The Screaming Mimi
Screams filled the air and H. Scott Taylor grinned. His new slide
was dubbed the Screaming Mimi in honor of his mother, Mimi, and screaming thrill seekers. From 1952 and into the 1970’s, swimmers could brave the ride at Star Plunge for 10 cents. Those who dared – or were dared - lugged a heavy wooden cart with metal wheels up steps built into the side of the red hill. An attendant greeted the rider and helped set the cart on the metal tracks. The attendant then held the cart steady with their foot while the thrill seeker would situate themselves on the cart. Once the rider was seated upright, the attendant would release the sled, often giving the cart an extra boost with a hard push. The ride started off on a level slope and quickly accelerated as the track’s descent grew steeper. The speed would continue building so that when the rider hit the mineral hot pool, the cart would skim over the water. The more adventurous riders pulled back on the handles and laid down. This made the sled buck and hop over the water, much like a skipping rock. “We would have contests,” Scott’s daughter-in-law, Kathy, remembered. “We would go down as fast as we could to try and hit the far wall.”
Screaming Mimi Postcard
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If someone hit the far wall of the pool, they would win 12 free rides. It wasn’t an easy feat, “In all the years we worked at the Star,” Wedgwood, Scott’s son, said, “only once did I see someone make it to the wall. That was one in a thousand who went the distance!” H. Scott Taylor, who dreamed up the Screaming Mimi, was an idea man from back East. He attended Dartmouth and Cornell with plans of becoming a master apple tree pruner. During his years in college, his best friend and roommate set him up with a Scott Taylor, building the blind date in Thermopolis. This outdoor pools at Star Plunge changed the direction of his life when the date was successful and he married Ercil Thompson.
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After World War II and having served in the Navy, Scott tried his hand at managing a chicken farm in Connecticut with his wife Ercil. When he decided that wasn’t what he wanted in life, he borrowed money from his mother-in-law and the young married couple bound a train for Hot Springs County where
180 US Highway 20 S. Thermopolis, WY 307-864-3047
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