Nik Wallenda completed his walk across Niagara Falls last night, June 15th 2012, sometime after 10pm.It took 25 minutes We did not go to Niagara Falls for the event as, seemingly, people had been thronging there from very early in the morning to get a good view. We followed it on the computer. Nik Wallenda has made a walk into history as he is the first person to walk on a tightrope across the Niagara Falls. Other tightrope artists have walked the Niagara Gorge further downstream but no one had ever attempted the falls.
There is quite a history of daredevil stunts in Niagara Falls. Annie Taylor, on October 24th, 1901, became the first person to go over the Horseshoe Falls in a barrel. She survived the plunge and found the fame she sought so desperately. But fortune was a bit more elusive. Twenty years after her brush with death at Niagara, she died destitute!
On July 25th, 1911, Bobby Leach made the drop in a steel barrel. He broke both kneecaps and his jaw during the stunt but survived. Fifteen years later on a lecture tour in New Zealand, he slipped on an orange peel, broke his leg and died of complications from the injury!
On July 4th 1928, Jean Lussier, a native of Quebec, designed a six-foot rubber ball composed of 32 inner tubes and a double-wall steel frame. The ball took some hard knocks in the rapids but the skip over the Falls was perfect. About an hour later he stepped ashore none the worse for wear. For many years he displayed his ball at Niagara Falls and sold small pieces of the inner tubes for souvenirs at 50 cents a piece!
Not everyone survived going over the Falls in a barrel. On July 5th, 1930, George Stathakis, a Greek chef from Buffalo, went over the Falls in a 2,000 pound contraption of wood and steel. He survived the plunge over the Falls only to die after becoming trapped behind the curtain of water for 22 hours. He had enough oxygen for only 3 hours.
In the summer of 1951, Red Hill Jr. planned to go over the Falls in a flimsy contrivance he called the "Thing" On August 6th, Hill and the "Thing" headed into the rapids. It was tossed into the air, upended, thrown from side to side and bounced off the rocks. It was starting to disintegrate even before it reached the Falls. When the drop came, the "Thing" disappeared into the churning water at the base of the Falls. Seconds later what was left floated into view. The following day, Hill's battered body was taken from the river.
There have been many other attemps at stunts at Niagara Falls. On October 1st, 1995, Robert Overcracker rode a jet ski over the brink of the Horseshoe Falls to help promote awareness for the homeless. His parachute did not open and Robert ended up promoting better parachutes! He plunged to his death and his body was never recovered.
On October 22nd, 2003, Kirk Jones of Canton, Michigan became the first stunter in the history of Niagara Falls to survive the plunge wearing only the clothes on his back! Kirk went to the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the river and entered the water about a hundred yards upstream and began to swim out into the swift current. Eight seconds later he made the 53 metre drop and swam to shore, passing up a free ride with "Maid of the Mist". He was treated for minor bumps and bruises and released only after promising to return for court. He was fined 2,300 dollars and banned from entering Canada for life!
An interesting note - Nik Wallenda had to carry his passport in his pocket because he was going from the US to Canada on his funambulist trip!
And so ends the history lesson!
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