What It's Like to Test Earth's Most Insane Water Slide

If climbing up 264 steps, strapping yourself into an inflatable raft with Velcro, and plummeting 17 stories at speeds of up to 65mph isn’t your thing—well, just be glad you’re not the human guinea pigs doing a first run on the Verruckt, said by io9 to be the world’s tallest water slide. The in-raft camera that shot this video at the Schlitterbahn water park in Kansas City shows the slide’s engineers taking the first spin, offering an absolutely terrifying glimpse into what it might feel like to experience this insanity, er, ride. As io9 points out, the slide is taller than the Statue of Liberty and Niagara Falls, but no worries: There’s netting that’s designed to keep the rafts on track so they don’t go flying off like they reportedly did during initial tests with sandbags. Also, a friendly reminder: "Verruckt" is German for "insane." (More tallest water slide stories.)