Fail: Man goes over Niagara Falls, survives

Word out of Niagara Falls, Ontario, is that a man has survived a plunge over Niagara Falls. Prior to today, the last person known to have survived a plunge over the Horseshow (Canadian) Falls was Kirk Jones, a onetime auto parts salesman from Michigan who took the plunge on October 20, 2003.

But the story of the first person who went over Niagara Falls is perhaps most interesting. On October 24, 1901, an impoverished Annie Edson Taylor, 63, went over Horseshoe Falls in an oak barrel, believing the stunt would make her a wealthy woman. But her get-rich-scheme failed miserably as her manager stole her barrel, hired a young sexpot to play her, and took the Annie Taylor Show on the road without her. She died penniless on the streets of Niagara Falls.