The Illegal Roots of Bungee Jumping

While the villagers on Pentecost Island are credited with inventing the art of bungee jumping, David Attenbourgh and a film crew hired by the BBC are responsible for bringing the elastic phenomenon to the Western world. Without him, the history of bungee jumping would look much different. In the late 1950s, Attenborough and his team went on an expedition to the South West Pacific to find customs and rituals on the verge of being forever forgotten. To the delight of Attenbourgh, his film crew, and unbeknownst to him, many generations of avid thrill seekers, amazing footage was captured of the Vanuatu villagers' land diving ritual, known to the islanders as the Naghol.

The ritual was aired April 21, 1960, on a BBC special called The People of Paradise, and it likely caused some adrenaline junkies to do a good amount of calculating, theorizing and dreaming. The Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club was the first group of people to perform a modern bungee jump. On April 1, 1979, Dave Kirke and three other members of the Oxford club jumped bravely from the Clifton Suspension Bridge, located in Bristol, using primitive bungee cords. They were arrested soon after their pioneering venture, but this did not deter them from bungee jumping once, twice or even thrice again.

The club took to the United States and soon found themselves on televisions all over the world after a particularly incredible jump from the Royal Gorge Bridge. The Royal Gorge Bridge Jump was paid for and filmed by That's Incredible!, a reality show that ran from 1980 to 1984. Two years after their television appearance, the members of the Oxford Club were leaping from hot air balloons, mobile cranes and various bridges.

Despite the pioneering club's public and personal success, commercial bungee jumping did not come around until the late 1980s. During this time, a New Zealander known as A. J. Hackett performed a series of highly publicized jumps from various structures including the Eiffel Tower. In November of 1988, Hackett offered the thrill of bungee jumping to the public at the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, a resort town on the South Island of New Zealand. This was the first of many commercial bungee jumping locations that Hackett would establish.

Thanks to the Villagers of Pentecost Island, David Attonborough's impeccable journalism, and brave jumpers such as A. J. Hackett, millions of successful bungee jumps have been performed since the 1980s. The average thrill seeker might not be willing to jump from hot air balloons, into an active volcano or off the Royal Gorge Bridge, but bungee jumping doesn't have to border on insanity to be what some believe is an invaluable experience.