All language subtitles for Ripleys.Believe.It.or.Not.2019.S01E03.Showstoppers.480p.x264-mSD[eztv]_Subtitles01

LILY: If I'm
gonna do something,

I give it my all.

WOLLIN: I want to
be immortal.

I want to be a legend.

It's not fireworks. It's
far more spectacular than that.

CHOI: There's like a shock
that goes through me.

[ Whip cracks ]

TEPPER: He's crazy,

and you never know
what he's coming up to do.

♪♪

CAMPBELL: 100 years ago,
Robert Ripley went on a quest

to the farthest reaches
of the globe

in search of the extraordinary
and unusual.

Today, the adventure continues,

searching for the world's
most bizarre,

astonishing secrets...

♪♪

...on
"Ripley's Believe It or Not!"

♪♪

They test their limits
and risk their lives,

rewriting our
definition of sanity.

I'm Bruce Campbell.

As an actor, I've seen
some things, done some stuff,

but all of it was fake.

What you're about to see
is 100% grade-A real.

[ Electricity buzzing ]

It's a lesson kids
learn early in life --

keep your fingers
out of the outlets

so you don't get electrocuted,

a rule three British
lads never learned.

Now they're electrifying
audience all over the world

as they hurl
millions of volts of lightening.

Believe it or not.

[ Thunder booms ]

♪♪

For almost a decade,

Kino McDonald and
Joshua Leighton True

have been dazzling audiences.

I like to do
dangerous things.

I get a real buzz
out of it.

♪♪

[ Projector clicks ]

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
But it's Jeb Hawkins

who really amps up the show.

The performers like to
call me "the Overlord"

'cause the one actually
controlling the amount of power

going to the lightening
that they're throwing.

CAMPBELL: And now they're
about to crank up the dial

in a show that will push the
limits of man and machine

to a dangerous new extreme.

♪♪

♪♪

Back in 2010 was the first time

I actually ever
seen a Tesla coil.

I mean, it's like, how --
why -- what is this thing?

And I, at the time,
was working as an electrician.

Just happened to
sort of be

in the right place
at the right time

and got offered
the role of like,

"Oh, do you fancy taking on
this crazy lightening show?"

and it really got me going.

Who was this guy who
originally made these machines?

What are they?

This is some sort
of black magic.

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
Back in the 1890s,

inventor Nikola Tesla
dreamed of a world

that could run
on wireless electricity,

so he set out to prove it,

demonstrating his
miraculous invention

from coast to coast.

In world still mostly lit
by candle and gas light,

Tesla's marvel both thrilled
and terrified his audiences,

all of which inspired
the Lords pick up

where the mad scientist
left off.

So, we then decided
to develop a show

using the equipment
that already existed

that was tried and tested,

but didn't really have
a very dynamic show

or any slickness

to what the performance was.

♪♪

So, we got
some performers involved,

got a creative director involved
and some choreography,

and it sort of grew organically
of the next sort of four years.

I started off as a ballet
dancer and a break dancer

and I did a bit of
all sorts of circus skills

and balance acts.

McDONALD: We were all
a bunch of fire twirlers,

you know, doing fire shows,
things like that,

and it was just
the next level.

We're looking for
those magic moments --

the big falls,
the big shock.

Yeah, we're looking for
the "wow" moment.

So, the unique thing that
Lords of Lightening do

that other people don't

is we have performers
on top of the Tesla coils

actually throwing
lightening at each other.

CAMPBELL:
It's a dangerous game.

The outlets in your house
are wired with 120 volts.

The Lords are dealing
with four million.

Every time we do a show,

we get into our chain mail suit
that covers all of our body.

The suit I'm wearing is
actually a shark diving suit,

but the alternative uses for
these suits is high voltage.

Voltage will flow much more
fluidly around a metal surface

because my body is
less conductive than the metal.

So, they become an extension
of the machine themselves

without being cooked by it.

It's still dangerous.

♪♪

I've had parts of my suit
come apart and got shocked.

I felt like I was
being strangled.

HAWKINS:
It's a big responsibility

having the performers' lives
in my hand.

But they trust me
and I trust them.

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
But now they're getting ready to
perform their biggest show yet,

in front of 60,000 people

at the
Glastonbury Musical Festival.

The pressure is as enormous
as the voltage beneath them.

Can they pull it off?

♪♪

[ Audience cheers ]

You get up there
and you're like, "Oh, no,"

and I'm starting
to wobble a little bit

and I'm standing
on the platform shaking.

There's something amazing
about standing up there,

feeling the electricity.

We see a whole different thing.

We get this blue corona

and this plasma
rolling around our body.

HAWKINS:
It's not fireworks.

It's something far
more spectacular than that.

[ Electricity buzzing ]

♪♪

TRUE:
It's such an adrenalin buzz.

Must of had 60,000
people in the crowd.

So many people in front of you.

HAWKINS: And it's just sort of
bringing together

the real fundamental of
passion for a lot of people.

♪♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

Most creators dream of works
that will live forever,

but there's a young woman
in New England

who's at her best
when everything is...

falling apart.

♪♪

My name is Lily Hevesh,
I'm 20 years old,

and I'm a domino artist.

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
For the last 11 years,

Lily Hevesh has been
setting dominoes up

and knocking them down...

♪♪

...building an
international fan base

that follows her every design.

♪♪

Lily is amazing,
off the chart.

She's the top domino
artist in the world,

in terms of numbers --

most subscribers, most views,
and that sort of thing.

CAMPBELL: And the momentum
keeps on building.

Ahhh!

Oh, my God!
[ Laughs ]

I have a million
subscribers now.

That's crazy.

In celebration of
this milestone,

Lily is building her most
ambitious solo project to date,

a 30,000-domino set up

that will stretch through

her parents'
entire house and garage.

Have fun taking out
the garbage. [ Laughs ]

It's bigger than anything
she's ever done before,

and could take her
several weeks to compete.

But can she pull it off?

♪♪

LILY: I don't like
creating work that's mediocre.

If I'm gonna do something,
I give it my all.

In elementary school,
I wanted to a be an artist,

and when I was 9 years old,
I found a set of 28 dominoes

at my grandparents' house.

WOMAN: Wow.

I'd set up about half of
them on top of a table

and then one would fall off and
then it a line on the floor,

and I was like,
"This is amazing,"

like, I had no idea you could
even do any of this

with dominoes

and it kind of became
an obsession from there.

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
In middle school,

Lily started posting
her work on YouTube

and people took notice.

Over the years, as her creations
became more and more complex,

her following exploded.

Before long, companies
started hiring her

for everything from private
events to TV commercials.

LILY: Dominoes has lead me
all around the world.

Projects in London.
I've done projects in France.

We made it up the Eiffel Tower.
Check this out. Oh, my God.

I've been to Turkey, Austria,
Canada, all over the U.S.

♪♪

MARK: She's very successful
with commercial projects --

commercials for
TV or for the web --

and so, she has
a good income from it.

Can't really believe
this I my profession --

you know,
doing domino art full-time.

Some days, I'll build
for, like, 12 hours.

I spend a lot of time building.

Once I get in the zone,
I'm like --

it's, like,
just me and my dominoes.

♪♪

CAMPBELL: Lily may make
this process look effortless,

but in reality, it takes design,
precession, and technique.

I'll have a complete floor plan

and I'll draw it out
on Photoshop

so you can see
exactly where each trick is

and how the connection lines
go to the each trick.

♪♪

I have a couple of tools

that I use when
building dominoes.

First is a LEGO template.

It kind of
looks like a comb.

You just put
the dominoes in each slot

and then you push it forward,
move it to the side,

and it'll space it exactly.

I also rulers a lot
and yard sticks

for making things straight

and just measuring out.

It's important to be precise

because if you aren't

then the trick won't follow
the way that you want to.

Right before I knock it down,
I'm super excited

'cause I want to see it
fall down,

but I'm also
super, super nervous

because I want it to
topple the way that I planned

and you never really know

how it's gonna
fall with dominoes.

Oh, my God.
MAN: Whoa.

CAMPBELL: Do it right
and it looks like magic,

but the art of dominoes
is really just basic science,

with one tile transferring
its energy to the next.

In fact, each domino has
enough kinetic energy

to push over a domino
1 1/2 times its own size.

That means if you
lined up 20 dominoes,

each 1 1/2 times
bigger than the last,

you could knock over
a 30-story building

in a matter of seconds.

♪♪

Simple physics,

but when you're designing
a 30,000-piece set-up,

so much can go wrong
along the way.

LILY: Being very aware
of your body at all times

is super important,

'cause if you knock it down,
like, it could be all over.

Some set-ups are
super, super high pressure,

especially when I'm
building giant 3D structures

because if you drop
one domino into the structure,

it'll all collapse
and there's no way to save it.

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
But there's no great pressure

than Lily's celebration of
one million YouTube followers.

She spent 15 days setting it up.

Now, with the flick of a finger,

it's the moment of truth.

LILY: Is it gonna work
or is gonna fail?

♪♪

In the world of dominoes,

20-year-old Lily Hevesh
is a rockstar,

and to celebrate
her one millionth
YouTube subscriber,

she's giving her fans the gift
of her biggest set-up yet.

But in the domino business,

one misplaced tile
could mean the difference

between a smashing success
and a total flop.

Knock them down, Lily.

Hope you had decaf.
[ Laughs ]

♪♪

After hundreds of videos

and thousands of hours
committed to her passion,

Lily is almost ready to roll.

I'm actually filling in
the last couple of dominoes.

Just hoping that I
don't knock down the
dominoes by accident.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Confetti gun pops ]

Whoo!

Perfect! Yes!

I can't believe
this is even happening.

Thank you so much.

♪♪

The famous
silent movie actor Lon Chaney

was known as
"The Man of a Thousand Faces."

Well, [Laughs]

he's got
nothing on this guy.

♪♪

You never know when inspiration
is gonna strike you.

Could be driving,

sitting on the potty chair
in the middle of the night,

just wake up with some
kind of creative inspiration.

You just have to execute it.

♪♪

♪♪

CAMPBELL: Michael Gump has
a really cool day job.

♪♪

[ Electricity crackles ]

I'm a prop master for
a lot of crazy kids' shows.

And a big part of
my professional work

is to make stuff.

I know a lot
recipes for trouble.

♪♪

MAN: Ah!

CAMPBELL: Especially since
he he started moonlighting

on a project of his own.
[ Growls ]

GUMP:
While I'm doing my regular work,

I'm often thinking, like,

"Would this be a good thing
to glue to my face?"

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
Each and every night,

for the past
three and a half years,

Michael has become
his own canvas.

♪♪

And now he's taking
his project to a new extreme.

MINTON:
Three, two, one.

Pour.

♪♪

GUMP:
I've been making stuff

pretty much as long
as I can remember.

[ Projector clicks ]

As a kid, I was really
in my imagination a lot,

so I used to play with toys

and put together
little model train environments

and just enjoy the fantasy

of getting into, like,
a little scene or environment.

CAMPBELL:
Michael was lucky enough

to turn that passion
into a career.

With a wife and two kids,
it seemed like he had it all,

until life took a nasty turn.

My wife separated from me.

It was
an emotionally tough time.

CAMPBELL: That's when his art
really became a lifeline,

and everything in his tool box
and his snack drawer

became an inspiration.

♪♪

My disguise projects.

♪♪

It was a good distraction,

but it was also --

like, makes you
feel empowered.

♪♪

CAMPBELL: Night after night,
one disguise after another,

he posted his pictures
on Instagram

under the name "bobbugs."

More than 50,000 people follow
his daily transformation.

♪♪

The original idea was to
try to do one a day for a year.

♪♪

In the process,
somebody said to me,

"You should make a book,

and you could do
a thousand faces,

and that would only
take you, like, three years."

And then I was like,
"You didn't just say that."

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

♪♪

So, then the goal
actually was like,

can I do a thousand
disguises every day --

like, I mean, in a row?

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
Three and a half years later,

he's still working on
his book

while creating
bigger, crazier,

and more dangerous
disguises every day.

GUMP:
It's like exercising.

A lot of times
you don't want to do it,

but then you do it and
you feel better afterwards.

♪♪

I think this project has
helped keep Michael's sanity.

♪♪

And at the end of the night,
he can really just,

almost like meditate, focus on
his art, and do what he loves.

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
Now, at day 1,347,

he's trying
something challenging --

a portrait in motion.

It's about catching a moment.

CAMPBELL: He'll have just
one chance to get it right.

And with 20 pounds of sweet
cafeteria glory ready to go,

can he keep his streak
of brilliance alive?

♪♪

BIBBY: If I'm bit,

I'm either hurt or dead.

Whoa!

Unfortunately, I have
made a couple of mistakes

with human assistants.

♪♪

For the last
three and a half years,

Michael Gump has created a
new self portrait every night.

His legion of social media
followers count on it,

and trust me,
they're insatiable.

GUMP: Today we're going
to do a disguise

involving classic
cafeteria-style
fruit cocktail...

♪♪

...with the peaches
and the pears

and the little half-cherries.

My buddy Brandon's got
a high-speed camera,

and we'll take a
bunch of pictures

and we'll pick one
that you can see

all the tendrils of a fluid

or see something
captured in a moment

that you don't really
necessarily see.

I'm pretty used to feeling a
little itchy or a little warm

or sticky --

become pretty accustomed
to that.

My kids are gonna help us out

because we need somebody
to pour the material.

It's fun for them
to be involved.

Right here, on the
front of his head.

Right
in my face.

As close as you
can get it.
Right
on my forehead.

MINTON:
Here we go.

Three,

two,

one.

Pour.

♪♪

[ Camera shutter clicks]

GIRL: [ Laughs ]

GIRL 2:
He's eating it.

GUMP: It is good.
Try some.

Oh, wow.
There's a lot of good ones

[ Camera shutter clicks]

CAMPBELL:
Michael hasn't gotten
that coveted book deal yet,

but with thousands of
disguises under his belt,

the work seems to have
taken on a life of its own.

Some performances
can play out over years,

but for one world record holder,

the magic happens --
[ Snaps fingers ]

...in a split second

more than
twice the speed of sound.

♪♪

[ Whip cracks ]

CHOI: My name is
April Jennifer Choi

and I am a whip artist.

[ Whip cracks ]

[ Whips cracks ]

CAMPBELL:
She's powerful,

she's precise,

and just a little bit dangerous.

Now she's attempting a stunt

only only eight people in the
world have ever accomplished --

lighting her whip on fire

and wrapping herself
in the flames.

Believe it or not.

♪♪

CHOI: The thing that
drives me the most

is just my obsessive
personality.

When I find something,
I dive deep into it.

♪♪

CAMPBELL: By day, April is
an analytical engineer

with a master's degree
in fluid dynamics.

CHOI:
I love engineering,

especially being
able to use physics

and kind of just laws
that are not defined by mankind,

that make the world happen.

[ Projector clicks ]

CAMPBELL:
But in 2011,

a visit to a festival
changed her life.

CHOI:
There was a a whip class.

I took the whip class.

The next thing I know,

I had to learn at least
the first hundred tricks.

♪♪

When I watch whips move,

I'm always amazed
just how they move

and how they undulate
in such fluid motions,

and seeing those motions
remind me of the mathematics

that go through them
consistently.

CAMPBELL:
And what's happening at
the very end of the whip

is really mind-blowing.

Physicists have discovered
that the whip crack

is actually a
sonic boom

produced when the whip
crosses the sound barrier,

reaching speeds of
up to 1,500 miles an hour.

That's almost as fast
as a F-35 fighter jet.

[ Whip cracks ]

CHOI: Knowing that I could take
my engineering knowledge

and put it into
whip cracking,

that accelerated me
into to the performance world.

Along the way,

she fell in love with a women
named Bethany Byrnes,

who not only joined the act,

she became April's wife.

April is so amazing
because she's so inspiring

to make you want to get
out there and just try.

CAMPBELL: Together, they wowed
audiences all over the world.

MAN: Oh!

CHOI:
We do do whips of slack lines.

We do things where we're taking
bottle caps off with a whip.

♪♪

BYRNES: It definitely
goes through my mind

that being injured
is a real possibility.

Unfortunately, I have
made a couple of mistakes

with human assistants.

CAMPBELL:
April admits to inflicting
the occasional scratch

or whelp,

but it could
get so much messier.

CAMPBELL:
Particularly tricks that
take things out of the mouth,

you could possibly hit them
in the eye by accident.

CAMPBELL:
Add fire into the mix

and the risk turns
downright deadly.

But April's not backing off,

even if it means her whole life
is about to go up in flames.

I'm gonna be
bathing in rattlesnakes.

[ Snakes rattling ]

WOLLIN: Whatever I takes
is what I'm willing to do

to get to where I want to be.

♪♪

32-year-old April Choi
has a built career

cracking the whip
and breaking records,

and because that's
not dangerous enough

her whole life is about
to go up in flames.

Flame on!

♪♪

She's using a specially
designed fire whip

made with Kevlar and
dosed in white gas.

One small mistake

and she could find herself
trapped in a flaming noose,

struggling to breathe
with her hair on fire.

Noosing yourself is when you do
a crack over your head

and the whip catches on itself.

It wraps around itself,

and since it loses
all of its moment,

it just drops.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Whips cracks ]

CAMPBELL:
April starts with the basics...

♪♪

...keeping the flame safely
away from her neck.

♪♪

Now to turn up the heat.

[ Whip cracks ]

♪♪

She's done it,
and she's not even singed.

April is an excellent example

of you can do anything
that you put your mind to.

♪♪

April tamed her whip
without going up in flames.

There's a guy in Texas

who plays with
a different kind of fire,

the kind that has
a mind of its own.

Be afraid.
Be very afraid.

♪♪

People come from near and far.

The mix of fascination,

revulsion,

and straight-up disbelief.

Most of us will do
anything to steer clear

of a feisty rattlesnake...

...but not this man.

He's made a career of
tangling with vipers.

[ Snake hisses ]

And today,
he's raising the stakes,

getting down and dirty
right in the snake pit.

[ Snake hisses,
rattles ]

♪♪

68-year-old Jackie Bibby...

♪♪

...is a legend.

[ Cheers and applause ]

They call me
"The Texas Snakeman."

I'm an attention seeker.

I really like attention
and I'm showman.

I really enjoy
performing for people.

CAMPBELL:
For nearly half a century,

Jackie's been pushing the limits

with one of nature's most
finely tuned killing machines.

[ Cheers and applause ]

And now, he's attempting one
of his most dangerous stunts.

He's gonna share a bathtub
with 20 riled-up rattlesnakes

for 15 minutes.

If I'm bit,
I'm either hurt or dead.

[ Snake rattles ]

Believe it...

Whoa!

CAMPBELL:
...or not.

♪♪

[ Projector clicks ]

BIBBY: I got involved
in handling rattlesnakes

at a rattlesnake roundup.

I was 18 years old --
1969.

I went near the rattlesnake
sacking championship.

That's where you got to
have two men in the pit,

one holding the sack and
one picking snakes up

and putting them in the sack.

[ Cheers and applause ]

I was the only non-professional
in the competition

and I won two trophies, $30,
and got my name in the paper.

The rest, as they say,
is history.

MAN:
Give Jackie a big hand there.

Alright.

CAMPBELL: Since then,
Jackie and his rattlers

have been entertaining
audiences all over the globe.

BIBBY: I have over
a hundred trophies now

and I hold the world record
for that sport.

[ Cheers and applause ]

CAMPBELL: But Jackie
has paid a steep price

to get where he is today.

BIBBY:
In 49 years of handling snakes,

I've received 12 serious bites.

I only count a bite that
sends me to the hospital.

You can see I have
a divot in my hand

where the venom
rotted my hand out.

My other thumb is stiff.

I don't have any
mobility in the joint

and I have a deteriorated
tissue on the end

from snakebites.

This thumb's been
bitten three times.

CAMPBELL:
Within seconds,

rattlesnake venom
stops your blood from clotting

and starts dissolving
the flesh and muscle tissue

around the bite.

♪♪

And some bites are
worse than others.

Six years ago,
Jackie endured an attack

that nearly ended his life.

My worse bite,
a snake bit above my boot.

Big snake,
almost six feet long,

had a lot of venom.

You begin to have discoloration
and blood blisters

at the site of the bite.

You begin to have
a coppery taste,

kind of like you stuck
a penny in your mouth.

You're gonna probably
start projectile vomiting.

You get really sick and
it hurts really bad.

[ Sirens wailing ]

By the time they got
me to the hospital,

my leg was already dead.

[ Monitor beeps ]

Three days later,
they started chopping on my leg.

Ten operations
and a month later,

they kicked me out.

Everybody thought,
"Well, is he gonna quit?"

Nah, I just bought a leg
and went back to doing it.

♪♪

CAMPBELL:
Today, he'll tempt fate

and the fangs of over
20 venomous rattlesnakes.

They have their venom,
they have their fangs,

they have the capacity
to inflict a deadly bite.

So, we're not milking
these snakes beforehand.

We're not sewing
their mouths shut

or anything like that.

CAMPBELL: It'll all come down
to a battle of will

versus instinct.

Those snakes have the
capacity to kill you.

[ Snakes rattle ]

CAMPBELL:
He's determined to spend
the next fifteen minutes

in the tub with them.

But that's a long time when
you're in the strike zone.

BIBBY:
Whoa!

DOUGY: Don't move,
don't move, don't move.

♪♪

Jackie Bibby is about
to get into a bathtub

filled with western diamondback
rattlesnakes,

one of the most aggressive
snakes in North America.

Nobody said this
was a good idea.

♪♪

BIBBY:
As I'm getting in this bathtub,

I'm gonna have to tape my legs

where I won't be
shaking and jittery

when I'm sitting in there
for a long period of time.

And it's so very important
I've gotta be real still.

Dougy will be
free handling these snakes.

In other words,
he'll be picking them up

with a pinner and
with his hands.

He will not have
their heads pinned,

so they do have
the potential

to cause
a deadly bite at any time.

[ Snake rattles ]

As these snakes get
deeper and deeper

on me in the bathtub,

it's a little bit more
nerve-wracking

'cause you don't know
where they're liable to go.

CAMPBELL: What they're after
is a dark, tight place,

which means they could
wriggle behind Jackie,

sneak underneath him,

or try to hide under
his pants or shirt.

♪♪

BIBBY: Wait,
there's stuff under me.

MAN: I know.

Some of them went
and got behind me,

some got under me,
some were between my legs,

and there's always
the danger, you know,

of being bit in the back.

CAMPBELL:
Bites to the extremities
are dangerous enough.

But if this errant rattlesnake
strikes Jackie's torso,

the venom will reach
his heart so fast

that he would likely
die in minutes.

♪♪

[ Snake hisses,
rattles ]

Alright, Dougy,
let's go backwards.

This is
the tough part.

♪♪

Dougy, you got
one in the quilt.

DOUGY: Yup.

You gonna
move me up?

♪♪

Whoa!
Dougy!

I got him.

Don't move,
don't move, don't move.

I ain't moving.

[ Snakes rattling ]

[ Cheers and applause ]

♪♪

You know, it was kind of
edgy there for a few minutes,

but when I first
starting handling,

I had no idea that the snakes
would take me where they did.

You know, I certainly
never said to myself,

"Wow. If I get good
at handling snakes,

I'll get to go to Paris, France,

or London, England,
or Istanbul, Turkey."

And the fun that I have
and the things I get to do

are all well worth the danger

that I encounter as a
result of doing what I do.

[ Snake rattles,
hisses ]

Down in Florida,
there's a performer

who has "badass"
written all over him.

[ Rock music plays ]

[ Music plays louder ]

WOLLIN:
My name is Aaron Wollin.

People call me "Short E."

or "Short E. Dangerously."

That's my stage name.

CAMPBELL: Short E. Dangerously
is a natural born entertainer

who's about to push his act
beyond the pain threshold,

even if it means
paying a huge price.

♪♪

When he's not
cruising in his Camaro...

...or rocking his skateboard...

...Short E. gets around
like this.

His hands are the
source of his strength

and his mobility.

[ Audience cheering ]

WOMAN: Make some noise
for Short E. Dangerously!

CAMPBELL:
But now he's putting them
to the ultimate test --

jumping from a stool and landing
in a pile of jagged glass,

hands first.

Believe it...

[ Crowd cheers ]

...or not.

♪♪

WOLLIN: I don't
remember learning

how to walk on my hands.

I just --
natural adaptation, I guess.

CAMPBELL: It's never stopped him
from making friends

or meeting girls.

That guy gets more girls
than anybody I know.

WOLLIN:
I was born with a condition
called sacral agenesis.

Half my spin is missing.

CAMPBELL: Sacral agenesis
is a rare condition

that affects
one in 25,000 births.

All of Aaron's organs
function normally,

but the lower half of
his skeletal system

never properly developed.

WOLLIN:
I was born with legs,

but when I was 2 1/2,
they were amputated

because they were
just skin and bones.

They had no muscle structure.

It's funny because

I had prosthetic legs
when I was younger,

and about the time
I was in fourth grade,

those gave me more limitations

than my disability ever did.

All they did was make me taller.

I always tried to do the
normal things a kid does.

My mom definitely --

"No self pity.
Don't feel sorry for yourself."

You know, "Nobody's gonna
hand it to you," you know?

CAMPBELL:
In his late 30s,

Short E. saw something
that would change his life --

film of a guy named Johnny Eck,

who was born with
sacral agenesis

just like Short E.

From the 1920s to the 1940s,

Johnny worked constantly
in side shows and films,

becoming a household name.

WOLLIN: I saw that he did
a one-armed handstand,

and I was like,
"I could do that."

So, I practiced it.

CAMPBELL: Short E. found that
he had inherent talent.

Now he needed a way to show it.

WOLLIN: So, six years ago,
I joined a circus.

It was a traditional
ten-in-one sideshow.

It was the sideshow
that you would see

at the carnivals.

You want to see the girl
in the contortion box,

you pay a dollar.

Or you want to see the guy
put the pins through his face,

you pay a dollar.

I just fell in love
with being on stage,

and I knew that's
what I wanted to do.

CAMPBELL: Short E. soon became
a star attraction

with a singular purpose.

♪♪

[ Glass shatters ]

♪♪

[ Glass shatters ]

WOLLIN:
When it's all said and done,

I want to surpass
Johnny Eck legend.

♪♪

And I want to be
bigger than him.

[ Audience cheering ]

CAMPBELL:
Short E. is so dedicated

to besting Eck

that he's willing
to attempt something

old Johnny
never even dreamed of.

Today, in front of
hundreds of fans,

it's Short E.'s hands versus
a pile of jagged glass.

♪♪

WOLLIN:
What bigger risk to take

than my hands and
my ability to walk and move?

Whatever it takes
is what I'm willing to do

to get to where I want to be.

CAMPBELL: If he
hits the landing perfectly,

he should walk away
with just a little pain.

But if he's at all
unbalanced,

his palms and fingers
could be shredded.

CAIN:
His hands are

the only way of transportation
that he has,

and you would think that
he would be so careful

to make sure
that he didn't cause injury.

WOLLIN: Right before
I get ready to walk onstage,

that's where I get
the body tingles

and I feel, like, the buzz.

CAMPBELL: But if he doesn't
control his jump

and damages his hands,

his dreams
could be over forever.

WOMAN: Make some noise
for Short E. Dangerously!

[ Audience cheering ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Becoming mythical is a pretty
high standard for success.

Today, Short E. Dangerously
is making such an attempt,

building his persona with a jump

that puts his hands at risk.

♪♪

WOMAN: Let's hear it for
Short E. Dangerously!

CAMPBELL: Short E. has crushed
a half dozen wine bottles,

creating these shards of glass.

He's wearing
nothing on his hands

to protect himself from injury.

♪♪

[ Audience cheers ]

♪♪

WOLLIN:
I know it sounds cliché,

but I firmly believe

pain is just weakness
leaving your body.

CAIN: He's just amazing.

He's got a way of
captivating people

and keeping
their attention, always.

He's crazy,

and you never know
what he's coming up to do.

He's truly a legend.

WOLLIN:
You guys having a good time?

Yeah!

In 40 years,

I want people
to talk about me

like they
talk about Johnny Eck.

I want to be immortal.

I want to be a legend.

[ Cheers and applause ]

It's that same drive that
keeps so many performers

always pushing for more.