The incredible tightrope walker Charles Blondin (7 photos)

Acrophobia was an empty phrase for this man. With a light, careless gait, he walked over the abyss, making the spectators' hearts skip a beat and their knees buckle.





This story clearly demonstrates the difference between simple belief - knowledge and true faith, which does not need proof.



Charles Blondin crossing Niagara Falls, 1859

Imagine a tightrope over 400 meters long and as wide as Niagara Falls? The roar of falling water drowns out all other sounds. And the man stands on the rope and walks calmly along it.

Charles Blondin (real name Jean-François Gravelet, 1824 - 1897) is perhaps the most famous tightrope walker in history. He is famous for crossing the Niagara Gorge in 1859 at an altitude of 50 meters using a rope about 330 meters long.





"Hero of Niagara" Charles Blondin

Later he repeated this trick, increasing the level of difficulty: he walked blindfolded, in a bag, on stilts, pushed a wheelbarrow, cooked food in the middle of a rope, where he ate it, and carried a person on his back. The latter stunt, however, nearly cost both men their lives during a show in 1892.



The performance took place in Chicago, and Blondin found a volunteer brave enough to carry him on a tightrope over the abyss. But this daredevil had his own reason for courage, which he told Blondin about halfway through the journey, when he suddenly began to laugh uncontrollably.

“What amuses you so much?” – the tightrope walker asked curiously.

“Oh, I just had a brilliant idea,” the man responded, the newspapers reported. “I was wondering what face you would make if in the next half a minute we both fell on the audience.”

Blondin assured him that nothing like that would happen. After all, it was just a regular job for him.



“But this time I decided to commit suicide,” the volunteer “pleased” Charles. And he made an attempt to shake Blondin off the rope. But he did not share the rider’s plans and, throwing his pole for balance, twisted the provocateur so tightly that he could not move.

The daredevil continued to walk until he safely reached the other bank, where he threw the would-be suicide off his shoulders and immediately knocked him out in order to avoid attempts at further games with death.



Blondin carries his manager Harry Colcord

This was the last time Blondin carried a complete stranger on his back. From that day on, he preferred not to tempt fate any longer and carry his manager Harry Colcord on his back.



Sculpture of Charles Blondin in Birmingham, England. Dedicated to his tightrope crossing of Edgbaston Reservoir in 1873

“The Great Blondin” was a circus performer, stuntman and acrobat, but he became so closely integrated with his main work and vocation that his name became synonymous with the word “tightrope walker” and for some time was used to refer to all representatives of this profession. After Charles's departure, at least five artists were recorded performing under different variations of his name.