Fabio Wasn't Hit by a Goose
Update (May 15, 2024): Thanks to a team of creators, including Bobby Fingers, Adam Savage, and The Slow Mo Guys, we now have proof that the goose couldn't have hit Fabio directly. Case closed.
Update (March 30, 2022): We posted a YouTube video featuring updates to this article. We’ll continue to update this story as new information is revealed.
Update (June 4, 2021): At the end of Podcast the Ride’s episode on the “Fabio Goose Incident,” they say an anonymous source reached out to them to confirm that a goose hit Fabio in the face. The source was apparently on the coaster. 🤷🏻♂️
The Fabio Goose incident is one of the most talked-about stories in roller coaster and theme park history.
As the story goes, Busch Gardens Williamsburg invited Fabio Lanzoni to the opening ceremony of Apollo's Chariot, the first Hypercoaster built by Bolliger & Mabillard. In Greek mythology, Apollo was one of the most important and complex Gods. Fabio, an Italian fashion model, seemed like the perfect celebrity who resembled a Greek God. On March 30, 1999, a 10-pound goose struck Fabio in the face on the coaster's inaugural run.
In the past two weeks, theme park historian Jim Hill has referenced the incident on his podcasts. But he's been possibly spreading misinformation because, according to an interview, the goose didn't hit Fabio. In a Studio 10 interview from 2018, Fabio states that a goose hit the video camera, and a piece of debris slashed the bridge of Fabio's nose.
Here’s the full quote, slightly edited, from Fabio himself:
They built the fastest roller coaster in the world, but when they built it, they built it on a flying path of geese. So the geese, they have to fly into the roller coaster to get into the pond, and fly out of the roller coaster and get out of the pond.
This is the twist: one of the goose hit the camera, the video camera, and a piece of video camera barely slashed the bridge of my nose. Now I have to do 10 minutes upside down with my head down…. but I wasn’t hurt, I was pissed because they wanted to cover their butt. So, they go ok, ‘if the goose hit him, it’s an act of God.’ So this spread to the media that the goose hit me.
The goose hit the video camera, the video camera split.
Here’s the full interview with Fabio. Skip to 3:30 for the goose incident:
