Man Survives Plunge Over Niagara Falls
An unidentified man is fighting life-threatening injuries but has a second chance at life this week after he survived a 180-foot plunge over the Canadian side of Niagara Falls on May 21, according to WIVB in Buffalo, N.Y.
Witnesses told Niagara Falls Parks Police that they saw a man climb into the roaring rapids about 30 feet above the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Moments later he went over the brink, fell to the bottom of Niagara Falls and resurfaced in the Niagara River down below. He swam to the shore, climbed up to the shore and collapsed on the rocks at the bottom of the Niagara Gorge. It took rescuers nearly two hours to reach the man via helicopter.
The man became the third in the past nine years to survive going over Niagara Falls without the use of a man-made barrel or capsule.
Roger Woodward, The Niagara Falls Miracle
Tiny 7-year-old Roger Woodward gained unwanted worldwide fame back on July 9, 1960, and became a Niagara Falls survivor. His fishing boat had collapsed. His sister made it to the shore of the Niagara River and escaped the terror of the falls. The man piloting the boat went over the brink and died. Roger, however, lived and was plucked out of the Niagara Gorge by the passing Maid of the Mist tourist boat.
Woodward spent the night in the hospital with a slight concussion. He now considers his event a miracle, according to Info Niagara.
Niagara Falls Miracle 2009
An unidentified man survived a plunge of Niagara Falls and 40 minutes of floating in the near freezing Niagara River Gorge back on March 10, 2009, according to CNNWorld.
Unlikely Niagara Daredevil: Kirk Raymond Jones
As the world prepared to celebrate the Christmas Holidays in 2003, Kirk Jones of Canton, Mich., planned for the impossible: A trip over Niagara Falls.
Jones, an unemployed autoworker, had boasted to friends for months that he was considering and planning to swim over the falls and survive. While nobody believe him, Jones and a friend went to Niagara Falls. They toasted each other en route to a good drunk and Jones dived in, and rode out the 180-foot plunge over Niagara’s Canadian side. Minutes later he surfaced on the rocks down below, according to WIVB.
Though others didn’t believe Jones’s story at first, Niagara Park Rangers interviewed onlookers who witnessed Jones climbing into the water above Niagara’s fury.
America’s Fascination With Niagara Falls
American’s first became intrigued with winning the battle over Niagara’s 180-foot plunge in 1901 when Auburn, N.Y. school teacher Annie Taylor went over the falls in a barrel at age 63. She survived her terror with a few bumps and bruises, according to Daredevils of Niagara Falls. Taylor attempted her stunt seeking fame and fortune. However, she died in poverty in 1921
