W hat makes someone agree to spend days or months atop a flagpole in all kinds of weather, as one Alabama teen did in 1963? When the fad began, the motive was publicity.

Gadsden resident Peggy Townsend Clark marks 50 years this month since she set a flagpole-sitting record but the first modern flagpole sitter was professional Hollywood stuntman Alvin "Shipwreck" Kelly, whose first stunt was in 1924 when he sat atop a pole for 13 hours and 13 minutes.

Clark said she knew she could break the record after spending two years recovering from a near-fatal accident. Read her remarkable story here.

Some say Kelly did his stunt on a dare, some say it was for publicity.

Whatever the reason, the result was the same: Shipwreck Kelly was a media star.

Huge crowds would gather as Kelly continued attempts to break his own records and those of others who challenged him. As many as 20,000 people were estimated to turn out to see Kelly sit stop a pole in Atlantic City, N.J., in 1930.

Richard “Dixie” Blandy took flagpole-sitting as entertainment to new heights. For decades, he thrilled audiences by sitting, standing and bicycling on poles, beginning in 1929. The 5-foot, 4-inch tall man would perform at fairs throughout the 1950s and claimed repeated records, although most were not officially certified.

In 1955, Blandy's pole was toppled by a storm and he suffered a skull fracture and other serious injured, according to a UPI story published in the Victoria Advocate.

In 1961, Blandy sat atop a pole dressed as Santa and shouting "Merry Christmas" until he hollered down that he was growing numb and was taken to a hospital, according to an Associated Press article in The Milwaukee Journal.

Blandy died in May 1974 at age 71 when a flagpole on which he was sitting in Harvey, Ill., snapped, causing him to fall 50 feet to the ground.

In 1959, 17-year-old Maurie Rose Kirby, sat atop a pole if 211 days and nine hours. According to a UPI story written in 1972, Kirby did the stunt to protest being called a "juvenile delinquent."

On Dec. 12, 1963, Peggy Townsend of Gadsden, then 17, climbed a pole and stayed for 217 days in the parking lot of a local restaurant.

Her record held until 1984 when H. David Werder sat on a pole for 439 days, 11 hours and six minutes to protest gas prices. When he ran for Congress in 2008, his name on the ballot read: H. David "the flag-pole sitter" Werder, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Join al.com reporter Kelly Kazek on her weekly journey through Alabama to record the region's quirky history, strange roadside attractions and tales of colorful characters. Call her at 256-701-0576 or find her on Facebook.