Iceberg Wall Collapse At A Titanic Museum Leaves Tourists Hospitalized
An accident involving an iceberg wall at a Titanic museum has left multiple guests injured with the attraction having to briefly close
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The Titanic, unfortunately, has become synonymous with disasters stemming from the tragic accident more than a 100 years ago. And now, there has been another accident associated with the name. This time it was at the Titanic Pigeon Forge Museum in Tennessee where part of their iceberg wall collapsed and injured three guests. No one was critically harmed in the accident, but it continues the bad look for Titanic-related entities.
The attraction is a Titanic-themed museum that pays tribute to the titular passenger liner that famously ran aground of an iceberg back in 1912. The owners of the museum posted on their Facebook page about the accident at the museum. They said that part of the iceberg wall that sits in the attraction section of the museum collapsed. The iceberg wall is meant to replicate part of the environment associated with the sinking ship. Apparently, it is backed by a cooling and refrigeration system to add to its authenticity, setting up a visual and physical replication of the actual accident site. There is no word about how this part of the iceberg wall collapsed or what exactly occurred. Here is what owners Mary Kellogg and John Joslyn had to say about the incident
The Titanic museum did open a few days later but had taken out the iceberg wall as part of the attraction for the time being. In a follow-up Facebook post, the owners said they had blocked off that area to guests. At that time they still had no update on the injuries sustained from the original accident.
This Titanic Museum is located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee close to Gatlinburg with another arm in Branson as well. The owner John Joslyn was a co-leader of the 1987 IFREMER expedition that made numerous dives to the Titanic crash site at the bottom of the ocean. They made this in a submersible called the Nautila. As Joslyn notes on the Museums web page, he was part of the group that explored the site, recovered artifacts, and ultimately produced a documentary, Return to Titanic…Live!, about the experience.
The Titanic Museum in Pigeon Forge boasts a humongous collection of Titanic artifacts and memorabilia. The museum is set up for guests to walk around different replicas of the actual ship including the staircase and other rooms on the ship. It offers guests a chance to interact with some things from the actual ship as well as experience the history around the disaster. It is an incredibly popular attraction for the area.
The Titanic famously ran across an iceberg on its fateful maiden voyage back in 1912. Throughout the decades it has become the most haunting and tragic of maritime accidents with studies and recreations trying to determine what exactly went wrong and how it could be avoided in the future. Of course, the 1997 film by James Cameron and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet remains the most iconic (though fictionalized) retellings of the story. We are hoping for the speedy recovery of everyone involved in this museum accident.
