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An estimated 5,000 people have perished going over Niagara Falls. Local officials estimate 20-40 people commit suicide at the falls every year. Even the expert dare devil attempts have a 25 percent mortality rate.

Here’s why:

Professional baseball player Ed Delahanty was killed over the falls in 1903 after falling from a nearby train bridge after he was kicked off a train for disorderly conduct.

In 1930 a man went over the falls in a barrel and survived the fall, but his barrel got stuck behind a curtain of water and he died of suffocation trapped for 18 hours. His turtle (or tortoise) went along with him and survived. It was estimated to be 150 years old.

In 1951 a man went over the falls in a barrel he made himself and dubbed “The Thing.” It broke on impact and killed him.

In 1990 Jessie Sharp went over the falls in a kayak. He didn’t wear a life vest because he was afraid of being trapped. His body was never found.

In 1995 Robert Overacker went over the falls in a Jet Ski with a rocket-propelled parachute. The parachute didn’t open and he plunged to his death.

In 2011 an exchange student from Japan crawled over the railing to sit on a rock by the river. While climbing back up she slipped and fell in and died.

In 1827 a hotel owner bought a schooner and loaded it with a buffalo, two bears, two raccoons, a dog, two fox, geese and an eagle. He sent it over the falls and the two bears escaped and swam to safety before going over. The other animals died.

It is illegal to go over the falls (in both New York and Canada) but that hasn’t stopped over a dozen people from trying it going all the way back to Jacksonian era.