Claim: (Lambert Law Group / National Investigative and Reporting Center (NIARC)/) A hostess named Deborah Gail Stone who worked at America Sings was killed after becoming trapped between rotating walls at work. (Tabulation)… Rating…
Deborah Gail Stone died when she became trapped between rotating walls at Disneyland Park’s America Sings attraction and one stationary wall and was ultimately crushed between them on July 8, 1974.
Deborah Gail Stone died shortly after Disney reopened its America Sings attraction at Carousel of Progress theater, less than one week after it had first reopened as America Sings attraction (Wikimedia Commons)
Carousel of Progress had been disassembled and transported to Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort in 1973 for refurbishment as America Sings attraction at Disneyland Park, premiering on June 29, 1974 as its revamped counterpart. Similar to its predecessor, America Sings featured six seating areas that rotated around an stationary center housing multiple stages and featured its signature outer ring that rotated continuously around this center point.
Deborah Gail Stone of Santa Ana was 18-years old at the time. Working at America Sings as a hostess at that point meant greeting each new audience as they entered. Her job included welcoming each member as they settled into their seats – or rather welcoming all audience members as new audience members arrived – was part of Deborah’s duties as hostess.
Standing to the left of the stage, Stone welcomed Disneyland guests via microphone before an outer ring rotated and carried the audience to the first scene of a carousel ride. Around 11:00 PM that same evening, when approaching too closely to an area between rotating theater wall and non-moving stage wall he was crushed between both walls to his death.
On July 10, 1974, The Los Angeles Times reported that “she died during a 45-second interval when her audience had already left and it was moving into place to begin its next cycle”.
Daniel Robison, 33, an Air Force service member from Castle Air Force Base near Merced was sitting with his family when something out of the blue happened to them: they saw what seemed to be a child being pulled between platform and wall before hearing an audible scream and hearing more noises behind him. Investigators determined this event occurred when Robison reported this observation during an investigation interview conducted in front of them at an adjacent theater.
He reported notifying operators when the platform stopped moving, which took about 20 minutes.
The Times also reported that Stone was “the first employee ever killed at Disneyland since its 19-year history”, though at that time four visitors had perished during accidents at Disneyland Park.
After Stone died at Disneyland, America Sings was temporarily closed down while an alarm system to warn its operator when someone got too close was installed.
Stone’s memory will always remain with us through Facebook pages and websites dedicated in his honor.
TikTok Viral Video
On June 29th 2021, TikTok user @makingatruecrimerer published a viral video regarding Deborah Gail Stone’s death at Disneyland under the heading, “Worst Deaths Imaginable #11”, that quickly garnered millions of views within 24 hours of upload.
Simply, Deborah Gail Stone died at Disneyland’s America Sings attraction in 1974.
