History - Daredevils
THOSE CRAZY MEN (AND WOMEN) IN THEIR TIGHTS!
For strange – unknown reasons, NIAGARA has been (and remains) a magnet, pulling in anyone who has any weird or outlandish thought about becoming a part of the drama of the mighty cataracts – some to remain forever in Niagara’s lore.
“The pictures we liked the best (meaning those we argued the most about) were of those daredevils who’d done those bad-ass tricks and stunts over the Falls. While those pictures were exciting, they made us feel cheated as well, because the cops didn’t let anyone do cool
things like that anymore.” -Kevin; Bridges – a Tale of Niagara
Beginning in 1827 (and maybe further back if you want to consider the Iroquois - Maid of the Mist deliberately going over the thundering waters) and right up to the present, people have challenged Niagara. Whether it’s the brink itself, the gorge above or the raging rapids below – there has been a steady stream of human fodder offering themselves to the water in exchange for a moment of glory.
1827 - two enterprising men publicized that the “great pirate ship, ‘Michigan’’, loaded with wild and ferocious beasts captured from the far corners of the globe”, would be sent hurtling over the brink of the Horseshoe Falls! Cowabunga!!
They got an old, decrepit wreck of a boat, disguised it as a pirate ship, tied stuffed effigies of pirates along the side rails, loaded it with a couple of stray dogs and cats, two foxes, a raccoon, two bears, a buffalo, an eagle and fifteen geese and set it adrift in the Upper Niagara River to go over the abyss. As it approached the crest, the decrepit derelict broke apart, scattering the unlucky creatures into the maelstrom of surging waters. The bears managed to get to Goat Island. The remaining ‘passengers’ plummeted to their deaths in the maelstrom below!
As misguided and evil an act as this was, coming straight out of Dante’s Inferno, it was a booming success for the entrepreneurs. They made a fortune! Tens of thousands of people lined the shores of Niagara - climbed the treetops - scaled the landscape to see this “spectacular” event. Five luxurious steamboats came down the river from Buffalo, bringing the well-to-do to eyewitness the spectacle of sending the unfortunate creatures to their demise, while sitting in luxury, sipping their cocktails. As reported by the press “…it was a massive success as much beer and liquor was consumed and all the local hotels were filled…”. Indeed they ran out of liquor before the boat even fell apart. The Romans couldn’t have done it better with a coliseum. The age of the Niagara stuntmen had begun!
The Jumpers
Sam Patch was Niagara's first known daredevil. In October 1829 the 22 year old jumped off a platform at the top of a 98 foot high ladder set up below Goat Island, not far from the Cave of the Winds. He survived. On November 6, 1829 he attempted a jump from the Genesee Fall in Rochester, New York. This time he did not survive.
The Swimmers
Matthew Web was the first person to swim across the English Channel. On July 24, 1883 he attempted to swim through the Whirlpool Rapids at Niagara Falls. Things did not go well, he disappeared from view and his body was discovered four days later between Lewiston and Youngstown.
The Barrels
“Some of those pictures were of men and women who had gone over the Falls in contraptions they called “barrels” but which usually didn’t look anything like a barrel. Just some old fart standing next to some gizmo called a barrel, staring at the camera with bug eyes in his long underwear like a zombie. Big deal—bo-r-ring.” -Kevin; Bridges – a Tale of Niagara
Annie Edison ‘Maude’ Taylor - Schoolteacher – looking to make some money.
October 1901, the 63-year-old school teacher was the first person to go over the Falls in a barrel. After exiting the barrel, she said, "No one should ever try that again.”
She didn’t try it again and she didn’t make any money neither. While she made some meager dollars posing for photographs and selling pieces of her barrel, her manager took her for everything she owned and left her ‘high and dry’.
Bobby Leach On July 25, 1911, he became the second person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. He spent six months in the hospital recovering and then died on a publicity tour - slipping on an orange peel. Go figure.
THE TIGHTROPE WALKERS
There seemed a special attraction for watching those daring souls venture across the gorge on a thin wire rope. Starting with Jean Francois Gravelot, better known as ‘Blondin’ there was a nonstop stream of walkers doing crazy things over Niagara.
“The good pictures were of those guys who walked across the gorge on tightropes. Of course, they weren’t ropes at all but wires (why didn’t they call them “tightwires”?), and everyone always said those guys walked across Niagara Falls, but I’d never seen a picture of anyone doing that. It was always the gorge they walked across, away from the Falls. No matter, these guys were amazing. They did everything out there on those wires, suspended over the middle of the gorge with that wild river below them. One guy somehow took a washtub out there and washed clothes. Of course, the king was the famous Blondin, who did magic no one could ever do... In another really cool photo, he carried a guy on his back while walking across the wire. We could never say enough about that picture, and we always argued about it, more about the guy on his back than about Blondin.” -Kevin, Bridges – a Tale of Niagara
And of course – let’s not forget Maria…..
“There was one picture that Chuck didn’t like at all. It was another picture of a daredevil walking on a tightrope, just like the others, but that’s where the similarities ended. Two things made this picture different. First, the daredevil had a wooden bucket on each foot. As unbelievable as this way, it was the second difference that outraged Chuck to no end—the daredevil was a girl.” -Kevin, ‘Bridges – a Tale of Niagara’
Note in the pictures above that in one she is wearing a hat and in the other she is not – obvious proof that she walked across at least twice with buckets on her feet.
Also note the Suspension Bridge in the background, jammed full of people watching. This is the bridge that ‘Lizzie’ and her ‘mammy’ escaped across to the “lan o’ plenty – where the colored man be free.”
Signorina Maria Spelterini (also spelled as Spelterina) was a buxom, beautiful woman of Italian descent, famous for wearing outrageous costumes. Her stunts included walking with her feet in baskets and performing wearing shackles and chains. She was the first woman to ever walk cross the Niagara Gorge. Many of her stunts were done at the age of 23, as part of the celebration of the United States Centennial in 1876.
THE FAKE!
“In truth, some of the pictures were fake. There was one we liked that showed some guy falling off the wire in midair, with his long pole in space below him. We’d argue at length about what happened when he landed, and there was heated debate on whether he drowned, got busted up by the river, or was crushed to smithereens on the rocks. Ol’ Gordy attempted to kill our enthusiasm by telling us the picture was a lithograph that someone had faked by putting the figure of the guy falling on the “plate” first, then taking the picture with the Falls in the background. But we weren’t about to let Ol’ Gordy spoil our gory debate.” -Kevin, ‘Bridges – a Tale of Niagara’
THE KAYAKER!
The last pictures of Jessie Sharp, who chose to attempt the feat on June 5, 1990, in a white water kayak without a helmet or a life vest. He confidently had dinner reservations downstream, as his plan had been to continue riding the Niagara rapids after he successfully went over the Falls. His body was never recovered.
THE SKIER!
On October 1st 1995, Robert Overacker, a 39-year-old man from California, went over the Canadian Horseshoe Falls on a single jet ski. Entering the Niagara River near the Canadian Niagara Power Plant, he started skiing toward the Falls. At the brink, he attempted to discharge a rocket propelled parachute that was on his back. It failed to discharge.
From jumpers to barrel riders – from rope walkers to skiers – Niagara Falls has attracted them all for almost 200 years. Officials say that they recover an average of 20 people per year who chose Niagara Falls to commit suicide, but there are those who choose to go over the Falls in the name of adventure. Since 1901, about 20 people have gone over the Falls in search of fame and glory. Many lived to tell the tale, while others perished in the attempt.
Want more?
‘Google’: ‘Niagara daredevils’ and you’ll find more than enough information and pictures to fill a scrapbook.
or view more pictures at the Historic Niagara Digital Collection
or visit: Niagarafrontier.com thunder alley daredevils
or Read: ‘Niagara Daredevils – Chills and Spills over Niagara Falls ’ by Cheryl MacDonald
or go down and have some ‘dare-deviling’ adventure of your own riding the:
Whirlpool Jet Boat!!
Check it out at: www.whirlpooljet.com