On the evening of June 9, 1979, a fire tore through the Ghost Train ride at Luna Park in Sydney, Australia, claiming seven lives in what became one of the country's deadliest amusement park disasters.

The Ghost Train was a popular attraction—a 180-metre electric track that wound through pitch-black tunnels populated with animatronic horrors: skeletons, a monster ape, a dragon, Dracula, and a fake fireplace. Riders expected scares. What they got instead was a tragedy that would remain officially unexplained for decades.

## The Night It Happened

Smoke was first detected inside the ride around 10:15 pm. Early riders smelled it, but staff dismissed their concerns. As black smoke began pouring from the tunnel openings, evacuation orders went out. Most passengers made it out safely—but seven did not.

The victims were: John Godson, an adult; his two sons, Damien and four-year-old Craig; and four other children—Richard Carroll, Michael Johnson, Jonathan Billings, and Seamus Rahilly. John Godson's wife, Jennifer, had left the family to buy ice cream minutes before they boarded. She would return to discover her entire family gone.

When firefighters from Crows Nest and Neutral Bay finally accessed the ride after controlling the blaze by 11:17 pm, they faced a grim task. The intense heat and lack of sprinkler systems meant the ride's highly combustible materials had largely collapsed. Bodies weren't recovered until more than six hours later, after extensive debris removal. The victims were severely burned and difficult to distinguish from the ride's props.

Investigators later found that the seven had left the train cars but became hopelessly disoriented in the absolute darkness of the tunnels. With no emergency exits or directional signs, they succumbed to smoke inhalation and flames.

## The Mystery Deepens

What started the fire remains the central mystery. Firefighters at the scene observed evidence pointing away from a simple electrical fault, yet that became the initial official explanation. A 1979 coronial inquiry proved inconclusive. A more detailed investigation in the mid-1980s similarly reached no definitive conclusion.

The single road leading to Luna Park meant firefighters faced access challenges as crowds evacuated. Once inside, the intensity of the heat made it difficult to establish exactly where the fire originated—though the presence of the animatronic fireplace in one section of the ride inevitably drew scrutiny.

Over the decades, various theories have circulated in unverified sources, including speculation about arson involving organized crime figures or motorcycle gangs. None of these claims have been officially confirmed by investigators or coroner's inquiries. The disaster remains officially unsolved.

## A Family's Loss

The final image of Damien Godson, taken earlier that day, shows him standing with an unidentified man—the last photograph of the boy alive. When firefighters found the Godson family, John was positioned as if sheltering his two sons in the darkness, a tragic final act of a father unable to save his children from the inferno around them.

The Ghost Train ride at Luna Park never operated again. Today, the 1979 fire stands as a cautionary tale about amusement park safety, emergency preparedness, and the limits of official investigation. Forty-five years on, the families of the seven victims still await definitive answers about what happened that Saturday night in June.

## Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Ghost_Train_fire

https://www.museumoffire.net/single-post/the-luna-park-ghost-train-incident-1979

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAu540sqFVI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaqVlyDxPuU