Citation Needed - People Who Have Gone Over Niagara Falls in a Barrel

Episode Date: March 9, 2022

Since 1850, more than 5,000 people have gone over Niagara Falls, either intentionally (as stunts or suicide attempts) or accidentally. The first recorded person to survive going over the falls was school teacher Annie Edson Taylor, who in 1901 successfully completed the stunt inside an oak barrel. In the following 121 years, thousands of people have been swept over the falls but only sixteen people have reportedly survived the feat. All instances of people having survived the trip over the falls have been over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. Following the death of one daredevil in 1951, stunting at Niagara Falls has been illegal and subject to fines of up to $25,000 USD. Our theme song was written and performed by Anna Bosnick. If you’d like to support the show on a per episode basis, you can find our Patreon page here.  Be sure to check our website for more details.

Where are you getting the Tom Cruise is gonna be in the movie? It was trending on Twitter. Really? Okay, flat earth trends on Twitter. Oh, yeah, that's fair. Guys, guys. Azee, so how's it going? Have you gone in the studio yet?

No, no, we're talking about a factor of strange. Do you think Tom Cruise is gonna be in it? It probably not, but that's not the point. This week is about people who've gone over Niagara Falls and we need to get in there. Eli's probably sticking himself in a barrel right now. Oh, yeah. Hi guys.

See? Barrel told you. I called it. I called it. Eli, before you do anything stupid, I know you like to do thematic shenanigans before every show, but do not go over Niagara Falls in that thing. Okay. You guys are crazy.

I would never do that. You wouldn't? No, of course not. Get hurt or something. Well, wait, we're all out here. And if you're not going to go over who's in the barrel? Oh, the guys from the citations needed podcaster teach them to steal our show name. Okay, you know their show came first, right? Don't interrupt, Tom. You need help loading the barrel into the car? I do. Yes.

Thank you. Hello and welcome to Citation Needed, the podcast where we choose a subject for a single article about it on Wikipedia and pretend we're experts because this is the internet, and that's how it works now. I'm Noah and I'm going to be launching this episode, but I'll be damned if I'm going to take this plunge alone first up. Two men, the barrel would be nervous about going over with Tom and Ewa. Oh, like you never got caught whispering. I want to be inside you to inanimate objects Noah. She does.

I haven't caught. And the barrels are jealous of my aroundness. And also joining us tonight are two men who wouldn't do it for the glory, but might do it for the Poutine, Cecil and Heath. I'm still trying to invent a safety device where you polish drink and Poutine and flates around your neck. Yes. That's what I'm looking for. Gravy float. And of course before we start talking about the kind of potentially deadly shit attention seeking people can resort to for the sake of the spotlight. So femoral warmth.

I'd like to remind you that our safer alternative relies on your Patreon donations. That's right folks. If you don't donate to us on Patreon, we could die. I'm going to go full oral Roberts here. And if you like to learn more about how to ensure our survival, be sure to stick around to the end of the show. And with that out of the way, tell us Tom, what person plays? Think how's that phenomenon or event? We'll be talking about today. Today, we will be discussing a list of people who have gone over Niagara Falls.

All right. And Cesar, our official story is that you were only researching the subject for the sake of this episode. So with that in mind, are you ready to tell us about? Falling I am confident you will give me a score of 9.81 meters squared out of 10 nice, okay So where does our story begin Today we're gonna be talking about people that have gone over Niagara Falls, some of the barrel, others, not so lucky. Some of this story is going to be a little gruesome as going on over a large waterfall can be.

I also want to start by giving a little backstory about the falls themselves and the legends that surround them. I will give you now a few moments here to express your displeasure at proper context and let the booze die down. Boo, boo, boo nerd, boo, boo. I hate you, fuck you, boo, boo. Podcast listener Cecil probably cut it for time, but he just booed for 30 straight voice straining minutes.

So if you feel quiet in the latter half, he's just saving the old vocal chords.. Your not going to make him happy until you figure out a way to podcast with just pictures. Don't even try, bro. Don't even try. Okay, a fun fact. The Etruscans actually invented the cylinder. So we really owe the very idea of barrels to the Etruscans. Arrg, they invented. You're entertaining. You never mind. Now you did you. No, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you did it. No, he's getting some more because the trust skins is a Noah

thing and then the goofy voice is a he thing with the fun vet. You got it quack if you want to do Noah. I don't like to give notes on air. For the podcast listener, Niagara Falls isn't one waterfall.

It's a series of three waterfalls that border New York and Ontario and they spanned the Niagara Gorge. The biggest of these three's falls is the one on the Canada side called the Canadian Falls or the Horseshoe Falls. This is the one that is actually right on the border between the two countries. The two smaller falls, the American and the bridal veil falls are both on the American side of the border. There's also two islands in this gorge, goat island and Luna island. These falls have the largest flow of water of any waterfalls in North America and the seventh largest in the world at 5.9 million cubic feet of water. That goes over the falls every minute.

Wow. They have a drop of 160 feet or 50 meters depending on which side of the falls you're on. I feel like I've had summer days where my ass crack beat that. I know that's a weird way. I'm going to let you Ela in the summer. I agree. I believe you. She's a, what's the drop angle on that? Like 180. It's just like straight down. He's talking about my ass crack. It's not a 180. He's not. There are several factors that make going over the falls more dangerous than that than just, oh, that's a lot of water and that's a big drop. At Horseshoe Falls, the pool at the bottom of the falls is 180 feet deep. So after you go over the side of the falls with 5.9 million cubic feet of water, you're then shoved down by that water. That water can also dash you against the rocks, pretty much destroying whatever container,

you freshness sealed yourself in for the stunt. Your container can also just stall under the water, cycling you up and down in the current, like some sunken aquarium ship powered by the aerator. So many of the stories of the people who didn't survive and some of the people who did will rely on a lot of the things we've laid out so far. So why go over the falls at all? Some of the stories I'm going to tell are just tales of misadventure, slipping, falling, sometimes drunken, slipping and falling can be pretty hazardous, especially around something as dangerous as the falls. Other stories are the stories of trying to get famous or trying to do some kind of stunt

for attention or the record. Quick listeners at home, before we get on with the the essay name anyone who ever did this dumb shit. That's the level of fame. Even if you can name it still dumb. I'm too example of dumb. That's why you can name it. There's still other stories made up legends in particular that are just shitty common tropes to somehow paint the local Native Americans as horrible savages and sell boat rides.

Cool. Yeah. All right, everybody. Welcome to Everfall Cruises. Here's a copy of The White Man's Burden by Roger Gippling and your race. Enjoy. Bring out the best ye breed. The legend of the maid of the mist is one such racist shitty legend.

The European version of this story is that the local natives were trying to appease the thunder god, so they took one of the young women of their tribe, stuffed her in a canoe, and sent her over the falls as human sacrifice to somehow influence the God not to hurt them or to help them in some way. The native people have a different version of this story where a young widow in a fitted depression throws herself over the falls and she's caught by the God of Thunder.

The God lives in the waterfall and he takes her behind the water to heal. She recovers, learns about the gods, falls in love with the gods, eldest son gets married and eventually returns to her tribe to bring them the knowledge of the gods. Okay. To be fair, we didn't sacrifice her. She killed herself is what white people say about Natalie Wood. But now I don't know who to believe. I know who to believe. Skeptic falls also attracts another kind of thrill seeker, the tightrope walker. The first person across the Niagara Gorge was Jean-François Blondin Gravelay in 1859.

He crossed the tightrope eight times that year. Once he carried his B top-headed manager on his back. The first and only woman to cross the falls was 23 year old Maria Spelterini in 1876. She did it several times once she was blindfolded and in another time she had her hands and her ankles handcuffed. Okay, that one took forever though, just shuffling a few inches at a time. Right? Okay, you know what? This is actually pretty boring. I get it. This is like walk away for a snow cone. The last person across was Nick Wollenda in June of 2012. He was the first person across in 116 years. He crossed 1800 feet of tightrope

in the longest unsupported tightrope walk in history. When he arrived on the Canadian side of the gorge, he presented his passport to the board of the fifth figure. All right. Well, quick, while we're still doing stories with aw shucks endings, I guess we can pause for a break. Oh, damn. I know. We'll be back with another kind of story all together after a bit of apropos. Oh, it's gonna get sad.

This is how the truckers are gonna have to do it soon. What? I would do that. You can go on that. Fucking tightrope walk, assholes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Where? Where am I? Well hello there, Mickey O'Flanagan. Welcome to Heaven. Oh, I'm dead? You sure are, but don't you fret, you're the heaven of the falls. Oh, what's the heaven of the falls? It's for all us brave souls who didn't make it over the false.

We get our very own heaven full of adventure and daring for all of eternity. Over there's a tight rope of infinity over there's the launching head. Sorry real quick. Yeah, yeah, I wasn't doing like a cool barrel thing. I just slipped and fell over railing. Actually don't like any of that stuff you just just named I'm pretty scared of heights actually. Oh Yeah, um, okay, is there a There like a bar here. There's a limbo bar

Can I drink that? No, yeah, Yeah. I figured no. And we're back. Well, we made it halfway into a citation needed episode. Nobody's died yet. So took obviously a new. Whole little shift. Yeah. Right. Exactly. You know, it's this shit. Go. It's technically not half. We're only about a quarter. Oh, that's right. Just hold for a break before anybody died. That's all.

Okay, let's get onto the death. Since 18, I'm building the moment, guys. I'm building the moment. Okay, now our guy dies. Since 18, yeah, totally. Since 1850, there have been 5,000 bodies found at the bottom of the fall. Okay. Now you're just trying to like struggling to keep up. You catching up for last time.

I'm just, yeah, Jesus. That was a weird day when they picked up all 5,000. Yeah. They say one big strainer out and they're like, it's a pasta. It's like when you do the bathtub. Yeah, exactly. One of them just, they keep being linked to gather. They keep pulling up more and more and one plumber with one big, long snake,

all the time. That's why you're pulling up. Okay. So 5,000 bodies have been found at the bottom of the falls. In fact, only 16 people have survived going over the falls. I like my eyes. Exactly. I guess the Wikipedia article only goes back to 1850. So the first story is, and this will not come as a shock to any veteran citation needed listeners, a tragedy to unnamed men and a fellow by the name of Joseph Avery were working on a flat bottom boat on the river. They were also drinking. The three fell off the boat. And two of the unnamed men both had predictable and not notable deaths. They just went over the falls and died. Avery was able to grab onto the roots of a tree on an island. He hung

on for 18 hours. Oh, she says then they finally got a boat to him using like a long length of rope and they floated out to him. Avery exhausted after his 18 hour ordeal was able to miraculously climb aboard the boat. And then immediately capsize and he went over the fall. The aristocrats. A lot of more sex singing at his funeral. It wasn't ironic, but you know, neither is the song. So there you go. Yeah.

He shows up and having next to his buddies. Dude, what took you so long? Well, I spent 18 hours almost surviving. Some asshole just watched me and took notes for Wikipedia. Ridiculous. The next person listed was the first person to purposely go over the falls, expected to survive and did so in a barrel. Annie Edison Taylor decided to go over the falls in an oak barrel as a publicity stunt. Her hope was that she would become famous

and she would be able to cash in on this fame, traveling and doing speaking engagements. She needed the money and, quote, had fallen upon hard times, having been burned out of her home and having lost money invested with a clergyman. End quote. It feels like the fucking preacher should be the one in the barrel, I think. been burned out of her home and having lost money invested with a clergyman and quote, I feel like the fucking preacher should be the one in the barrel, I think.

It's bad luck that investment just disappeared into the ether. Two better investments were tethered to something so cryptic. I don't like cryptocurrency at all. I got three in there. Three. Not one I ordered to see in Drake. Not four Tom. I left tea. Stupid cut. The barrel was constructed of oak and iron and it was taller than Taylor. The plan was that she would stuff a mattress in the barrel, put a pillow on her hands over her head, trying to stay herself inside using her arms. And her head pressed up against one of the lids. She's the famous arm strength of 64 year old ladies.

And the other side though, as her feet were pressed against the other lid. Two days before the stunt, she sealed her cat inside the barrel and sent it over the falls. The cat survived with a bleeding head and there's a photo in the wiki article of her posing with the barrel and the cat. All right. The fucking clergyman got a reprieve. I'm back on board with her being in the barrel.

Yeah. Yeah. Nobody even had to go to get her inside. Right. Yeah. Nobody even had to go to get her inside. Right. Yeah. Right. I would have any way, but I was like, I'm on a string. They're trying to get her to go in the laser pointer. She climbed into the barrel on her 63rd birthday, although the article made it seem like she was fond of saying she was 42 at the time. She had her lucky pillow with her. There's a story that I want to know. I have an unlucky. Surprisingly,

her lucky pillow. So they sealed the top by screwing it on and the barrel itself had a valve and they pumped it up with a bicycle pump. Wait a minute. Wait, they over pressurized it like an instant pot. Yeah. They definitely puts them, they put some air in there. It was all right. It did extra air. They pressurized it. They shoved it away and she dropped over the Canadian falls. The barrel was recovered about 25 minutes after the fall and she had a nice gash on her head and a mild concussion, but was otherwise unharmed. She did have this to say about the experience though, quote, if it was with

my last dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feet. I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon knowing it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the fall. And quote, she thought it was going to be a pleasant experience. And a mattress. Also, I love that she tried to like brace herself in the, but she was like, no, I got a pillow and I put my arms up against it. And I'm good.

Everybody thinks the power of their human arms is like infinite. Her plan to make money really didn't pan out. She did earn a little and wrote a memoir that she sold at Niagara Falls, but her manager left and took her barrel. The little money she was able to earn off of the fame was spent hiring private detectives to find her missing manager and the barrel. Quote. It was eventually located in Chicago only to permanently disappear sometime later. End quote. And that has a citation needed tag on it.

But so does this doozy that I just want to read it as entirety. She spent her final years posing for photographs with tourists at her souvenir stand, attempting to earn money from the New York Stock Exchange, briefly talking about taking a second plunge over the cataracts in 1906. She was a danger. Tempting to run. Tempting to adopt a wallet. Okay. But attempting to write a novel, reconstructing her 1901 plunge on film, which was never

seen, working as a clairvoyant and providing magnetic therapeutic treatments to local residents and magnetic. Arms and magnets, they're both magic. Everybody fucking arms. How do they work? The next list thing is a death in 1903, Washington senators baseball player got kicked off a train at the falls for being drunken disorderly and starting a few fights after slamming five whiskey. Jesus. The conductor claimed he pulled out a straight razor and threatened people that he fell off a railway bridge or jumped into the water. It took two weeks to find the body.

Well, most of it one leg was gone. I feel like it's a trip in fall because there's like no official check box for started a fight with the water. The second plan trip over the falls with a vessel was Bobby Leach of the Barnum and Bailey circus. He had a barrel that looked like an absolute death trap. Like had sharp edges. It looked terrifying. It looked genuinely terrifying. It's all metal. It had sharp edges, it looked terrifying. It looked genuinely terrifying. It's all metal. It had sharp, like on the inside. It looks, it looks, it's all riveted. So you know the insides like sharp edges, you're like, that's got to have sharp

edges. It looked terrifying. It looks like a fucking iron lung. It looks like he went over the falls in an iron lung. Before he even gets in the ward, he's like, ow splinter, ow. It's so bad. He was fond of saying about the first lady to go over the falls, quote, anything any could do, I can do better. And, quote, did do one, get your gun classic. Yeah. He did do one thing better. He racked up more injuries than any did when they pulled them out of the barrel. He had two broken kneecaps in a fractured block took him six months to recover later in life when he was on a publicity tour in New Zealand. He slipped on an orange peel. What?

Gash's leg got gangrene had to get his leg amputated and then died two months later. Oh, aren't you guys stop screaming. I'm doing a joke. Orange. You. Oh, I don't like rooting for people to die. But so far, you're making this out almost as dangerous as citrus fruit. Right. So I love that people were pulling this jackass level shit at a time in medical history when a stray bit of zest could kill you. Yeah. Yeah. Charles Stevens, who has an ominous daredevil in parentheses after his name on Wikipedia is

the next to die in the falls. He tried to go over the falls in July of 1920. He was urged by Bobby Leach, the guy who just lost a 12 round fight with the falls to actually test the barrel he was going to use. Stevens refused, climbed in the barrel with an anvil. But no, the anvil to his feet went over the side. Anvil. An anvil. The metal.

The metal. Yes, you know, you know what I'm talking about? A big, heavy metal thing like blacksmiths, you mean? Yes, yes, absolutely. So at the bottom, they suspect that the antelope broke right through the barrier. And he was dragged to the bottom. Obviously, it uses arms to hold it. He might have I say suspect because they only found his right arm, which is buried in Trim and Hill sanitary in Niagara Falls. Okay. I mean, that's, it's that I'm pretty sure that's a suicide. I feel like that's a suicide.

Yeah. Nobody's like, trust me, this Anvil is going to make my water activity that I'm going to do right now. No, right. Nobody's has that. Okay. I don't think the Acne Corporation has the best track record for these stunts, guys. Why is there a road runner winking at me?

This is not, but you know, it's big X in the water. Is he going to? Yeah, right? Okay, I hope that have gone well. What did just, what did just shake the end fill around and like juice him inside of there? No, it's so crazy. I wonder what I was like, he's a fucking animal.

He's what? Yeah. And he strapped it to his feet. That's what did he think? Oh, did he ask the local mafia to tuck him in that night? What's happening? I don't want it to rattle around while I'm on, you know, well, I'm going to do this. I was going to do something.

No, you're all rotating now. Now the, now the end will spoil gun, well, I'm on the room. Just give me someone. No, you're all rotating. Now the, now the end of the ball gun me. Now I feel stupid. Okay. I'm doing leg presses with the angle on the way down. Fucking pat Robertson. I don't care if the fucking wall.

He didn't skip leg day. That's for sure. Probably had to skip arm day soon. But he did skip. You got to take a rest to have to lose if you lose. There are. You do have as many arm days in 1928. Joseph Lussier built a giant rubber ball to go over the falls.

He put in steel bands, valves and air to keep him alive and some rubber stabilizers to make sure it wouldn't just spin like an auto control carnival ride. It cost him $7,000 in 19, which is about 115,000 in today's money. He climbed into the ball and went over. Before he actually plunged over the falls, one of the stabilizers ripped off the bottom by a rock in the river, but he made it to the bottom and he was mostly unharmed. He then set up shop and sold pieces of the ball for the next few decades. And when he ran out of real genuine rubber Niagara Falls ball, he sold people cut up tight.

What the fuck was it with the Chachki stand business at this point in history, the big and defying stunts to break into it? You could just sell rubber. Yeah. You could just sell rubber. You could just yeah. It's good. I have to do it. It's easier just to learn how to knit. You know what I mean? You could just do that.

There's guys in New York City who just like stand still for a living. I mean, come on. You know that people walked past his stand to get a bottled water and he was like, shit, bottled water. You buy it cheap and then you sell it. It was 5.9 million liters a minute. George Statakis was the next to die in the falls. He was his chef from Buffalo, New York, climbed into a barrel with his 150 year old pet

turtle and sealed himself inside. He said it was 150 years old. I have no idea. But he wish he had wings by the end of the. Buffalo wings to chef from Buffalo. Oh, there you go. He's like, the turtle. I was like, Mario.

His barrel ran into some complications and he got stuck behind a giant torrent of the falls for 18 hours. He survived the fall, but he died of his fixation. He was survived, however, by his turtle. Nice. Okay. I feel like I shouldn't have to clarify this, but your pet, it doesn't want to do any of your activities that are to brisk walk in good weather. Definitely in the fuck home. Just leave him home.

Pugs want to die slowly of a succeed. Who's that true? Yeah, I'm just gonna face this and work in there. Do I bring my pug to live shows? No. That 150 year old turtle just yons, not today falls, not today. They open it up, he's eating the guy's arm. You know, I'm so excited.

What are you gonna do? I brought my pet human in here. You guys want to buy a piece of them? William Hill, Jr. who went by the neck name of red was the next try. His father had been a dare double that he'd used a barrel to navigate the rapids on the Niagara River. One point Harold. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Yeah, but I was just covering vomit in there. It's like the worst till to world ever. It's like a stagia stuck, free straight hours stuck to the side like the Gravitron. It's like a shoe. You have a stagia stuck on it. You have a stagia stuck on it. It's terrible.

You know the worst part though is that there was a guy with his arms in the air behind him, the entire time. So stop, man, relax, stop. Stop saying woo, man. It's like the second half of the moon. You can't have that much of your name. Not buying the picture of myself at the end. Hill Jr. While trying to make money for a memorial for his father, got into his barrel and went over the falls. His barrel exploded on him. Oh, God. He was killed. It was his death in 1951 that convinced the American and

Canadian governments to ban all barrel activity at the falls, making it a findable offense if you survived. You make it to the bottom. You're just like $200. That's like 10 years to seven pieces of this barrel. It's so much about humanity, though, doesn't it? That you even have to create artificial disinsetives to shit that naturally ends with if you survive? I don't know, man. It just seems like more cancel cultures. I want to go.

I want to go over a barrel in 1960. An adult and two children were in a fishing boat, almost two kilometers upstream from the falls. They lost the motor, almost two kilometers upstream from the falls. They lost the motor, hit the rapids and capsized. The young girl that was with the group, Diane Woodward, was pulled from the falls 20 feet from the edge. Her brother Roger and the adult James Honeycutt went over the falls. Roger was the first person to survive going over the falls on assisted.

He survived because he was wearing a life vest. James was not and did not. I mean, I'd call Roger lucky, but he couldn't have lasted more than a week selling pieces of that life vest, right? I'm just trying to think Niagara Falls token. It's not for Tom. In July of 1961, the first African American went over the falls. Nathan Boyah had a six foot tall rubber ball called the plungeo sphere. He bounced around on the rocks, became out uninjured. He was fined for going over and he was mostly quiet about the whole thing until many years later, he confessed his reason for doing it on a documentary quote.

He had broken off his engagement to a woman that he felt he had wronged and he performed the dangerous stunt as a form of penance. Niagara Falls had been their planned honeymoon destination. And yeah, I feel like that might not have played out the way he hoped. I'm sorry, Betty, but I can't marry you. Oh Nathan, you've broken my heart. Isn't there anything I can do to make it up to you? Well, perhaps if we communicate more and talk about our feelings,

we can learn to love one another again. Go over Niagara Falls in a rubber ball. Got it, I hear you. I'm going to be clear. That's what you said. Carol Susak, a Czech professional stuntman that was living in Canada, went over the falls and survived. The most notable thing about his journey was what he painted on the side of his barrel. Quote, it's not whether you fail or triumph. It's that you keep your word and at least try and quote try to keep your word. I don't know. Anyway, he went on to die doing what he loved. Yeah, no matter if you fail or try. Yeah, so much matters.

It's the one thing that does that. You get a burgundy ribbon for going over the falls. You're dead. You're just a bit of a duck. Anyway, he went on to die doing what he loved. There it is being dropped in a barrel. Wasn't on the falls though. He was dropped 180 feet from the ground in the Astrodome into a pool of water. Oh, no, he hit the side of the tank instead of the middle. He was cut from the barrel and he died. While the stud show he was part of continued. The show must go on. Yeah, which is really tragic because he was fond of saying he was going to land among the stars as he did not. I just wish it was the wrestling thing. They set the body on fire. So guy has to backflip

over it. You know, for the next several years, a few people went over and barrels and some of them more than once. The most interesting thing about their stories is that sometimes they were caught by the authorities. I'm positive the cops were pissed. They got their boots wet. Robert overracker for went the barrel for a jet ski. He was trying to raise awareness for the homeless with his stunt and his rocket propelled parachute did not open and he did not survive. Much like so many of our homeless don't survive. You know, like everyone's aware that there are fucking homeless people who want to help donate

however much a rocket propelled parachute jet ski would cost to the fucking shelter. Like, nobody's ever been sleeping outside in the rain and been like, oh, you know, it would have been great. If some guy rocket ski parachuted over Niagara Falls, that would have warmed me right up. You know, what's great? Raised awareness. I really, I was like what the raised awareness is. Know that we're here.

I think about it. I'll just eat some of that. Jesse Sharp took a canoe over the fall of 1990. What? Okay, this is my, this one, this one is my favorite. I'm sure that you can have a favorite someone falling to their death. This is my favorite someone falling to their death. Oh, I've got like a boy that I like, Jesse Sharpe to the community of the falls in 1990.

He wasn't wearing a life vest and he did not, he didn't have a helmet on because he wanted to make sure that his face wasn't obstructed if people took his picture. He had planned to pilot the canoe over the falls and then without a break, paddle downstream four miles to a restaurant where he had dinner reservations. His body was never recovered, but they did find the canoe a few days later. Yeah, that's, I mean, sad, but silver lining, they did have a free two top table for a walk in the night. So, part of it was like, nice. You were swimming his plus one didn't just eat that, right? Like she's probably gonna say,

well I'm just getting some fucking chicken. But I just made it a plus one. It's a canoe. Like how did this look in his head? Did he picture him going over Aala, Indie and short Rouse? I'm just picturing him like paddling frantically in the air and he's like, don't look down. Don't look down, I'm just gonna call him a wolf. If you just keep paddling.antically in the air and he's like, don't look down. Don't look down.

That's what the party goes. If you just keep paddling, that's the mistake they all make. I would say no. Kirk Jones was the first adult to go over the falls without anything, barrel, life vest, et cetera. And he survived. In 2003, he was drinking with friends and they planned to record him going over with a video camera, except they were so shit face, they couldn't get it to work.

Kirk swam for about 100 meters upstream and then he went over the falls. When he get down to the bottom, he swam past the maid of the mist, but the water and walked up on the show. What? He was banned for life from Canada. And then he said it was suicidal to get a smaller fine from the US government. Okay. That's weird because it seems like you would just let the US ban you from Canada. And then he said it was suicidal to get a smaller fine from the US government. Okay. That's weird because it seems like you would just let the US ban you from Canada more again.

Right. In 2017 Kirk Jones returned to the falls to try to go over again. This time he decided to do it on a device. He went over quote, while writing inside an eight foot plastic ball carrying his pet boa constrictor name, Misty, end quote, Jones died in his second try over the falls. They found his on his wrist a controller for a drone suggesting that he wanted to try to film it, but the drone never actually took off. The plastic ball was recovered at the bottom of the falls and they never found the snake stop evolving your pets in your suicide. The most recent incident happened on July 8th, 2019, the police were called to the falls

on the Canadian side to deal with someone who was going to jump in. The person climbed up to one of the retaining walls. And as the police approached, he jumped into the water. He was swept over the waterfall. And they called it a rescue crew looking for a body. What they found was the man alive sitting on a rock by the lower observation platform. Yeah, but he was holding a very confused snake turtle and a cat. And one arm. Yeah, right. Oh, that's the other one. I feel like a magic. I feel like a magic.

I feel down there. All right. So if you had to summarize what you learned in one sentence, what would it be? It's not whether you fail or triumph. It's that you keep your word or at least try. I don't think it. I feel like it's if you know, all right. So are you ready for a little drop quiz? I am ready to take the plunge.

All right, Cecil, what could have saved all these people from dying? Ooh, I know. Hey, my pillow CEO, Mike Lindell, could have air dropped 10,000 pillows from here. First impression, they're the cows. But he was tragically blocked by the tyrannical Canadian government. We have amazing 70 grabs and he's got those little parachutes on the pillow. So it just float down. Yeah, it's gotta be a I'm going with a it was a there was other choices, but you already

nailed it. Yeah, they were super funny. The other ones, but I will skip them. I think you just get them. All right, so what else would have helped some of these people survive? A, if they had tested their theory before going over, thus insisting on the stunt being barrel proof. B, if they had worked out more to build up their power, relying on the stunt's barrel strength. C, and their

arm strength, if they had been younger going over, avoiding the problem of the stunt being barrel age. Oh Jesus. We're de-whisky. I'm gonna go. I'm gonna go with the tea whiskey. Oh, you got it. That would have been. All right, Cecil. Tableau. All right, Cecil. What's the best name for a daredevil pet? A weasel, con evil. So good. I want to go with a con evil. You could go with so good.

We will. But yeah, that's your rhymed already. Get B. Fonzie bear. Okay. jump the shirt. See? Felix the cat, boom, Gartner. No, no, no, no, no, no, come on, you can have done Phoenix, Bob Gartner. I mean, it would have been better. But we will, Kineble would have been better too. We will, Kineble, Kineble, Kineble. Do you guys have any notes on the other stuff you like said so far? Yeah, tell me a second about the Barnes and Bair. Re-Houdini, Mary-D. I'm gonna go on. The best one, hey, Weasel Canoe.

Weasel Canoevo it is. You are in grants. Incorrect, you lose it. Yes, so. Well, I guess Elyse, the thing is Elyse, it's not whether you fail or try, I'm convinced that you keep your words, at least you tried so the thing is Eli. It's not whether you fail or try them fits that you keep At least you tried so you win this week. I did and I choose an essay from Tom next Also well for Cecil Tom Eli and Heath I'm no thinking for hanging out with us today

We'll back next week and by then Tom will be an expert on something else between now and then you can hear more from heath Eli and me I got off a movie's the skating athiest D&D minus and the skeptic Grant you can also hear more from Tom and Cecil on the one other podcast that they do. Codding to listen. And if you'd like to help me this show go in, you can make a perub sent to their ship patreon.com's a citation pond. We'll leave the spots over here. Everywhere you can.

And if you'd like to get in touch with us, check out the past episodes. Can I go to the social media or check the show notes. We sure check out sent a waste of time. I'm out. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha you