On October 31, 1986, Universal Studios Hollywood launched its first-ever Halloween Horror Nights event. The big draw that evening was the Terror Tram, which was really just their normal, everyday Studio Tour repurposed to scare the crap out of people. “It’s one Halloween you’ll never forget. That is…if you live to talk about it,” promised a print advertisement for the event. Unfortunately, those words would end up sounding eerily prescient afterward.

At some point during the nighttime tour, trams were supposed to drive by a parked tram full of mannequins made up to look like corpses. That was 20-year-old Paul Rebalde’s cue to jump out from the pile of fake dead bodies and try to frighten the folks on the passing vehicles. However, one of those attempts didn’t go according to plan, and Rebalde somehow got himself stuck between the third and fourth sections of a four-section tram. In the process, he was run over and dragged for roughly 100 feet.

The Tragic Death That Shut Down Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights for YEARS

Sadly, Rebalde was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 9 p.m. that night. “There was no indication that the tram had a problem or anything like that,” said Universal Studios publicity director Joan Bullard of the incident. “The sheriff has told us that it was an unfortunate accident,” she continued. Though no changes were made to the show, Bullard assured visitors that safety procedures “would be heightened even more” the following evening.

Rebalde had been working several jobs at the park leading up to his death, including selling toys and managing a booth that sold film by the front gate. “He was one of the sweetest kids that worked up here,” recalled a fellow Universal Studios employee. “He was the kind of guy that always walked around with a smile on his face. Everybody liked him,” they added.

Halloween Horror Nights was discontinued for six years due to the tragedy, but eventually returned in 1992.

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