Tailor Jumped for the First and Final Time from the Eiffel Tower Wearing Overcoat Parachute.

From the Darwin Awards:

Monsieur Franz Reichelt with his early parachute - an outstanding example of the way in which early aviators were as spectacular in their failures as in their successes. Reichelt was an Austrian tailor who sought to combine his interests by creating a garment to serve as both an overcoat and a parachute. In 1911 he decided to test his invention. Having told the authorities that he wanted to make a "dummy" drop, at the last moment he strapped himself in, and with sublime confidence stepped from a platform of the Eiffel Tower, and fell to his death.

Link | There's even a YouTube clip [warning: read the last sentence of the quote above] - via WFMU's Beware of the Blog


From the french Wikipedia (sorry for my poor translation !) :
« The autopsy indicated that Reichelt died of a heart attack, before he touched the ground. »

And further :

« There was a total of 336 deads since the construction of the Eiffel tower : failed sport performances, accidents, suicides, etc. »
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