Dreamworld Dead: 4

Four people have died after a raft flipped off a river rapids ride at Dreamworld theme park in Australia.

The Thunder River Rapids ride (built in 1986) suffered a "malfunction," which caused two people to be thrown from the six-person raft and two people to be trapped in its conveyor belt on Tuesday, October 25, 2016, at 2:17 pm, local time.

Two men and two women between the ages of 32 and 40 died on the family ride, which is open to children as young as two, on the Gold Coast in Queensland. 

Those killed include Canberra woman Kate Goodchild (née Dorsett), 32, her brother Luke Dorsett, partner Roozi Araghi and a 42-year-old woman. 

Witnesses said the accident was horrific and happened as the ride was coming to an end.

"My sister and niece were in the ride, they were so traumatised, there is a woman hanging by her foot, crushed from the ride," one witness told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Local media reports the victims were possibly from the same family and may have been visiting from Canberra. 

Other incidents have occurred at Dreamworld, including:

June 2009: Helicopter crashes into Dreamworld carpark, injuring the pilot and four Taiwanese passengers

2011: Two separate reports of Bengal tiger Kato biting handlers at the Tiger Island attraction - once in May and once in September

November 2013: More than 7000 people evacuated from Dreamworld in under an hour after a bushfire came close to the facility 

April 2016: A passenger on the Rocky Hollow Log Ride nearly drowned after being thrown from the attraction and suffering lacerations to his head

A recent new HBO tv series, based on an earlier Michael Crichton movie about a futuristic theme park, is Westworld. The series deals with "malfunctions" occurring within the previously smoothly running park.

Stock image of the ride:

Dreamworld is a theme park situated on the Gold Coast in Queensland. It is Australia's largest theme park with over 40 rides and attractions, including five roller coasters.

(An early logo for Dreamworld, never used.)

The original theme park was built from 1974-1976 with the employment of several designers who designed Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

The park is made up of several themed lands: Ocean Parade, DreamWorks Experience, Wiggles World, Gold Rush Country, Rocky Hollow, Tiger Island and the Dreamworld Corroboree. These lands have a collection of rides, animal exhibits, shows, food outlets and merchandise shops.

Dreamworld is noted for being the location of the Australian Big Brother house since the program began in Australia in 2001. 

On several occasions during the year, Dreamworld remains open after dark. This event, known as Screamworld, includes all of the thrill rides and a selection of children's rides.

===

Westworld is a 1973 science fiction Western thriller film written and directed by novelist Michael Crichton about amusement park androids that malfunction and begin killing visitors. It stars Yul Brynner as an android in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park, and Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as guests of the park.

Westworld was the first theatrical feature directed by Michael Crichton. It was also the first feature film to use digital image processing, to pixellate photography to simulate an android point of view. The film was nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Saturn awards.

Westworld was followed by a sequel film, Futureworld (1976), and a short-lived television series, Beyond Westworld (1980). A new television series from HBO, based on the original film, debuted on October 2, 2016. Source: Wikipedia.

Scottsdale, Arizona, WestWorld, Present

Neverland (credit: Johnny Walsh)

Disneyland, It's A Small World

Nada, Japan, Dreamland, 1961-2006

Manoora Massacre

The slaughter of the innocents continues, even if merely in purely domestic situations.

A teddy bear was seen against a fence across the road from the Cairns child massacre, apparently left for the "Temu Family."

Repeating imagery. Photo by Darren Broo.

On December 19, 2014 emergency crews were called to a home at 34 Murray Street in the Cairns suburb of Manoora, Queensland, at about 11:20 a.m. local time where eight children were found dead. The victims were aged between 18 months and 15 years. Lisa Thaiday, who said she was the children's mother's cousin, said another sibling, a 20-year-old man, came home and found his brothers and sisters dead inside the house. The 34-year-old mother of seven of the children was also reportedly injured and taken to hospital.

Murray Street: The name Murray is Celtic and the meaning is "lives by the sea." In some interpretations, it is regarded as "from the sea" and/or "Lord of the Sea" (a/k/a Poseidon.)

The backyard of the home where eight children were found stabbed to death. Note the cross formed by the clothes lines.

Police had not issued any charges, as of 8:30 pm December 19, 2014.

The tragedy follows the Martin Place/Lindt siege which traumatized Australians this week. Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said, “These are trying days for our country.”

The home where eight children were killed in Murray St, Manoora, Cairns, Australia.

“This neighbourhood is going to be a different place,” said 20-year-old Ngatu Temu, who knew the family well.

Rather sad and mysterious, but intriguing that this occurred during Hanukkah (sunset, December 16 to nightfall, December 24, 2014) in a town, Manoora, which phonetically sounds like menorah. There is absolutely no indication that this family is Jewish, of course.

Claims of "virulent anti-semitism" indicates a shortsighted reading of synchromystic and twilight language analayses.
The family names Temu and Thaiday appear to be indigenous in origin, from Pacific Islands, via Cook Island, through New Zealand, and ending up in Australia.

Night flight emails me this: "In addition to the name Manoora sounding like menorah, there were also eight children murdered and eight candles on the menorah. Strange coincidence."

These are all merely coincidences, but strange things do happen.

"It is in the humble opinion of this narrator that this is not just 'something that happened.' This cannot be 'one of those things'...This, please, cannot be that. And for what I would like to say, I can't. This was not just a matter of chance.…These strange things happen all the time." ~ Magnolia

(One candle for each child?) A candlelight vigil is held in the street where eight children died in a multiple stabbing in the suburb of Manoora. Photo: Ian Hitchcock. Source.

This northern Manoora is in Queensland, and appears to have been named after another Manoora in South Australia. The first Europeans to settle at the southernmost Manoora, in about 1841, were the sheep pastoralists Edward and William Peter, of Scottish origin. Peter (the "rock") is a name tied to early Christianity, needless to say.

The location of the first Manoora in Australia.

If this turns out to be a case of the mother stabbing her own children, it fits into a pattern in Australia of a high number of cases of mothers killing their own children. The infanticide is often carried out by taking the kids out into the desert in a van, and the killing (murder-suicide) of the mother and her children by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Update: The mother of seven of the children, 34-year old Mersane Warria, , also known as Raina Thaiday, now has been arrested over the murder. The eighth victim is believed to be Warria’s niece.

Neighbors reported Warria was seen pulling all of her belongings out the front door, screaming she was starting a "new life."

This is a domestic mental health issue. Neighbors reported they saw Warria pulling her belongings out the front door, exclaiming that she wanted to start a new life.