The Jump - Gordon Mackenzie

PAH – Insert for “The Jump”

The Gordon Mackenzie “Event”

The ongoing parade of Jumpers cemented G-Force’s position as the premier entertainment park in the country, and established it as an international destination as well. The US was almost alone among developed nations in continuing the practice of capital punishment, and now it had created an event that was even more bizarre. And in its flamboyance, quintessentially American.

Of course not all Jumpers were equal. Most were unknown until the time of the event and quickly forgotten. But occasionally a celebrity or perhaps a washed-up movie star suffering from some terminal condition would see The Jump as a chance for a final moment of fame and press coverage of them and their careers.

The most famous Jump event, however, came when Gordon Mackenzie, a reviled serial killer who had spent the past three years on Texas’s death row while his lawyers filed appeal after appeal, asked that he be allowed to choose The Jump as his method of execution. His lawyers' appeals were becoming increasingly frivolous and were being scathingly rejected by one judge after another, so the writing was on the wall for him.

As might be expected, this idea made headlines across the country. Opponents of the death penalty were up in arms about executions anyway, and had been trying for decades to shame it out of existence. Turning it into a public spectacle that appealed to the basest instincts of the mob was the exact opposite of everything they wanted to achieve. Not surprisingly, however, there were at least an equal number of citizens who liked the idea of we the people getting to see justice being done instead of hiding it behind prison walls.

Tom and Dave were delighted at the idea. This would add a whole new level of publicity – and an intriguing public service argument – for their biggest attraction. They immediately hired lawyers to work with Mackenzie’s team to support his request.

Texas legislators saw this as a superb opportunity to advance their increasingly right-wing agenda and to provide a wildly appealing spectacle for their conservative base.

It took a few months of legal wrangling to deal with the opposing arguments, but Texas being Texas, who really was going to stop this?

Ernst was a bit bemused. He wasn’t exactly opposed, and he certainly saw the practical benefits, but at the same time, it was at odds with his principle that The Jump was to be strictly voluntary, with the chance to opt out until the last second. Still, he wasn’t going to stand in the way. He was always open to new kinds of thinking.

Once it became clear that the Mackenzie Jump was going to happen, Tom and Dave realized that this was going to require a whole new level of planning. Of course, they needed to work with the authorities to help insure against any escape attempts – although, unlike a mob boss or a cartel kingpin, Mackenzie didn’t seem to have any organization devoted to freeing him.

The bigger issue by far was crowd size. At least a third of the people in the Dallas-Fort Worth area would want to attend, along with… Well, we were talking millions of Texans and tens of millions of Americans, along with a huge international contingent. Obviously the event would be fully televised, but there was no room for even a minute fraction of the people who wanted to be there in person.

They needed to limit attendance drastically. They decided to shut down the normal park rides and other attractions for the day so the entire staff could focus their attention on this event and making sure everything went smoothly. The most obvious way to limit the crowd size was to make event tickets dauntingly expensive – a minimum of $10,000 per person. After some additional discussion with experienced event organizers, they decided on a ticket price of $20,000.

There would be some passes offered free to the governor and other prominent officials, and there would be opportunities for corporations, law firms, etc., to gain early access to tickets for themselves and some favored clients, with a special seating section upfront at premium prices.

Obviously, Ernst and members of The Jump team would receive substantial bonuses as part of this.

Tickets sold out within hours of going on sale, and were then being scalped – and snapped up – at multiples of the original price.

Every major television network was happy to pay to be allowed to provide live coverage of the event to viewers around the country and around the world.

When the day arrived, there were all the expected problems of fake tickets and people arriving merely in hopes of being able to buy a last-minute ticket, but those were all dealt with routinely. The park was packed, and large TV screens had been put up everywhere to guarantee that no one missed out on a single moment of the action.

Ernst was busier than ever dealing with park security, police and FBI, and a constant string of mini-crises.

Finally, at 11 AM, the parade of security vehicles arrived, bringing Mackenzie in through the back entrance.

Even Ernst was daunted at seeing Mackenzie in person. Mackenzie was a massive 6 foot four and had the meanest face anyone had ever seen. He was the worst kind of serial killer – he had killed men, women, and children, typically torturing them in the process and hacking the bodies into pieces. No one in their right mind saw this man as a candidate for reform.

He was heavily shackled, and was wearing an orange jumpsuit with Texas Department of Corrections printed across the back. He had wanted, and his lawyers had argued for him, to be allowed to wear a business suit for the event, to die with some sort of dignity. This was a nonstarter for absolutely everyone else.

Although many inmates took pride in staying in shape, Mackenzie seemed to have put on weight. Death row inmates were given much time for exercise, so it was probably understandable. He still looked utterly terrifying.

The protocol for this Jump had been changed from the traditions that Ernst had established. Mackenzie was not going to walk out on the platform on his own, but with two very large guards leading him each step of the way. Ernst had no interest in being in the elevator with him at all.

Most important, there was nothing voluntary about this. Mackenzie was not given a fob with a red button to start the process, and there was no button for him to press in case he changed his mind. The only button would be pressed by a prison official experienced in state executions. However, once the countdown began, Mackenzie would have the usual 4-second wait until the platform dropped out from under him.

The 4-second wait had been designed to give the Jumper a chance to back out, which was obviously not necessary here. But it would be a major part of the excitement for the spectators.

Sure enough, everyone in the crowd was riveted by the sight of the man in the orange jumpsuit walking out onto the platform. There were loud cheers from the spectators, along with people yelling insults at him.

The prison official stood at the back end of the platform, and the crowd watched as he ceremonially pushed the button. The countdown clock started, and the crowd chanted along with it, “4… 3… 2… 1!”

The platform dropped, and Mackenzie began the plunge to the concrete below.

Halfway down, however, something happened. There was a huge explosion, as if Mackenzie had been wearing a suicide vest.

Suddenly the officials and corporate guests in the front row section were splattered with blood and pieces of shredded flesh, scattered around at least a 50-yard radius.

A few body parts, like hands and feet, fingers and bits of Mackenzie’s skull, also landed among the spectators, some of whom eagerly grabbed them as souvenirs.

A normal Jump was a visceral event. This was unnerving. The spectators who had come to see the righteousness of the death penalty in action were suddenly part of the spectacle. Thousand-dollar suits were covered with too much blood to ever be cleaned.

People all over the park were screaming. Some were terrorized, some were traumatized.

The TV networks got everything they had come for and so much more. The story and the video coverage went viral around the world. The moment of the explosion was played over and over, along with shots of blood-spattered politicians and other prominent attendees. TV commentators, politicians, and political candidates were all jockeying to offer their views and benefit from unprecedented visibility.

Inevitably, eager personal-injury lawyers found spectators who were willing to claim deep emotional trauma from the event and wanted to sue G-Force for massive damages. The judge threw the case out summarily. “Look what you went there for. What the hell did you expect?” he observed tersely in his statement.

Tom and Dave were taken aback by the turn that things had taken. They quickly issued a statement that, in light of what had happened, they would not allow The Jump to be used for any further executions.

Ernst and his team still received staggering bonuses, and Ernst was happy to return The Jump to its old traditions.

Law enforcement never did discover how Mackenzie had managed to get hold of a suicide vest. The prison staff and guards in charge of death row were fired and the Warden at the prison resigned in disgrace. The whole incident remains an open investigation.

G-Force saw a substantial increase in visitors for many months as people came to see the place where “The Event” happened, and coverage was guaranteed to live on in anniversary stories on news channels, and re-enactment stories on crime drama series. Bidding on movie rights has been brisk.

© Peter A. Hempel 2024

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