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What’s the furthest you’ve ever fallen?
Humpty Dumpty was a big wuss. While he was busy incurring mortal breakage from falling off a dinky little wall, people have been falling off of skyscrapers and out of planes — and surviving. Heck, it even happened to someone I know: my friend Sara’s dad worked construction in the 80s, and one unfortunate day (or fortunate, depending on how you look at it), he fell off the top of a six-story work site — and landed on his feet. Some nagging pain aside, after a lengthy hospital stay he was more or less fully-functional, and every year on the anniversary of the accident, his family throws him a tongue-in-cheek “fall party.” As cool (and scary) as that is, however, it’s small potatoes compared to the following Guinness-worthy fallers. Take a page from their book, Humpty:
The faller: Alcides Moreno, a Manhattan window washer
He fell off of: the side of a 47-story Upper East Side apartment building after the safety ropes on his 3-foot-wide window washer’s platform failed, last week.
Putting him back together: is going much better than expected; despite extensive injuries, he’s awake and talking, and doctors expect he’ll walk again, too.
What we can learn: well, Moreno was certainly lucky: according to staff at the New York-Presbyterian hospital where he’s being treated, fewer than 1 percent of people who fall more than 10 stories survive. Falls from much shorter distances can be fatal if the victim hits his or her head. (When Moreno is feeling a little better, maybe he’ll share his technique.)
The faller: Vesna Vulovic, a stewardess, in the winter of 1972
She fell: 33,330 feet from an airplane over the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) after a terrorist bomb ripped it to pieces, earning her a place in the Guinness Book: “Highest Fall Survived Without a Parachute.” She was the sole survivor — 27 others died — and was found on a snowy mountainside by a German hiker, a serving cart pinned against her spine.
Putting her back together again: She never walked again, but aside from that, Vesna made a full recovery. She even went back to work for the airline (though she took a desk job), and claims to have suffered no psychological trauma as a result of the accident, because a month-long amnesia erased it from her memory.
What we can learn: it’s hard to know what Vesna’s falling technique was, thanks to her memory loss. It’s thought, however, that her low blood pressure helped her survive the initial shock of the 500 mph wind and -45°C temperatures (her heart may have burst otherwise), and that the snow cushioned her landing somewhat. The best way to survive a fall from an airplane is to fall into a body of deep water with your body extended into as neat a line as possible — though deep snow also provides some cushion.
The faller: The Royal Air Force’s Sgt. Nicholas Alkamede
He didn’t fall so much as he: jumped, seeing as how it was World War II and his plane was on fire during a not-so-successful bombing mission over Germany, which turned out to be a good move. He fell 18,000 feet to become the luckiest parachuteless bailout of the war, falling through tree branches and into a snowdrift, where his worst injuries were scratches, bruises, burns and a twisted knee. Not so luckily, he was then captured by the Germans.
What we can learn: aim for the trees, and cross your fingers that ski conditions are primo.
Comments (31)
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In the bar in Shattrath City (Lower City) there is a blood elf barfly named Haris Pilton. Check out her sunglasses.
posted by Twig on 1-4-2008 at 11:27 am
Wow – these people are extremely fortunate. As for myself, I don’t know the exact distance I fell (perhaps a mere 15 feet?) but I fell on some boulders which caused me to break some ribs, lacerate my liver, and bruise my lungs. I spent a month in the hospital and the next 6 months sitting out of P.E. before I was cleared with a fully functioning body. Not so bad but I did almost die, and that’s not nearly as high up as those three listed!!
posted by CK on 1-4-2008 at 11:41 am
I was an extremely clumsy teenager. I fell into an orchestra pit twice (once off the edge while carrying a sousaphone, once through a stage trapdoor). I also fell into a house through a hole in the roof while replacing a swamp cooler. My lower body landed on a kitchen table while my upper body continued on the floor below.
Luckily for me, I was never seriously injured and eventually gained some semblance of coordination by the time I graduated High School.
——-
For Twig: Huh?
posted by Jason! on 1-4-2008 at 12:26 pm
Check out John Fitch of Lakeville Ct for falling from the sky. He did it in WW2 and last I knew (2007) was on his way to try to set a world land speed record.
posted by Ken David on 1-4-2008 at 12:55 pm
Twig meant to post a comment in the comments section of the Warcraft entry.
posted by Jim on 1-4-2008 at 1:22 pm
i’ve never had any great falls myself, but my cousin’s husband once fell off of a 15 foot tall or so sign for their art store to the ground. he landed on his feet, and thus, he shattered his feet and ankles. several surgeries later he can walk, but his feet look like mangled lumps of flesh (i’ve been told, he always keeps his shoes on).
posted by tami on 1-4-2008 at 1:54 pm
I fell 10 feet out of a tree once and landed flat on my back. I was out for several minutes, but other than that, no harm done.
posted by bryn on 1-4-2008 at 3:50 pm
When I was younger, I fainted at the top of my staircase here at home and tumbled down the stairs unconscious (and naked! I was feeling unwell in the shower and was running out to get my mother). Put a hole through the wall at the bottom of the stairs with my elbow and ended up with some nice rug burn on my back, but other than that I survived!
posted by Sahar on 1-5-2008 at 12:47 am
I fell from a tree branch that snapped about 25 feet up. I landed inches from getting a rounded protruding plastic cable box in my gut. Fall just knocked me out for a minuite though.
posted by twodollars on 1-5-2008 at 6:10 am
I fell off a ladder while putting house wrap on the second story.It was winter and the ladder kicked out from under me so I landed on the ladder.I didnt break anything but I was really sore and took the rest of the day off.
posted by Rick Campbell on 1-6-2008 at 11:34 am
what about bear grylls?
posted by THW on 1-7-2008 at 7:12 pm
I fell from a twenty foot rappel tower at Muamee Boyscout camp doing an Ausie rappel. I was teaching a class on the rappel and had a guy who was an idiot hook me up “suicide”. I landed on my hands and knees with no trauma at all. I had to chase the guy down to convince him I was alright! We both climbed back up the tower and did it right the second time. I watched a buddy fall from 75 feet during the same type of rappel and landed the same as I did with no breaks and only a couple of bruises.
posted by Maxx on 1-11-2008 at 8:08 pm
Uhm,I’ve only fallen from as high as I stand normally…
But I have an inquiry about Humpty Dumpty.
We all know that poor Humpty MUST have been pushed…
but where in thet nursery rhyme does it ever state, or even imply that Humpty Dumpty was an egg?
It reminds me of how sadistic Mother Goose must have been.
posted by Kami on 1-16-2008 at 1:02 pm
I was forever falling off of stuff probably due to my liking of climbing said stuff, trees, jungle gyms, horses, boulders. My best fall was from a horse running in a very tight circle. The Centrifugal force threw me and when I landed I rolled about 20 feet (hitting my back on a rock in the process) before jumping to my feet with a “That was AWESOME! Much to my grandmother’s dismay.
posted by Des on 1-16-2008 at 3:37 pm
I was a gymnast when I was younger and was always falling off some piece of equipment, but my most severe “fall” was when I was waterskiing. My friends thought it would be funny to “crack the whip”, just as I was crossing from one side of the wake to the other. I ended up skidding along the top of the water for about 50 yard unconscious because I had hit my head on my ski. That day I learned to never let my friend drive and those life jackets really do work!
posted by Allie on 1-20-2008 at 4:30 pm
I “fell” over 400 feet off of a cliff. I made contact with the cliff wall about 100 feet down and slid the rest of the way, feet first. My left foot managed to hit a rock that shattered my foot and tib/fib, ripped my knee apart and, worst of all, made me kick myself in my crotch with my flailing foot. Except for my left foot and leg and a big case of road rash I was fine.
posted by Ronald on 5-1-2008 at 3:18 pm
Alan Magee, US Air Corps
During WWII, jumped out of a disabled pane and survived a 22,000 foot fall, despite nasty injuries.
Full details at wikipedia and can be googled elsewhere.
posted by little gator on 5-10-2008 at 10:39 am
When I was a freshman in college I fell out of my fourth floor dorm room window. I had just gotten back from a frat party and therefore was completely drunk out of my mind which is probably what saved me. No broken bones–I actually got up and walked away or so I’m told, I don’t remember the actual fall–but I was bruised black from the nape of my neck to about mid-thigh and had to stand up in my classes for about two weeks because (obviously) I couldn’t sit down. I just attended my twentieth college reunion and found out my incident has become a minor legend–I even got interviewed by the campus paper and had my picture taken next to the window in question. What a thing to be remembered for …
posted by Trish on 5-10-2008 at 6:24 pm
My dad fell off a ladder while working in our garage and dislocated his shoulder. The reason he was so disappointed was that he’s a third degree black belt and has practiced falling for 25 years, and he didn’t remember when he actually fell by accident.
posted by Izz on 6-18-2008 at 9:36 am
I try to avoid falling, but being a rider, I’ve done a few. I think the worst one I ever had was one where the horse ran away with me and I was trying to turn her before we reached a fence. She decided to turn in the split second I was off balance and considering my position in the saddle, and my position when I landed, I think I did a flip coming off the horse. I just remember being really surprised because one moment I was on the horse, the next I was looking up at the sky. I still don’t remember actually falling. I totally smashed my helmet though, and I still walked away with a minor concussion, but I’m just grateful I wear a helmet; if I hadn’t, I would likely have wound up with brain damage or worse.
posted by Kate on 6-20-2008 at 5:10 pm
In 2002 while my community college’s program for international students was located in downtown Dallas, our building was located near a 6-floor parking garage. Students who drove often parked there. They were supposed to walk down the stairs, but many people used the valets’ weird sort of vertical conveyor-belt “elevator” to get down faster. This was basically a giant belt with tiny shelves to stand on and thick, awkward pegs that one had to hold onto in order to ride it. It was supposed to be off-limits, but the door to the shaft for this thing wasn’t locked.
One day, one of my students was running late and decided to use the conveyor. She slipped off the little shelf all the way at the top, sliding down the side of the shaft for 6 floors before falling in a heap on top of her backpack. Homework saved her life: her backpack was full of softcover textbooks and notebooks that helped cushion her fall. She broke her pelvis and had her cheek ripped open from where it caught on a nail as she slid down the wall.
She came back to school about 6 months later and completed her coursework. She had a limp and a large scar on her face, but she was alive and otherwise well.
Right before she came back, a Dallas cop fell down the same shaft and died, and his family sued the parking garage owner. (Turns out that two homeless men had also died by falling down the shaft in the previous two years, but they had no family to care about them.) The garage closed and was later demolished.
posted by ansav on 9-4-2008 at 4:59 pm
Are we forgetting about Jake Brown? He fell 40+ feet at the 2007 X-Games and walked away. His shoes flew off when he hit, it was pretty amazing. Check out the YouTube video.
And then this year Danny Way clipped his feet on the lip of the rail and fell 20 feet. He kept competing and took 2nd place even with the injury. He had to fight his way past the doctors to get on the ramp again.
posted by Alec on 9-13-2008 at 5:07 pm
One of my dad’s farmhands took a part time job in construction, and, well, he liked to drink. Went to work drunk, fell off a three-story building and landed on a piece of cemented vertical rebar. It went through his chest/ shoulder, I think, before going through his head and OUT HIS EYE SOCKET. Luckily nothing major was punctured, even the eye ball, and he survived fine– he can even see!
posted by dara on 10-24-2008 at 5:33 pm
What about when John Rambo fell through all those pine trees in the canyon when he was surrounded by all of those sheriff’s deputies?
posted by jmanley on 11-9-2008 at 4:37 pm
in response to the girl who asked when has humpty dumpty ever been refered to as an egg.
the original humpty dumpty nursery rhyme was in fact a riddle endin in a question that children had to figure out to answer: humpty dumpty sat on a wall / humpty dumpty had a great fall / and all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put humpty together again. who/what is humpty dumpty?
posted by Dana on 11-12-2008 at 12:15 am
When I was 18 I fell prolly 25 feet from a “rock wall” climb at a local climbing facility. Everything about this experience was ill advised. I myself am a Large man to say the least, at the time (6ft 312lbs), my current (for lack of a better term “girlfriend”) was very active and into mountain and wall climbing and wanted me to show interest in this love of hers….for obvious reasons I had never attempted to actually climb a wall even though I had gone with her a few times. Until one fateful day, a friendly climbing trainer convinced me that I would be able to climb one of the smaller walls, I assured him this was a bad idea, he assured me it was great idea and the perfect way to impress my current paramour, my dumb love struck 18 year old brain apparently agreed. He fitted me with an X-L harness and I started my ascent. I was able to climb surprisingly well for a man my size, before I realized it I was about 20-25 feet up the wall. I decided it far enough, I contacted my climb instructor on the ground and told him I was ready to be let down and he assured me he was up to the task, well I let go of the wall and apparently my weight was a little to much for the harness or I was never harnessed in correctly, either way I started to fall so I grasped at the rope to slow my fall and apparently pinned it against my wrist. I landed square on my ass, with a nasty rope burn on my wrist. I was lucky. Fall 25 feet with a sore ass and a rope burn. Needless to say the girl I was there with was more embarrassed/sympathetic than proud or impressed so we promptly left the facility and out of sympathy she treated me to a home cooked meal, so all in all to a fat man I guess the fall was worth it.
posted by greg on 12-15-2008 at 4:26 pm
When I was twelve I was running on a flight of stairs that went to our basement while carrying a king-sized comforter. Obviously, I slipped on the comforter & fell down the stairs, around the landing at the bottom, and down 3 more steps to land sideways on the last step, on my tailbone. Much pain. I had to be carried up the stairs and spent the next three days *not* walking. To this day I have issues with descending stairs too quickly.
posted by brill on 1-13-2009 at 4:22 pm
When I was twelve I was running on a flight of stairs that went to our basement while carrying a king-sized comforter. Obviously, I slipped on the comforter & fell down the stairs, around the landing at the bottom, and down 3 more steps to land sideways on the last step, on my tailbone. Much pain. I had to be carried up the stairs and spent the next three days *not* walking. To this day I have issues with descending stairs too quickly.
(sorry if this is a repost; I couldn’t figure out if it had gone through)
posted by brill on 1-13-2009 at 4:26 pm
Actually, according to the Wikipedia article about her, Vesna Vulovic HAS regained the use of her legs.
posted by Seanette on 2-12-2009 at 10:22 pm
My cousin was training to be a paratrooper in the army and made several jumps in one day without incident. Then he went back to the barracks and was sitting in the window sill when he fell out and fell 2 stories…and broke his arm!
posted by Darlene on 10-7-2009 at 10:50 am
@ANSAV
I live in Dallas, and there are still a couple of garages in Dallas with lifts like that for valets; the office building in which I used to work had one, and an apartment building downtown still has one, too! Lawsuits waiting to happen!
posted by Megan on 10-8-2009 at 12:10 am