Tightrope Walk Over Niagara Falls Will Be on TV

One of the Wallendas will try next month
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 11, 2012 2:18 PM CDT
Tightrope Walker Plans to Cross Niagara Falls
Daredevil Nik Wallenda walks on a tightrope above Baltimore's Inner Harbor, Wednesday, May 9, 2012.   (Patrick Semansky)

ABC is turning an attempted tightrope walk over Niagara Falls into a prime-time television event next month. The network said today that it will devote its entire prime-time schedule to a three-hour special on June 15 with Nik Wallenda's attempt. Part of the show will be an examination of the greatest stunts of all time.

Wallenda is a member of the famous daredevil family. His great-grandfather, Karl, fell to his death in a tightrope walk in Puerto Rico at age 78. Daredevils routinely used to make tightrope walks over the Niagara River gorge, downstream of the falls, until the practice was banned. Nik Wallenda's stunt will be the first attempted walk over the falls. (More Niagara Falls stories.)

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