When millennials say YOLO, it usually means to push your fears aside and
“just do it.“ But looking at it from another perspective, because we only live once,
shouldn’t we be more careful not to lose that one life we have? Here are 10 people
who took YOLO way too seriously, and suffered the consequences of flirting with the god of death.
We’re ranking the 10 Daredevil Stunts That Went Horribly Wrong!
What’s up, fact-natics! This is Discovery Amuse,
serving up your daily dose of the most outrageous, outlandish and out-of-this-world fun facts!
Stay tuned for our number 1 pick because to put it quite bluntly, it’s just insane.
Fair warning – this video contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.
Viewer discretion is strongly advised.
#10: Free Dive Disaster
French free diver Audrey Mestre was born to dive. Not only did she come from a family of
scuba divers, but she also became a seasoned diver herself at the age of 13! But being
an adventurous spirit, she wanted to test the limits of her abilities and eventually dipped
her toes into free diving, a sport that relies solely on holding one’s breath while descending
tens of feet underwater. Mestre went on to break the female free diving world record
at a depth of 125 meters, and a year later, she broke her own record at 130 meters!
However, in 2002, when she attempted to break the record set by another free diver named
Tanya Streeter, Mestre swam too close to danger and got herself in deep water.
Audrey: You can do something with your mind, then you can do it with your body.
The body will follow the mind. And my mind is very ready.
At first, things looked sunny for Mestre when she was able to submerge
at a depth of 171 meters! But when she tried to activate her lift bag,
it failed to work which made it difficult for her to get back to the surface.
When she was finally pulled back up, it was too late. Mestre was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Keep watching because our number 1 daredevil didn’t know when to stop,
until fate finally intervened.
#9: Water Torture Cell
Escape artist Kristen Johnson gained her fair share of fame with her signature stunt
called the Full View Water Torture Cell. In fact,
she’s so good at it that she was even presented an award by Escape Masters magazine!
But in 2009, while performing the same stunt at an NBA halftime show,
Johnson almost breathed her last breath.
With her wrists shackled, Kristen went inside the water-filled chamber and began her escape.
While she did manage to free her hands, a few moments later,
Johnson was visibly in panic while her husband Kevin Ridgeway rushed to free her!
But it wasn’t enough to save her from passing out while still submerged!
After a few seconds, Johnson finally regained consciousness and
signaled to the stunned spectators that she was okay.
#8: Rocket-powered Car Jump
Ken Carter was dubbed as the “The Mad Canadian” due to his fast and furious feats,
which mostly involved jumping over ramps and bodies of water while riding a jet car!
Ken: I’m fixin’ it, to get into this car, who knows,
for all I know I can be dead at the end of that…
In 1983, he attempted an ambitious car jump over a pond in Peterborough, Ontario. However,
during his first attempt, the vehicle crashed into the water! But not one to give up that easily,
after a few months, the Mad Canadian made another attempt at the stunt
using his Pontiac Firebird which he retrofitted with a homemade rocket.
Unfortunately, his vehicle overshot the landing ramp and landed on its roof,
killing Carter faster than a speeding racecar.
#7: Buried Alive
Aside from being a radio personality, Bill Shirk was also a pretty well-known escape
artist during his heyday, and an accomplished one at that! In fact, he has set eight world records,
including the fastest time to escape from a straitjacket, which he did in 4.53 seconds!
Ever the great showman, Shirk wanted to pay tribute to one of his heroes--the
great Harry Houdini—by recreating the master’s act of getting buried alive!
So, in 1992, on Houdini’s 66th death anniversary, Shirk laid inside a Plexiglas coffin and got
himself buried under seven tons of dirt and cement! Unfortunately, the Plexiglass
couldn’t withstand all the heavy weight and collapsed on top of Shirk! Holy Houdini!
But wait, there’s a hand! Aaah zombie attack!!!
Just kidding, it’s Bill Shirk!
He’s alive! He surely was this close to sharing a death-day with his hero.
#6: From Rooftop to Bottom
Chinese stuntman Wu Yongning was a “rooftopper.” Not a cake topper. Not a
chart topper. But someone who scales the highest buildings and rooftops without any safety gear.
While it does sound like a crazy thing to do, Wu was actually able to build quite a
career out of it, having amassed millions of followers on Chinese live-streaming apps,
and earning about 83 grand in total for his death-defying antics.
However, in 2017, in his bid to win a hundred thousand yuan in a live-streaming platform,
Wu attempted to take a selfie video while hanging on the edge of a 62-storey building.
In this video, Wu can be seen dangling from the top of the skyscraper,
trying his best to pull himself up to safety. But his shoes kept slipping and
he couldn’t get a good grip. Until finally, he just seemed to give up the struggle.
#5: Corona Catastrophe
Nope, I’m not talking about the global pandemic,
although this Corona also became viral—the internet kind of viral!
The natural sandstone Corona Arch located near Moab, Utah has earned
the nickname the “Granddaddy of All Cheap Thrills” after a number of thrill-seekers
posted videos of their adrenaline-pumping rope swings through its arch’s opening!
One of the brave souls who accepted the challenge was 22-year old Kyle Lee Stocking from West
Jordan. Unfortunately, Stocking miscalculated the rope length and left too much slack on it, which
sent him crashing into the sandstone base of the arch. The young man didn’t survive the fatal jump.
#4: Jumping the Shark
Robert Craig Knievel or Evel Knievel was one of the most prolific stunt riders of all time,
having attempted close to 80 motorcycle jumps over the course of his stunt
performing career. He was even inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999!
He’s had one too many memorable stunts in his lifetime, but
one of his most infamous jumps happened in 1977,
when Knievel attempted to jump over a huge tank full of sharks while riding his motorcycle!
During rehearsal, Knievel lost control of the bike and crashed into a cameraman!
While he broke his arms because of the incident, Knievel was more distraught
over what happened to the cameraman, who reportedly sustained a permanent eye injury!
He might be a daredevil but he’s certainly an angel at heart.
#3: On the Wings of Death
Jane: Yeah I’m probably the only person, one of the few in the world that actually
will walk in front of the crowd along the wings of an airplane with no safety line.
Jane Wicker is a world-renowned aerobatic stunt woman and wing walker--someone who
moves along the wings of a plane during flight just because they could. In 2013,
she performed at an air show at the Dayton International Airport in Ohio.
Announcer: Jane is gonna disappear from us. Now she’s still on that far
side… Watch this, Jane Wicker sitting on top of the world!
But her world came tumbling down when the pilot lost control of the plane during a low altitude
maneuver! It smashed into the ground and exploded into flames in front of horrified spectators,
killing Jane and her pilot instantly.
#2: Dancing with Lions
This one is absolutely a circus performer’s worst nightmare.
Just when lion tamer Oleksiy Pinko thought he’d got his lions in the palm of his hand,
he was in for a rude awakening.
While performing in Ukraine in 2010, his act turned into a circus nightmare when
all of a sudden, one of the savage beasts got agitated and pounced on Pinko!
A second lion joined the attack and the animals mauled him in front of shocked families and kids!
His colleague tried to scare off the lions with a water hose and Pinko was rushed
to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery for his injuries.
Luckily, he survived unfortunate roar-deal.
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#1: Hanging by a Thread
Jim “The Human Torpedo” Bailey is an Australian stuntman who appeared to have a death wish,
as he kept subjecting himself to dangerous situations… like being pulled by a car,
skidding on the pavement, and projecting his body through a tunnel of fire! How fun!
In Hawaii in 1981, he wanted to step up his stunt game for the television show
“That’s Incredible.” This time, instead of a car, he was going to be dragged by
a single engine plane as he hung by a strap and belt. To share the adrenaline rush with
the audience, he decided to mount a camera onto the aircraft’s wing.
The plane took off…
but at a height of about 500 feet, Jim’s harness broke! The camera captured the haunting moment
when Jim struggled to hang on to the plane for ten seconds before falling to his death.
The producers of “That’s Incredible” denied all associations with the accident,
saying they had no filming in Hawaii at that time and it was possible that Jim
filmed the stunt to eventually sell it to them.
So, which of these accidents was the freakiest of them all? Let us know in the comments section!
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And since your heart’s already racing, let’s take it up a notch
higher with our countdown of the 10 World Records That Went Horribly Wrong!
‘Til then, stay fearless, fact-natics! And see you in the next video!