Niagara Falls: Maniacs and miracles
Fifteen people have taken the plunge over Niagara's 170-foot Horseshoe Falls - and, remarkably, ten of them survived the fall. The first daredevil was 63-year-old Annie Taylor in 1901, who rode in a wooden barrel and suffered only minor bruises from her journey. Since then, thrillseekers have followed her lead, using everything from giant rubber balls to water tanks as craft: the last successful navigation of the falls was in 1995, by a man who'd already survived one attempt and had brought his girlfriend along for a second try. Those less lucky include Red Hill, killed in 1945 while using a vessel he called "The Thing" built of little more than inner tubes and netting. Other deaths have been equally pointless: from a would-be stuntman in a kayak, who refused a helmet for fear it would obscure his face on film, to a jet skier whose parachute, improperly packed, failed to open when he overshot the falls.The most miraculous survival story, though, is that of Roger Woodward, a seven-year-old on a boat trip with his teenage sister in the upper Niagara River in the summer of 1960. When the boat developed motor trouble and capsized, they were thrown into the river, from where his sister was rescued. Roger and the captain, James Honeycutt, went over the falls wearing nothing but swimsuits and life preservers. Honeycutt was killed but the boy surfaced near a tour boat at the base of the falls, bruised and concussed but alive, making him the only person ever to survive an unprotected trip over the falls
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