Lori Martin

Have you ever beheld the awesome wonder of Niagara Falls and thought to yourself ‘I quite fancy launching myself off that bad-boy in a barrel?’

…No, me neither. That’s probably because we are not out of our minds.

Believe it or not, though, there exists a very small group of misguided individuals who have had that thought and run with it.

Most of them are now dead.

On the sixth day of Martinmas, my Lord Chief Martin gave to me… Lori Martin – one half of the first successful tandem barrel decent of Niagara’s Horseshoe falls. Lori Martin being rescued after she and Steve Trotter went over the 168ft Horseshoe Falls in a barrel

To give you some history and provide a little context, the first person to take the plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel took the unlikely shape of 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor in 1901.

After her husband died in the Civil War, Taylor, strapped for cash and seeking fame, came up with the perfect attention-getting stunt: She would go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. Taylor strapped herself into a leather harness inside an old wooden pickle barrel five feet high and three feet in diameter. With cushions lining the barrel to break her fall, Taylor was towed by a small boat into the middle of the fast-flowing Niagara River and cut loose. Knocked violently from side to side by the rapids and then propelled over the edge of Horseshoe Falls, she reached the shore alive, if a bit battered, around 20 minutes after her journey began. After a brief flurry of photo-ops and speaking engagements, Taylor’s fame cooled, and she was unable to make the fortune for which she had hoped. She died penniless in 1921 and now lies in a pauper’s grave. Her antics did inspire the fatal fascination of other foolhardy adventurers, though, many of whom died attempting to recreate her stunt. The next attempt took place ten years later by Bobby Leach of Bristol, England. He survived the experience (just), but was picked up in a state of utter collapse. His body was frightfully bruised, his jaw broken and both knees smashed. He lay in hospital for twenty three weeks, but for all that he was delighted to have conquered Niagara. By the irony of fate he died in 1926 after slipping on an orange peel in Christchurch, New Zealand!

Next came Charles G. Stephens, also of Bristol (what is it with Bristolians)?! He swept over the brink of the fearsome cataract at 8:55 on July 11th 1920.  The barrel went to pieces and the unfortunate Stephens was never found (although his right arm, torn off at the shoulder, was later picked up and identified by tattoo marks).

Of this small, elite group of nutcases (you can count the number of ‘Niagara daredevils’ on your digits), the one that we are most concerned with today is Lori Martin.

On Father's Day 1995, Lori Martin accompanied Steve Trotter in the first successful ‘tandem’ Niagara barrel stunt. This time, the barrel was made from two hot water heater tanks welded together, coated in Kevlar, and they had air tanks that would supply air for the two of them for 1 hour and 20 minutes. The barrel was reportedly paid for by an investment banker in Florida. It cost US$19,000.

On June 18th 1995, the barrel was launched approximately 91 metres above the brink of the Horseshoe Falls along the shore of the Canadian side. The barrel went over the Falls but was caught in the rocks below. Emergency Services personnel were required to risk their own lives by climbing over the guard rail of observation tunnels under the Table Rock Pavilion to secure the barrel and pull Trotter and Martin to safety. Needless to say, they were not impressed.

Martin and Trotter were taken to the Greater Niagara General Hospital for treatment. Trotter received a compression fracture in his back as a result of the stunt. Trotter and Martin were then arrested for their illegal stunt. Steve spent two weeks in jail and was fined $5,000. Lori Martin, paid a $2,000 fine.

Martin and Trotter’s apparent death wish was clearly not satiated by the experience, as the pair went on to achieve further notoriety in November 1997, when, with two others, they attempted to set the world record for the longest "Tarzan swing" off the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa, Florida. This time, however, their stunt ended in disaster. The gang jumped from the bridge attached to a single cable. The plan had not been tested previously, and the cable snapped during the effort, causing them to plunge at least 70 feet into the bay. Trotter and Jeff Sargent escaped major injury, but Lori Martin broke a vertebra in her neck and stopped breathing after the accident, forcing the others to administer CPR to keep her alive in the water. Glenn Rohm also broke a vertebra and had his head held in a metal halo drilled into his skull.

Shortly after Martin and Trotter’s tandem stunt, also in 1995, Robert Overcracker (yes that really is his name) rode a jetski over the brink of the Horseshoe Fall (Niagara Falls) to help promote awareness for the homeless. His parachute did not open and Robert ended up promoting better parachutes. He plunged to his death and his body was never recovered. An Egyptian tourist captured this amazing image.