Meet the Rare Few Who Survived Going Over Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls is a lovely place to stand safely behind a railing and admire the scenery.
Over the years, however, a surprising number of people have looked at all that thundering water and come to a very different conclusion.
Some deliberately went over the falls inside barrels, balls, and other homemade contraptions.
One little boy went over completely by accident.
Even more remarkably, a handful of people lived to tell the tale.
The Rare Few Who've Survived Niagara Falls
There aren't many people who have survived Niagara Falls, and there's a good reason for that.
According to Niagara Parks, 16 recorded attempts have been made to go over the falls.
Five of them ended in death.
Those who survived relied on everything from carefully designed equipment to life jackets and an extraordinary amount of luck.
And it all started with a schoolteacher named Annie.
Annie Taylor Put Herself in a Barrel
On October 24th, 1901, Annie Edson Taylor became the first recorded person to go over Niagara Falls and survive.
She also happened to be celebrating her 63rd birthday.
Annie Edson Taylor’s barrel for Niagara Falls wasn't something she'd picked up behind the local general store.
It was a custom-built oak contraption that was reinforced with iron and padded inside to protect her during the plunge.
An anvil in the bottom served as a ballast, helping keep the barrel upright.
Annie was hoping the stunt would make her famous and improve her financial situation.
She survived.
The fortune part didn't pan out quite as well.
Nathan Boya Built Himself a Giant Ball
By 1961, the barrel had become a little old-fashioned.
Nathan Boya tackled Horseshoe Falls inside a six-foot steel sphere wrapped in layers of rubber and metal.
He called his creation the Plunge-O-Sphere, which is difficult to improve upon as a name.
Nathan Boya's Plunge-O-Sphere weighed about 1,200 pounds with him inside, and even had an oxygen system that was capable of supplying air for 30 hours.
The sphere took a substantial dent after hitting a rock below the falls.
But, Nathan emerged virtually unharmed.
The authorities were considerably less impressed. He was arrested and eventually fined $100, plus court costs.
Roger Woodward Never Planned to Go Over
The most remarkable survival story may belong to someone who wasn’t a daredevil.
Seven-year-old Roger Woodward became a Niagara Falls survivor on July 9th, 1960, after a boating trip went terribly wrong.
Roger and his 17-year-old sister, Deanne, were on the upper Niagara River with family friend James Honeycutt when the current near Niagara Falls began pulling their disabled boat toward Horseshoe Falls.
The boat eventually capsized.
Deanne was rescued near the brink. But, Roger and James went over.
Sadly, James Honeycutt didn’t survive Niagara Falls.
Somehow, Roger, who was wearing a life jacket, survived the plunge with only minor cuts and bruises.
The crew of the Maid of the Mist spotted him in the water below and pulled him aboard.
A Strange Burst of Water May Have Helped
Later, Roger recalled the violent rapids leading to the falls far more vividly than the drop itself.
What happened at the bottom remains harder to explain.
Niagara Falls historian Paul Gromosiak has suggested that Roger may have benefited from a phenomenon known as a water cone, created when tremendous amounts of falling water and trapped air force water back toward the surface.
That possible water-cone phenomenon at Niagara Falls may have helped keep Roger away from the rocks below.
Or, perhaps, an astonishing series of things simply went his way at precisely the right time.
Some Views Are Better From Behind the Railing
Annie, Nathan, and Roger all survived Niagara Falls under wildly different circumstances.
We're happy to celebrate their remarkable stories without attempting to join them.
But, some tourist attractions really are best enjoyed with both feet firmly on dry land.
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