Future Words of Yesterday: Issue #8 (#wattys2016)

The Creepy Column

It is said that a roller coaster is specially designed to kill people. The coaster supports euthanasia. It is rumoured, some people actually ride on the coaster.

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Euthanasia- the act of putting to death painlessly or allowing to die, as by withholding extreme medical measures, a person or animal suffering from an incurable, especially a painful, disease or condition.

Some people may not agree with this term, but most people do. Is it a right term, according to you? In this issue's article, we will talk about mercy killing also known as euthanasia, and its progress. Have you ever heard of a roller coaster that kills its passengers?

Yes, the idea has actually come up. A PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art in London, Julijonas Urbonas designed the Mercy Killing Coaster, commonly known as Euthanasia Coaster. Julijonas Urbonas admits that The Euthanasia Coaster is an art concept for a steel roller coaster designed to kill its passengers. In 2010, it was designed and made into a scale model. He inspired the structure of a 'coaster' by his work. He worked at an amusement park. He stated that the goal of his concept roller coaster is to take lives "with elegance and euphoria". As for practical applications of his design, Urbonas mentioned "euthanasia" or "execution". John Allen, who served as president of the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, inspired Urbonas with his description of the "ultimate" roller coaster as one that "sends out twenty-four people and they all come back dead".

When I first came to know about it, I could not believe it until I searched about it on the Internet. It was indeed a breathtaking proposal for an invention. As I researched in the Internet, I came across several YouTube videos where Urbonas talked about his invention and its structure. The thoughts of the people in the comments section varied.

Some people said it was a cool invention, while some said that the man worried them. Urbonas has presented a terrifying roller coaster, but hasn't been able to explain the purpose of it clearly. And that is the main reason why the majority does not support it.

"This coaster is designed to kill people in an elegant way," Urbonas said. Apparently, many were disturbed by this and disagreed. Scientists are still in the thought of making the proposal come into reality.

People across the world claim in a mocking tone, that if this idea does come into life, the adolescents would be the main ones to take the ride.

The concept design of the layout begins with a steep-angled lift to the 510-metre top, which would take two minutes for the 24-passenger train to reach. From there, a 500-metre drop would take the train to 360 kilometres per hour, close to its terminal velocity, before flattening out and speeding into the first of its seven slightly clothoid inversions. Each inversion would have a smaller diameter than the one before in order to maintain the lethal 10 g to passengers while the train loses speed. After a sharp right-hand turn the train would enter a straight, where unloading of corpses and loading of new passengers could take place.

The Euthanasia Coaster would kill its passengers through prolonged cerebral hypoxia, or insufficient supply of oxygen to the brain. The ride's seven inversions would inflict 10 g on its passengers for 60 seconds – causing g-force related symptoms starting with gray out through tunnel vision to black out and eventually lose their consciousness (g-LOC). Subsequent inversions would serve as insurance against unintentional survival of particularly robust passengers.

Urbonas' concept drew media attention when shown as part of the HUMAN+ display at the Science Gallery in Dublin from April through June 2011. The display, designated as its 2011 'flagship exhibition' by the Science Gallery, aims to show the future of humans and technology. Within this theme, the Euthanasia Coaster highlights the issues that come with life extension. The item was also displayed at HUMAN+ exhibit at Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona in 2015.

Though, it sure inspired people who supported it and thought it was a good idea. On 14 June 2013, Norwegian rock group Major Parkinson released "Euthanasia Roller Coaster", a digital single with lyrics alluding to Urbonas' Euthanasia Coaster. Lavie Tidhar's short story "Vladimir Chong Chooses to Die" also incorporates Urbonas' Euthanasia Coaster into the ending.

Writing about his creation, Julijonas said: 'Euthanasia is executed in an extremely boring fashion, proposing 'humane' voluntary death could be more meaningful, personal, ritualistic.'

But he said he was not an advocate of euthanasia.

Scientists have cast doubt on whether the coaster could do what it claims, saying riders might just end up extremely nauseated. The making of this coaster is still under consideration, as far as researchers and scientists say.

Well... You know what they say.

Life is a rollercoaster, just have to ride it, right?

- Article written by

PollyHere 

Creepy Short Story:

Title: Whispering

Pant. Scrunch. Growl. Crack. Pant.

Laina Rosannie doesn't know what happened to her. One minute she was walking to the school bus, headphones in, Hollywood Undead on full blast, the next she was running for her life. She didn't know what she was running from, as far as her eyes could tell she was running on empty streets, but the barking, the scratching and the growling seemed closer than ever.

Then there was the whispering. It was a faint whispering in the back of her mind, but it was still there. There were multiple voices saying different things, all too soft and fast to understand. However, she wasn't even trying to understand the voices anymore, she was to focused on out running thing behind her.

Soon her feet were leading her off the road into a park, which was her biggest mistake.

'This is the end.' She thought as she tripped over her own feet, the whispering in her head getting louder. She knew it was too late for her so she passed herself to her knees, head down, eyes closed, ready to leave the world.

When the minutes passed and she was still there, she opened her eyes and raised her head. A gasp escaped her lips at the beauty of the once rusty and dirty park. Time slowed as she took in the sight and in that split second it seemed as if the whispering was silenced.

- Article written by

Leli_B