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He survived Niagara Falls in a barrel. An orange peel killed him. 🍊
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Ironic TwistsAug 09, 2026

He survived Niagara Falls in a barrel. An orange peel killed him. 🍊

He survived Niagara Falls in a barrel. An orange peel killed him. 🍊 . . . On July 25, 1911, Bobby Leach dropped 167 feet over Niagara Falls sealed inside a steel barrel and crawled out with two broken kneecaps and a fractured jaw. He toured the world telling the story. In 1926, walking down a street in Christchurch, New Zealand, he slipped on an orange peel. Gangrene set in. His leg was amputated. He died two months later.

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Source

Niagara Falls Public Library historical records; multiple contemporary newspaper obituaries from 1926

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