A man is dead after attempting to go over the Niagara Falls in a ten-foot inflatable ball.His name was Kirk Jones, and he was 53-years-old. It's believed that Jones attempted the stunt back on April 19—his body was found two weeks ago and law enforcement just confirmed that it was Jones. After the April plunge, the empty ball that Jones made his attempt in was found empty by a Maid of the Mist tour boat. Jones' body was found down the Niagara River near the mouth of the Lake Ontario.
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It wasn't the first time Jones went over the Falls.In 2003, Jones first tussled with Niagara and, somehow, survived—only suffering minor rib injuries. Now people before, and after, Jones have gone over the falls but what separated the man from the rest of crowd was that Jones was the first to go over unaided—as in nothing but the clothes on his back to protect him—and live.It's disputed as to why Jones did the 2003 stunt. On the Niagara Falls information website, they claim that after his initial fall Jones was placed in a psychiatric ward as this was a suicide attempt—however, they also say that his family and friends claim he was doing this for fame and fortune. In an interview with ABC News, shortly after his 2003 plunge, Jones said that he was depressed because of family problems and wasn't able to find work as an auto parts worker.Jones also described the experience of gliding calmly for 20 seconds through the streaming water of the Niagara river before going over the edge. He said that hitting the water after the 180 foot plunge felt like slamming into a table. Jones stated that he re-emerged from the water alive and with an epiphany."At that point, I realized 'wow, I'm not dead. I'm alive,'" he told ABC News at the time. "And all of the thoughts of dying at that point were gone. I wanted to live."Since Jones' initial stunt in 2003, three people have pulled off the feat in the same unaided style. According to the Syracuse News, after his initial plunge Jones moved to Florida and joined a circus.For a multitude of reasons—the majesty of the falls, it's unique status of being both in Canada and the United States, and the sheer challenge of it—people have been hucking themselves off Niagara Falls for a long, long time. Hell, in 1995 one person even went over it on a jet-ski—he also did not survive. It's a stunt that has been happening since the early twentieth century and will, in all likeliness, continue to happen.Follow Mack Lamoureux on Twitter.