Early on the morning of July 2, 1984 an unimposing cube van pulled up to a retaining wall above the falls, and several men quickly went to work.
A plywood ramp was leaned against the retaining wall, and the barrel quickly slid into the river only 164 yds above the Horseshoe Falls.
Forty five minutes after Soucek’s barrel was seen edging over the brink his companions were able to secure the barrel and release it’s occupant.
Soucek suffered only minor injuries, and had hoped that this stunt would bring him the wealth and notoriety that he so desperately sought.
Barely six months latter, Soucek attempted to repeat his harrowing plunge over the falls at the Houston Astrodome by dropping himself, inside a wooden barrel, 180 ft. into a 10 foot pool of water.
Unfortunately for Karel Soucek the barrel hit the edge of the pool and Soucek succumbed to injuries he suffered in the fall.
