Has to be by far the best first post/thread I have seen on this website, thank you! Sort of like 9/11 jumpers/victims, knowing the full story behind the victims of horrible attrocities really humanizes the whole thing.

Thank you stashua.

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The jumpers from 9/11. Uh. Makes me feel extremely sick and furious and furious of what humanity can be. Sometimes all these horrible things in life are so overcoming and makes us question how much humanity and morals we have as a advanced society.

This is the first time that I've seen a picture of the young man that I knelt down and found him to be deceased on Friday May 13, 1983 as a KI First Aid employee.   I will keep my comments brief, but want to stress that John and his high school friends were given professional care throughout that horrible evening. I agree, that "urban legend ghost stories" become very meaningful when you think of the actual human beings involved.   Your descriptions are accurate and expressed well.   May Johnny rest in peace.

And Welcome to KIC.

Thanks for your post and your professionalism. I can only imagine how hard that night was for you.

Thank you Frank for sharing your memories of that horrible and tragic night.

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Just throwing this out there-after visiting John's grave, as me and my aunt were driving through the cemetery trying to find the gates, she popped in a CD without looking. The first song that played was Night on Bald Mountain, which is the song in Disney's Fantasmic where the ghosts and demons dance for Chernabog. One of the opening shots in the Fantasia sequence is ghosts rising out of a graveyard, and that was the section playing as we were driving through the cemetery. I still don't know what that means.

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Welcome to KIC KIGhost Guy ! wow I am impressed about this information and its always glad to welcome great information about the park's history. Thank you !

Just throwing this out there-after visiting John's grave, as me and my aunt were driving through the cemetery trying to find the gates, she popped in a CD without looking. The first song that played was Night on Bald Mountain, which is the song in Disney's Fantasmic where the ghosts and demons dance for Chernabog. One of the opening shots in the Fantasia sequence is ghosts rising out of a graveyard, and that was the section playing as we were driving through the cemetery. I still don't know what that means.

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Fascinating. I can see how such an eerie, incredible coincidence would bolster one's interests in the supernatural. 

Its a sad day for everyone who saw this and just think of him when you are on the tower.

Fearsome-I always think of him when I'm at the Tower. I also did a little service at his grave. Such a tragic incident.

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Kind of makes me not want to go on the Eiffel Tower if the moving elevators on their own and seeing a boy on the platform is true. Makes me feel unsafe. Sad incident though. 

Delirium-The things only happen at night, after closing. He's pretty friendly though, just playing pranks on the employees. The newspapers said that he "loved attention", and the ghost stories seem to go along with that.

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Okay, here's a creepy story. This happened recently, last 5 years or so. This was told to me by a former Kings Island employee, who was friends with the person involved.

A security guard was walking around the Eiffel Tower's base. It was almost midnight, way past the park's closing. As he passed, he heard a creaking sound. He turned around and saw the gate that blocks off the stairs swinging open. The guard assumed that it must have been the wind, even though it wasn't windy out, and he closed and locked the gate, and started to walk away. He then heard the creaking again, this time accompanied by what sounded like a teenage boy laughing. The guard turned around, not only seeing the gate opening, but also saw a shadow in the shape of a teenage boy run up the stairs and vanish. The guard double and triple checked the area, which only confirmed he was the only one in the area of the Tower.

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Wow that is creepy!!! Thanks for helping clear up some of the stuff surrounding this sad event. Rip Johnny. I didn't know about it being haunted after closings. Glad I'm not there during that time!

I hate bring this thread back from the dead, but recently some new information has come to my attention. 

First, I was incorrect earlier in saying that John climbed right into the elevator shaft from the 50-foot platform. After reviewing some Cincinnati Enquirer articles (via newspapers.com), I found that he climbed the fence onto the emergency stairwell that runs to the top platforms. He climbed up a bit and then climbed onto a beam in the shaft. He somehow got tangled in the elevator cables (the newspapers weren't really clear on that) and then was hit by the counterweight and fell 50-60 feet onto the elevator as it passed the 50-foot platform.

Second, he did not just become lost at the park. My cousin, who lives in Delaware, has a friend whose mother was the class of 1983 and knew John Harter. She was also at Kings Island that night. My cousin asked her about it, and she said that the mother told her that he got in an argument with his girlfriend and broke up. He ran off from the rest of the group and that was the point when he started drinking. This corroborates several other accounts online such as one from "CoasterDad64" on  http://coasterbuzz.com/Forums/Topic/pkd-eiffel-tower-accident-like-15-20-years-ago .

One must remember that both journalism in general and newspapers in particular had different standards back then.

Decorum. Dignity. Respect.

A man is dead. He will remain so.

His family grieved. And still does.

Endless speculation and digging is unbecoming, unnecessary and even hurtful. Morbid fascination is not good.

I, for one, think society, the park and we ourselves would be better off without continual rehashing of this unfortunate death.

It's 2016. Long past time to move on.

Agreed Terp.

Does the park still refer to him?

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Not that I'm aware of...

I thought during a night leading up to haunt on the elevator on the way up the attendant was asked about possible haunted stuff in and around the park and they referencesdTower Johnny and Missouri Jane

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That doesn't mean they were supposed to or authorized to.

I don't know,  maybe it's just me. Sadly we see death and destruction almost every day. 

 

There has been things that have happened in the past at alot of parks, and undoubtably there

is surely things that will happen in the future. 

 

I, personally, and it just my opinion, don't like to think about that stuff about the park. Just seems

to take something away from it.

 

Many years ago, When I was around 13-14 years old, I rode the Galaxi at the old Myrtle Beach Pavilion.

Enjoyed it. When I got off of it a couple of guys decided to tell me how it was at another park and that someone 

got killed on it. Creeped me out and I didn't ride it again. 

The Myrtle Beach Pavilion Galaxi coaster was at Kings Dominion, which is where that accident took place.

 There is just as creepy story as tower Johnny that supposedly occurred back at one of the WWC towers. This is from a girl that worked at KI. She kept hearing stones bounce off the side of her tower after closing time.  I can only imagine how dark it is way back there. I guess after she finally got the courage to look out and see if somebody was messing with her, she actually saw a large rock lift off the ground and slam against the tower. This was told by the worker herself. She was posting on a forum.  Anybody heard about that one?  I also remember reading about maintenance workers who sometiimes had to walk to the front of the park by themselves(if they didn't catch a ride)  after dark and totally got a case of the heebie jeebies. I did research about all these ghost stories a couple years ago, but I don't remember all the sites I was on. I found most of the same stories and photos as the original poster.

I've heard/experienced similar.

I've heard/experienced similar.

 

 Experienced? You can't just leave us hanging

I can......one day I'll share. Maybe during a certain season.

Ah yes, Tower 2 at White Water Canyon...one of my very favorite ghost stories from the park comes from there.

One of these days I'll have to do a "Clearing Up" Missouri Jane post. Unless, of course, you guys want me to post the story here.

Ah yes, Tower 2 at White Water Canyon...one of my very favorite ghost stories from the park comes from there.

One of these days I'll have to do a "Clearing Up" Missouri Jane post. Unless, of course, you guys want me to post the story here.

 

 Awesome thread KIghostguy........although we may be a few months early. Kudos! Post it wherever you want.

I ain't 'fraid of no ghost.

Who YOU gonna call?