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© History Oasis
From death-defying high-wire acts and freefalls to mind-blowing motorcycle jumps and cinema's most jaw-dropping practical stunts.
We’ll dive into some of the most dangerous and awe-inspiring feats ever attempted by daredevils, stunt performers, and thrill-seekers throughout history.
On August 7, 1974, French highwire artist Philippe Petit stunned the world by walking a wire illegally rigged between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, 1,350 feet above the ground.
In a breathtaking 45-minute performance, Petit made eight passes along the wire, during which he walked, danced, and even lay down on the cable—all while evading police who had arrived on the roofs of both towers to apprehend him.
In 1974, daredevil Evel Knievel attempted to jump Idaho's Snake River Canyon in a steam-powered rocket called the Skycycle X-2, which was registered as an airplane to obtain state permission for the stunt.
Though the jump failed when the parachute deployed prematurely, Knievel miraculously survived after the rocket crashed at the bottom of the canyon, narrowly missing the river where he likely would have drowned due to being unable to release himself from the harness.
On October 14, 2012, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner made history by jumping from a balloon-lifted capsule 39 kilometers above Earth's surface. He broke the sound barrier during his descent and reached a maximum speed of 1,357.64 km/h (843.6 mph).
Baumgartner's jump set records for the highest manned balloon flight and highest altitude jump, though he had to overcome an uncontrolled spin and visor fogging issues during his nail-biting freefall.
Harry Houdini's Water Torture Cell, debuted in 1912, was a custom-made $10,000 (equivalent to $265,269 today) glass-and-steel cabinet filled with 250 gallons of water, in which Houdini would be suspended upside-down while escaping.
The trick's secret was surprisingly simple: a hidden air pocket and slightly separating ankle stocks allowed Houdini to free himself and emerge triumphant, leaving audiences baffled for years.
In 1970, daredevil Karl Wallenda performed a death-defying high-wire walk across Tallulah Gorge in Georgia, spanning approximately 1,000 feet and 750 feet above the ground.
30,000 spectators including Governor Lester Maddox watched in awe.
The 65-year-old Wallenda not only completed the 18-minute walk, but also performed two handstands during the crossing—one dedicated to soldiers in Vietnam and another just for laughs—before hopping off the platform and being handed a martini by his wife.
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spiderman," scaled the world's tallest building, the 828-meter Burj Khalifa in Dubai, on March 29, 2011.
Robert used a rope and harness to comply with safety requirements, taking six hours to ascend the towering structure while a large crowd watched from below.
Robbie Knievel, son of legendary daredevil Evel Knievel, set a new world record by jumping his motorcycle 228 feet across a section of the Grand Canyon on May 20, 1999.
Astonishingly, Knievel performed this death-defying stunt on an ordinary 500-cc motorcycle—soaring 55 feet into the air at 90 mph—with a 2,500-foot drop to the canyon floor awaiting him if he had failed.
Jackie Chan performed a daring stunt for his 1983 film "Project A" where he fell from a clock tower approximately 60 feet high, crashing through multiple awnings before hitting the ground.
Remarkably, Chan performed this dangerous feat three times, as he was unsatisfied with the first two attempts.
Buster Keaton's iconic house facade stunt in "Steamboat Bill, Jr." (1928) involved a genuine two-ton building front falling around him, with only a nail marking his precise position to avoid being crushed.
Keaton performed without trickery and while dealing with a broken nose from a recent baseball game.
Dar Robinson's jaw-dropping 220-foot freefall for the 1981 film "Sharky's Machine" set the record for the highest wireless free-fall jump in cinema, relying solely on an inflatable mattress to break his fall.
This fearless stuntman who claimed over 20 stunt records and posthumously won an Academy Award for his innovations—met his end not during one of his daring stunts—but in a motorcycle accident while filming "Million Dollar Mystery" in 1986.
The "Grinding the Crack" flight, a notorious wingsuit jump performed by Jeb Corliss in 2011 at the Walensee in Switzerland, gained global attention when its YouTube video amassed over 24 million views.
Also known as the 'Sputnik' jump, involves flying dangerously close to the mountain contours at speeds of up to 200 km/h (124 mph).
David Blaine attempted to stand encased in a block of ice for 72 hours in Times Square in November 2000, but had to be removed after 63 hours, 42 minutes, and 15 seconds due to fears he might go into shock.
Despite being lightly dressed and visibly shivering even before being encased, Blaine endured nearly three days in the transparent ice block with only tubes for air, water, and urine removal. He required a month to fully recover from the ordeal.
Travis Pastrana's death-defying double backflip at the 2006 X Games not only revolutionized freestyle motocross but also caused such a frenzy that his own mother couldn't bear to watch and the 18,000-strong crowd's reaction was likened to a religious revival.
Pastrana had spent years preparing for and which many considered impossible. It earned him a near-perfect score of 98.60 and solidified his status as an extreme sports legend, all while he was just 22 years old and had already survived multiple near-fatal crashes in his career.
Charles Blondin, a daring French acrobat, became famous for crossing Niagara Falls on a tightrope multiple times in 1859. Performing increasingly risky stunts such as walking blindfolded, pushing a wheelbarrow, and even cooking an omelet midway across.
In his most audacious feat, Blondin carried his manager Harry Colcord on his back across the Falls, instructing him to become "a part of me, mind, body, and soul" and to sway with him to avoid plummeting to their deaths.
In 2008, extreme climber Dean Potter completed the first "FreeBASE" ascent of a 5.12+ route on the Eiger's north face, climbing solo without ropes but wearing a parachute in case he fell.
To prepare for this death-defying feat, Potter lived in a cave high on the mountain for half a month and spent the other half as a "barfly" in a local pub, while BASE jumping multiple times daily off nearby cliffs.
Nik Wallenda, a member of the famous Flying Wallendas family of daredevils, made history on June 15, 2012, by becoming the first person to walk directly over Niagara Falls on a tightrope, completing the tense 1,800-foot journey in 25 minutes while battling mist and wind.
Wallenda carried his U.S. passport in a plastic bag during the walk and was greeted by border guards on the Canadian side to ensure he had the correct paperwork.
The Hazards of Helen, a groundbreaking silent film series spanning 119 episodes from 1914 to 1917, featured daring train-related stunts performed primarily by actresses Helen Holmes and Helen Gibson.
These fearless heroines engaged in heart-stopping feats such as leaping from speeding trains, jumping onto moving locomotives from cars or galloping horses, and even being tied to railroad tracks.
Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof" (2007) featured an incredibly dangerous 20-minute car chase sequence that took six weeks to shoot, with stuntwoman Zoë Bell performing on the hood of a car traveling up to 100 mph with only belts strapped to the doors for safety.
The film's practical stunt work, done without doubles or CGI, was so visceral and real that it reportedly scared William Friedkin, the director of "The Exorcist”.
In 1960, U.S. Air Force pilot Joseph Kittinger set an astonishing record by skydiving from a balloon at 102,800 feet (31,300 meters), falling for over 4 minutes and reaching speeds of up to 614 mph before his parachute opened.
Remarkably, Kittinger made this historic jump wearing a pressure suit with his right hand swollen and painful due to a malfunctioning pressure glove. He also experienced a choking sensation during his descent and landing so hard that his equipment struck and severely bruised his leg.
The chariot race sequence in the 1959 film "Ben-Hur" set a new standard for action scenes in cinema, featuring intense choreography and real stunts performed at high speeds with multiple chariots pulled by teams of horses.
In an unplanned incident that was kept in the final cut, stuntman Joe Canutt was unexpectedly thrown from his chariot during a collision and managed to recover by climbing back into the moving vehicle.
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