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Daredevil Stunts
at Niagara Falls
QUEEN OF THE MIST
The remarkable true story of the woman who was the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel
Sealed in my barrel,
with an anvil clamped beneath my feet,
"I sailed upright,
listened for Holleran's tap —
twice on the lid staves
—then they cut me loose.
"It was regarded as "the ultimate stunt" and America had been waiting for someone to attempt it. In 1901, a barrel plunged over the brink of Niagara Falls. On the outside was painted "Queen of the Mist." Inside was a destitute 63-year-old teacher.
"Queen of the Mist tells the fascinating story of Annie Taylor, the woman who performed this perilous feat in hopes of reversing her fortune. But as Joan Murray reveals in this astonishing and absorbing poetic narrative, America didn't know what to do with a mature and self-possessed heroine: Annie Taylor, as an "older woman" was rejected and exploited and finally eclipsed by the man who repeated her stunt ten years later. A poignant and riveting adventure story, Queen of the Mist is also a drama of courage and transformation."
What Does It Mean to Have Faith? "....One of the great daredevils of history was named "Blondin". His real name was Jean Fracois Gravelet. His stage was Niagara Falls. His specialty was tightrope walking. He came to America at the age of 31 and was sponsored by P.T. Barnum. His first trip across Niagara was on June 30, 1859 and "for the rest of the fabulous summer of 1859 he continued to provide thrills for the huge crowds that flocked to Niagara to see him perform. Never content merely to repeat his last performance, Blondin crossed his rope on a bicycle, walked it blindfolded, pushed a wheelbarrow, cooked an omelet in the center and make the trip with his hands and feet manacled....."
Niagara Falls Daredevils
Niagara Falls Daredevil Gallery
Annie Taylor is First Person to Successfully Go Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel in 1901
Bobby Leach, "a native of Cornwall, England survived a plunge over the Horseshoe Falls in a cylindrical steel barrel on July 25, 1911. As a result of the trip, he spent six months in the hospital recuperating from numerous fractures and other injuries...." After surviving that... years later, at age 67, Leach slipped on an orange peel and had to have his leg amputated!
Jean Lussier survived Niagara Falls in a home-constructed rubber tire-lined ball.
Karel Soucek's Successful 1984 Barrel Ride Over Niagara Falls
William Fitzgerald AKA Nathan Boya was the first person to survive Niagara Falls and be convicted under the Niagara Parks Act.
See Other Niagara Falls attempts under InfoNiagara's Daredevil Gallery |
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Brandon Lee
The Mysterious Deaths of Bruce and Brandon Lee
"... Brandon Lee was shot during a bizarre accident on March 31, 1993, on the set of The Crow. The accident involved a prop gun.
The gun, designed to look real, was loaded with a dummy round containing no powder. It was cocked and a film shot was taken. Then the gun was dry fired to uncock it, inadvertently knocking the tip of the dummy round into the chamber. When the gun was later loaded with a blank and fired during a scene, the powder from the blank fired the tip of the dummy round, which hit Lee in the spine. He died at the hospital shortly after the accident. He was 28 and had planned to marry Eliza Hutton in less than three weeks...."
Two Deaths, No Justice "There are reasons for suspecting foul play in the shooting deaths of Brandon Lee and Yoshi Hattori.... Was his death merely due to tragic oversight on the part of the studio's prop personnel? The District Attorney's office apparently thought so. Authorities dismissed the possibility of premeditated murder and declined to charge any crew member with criminal neglect. The production company, Crowvision, may still be forced to pay unspecified fine for its part in the tragedy, and Linda Lee Cadwell, Brandon's mother, is suing several parties, including Crowvision and its parent company, Edward R. Pressman Film Corp, for negligence in her son's "agonizing pain, suffering and untimely death."
"Lingering doubts about this so-called accident remain. The scenario outlined in Cadwell's lawsuit suggests that a bullet was accidentally lodged in the barrel of the weapon when the gun was used in the filming of a scene several weeks earlier. The bullet remained wedged in the barrel until it was propelled by blank ammunition into Brandon's stomach during the fateful scene on April 1, according to Cadwell's lawsuit...." For the rest of the story CLICK HERE.
The Crow begins with a death, and then tells the story of coming back.... In The Crow, a person can come back from the dead. It is the story of an undead afterlife and the horrible scenario that led to it. Beginning with this rise from the dead, categories and polarities are challenged (and reinscribed) throughout the film. Eric Draven crosses the borders between dead/alive, male/female, counterculture/ mainstream, good/bad." "Border Crossings: Nothing is Trivial in the film The Crow"
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Famous Persons
| Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon
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| "...When Bruce's father died, at age 64, Bruce had a premonition that he would only live to be half his father's age. Sure enough, Bruce died when he was 32. Brandon Lee, Bruce's son, also died at a very young age. In fact, he died just three and a half months prior to his father's death. Brandon died when a prop gun fired a bullet; the same way that Bruce's character faked his death in Game of Death. Coincidence or Curse?..." |
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Christopher Reeve
"... In May of 1995, it was during the cross-country portion of such an event in Culpeper, Virginia, that Reeve's Throughbred, Eastern Express, balked at a rail jump, pitching his rider forward. Reeve's hands were tangled in the horse's bridle and he landed head first, fracturing the uppermost vertebrae in his spine. Reeve was instantly paralyzed from the neck down and unable to breathe. Prompt medical attention saved his life and delicate surgery stabilized the shattered C1-C2 vertebrae and literally reattached Reeve's head to his spine. Upon regaining consciousness and realizing the gravity of his situation, Reeve wondered to his wife Dana if "maybe we should just let me go." Whereupon Dana uttered the words that gave him the will to live: "But you're still you and I love you." After 6 months at Kessler Rehabilitation Institute in New Jersey, Reeve returned to his home in Bedford, New York, where Dana had completed major renovations to accomodate his needs and those of his electric wheelchair which he operated by sipping or puffing on a straw. Ironically, this most self-reliant and active of men was now facing life almost completely immobilized and dependent on others for his most basic needs...." See the Christopher Reeve Homepage for the rest of the story.
John Lennon
According to Lennon's official website, on December 8, 1980, John Lennon was assassinated in front of his New York apartment building upon returning home from his studio. See John Lennon Wikipedia entry for more details
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley's official Graceland page
"Blonde Bombshells" Who
Died
Tragically and Young
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was found dead in the bedroom of her Brentwood, California home by her live-in housekeeper Eunice Murray on August 5, 1962. She was 36 years old at the time of her death. Her death was ruled to be "acute barbiturate poisoning" by Dr. Thomas Noguchi of the Los Angeles County Coroners office and listed as "probable suicide," but because of a lack of evidence, her death was not classified as "suicide." Many individuals, including Jack Clemmons, the first Los Angeles Police Department officer to arrive at the death scene,[1] believe that she was murdered. The death of Marilyn Monroe is one of the most debated conspiracy theories of the twentieth century.
CLICK HERE for the rest of the story.
Jayne Mansfield
One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s,[1], Mansfield, like Marilyn Monroe was a Playmate of the Month in Playboy, in February 1955 (preceded by Bettie Page and succeeded by Marilyn Waltz).... On June 29 at approximately 2:25 a.m., on U.S. Highway 90, the car crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed down because of a truck spraying mosquito fogger. The automobile struck the rear of the semi tractor and underrode it. Riding in the front seat, the adults were killed instantly; the children riding in the rear survived with minor injuries.[32]Rumors that Mansfield was decapitated are untrue, though she did suffer severe head trauma...."
CLICK HERE for the rest of the story
Anna Nicole Smith
".... Smith's career took off after she was chosen by Hugh Hefner to appear on the cover of the March 1992 issue of Playboy, where she is listed as Vickie Smith, wearing a low-cut evening gown.[10] Smith said she planned to be "the next Marilyn Monroe".[11] Becoming one of Playboy's most popular models, Smith was heavier and larger than the typical Playboy model.[12] Smith was chosen to be the 1993 Playmate of the Year. By the time of her PMOY pictorial, she had settled on the name Anna Nicole Smith. Smith secured a contract to replace supermodel Claudia Schiffer in the Guess jeans ad campaign in a series of sultry black and white photographs. Guess capitalized on Smith's strong resemblance to sex symbol Jayne Mansfield and put her in Jayne-inspired photo sessions.... On February 8, 2007, Smith was found unresponsive in room 607 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. Tasma Brighthaupt, a friend of Smith who was a trained emergency nurse performed CPR for 15 minutes until her husband, Maurice "Big Moe" Brighthaupt, Smith's friend and bodyguard[73] took over CPR. He had frantically driven back to the hotel after being notified by his wife of Smith's condition.[73] According to Seminole Police Chief Charlie Tiger, at 1:38 p.m. (18:38 UTC) Maurice Brighthaupt, who was also a trained paramedic,[74] called the hotel front desk from her sixth floor room. The front desk in turn called security, who then called 911. At 1:45 p.m. the bodyguard administered CPR until paramedics arrived and she was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital at 2:10 p.m and pronounced dead on arrival at 2:49 p.m.,,,"
CLICK HERE for the rest of the story
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The Kennedys
John F. Kennedy Jr. CNN's tribute including reference to the other Kennedy tragedies
Princess Diana
The Washington Post's Diana Page
See also CNN: The Death of Princess Diana including The Complete Text of Diana's Will.
Look at The Princess and the Press from PBS's Frontline which details Diana's relationship with the tabloids
The BBC's Tribute Page
Jim Morrison
"I'll tell you this, no eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn!"
Jim Morrison
Photos of Jim Morrison's graveside at the Parisian cemetery of Pere Lachaise in Paris, before his headstone was stolen.
"....A grotesque event which occurred in Morrison's early boyhood affected his inner vision and haunted him his entire life. On a driving vacation with his family, Morrison witnessed the aftermath of a highway accident that left Indians scattered all over the highway, bleeding to death. He called the experience his first taste of fear. He said, "the souls of those dead Indians- maybe one or two of them- were just running around freaking out, and just landed in my soul, and I was like a sponge, ready to sit there and absorb it..."
"The memory of those unfortunate victims never left him, often returning in the vast quantities of blood spattered across his writing....."
"Death makes angels of us all & gives us wings... Where we had shoulders smooth as raven's claws...." Jim Morrison
"Morrison was just 27 when he died on July 3, 1971, reportedly of a heart attack, which he suffered in the bathtub. He's buried in Pere La Chaise Cemetery, along with Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, Balzac, Chopin and other notables."
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Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper
The Day the Music Died: The Crash that Killed Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper This site includes the Coroner's Report, Buddy Holly's Death Certificate, and the Annotated "American Pie" which gives you the true meaning behind the lyrics.
Sonny Bono
Singer-Politician Sonny Bono Killed in Skiing Accident
Andy Kaufman
The Final Days of Andy Kaufman "...Andy Kaufman's short and extraordinary life ended in as bizarre a fashion as anyone could imagine and the events surrounding his final days remain the source of curious speculation even today. The day Andy left us the world lost a daring genius - a performance artist masquerading as a stand-up comedian...." See also The Real Man on the Moon Talks, a letter from Stanley Kaufman, Andy's dad, who wants to set the record straight. Also see the letter Andy wrote to Elvis Presley when he was 20
Kurt Cobain
Who Killed Kurt Cobain: Kurt Cobain was Murdered."
John Belushi
What the Palm of John Belushi Means
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FREE Tragedy and Accident eCards
Comic eCards Making Light of Accidents
Car Accident Joke eCard |
Fun Can Be Dangerous
RideAccidents.com "... is the world's single most comprehensive, detailed, updated, accurate, and complete source of amusement ride accident reports and related news. The site includes a record of fatal amusement ride accidents in the United States since 1972, and, for the past nine years, has recorded all types of accidents, including many from outside the United States...."
ThemeParkInsider.com Accident Watch
Roller Coaster Safety During the early part of the 20th century, roller coasters were dangerous, often pullin 12 G's and snapping peoples necks. Today's roller coasters are run by computer, and are engineered to be safe. See also Amusement Park Physics
Bungee Jumping
Bungee Disasters
Risks and Injuries in Bungee Jumping
Parachute jump/ skydiving accidents and fatalities
"I watched him strap on his harness and helmet, climb into the cockpit and, minutes later, a black dot falls off the wing two thousand feet above our field. At almost the same instant, a white streak behind him flowered out into the delicate wavering muslin of a parachute -- a few gossamer yards grasping onto air and suspending below them, with invisible threads, a human life, and man who by stitches, cloth, and cord, had made himself a god of the sky for those immortal moments." Charles Lindbergh
Dropzone.com Skydiving Fatalities Database "... is maintained for educational purposes. It is an unofficial record of fatal skydiving accidents since January 1, 2004...."
HowStuffWorks.com "Skydiving Accidents "... Each year, about 30 people die in parachuting accidents in the United States, or roughly one person per 100,000 jumps...."
United States Parachute Association "Incident Reports" They also maintain an accident report database.
The Man Who Fell 12,000 Feet and Survived "... Michael, 25, tells the amazing story of how he survived that fall from 2.2 miles above Lake Taupo in New Zealand, with only a punctured lung and a broken ankle..."
Circus Accidents and Deaths
Flying Wallendas to build pyramid on Detroit high wire. Stunt ended in 2 deaths in 1962 in same arena. "More than three decades after a spectacular circus stunt ended in tragedy, the famed Flying Wallendas will try the same maneuver again Friday night -- in the very same arena where two members of the troop once plunged to their deaths....."
Early picture of the seven, circa 1945.
The Flying Wallendas: A Circus Legacy "....In the years following the catastrophic fall in Detroit, Karl continued performing as the feature performer with a smaller troupe and became increasingly popular doing "Sky Walks," walking between buildings and across stadiums, including Busch, Veterans, JFK, 3 Rivers Stadiums and the Astrodome, among others. His most famous walk was a 1200-foot long trek across the Tallulah Falls Gorge in Georgia, where 30,000 people watched as this 65 year old legend performed two separate headstands at a height of over 700 feet in the air. It was during a promotional walk in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in March, 1978, hat the patriarch of the Great Wallendas fell to his death at age 73. Not because of his age or capabilities, not because of the wind, but because of several misconnected guy ropes along the wire. Karl once said, 'Life is being on the wire, everything else is just waiting'...." For the history of the Wallendas, see Tino Wallenda's website.
The Great Wallace Brothers Circus Train Disaster "At 8:30 am at the Grand Trunk railroad yards in Durand, MI, two separate trains of the Wallace Bros. Shows met in a rear end collision that resulted in the death of 23 people. Twice as many were injured and several animals were killed as the engine of the second train smashed into several cars of the first...." (26 actually died and almost 100 were injured.) Numerous photos. See also Circus Train Wreck Memorial
Rubbernecking at the Big Top
Aircraft Disasters
PlaneCrashInfo.com Database of crashes. 100 worst. Photos. Last words. Unusual. etc.
Ten Plane Crashes That Changed Aviation "... Midair collisions, on-board fires, a fatigued fuselage that turned a plane into a high-altitude convertible—out of these tragedies arose major technological advances in flight safety that keep air travel routine today...." See also "Safest Seat on a Plane"
Wikipedia's Aviation Accidents and Incidents  "... Since the birth of flight, aircraft have crashed, often with serious consequences. This is because of the unforgiving nature of flight, where a relatively insubstantial medium, air, supports a significant mass. Should this support fail, there is limited opportunity for a positive outcome. Because of this, aircraft design is concerned with minimizing the chance of failure, and pilots are trained with safety a primary consideration. Despite this, accidents still occur, though statistically flying is the safest form of transportation. In fact, the relative rarity of incidents, coupled with the often dramatic outcome, is one reason why they still make headline news. Nevertheless, while the odds of actually getting caught in a plane crash are nowadays distinctly low compared to other means of transportation, the chances of dying in such a disaster are notably higher. Many early attempts at flight ended in failure when a design raised to a height for a launch would fail to generate enough lift and crash to the ground. Some of the earliest aviation pioneers lost their lives testing aircraft they built. Click here for the rest of the story. Illustration shows the first known aviation fatalities — the deaths of balloonists Pilâtre de Rozier and Pierre Romain on 15 June 1785.
Shipwrecks
Shipwreck Central "... is the definitive website for shipwreck enthusiasts, containing the most extensive shipwreck video collection available on the web. Shipwreck Central is your site, your place to make contact with shipwreck enthusiasts from every country of the world. We hope it becomes your favorite site for gathering information on our favorite topic, the world’s shipwrecks..."
Wikipedia's List of Shipwrecks Sunken ships whose remains have been located
Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum "...is the only one of its kind dedicated to the perils of maritime
transport on the Great Lakes. It is fittingly located at Whitefish Point, Michigan, site of the
oldest active lighthouse on Lake Superior....the big lake's unrelenting fury has earned her the reputation of being the most treacherous of the Great Lakes. Throughout the museum gallery visitors see dramatic shipwreck legends come to life. Artifacts and exhibits tell stories of sailors and ships who braved the waters of Superior and those who were lost to her menacing waves. The bell of the famous Edmund Fitzgerald is displayed in the museum as a memorial to her lost crew. Whitefish Point marks the critical turning point for all ships entering or leaving the lake. The waters that extend west from Whitefish Point along the 80-mile stretch of rugged shoreline have earned the ominous title, "Lake Superior's Shipwreck Coast." Take a Virtual Tour of the Museum
S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online ".... the most complete and thorough source of information on the internet regarding the ship. S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald Online is dedicated to informing others about the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, which took the lives of twenty-nine men 30 years ago, affecting dozens of families and a countless number of friends and comrades of the shipping industry. The Edmund Fitzgerald is lost, but not forgotten...."
California Shipwrecks
Sinking of the RMS Titanic "... was one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in history. On 14 April 1912, at 11:40 p.m., the ship struck an iceberg and sank in just under three hours with the loss of almost exactly 1,517 lives...."
Online Titanic Museum
Titanic Historical Society
Newspaper coverage of the sinking of the Titanic
Dare Devil Sports
Movie Stunt Accidents and Deaths
Wikipedia on Stunts that Have Gone Wrong "... Stuntwork accounts for over half of all film-related injuries, with an average of 5 deaths for every 2,000 injuries. From 1980 to 1990 there were 37 deaths relating to accidents during stunts, twenty-four of these deaths involved the use of helicopters...."
Mountain Climbing Accidents and Deaths
EverestHistory.com Summits and deaths per year
Notable Mountain Climbing Accidents analyzed by experts
Mt. Hood Climbing Accidents
Fatal Climbing Accidents in US
Fatal Climbing Accidents, Mt. Washington and Presidentials since 1849
Surviving K-2
Airplane Crashes
PlaneCrashInfo.com
Tragic Circumstances Which Lead to Acts of Cannibalism
The Donner Party "Emigrant Trail Museum and Statue in Truckee, CA, .... was called the Donner Party Museum, and its statue was credited for what it was - a shrine to a poorly planned, ineptly led journey across the mountains in the dead of winter that led to starvation, death, and CANNIBALISM!"
Environmental Protester Killed
An environmental activist protesting against logging of old growth redwood trees was killed on Thursday when a redwood tree fell on him after being cut by loggers, officials said.
David Chain, who was in his mid-20's, died after pleading with loggers from Pacific Lumber Co. not to chop down redwood trees near Grizzly Creek, outside the town of Fortuna, Darryl Cherney of the group Earth First! said |
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