History & local legend
Leap-the-Dips at Lakemont Park in Altoona is a figure-eight wooden roller coaster dating to 1902. Its ghost story begins with riders noticing a man apparently working among the rails as their car passes him.
Once back at the station, they tell the operator, concerned that a worker is so close to the ride. They are then told nobody has been assigned to the track. A 2010 account by a central Pennsylvania folklore collector records the explanation attached to those sightings: a maintenance man supposedly died after a coaster struck him during a test run.
Sources
- JackMc, Ghosts of Central Pennsylvania, 2010 telling identifying Leap-the-Dips and the report to the ride operator
- American Coaster Enthusiasts, design, construction and preservation of Leap-the-Dips
- WPSU, September 2026 reporting on the coaster’s current status
- OpenStreetMap, registered landmark ride location
