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Daredevils

The BOLD, The BRAVE, The CRAZY!!!

A Timeline of Niagara’s Daredevils….
October 24, 1901
She’s #1
Annie Taylor becomes the first person to go over the Falls in a barrel. While she did survive, she did not receive the fame accolades she expected.
July 25, 1911
What a way to go…
Bobby Leach plummeted over the Falls in a steel barrel – breaking both of his kneecaps and his jaw. He died years later of gangrene after slipping on an orange peel in New Zealand.
July 11, 1920
Give ‘em a hand, or an arm…
Charles G. Stephens, an England native, decided to arm his barrel with an anvil for added safety. After tying himself to the anvil, Stephens plunged over the Falls. When his barrel was recovered, all that remained was his right arm.
July 4, 1928
The morning sun is shining like a large rubber ball.
“Smiling Jean” Lussier made a successful trip over the Falls in an oversized rubber ball.
July 5, 1930
Trapped
After being trapped in his barrel behind the Falls for more than 14 hours, George L. Strathakis suffocated to death.
August 5, 1951
The Thing
William “Red” Hill Jr. decided to go over the Falls in the “Thing,” a homemade contraption made of 13 inner tubes tied together with fish net and canvas straps. As thousands of people lined the river and watched as Hill descended over the Falls. Seconds later his tangled inner tubes and netting appeared. His body was recovered the following day.
June 30, 1961
Have a ball
Nathan Boya makes his trip over the Falls in a ball-like contraption.
July 3, 1984
Second time isn’t a charm
Karel Soucek becomes the first Canadian to survive a flight over the Falls. She later died after her barrel struck the edge of a water tank in the Houston Astrodrome – where she was attempting to recreate the stunt.
August 18, 1985
That’s a lot of tips
Steven Trotter, a Rhode Island bartender, was fined $5,503 after going over the brink in a barrel wrapped in inner tubes.
October 5, 1985
Maybe second time is a charm
Canadian John “Super Dave” Munday conquers the Falls. Believing two is better than one, he did it again on September 26, 1993.
September 28, 1989
Double the fun?
Peter De Bernardi and Jeffery James Petkovich, our neighbors in Niagara Falls, Ontario, are the first pair to make it over the Falls.