoma and brain compression. Surgeons removed part of Guillen’s skull to relieve pressure on her brain.
The regulator relied on data provided by the ride operator
(Photo: Robert V Schwemmer / Shutterstock)
She regained full consciousness about two weeks later and initially could speak only one word at a time.
“You go in as yourself, and then when you come back, you’re a medical emergency. Like I still can’t wrap my head around that,” Guillen said. “There’s a difference between being jerked around and brain damage.”
She has since had to relearn how to walk and speak and continues to suffer headaches and brain fog.
“I’m very lucky to be alive,” she said. “I’m taking it a day at a time to not overwhelm myself and to not go into a dark hole of mourning who I was and what I was able to do before this.”
Guillen’s daughter said no Six Flags representative contacted the family afterward beyond initially offering them food on the night of her injury.
Six days later, 25-year-old Los Angeles resident Naomi Greer-Wilkinson rode X2 with her siblings.
She also lost consciousness shortly afterward and was rushed into emergency brain surgery, according to her family.
Her parents said doctors told them she had suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and warned them to prepare for the worst.
“Naomi should have never ever in a million years even had the option to get on that ride,” her mother, Artemis Greer, said.
Greer-Wilkinson remained in critical condition in a coma, dependent on a ventilator and feeding tube.
Her father, Joshua Wilkinson, said whoever allowed X2 to continue operating after years of reported injuries had “a lot to answer for.”
“It’s got to stop,” he said.
Her mother said a Six Flags representative offered the family food from McDonald’s after Greer-Wilkinson arrived at the hospital, but that they had heard nothing from the company since.
Six Flags closed X2 on the evening of July 12, nearly a day after Greer-Wilkinson was injured. The company has not said why the ride was shut down or when it might reopen.