Have you ever go to a circus and thought , " Oh , yawning , that did n’t seem too serious " ? Because — forgive me if I ’m being a chicken here — I cogitate passably much every genus Circus act is terrifying . for sure , this could be relative to my rather staid life , butthe whole point of the genus Circus is to have a bit of risk in every actto keep the hearing puff . And do n’t think the clown are get out of this : forcible comedy can be treacherous , after all .
But our list is going to include the full of the best … or the worst of the worst , depending on how you see it . We ’ll recount some traditionally dangerous carnival acts that still get a lot of " oohs " and " aahs " but also have a chronicle of wound or even death . You ’ve probably listen of a few of the acts , but you might be surprised to discover the danger behind them . Let ’s set about off with one we probably all agree is risky : fire external respiration .
10: Fire Breathing
Unsurprisingly , the listing includes the circus act that involves spraying fuel from your mouth . Truth be told , it should probably be on the list of just plain serious thing to do , period . Let ’s go through some of the steps involved infire breathing , just to ingeminate how totally bonkers it is that people still happily perform the trick today .
First off , fire breath put some sort of fuel in their mouth , be it kerosene , gasolene or an inebriant - based inflammable liquid . Then they spray the fuel in a fine mist — you know , like the kind a fancy shower might produce ( that ’s the most restful description I could think of for saliva - take up inflammable liquid ) . Next , they ’ll ignite the mist with a pocket-size manus - held torch . ignitor and match are not trusty enough for attack schnorchel , which is saying something .
We probably do n’t need to go into every aspect of risk when it comes to fire breathing , but let ’s notice a few fortune to the performers : The flame can screw up back into their backtalk , they can get chemic pneumonia from inhaling the fuel and they can even envenom themselves . And there ’s risk to the interview , too : The flaming can easily change with no warning and burn whoever is watching — or even set fire to the holding .
9: Big Cat Acts
While working with circus animate being is controversial stuff , there ’s no denying the angry popularity of deed that feature our non - human friends . And while it might seem like all the cats used in popularcircus actsare take aim and tamed to be perfect pupils , the realness is that working with freehanded cats — tigers and lions , mostly — is just as dangerous as it was when Thomas MacCarte ( a unseasoned flight simulator ) was killed by a mob of five lions in front of hundreds of spectators in 1872 [ beginning : New York Times ] . We can be more certain , however , that trainers today are n’t inebriated , as was rumored of MacCarte in news program taradiddle about the incident .
Unfortunately , there are more recent illustration of life-threatening big computed tomography acts from carnival shows that can win over most of us to mind of kitty , admit the 2003 incident that took place during a Siegfried and Roy show in Las Vegas . No one is certain what caused the white Panthera tigris to attack , but Roy Horn sustained serious harm that hale him into retreat . Horn says that he had a stroke , and the whitened tiger picked him up by the neck to save him [ source : ET ] . Still , there ’s no deny that working with big cats is a dangerous way to spend your days .
8: Wall of Death
The Wall of Death is a completely andutterly bananas circus actthat you may not have heard of — but rest assured it ’s still perform today , some eight or nine decades after it originated [ reservoir : Original Wall of Death ] . The Wall of Death is a motor - sports deed where bike or cars race around the wall of a cylinder closed chain while performing thaumaturgy stunts . It ’s uncoiled - up terrorize to watch , let alone take part in .
It ’s not a part of every circus ( and perhaps for rubber ’s sake we should be grateful ) , but it ’s one in a long line of exhibitions that have become a popular staple of entertainment . It use centrifugal force and inertia to keep rider on the curvature of the wall . The Wall of Death was in the beginning even more dangerous , with less - sloped walls on a mile - long running , and riders and spectators alike died during performances [ source : Jerome Robbins ] . Performers are still invest themselves at serious danger today . Samantha Morgan , a pioneer Wall of Death rider , buy the farm in 2008 of tortuousness from her injuries over the twelvemonth .
7: Aerial Acts
Make no bones about it : Aerial acrobaticsmay be a standard part of any circus , but that in no way means they ’re safe . The fact that they ’ve been performed for more than a century as part of circus routines has not made them any less prone to accidents . The affair is , there are lots of slipway to , let ’s say , " inadvertently ground " yourself in carnival acts . And unluckily , the point can be illustrate by a depressingly gravid number of aerial accidents in recent carnival history . One specific act is so dependably unsafe that we ’ll enshroud it in deepness later .
But to demonstrate our item , let ’s just take a small tour of aerial accidents that have of late happen . In 2007 , a trapeze creative person in Southern California was killed during a execution when he fell 40 feet ( 12 meters ) without a net to get him [ source : Alfano ] . In 2013 , a performing artist in a Moscow circus cut down 85 feet ( 26 meter ) through the net , but supposedly was well enough to make it back to workplace eventually [ germ : Rivlin - Nadler ] . And horrifically , eight whisker - cling aerialist plunged to the ground when a cartridge clip snap in the 2014 circus stroke in Providence , Rhode Island . None of the acrobat died , but they all sustained horrific injuries . The example ? aery turn might be wildly democratic , but sombreness win .
6: Elephant Acts
Perhaps you assume that the danger of elephants lies in their ability to trounce or maim a man . You ’d be absolutely correct , of course — elephant have been responsible for all sorts of awful incidents , including an elephant that kill its flight simulator and later escaped on a rampage through Honolulu in 1994 [ source : Cave ] . Elephants also might be one of the most dangerous act plainly because when they slip through the circus ' confinement , they can cause a lot of harm . And slip they do : In 1956 , 42 elephant stampeded while being led to a railway system car [ author : NY Times ] .
But let ’s not bury that with all animate being number , some of the most severe risk are ace to the animals themselves . Organizations concerned with creature welfare have documented many pillowcase of elephant inhuman treatment that resulted in cause and protest . In 2015,Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Baileyannounced it would retire its elephant routine in 2018 . While the move will appease animal right militant in general , theNew York Times newspaper column plug-in pointed outthat it does give a few more opportunities for the circus to make money off their controversial pachyderms .
5: High Wire
balance on a wire dozens of feet in the air is no low feat . And many performers who practice high - wire acts are putting their lives in danger every time they do . In fact , even seasoned performers practice their new stunts just a few feet from the undercoat and might wear a harness with a block to help with balance practice . Another lesson ? Learning how to grab the telegram when you fall .
Many eminent - wire acts do n’t habituate a profits , and some , like the Guerrero family , name the lack of net as a shape of high artistic expression [ rootage : CBS ] . Unfortunately , Walfer Guerrero was paralyzed at the age of 28 when he fall during a high-pitched - wire enactment in 1997 . He was doing a illusion where he jumped over another performer on the conducting wire when he plunged 26 feet ( 8 meters ) to the ground [ source : Sarasota Herald - Tribune ] .
4: Equestrian Acts
There ’s nothing safer than a pony , right ? Stereotypically the animal of prim little girls and fancy boys in Marco Polo shirts ( I get all my horse - owner data from Ralph Lauren ads ) , the aristocratic animals just ca n’t expunge a person as unsmooth and tumble . Unless , of course of study , the horse in question is galloping at full speed while a rider performsacrobatic stunt and trick . That is definitely dangerous .
More than any other field , equestrian acts ( or trick riding ) have long been a staple of genus Circus shows . In fact , the first modern-day circuses were just equestrian acts with a few sketch of harlequinade or stunting mixed in [ source : Speaight ] . The performances might include vaulting on and off gymnastic horse or standing on one ’s head while perched on a operative horse ’s back . Circuses today still arrogate their equestrian turn as some of the most serious — Equus caballus , after all , are n’t machines you may graduate [ reference : PBS ] . performer must hump not only their own act and tricks but must also be able to realize their equine partner .
3: Globe of Terror
Another dangerous circus act is bring to us by theGlobe of Terror(or Globe of Death ) . Much like the Wall of Death , the Globe of Terror is an turn that partner centrifugal force and motorcycles in a combining most of us would rather stave off . It postulate putting several motorcycle riders in a steel firmament where they bait around at 60 Swedish mile per 60 minutes ( 97 km / h ) with wild abandon [ reservoir : Gallacher ] . For dear touchstone , there might be an aerialist flow from the middle of the cage playing , too .
As you’re able to reckon , this is not a fail - dependable act . In 2015 , riders were injured in a Globe of Death turn when two performers crash into each other during a ride in Washington state . No one was killed , but at least one rider sustained a break [ germ : Johnson ] .
2: Sword Swallowing
While it ’s a mo more sideshow than Big Top , we could n’t resist the itch to putsword swallowingon our list . Because while it may seem like a fancy illusion or even some sort of dexterity - of - hand whoremaster , steel swallow really does involve puzzle a steel down your gullet . And that is so obviously grievous that the Sword Swallowers Association International ( SSAI ) website includes a whole resource discussion section on the aesculapian complications associate with sword swallowing .
One of those sources is a sight published by the British Medical Journal , which is amazingly chipper about the health outcomes for sword swallowers . It conclude that swallowers are at risk for trauma if they are distracted , take back multiple swords at a metre or worsen a former injury — just avoid that , and no problem [ germ : Witcombe and Meyer ] ! ( To be clear , they had more nuanced advice than that . )
And there ’s the lawsuit of Hannibal Hellmurto , who suffered a seriously dread twinge to the throat in 2012 when he attempt to swallow a lit neon perch . [ informant : McQueeney ] . He ended up with a jam in his throat that put him in intensive care , but the show must go on : Hellmurto is still performing after his convalescence .
1: Flying Wallendas
It ’s time to dive ( ahem ) into an aerial routine that is so very dangerous that it ’s actually testify injurious — and even fatal — to several different multiplication . The celebrated Flying Wallendas , acircusfamily that traces its amusement roots to 1780 Austria - Hungary , have been simultaneously entertaining and scaring the snot out of gang for centuries . They get the No . 1 spot because of the sheer history of their turn and the calamity that have followed it .
So a little background : The Wallendas have traditionally been both an aerial and telegram - walk act , and their liberal showstopper was the seven - person chair pyramid . Two pair of performers wire walk while make poles that view as two more aerialists . Those aerialist hold a pole that a chair balances on , where another performer ( naturally ) balances [ source : Wallenda ] .
Unfortunately , a 1962 accident on the seven - person Pyramids of Egypt killed two performer and paralyze one . In a separate accident , a Wallenda sister - in - police also fell to her death in an ethereal performance . Karl Wallenda , the family paterfamilias , also died from a fall during a stunt [ source : CBS ] . But the acts are still performed today : Nik Wallenda completed a conducting wire - manner of walking across the Grand Canyon in 2013 [ root : Nik Wallenda ] . Ta da , indeed .
Lots More Information
After research this list , I have decided I am not scarper off to unite the circus .
