Sad news out of England today. It seems a human cannonball act in Detling suffered a mishap and a safety net was not “engaged” as it should have been. Although the original article at CNN.com forces us to read between the lines, this likely means that the daredevil was shot out into the air with nothing there to catch him. They failed to identify the young man who passed away at the Scott May’s Daredevil Stunt Show at the Kent County Showground.

Josh has talked several times on the podcast about his ashes being shot out of a cannon after he passes away, and I’ve done some research on human cannonballs thanks to an article on daredevils I wrote back in the day. The first human to be used as a projectile was “Lulu” in 1871. This British man dressed in drag and was sent skyward by a catapult at the London Music Hall. The first actual cannon was used by circus pioneer P.T. Barnum in 1880. Another Brit, a real woman named Zazel, stunned audiences when she climbed into the cannon and was shot into a safety net. Barnum used coiled springs to propel her along with a fake bang and puff of smoke thanks to well-timed firecrackers. These days, the springs have been replaced by a compressed air cannon — but they still use a fake bang to give the audience a thrill.

All in, it’s a pretty safe stunt as long as everything is in place like it should be. The article also points out that the human cannonball world record holder said he’d never heard of a safety net not being in place. And this is a guy who has been shot out of a cannon more than 5,000 times without a hitch. At the very least it seems like something somebody should notice before the old fuse is lit.

Very sad and bizarre. What sad and bizarre stories do you know?