15. A Crazy Jump From the Eiffel Tower
Accompanied by journalists, Franz Reichelt ascended the Eiffel Tower. Two film crews set up their cameras and positioned themselves, one on the ground to catch the drop from the tower, and another at the tower to film the dummy being thrown. People were perplexed however because they could see no dummy. It gradually dawned on them that Reichelt had not brought one: he planned to test his design by jumping off the tower in person. A guard stopped him initially, but Reichelt convinced him to let him proceed. Friends and journalists also tried to talk him out of it, but without success.
Climbing the stairs, Reichelt paused to give the crowd a cheery “A bientot!” He then continued to the tower’s first deck. There, as the cameras rolled and people shouted at him to stop, he climbed on a stool placed atop a table adjacent to the guardrail. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, as people urged him to reconsider. However, he then steeled himself, and at 8:22 AM, jumped. Reichelt’s suit was a flop, literally and figuratively. He fell straight down about 200 feet, to the frozen ground below. He struck with an impact that left a six-inch crater, and crushed his spine and skull. Unbeknownst to him, an American had successfully parachuted 225 feet from the Statute of Liberty just two days earlier, using what became the standard half-spherical backpack parachute.
