Terrified Riders Left Dangling Upside Down on 180-Foot Fairground Ride at Music Festival (Video)

It was supposed to be a thrill — instead, it became a nightmare.

Four festivalgoers found themselves suspended upside down nearly 200 feet in the air when the Apollo 13 fairground ride broke down at the Boardmasters music festival in Cornwall, England, early Thursday morning.

The malfunction struck at around 1 a.m. on August 7, after what organizers described as a “temporary loss of power.” The ride — which spins riders vertically and seats four people on each end — automatically halted in midair, leaving half its passengers dangling headfirst toward the ground.

“You could hear them shouting and laughing nervously,” said witness Jamie Carter, who filmed the scene and posted it to TikTok. “But after a few minutes, you could tell they were getting uncomfortable. Hanging upside down that long is no joke.”

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The Apollo 13, named after NASA’s ill-fated 1970 space mission, travels the U.K. fair circuit and stands at an eye-watering 180 feet. Its operators boast about the ride’s adrenaline rush — but on this night, the thrill came from something no one paid for.

“I thought the wind might start moving it,” another festivalgoer wrote online. “It was mad.”

Boardmasters organizers insisted no one was ever in danger. “As a safety precaution, the ride automatically halted with people on board,” a spokesperson said. “The ride has since undergone a full safety check and resumed normal operation.”

Still, the scene was unsettling. For 20 long minutes, the riders remained stuck in the air, their legs flailing in the dark as music thumped in the distance. Onlookers craned their necks, waiting for the ride to slowly lower back into position.

According to maintenance records posted by the operators earlier this year, each setup of the Apollo 13 involves detailed inspections — from greasing pivot points to checking the massive ring gear’s teeth. In April, they even shared photos of repairs with the caption: “That’s just a small portion of what’s been happening before operation starts.”

The ride only debuted in 2024, but this isn’t the first time a high-profile attraction has left thrill-seekers stranded. In July, 23 people were injured when a ride broke apart in India. In California, more than 20 were stuck 60 feet in the air last summer at Knott’s Berry Farm.

For the riders on Apollo 13, there were no injuries — just an unforgettable story. “It was the scariest fun I’ve ever had,” one passenger told local reporters after getting off. “Once my feet were back on the ground, I realized just how high we’d been.”