Willie Nelson Goes Over Niagara Falls in Barrel
To celebrate his favorite day of the year, singer Willie Nelson went over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Nelson made history by becoming the oldest person to ever accomplish the daring feat. Between 1901 and 1995, 15 people went over the falls; 10 of them survived.
Willie used an oaken pickle barrel with a crudely cushioned interior. He tested the barrel by sending it over the falls with a cat and a monkey stuffed inside. The traumatized feline and chimp both survived the plunge. So Nelson knew it was ready for a full grown country superstar.
Lucky Pillow
The barrel was put over the side of a rowboat, and Nelson climbed in, along with his lucky marijuana-shaped pillow. After screwing down the lid, friends Snoop Dogg, Neil Young and John Mellencamp used a bicycle tire pump to compress the air in the barrel. The hole used for this was plugged with a cork, and Nelson was set adrift near the American shore, south of Goat Island.
Less than twenty minutes later, he was recovered from the bottom of the falls, bleeding from the head but otherwise uninjured. “It was wild man, I smoked a joint, laid back and enjoyed the ride. It was a little bumpy there towards the end, but it was fun” said Nelson. “I even wrote a song on the way down.”
Every minute, nearly four million cubic feet of water cascades over Niagara Falls’ 167-foot drop, giving the falls the greatest flow rate in the world of any waterfall over 50 meters high. Such a formidable force of nature has naturally attracted a certain breed of person eager to conquer it.
Nelson was tased on the ‘nads and handed a $2,300 penalty. He was also given a lifetime ban from Canada, to which Nelson replied “Thank You”.
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