Human Cannonball

“Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages. You are about to watch an incredible, death-defying feat like no other in the world – two men shot out of a cannon at the same time!” After the ringmaster’s words of hype came a flash, a puff of smoke and a deafening roar as Hugo Zacchini and his brother Mario were catapulted more than 150 feet through the air into a net.

The first human cannonball, launched in 1877 at the Royal Aquarium in London, was a 14-year-old girl called “Zazel.” Hugo Zacchini, however, mastered the daredevil stunt as a circus act and performed it for more than 40 years, thrilling crowds at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and appearing at the Rose Bowl and the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

During performances at the old Madison Square Garden on Eighth Avenue at 50th Street, Zacchini was shot 150 feet across the Garden, reaching an arc of about 75 feet. Zacchini would go hurtling through the air at 75 miles per hour, sometimes just missing one of the big arc lamps at the top of the arena. He would land safely in a net, apparently none the worse for his experience.

“Oh, I used to be frightened,” Zacchini explained through an interpreter. “No, it’s nothing. When I am shot out, the jar knocks the breath from my lungs. It comes back on the way to the net. And when I hit the net, it is knocked out again. It is nothing.” This historical photo was published in The Times when Zacchini died at age 77 in 1975.