How a Double-Decker Bus Once Jumped Tower Bridge

Bright Side

A double-decker bus once jumped Tower Bridge. Yes, really. In 1952, driver Albert Gunter found himself on a rising drawbridge with no time to think. He accelerated, the bus flew, and everyone survived. Then there's the man who sold the Eiffel Tower - twice. Victor Lustig, a professional con artist, tricked scrap dealers into thinking they were buying the world's most famous landmark. These are the true stories that sound too wild to be true.  Animation is created by Bright Side.  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV  Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Our Social Media:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightplanet/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other):  https://www.depositphotos.com  https://www.shutterstock.com  https://www.eastnews.ru  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This video is made for entertainment purposes. We do not make any warranties about the completeness, safety and reliability. Any action you take upon the information in this video is strictly at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any damages or losses. It is the viewer's responsibility to use judgement, care and precaution if you plan to replicate.

Transcript

00:00This isn't a scene from a movie.

00:01A double-decker bus once jumped the gap while London's Tower Bridge was up.

00:08Let's go back to the day it happened, the 30th of December, 1952.

00:13It was a normal day for the number 78 bus driver, Albert Gunter.

00:18He was driving the bus over Tower Bridge toward Shoreditch.

00:21Then he noticed that the bridge was opening, and his bus was escalating with a bascule.

00:27What do I mean by bascule?

00:28The two levered sections of the bridge are named this way.

00:32They rise up to an angle of 83 degrees, and each of them weighs over 1,100 tons.

00:39The bus was going at just 12 miles per hour when the bascule started to rise.

00:44The timing was right, and the other side of the bascule wasn't raised too much.

00:49That's how Gunter managed to jump the bus from 3 to 4 feet high above.

00:5413 people were injured, but all passengers stayed alive.

00:59How come the bridge was lifted?

01:02Back then, a watchman rang a warning bell and closed the gates before the bridge had to be opened.

01:08Yet, on that particular day, they somehow forgot to do so.

01:13That's why the bus moved further onto the bridge, thinking it was okay.

01:17Why were they lifting the sections in the first place?

01:21Because there was a ship that needed to pass under.

01:23The bus driver, Albert Gunter, said that the traffic light was also green as he drove across the bridge.

01:30He said he'd had two options, either to stop the bus and hope someone would notice the bus, or to

01:37jump the gap.

01:38If he stopped the bus, he could slip back, perhaps fall into the river.

01:43Big congrats to this hero without a cape for making the right decision in a split second.

01:51Not just a double-decker, but a plane also has a memory of passing through the tower bridge.

01:57In 1912, a plane had to fly between the bascules and the walkway.

02:03The vertical distance between the upper walkways and the deck of the drawbridge is 141 feet.

02:09The pilot, Francis McLean, was in a modified float plane that could fit in between.

02:15This is how he managed to fly successfully.

02:20He was the first person to fly under the walkways.

02:23For many of us, it's super risky and frightening.

02:27But for him, it was like a piece of cake.

02:30He told the press,

02:31It isn't so risky as it appears, for the arches of the bridges are tremendous things when you get close

02:37to them.

02:38This fellow was a civil engineer, astronomer, pioneering photographer, and aviator.

02:44Yeah, sounds like he was the perfect combo for this kind of action.

02:48Why did he decide to do this?

02:50Thing was, he had an appointment in town.

02:53It all happened on a Saturday morning.

02:56McLean thought,

02:57Why wouldn't he go there with his float plane?

02:59He took off at 6 a.m.

03:01He was at Westminster Pier on a Port of London launch at around 8.30 a.m.

03:08Want to hear a story from a prankster who lived in early 1800s London?

03:13Theodore Hook and his friend were hanging out as usual.

03:17Well, then they made a bet.

03:19Hook bet that he could turn any ordinary house into the most talked-about address within a week.

03:25The power of a hoax is proven by him.

03:28They picked a random house in the city.

03:30An ordinary woman named Mrs. Tottingham was living there.

03:34Hook wrote numerous letters to many people, from lawyers to cake makers.

03:39After a week, guests such as the governor of the Bank of England and the Lord Mayor of London showed

03:45up at the door because they had invitations.

03:49Not just people, but also the delivery Hook secretly ordered came along too.

03:54The heart of London soon turned to a standstill.

03:59Picture this.

04:01You woke at 5 a.m. after hearing the doorbell.

04:04You see a stranger at the doorstep.

04:06He says that he's here to sweep the chimneys.

04:09You didn't call anyone for this kind of service, so you sent the man back.

04:13A few moments later, someone else knocks on the door.

04:17Another sweeper tells you that he has been summoned.

04:20Poor Mrs. Tottingham.

04:21Her maid had to send 20 more men back.

04:25Unfortunately, the prank didn't end there.

04:28Things like large coal deliveries and wedding cakes were also addressed to her house.

04:34As these deliveries and workers accumulated at the door, other people, such as doctors and priests, approached the house, saying

04:42that they were called to minister to someone in the house.

04:45Hook and his friend rented a small room nearby to watch where their bet ended up.

04:51People did show up and made Hook win the bet.

04:56Rick Buckley is another person who likes practical jokes, but he is also an artist.

05:03In 1997, he modeled his nose and stuck it on various places in London with glue.

05:10Pardon?

05:11Yes, his aim was to protest against CCTV.

05:15Such a creative mixture of prank and art.

05:19Initially, he glued the noses around 35 landmarks across London.

05:25Amongst all, the seven noses of Soho are famous.

05:29I guess he doesn't like people poking their noses into other people's businesses.

05:35It's time for free association.

05:38From the noses placed in random places in the city, it's time to jump into older times, when people used

05:45toxic cosmetics on their faces for the sake of beauty.

05:48I'll refer to a trendsetter of her time, Queen Elizabeth I.

05:52She had a major influence on fashion.

05:56Not just women's clothes, but also the style of men got influenced by her choice of wardrobe.

06:02Here, I'm going to talk more about her iconic white look.

06:05This look is achieved by a white foundation called Ceruse.

06:09It's made by mixing white lead and vinegar.

06:12In that era, people also wanted to bleach freckles and treat blemishes.

06:17These types of cosmetics included ingredients like sulfur, turpentine, and mercury.

06:23As you can guess, these ingredients are harmful.

06:27They end up leaving the skin gray and shriveled.

06:30I'm not even going to mention other health issues magic cosmetics caused.

06:37Michael Holmes is a pro skydiver and canopy parachutist.

06:41No, he isn't a relative of Sherlock Holmes.

06:44He's on my list because he survived against all odds.

06:49One day, he was instructing new skydivers.

06:52It started as a routine day for him.

06:54He was on the plane with 16 students.

06:57They were going to jump from 15,000 feet.

07:00The process was simple on paper.

07:02They would allow a free fall for about a minute.

07:05And then open their canopies at 5,000 feet.

07:10That day, things didn't go as planned.

07:13Michael released the parachute, and it didn't open.

07:17He spent seconds trying to get rid of the main parachute

07:20so that he could open the reserve one.

07:22As he was struggling, he was also continuously spinning.

07:26He described the free fall as

07:28I was spinning so fast that I was nearly passing out from the J-force.

07:34He was in a similar situation before,

07:36when he had to unsnag the fine cords between the harness and the canopy.

07:41He knew that he had a backup and that this system was safe,

07:45so he didn't panic.

07:47Well, at least at the beginning.

07:49This time, he couldn't lose the main canopy.

07:52As he was around 4,000 feet,

07:54he decided to pull the second parachute,

07:57and nothing happened.

08:00He was trying to stay calm and find a way to land safely.

08:04The lines were still snagged,

08:06so the main canopy was still there.

08:08He couldn't reach the small knife.

08:10He had to cut the lines.

08:12What was even worse than spinning was that time was ticking.

08:16He was running out of options

08:17while moving closer to the ground

08:19at a speed of around 80 miles per hour.

08:23He had a head camera recording the incident the whole time.

08:27After he tried all the options and nothing worked,

08:31he waved goodbye to the lens.

08:33Luckily, his story didn't end like this.

08:36Remember what I said at the beginning?

08:38This fellow miraculously survived.

08:42He landed on a blackberry bush

08:44around 2 miles above Lake Taupo in New Zealand.

08:48He didn't have a severe injury.

08:50That means a person can fall from the sky

08:53and survive if the conditions are right.

08:57What would you do if you were in that situation?

09:02Calls, internet pages, malicious links.

09:05Those are the ways someone can scam you in the 21st century.

09:08But what if someone tried to sell you the Eiffel Tower?

09:12Big Ben or even the Brooklyn Bridge?

09:16Hard to believe, but all of these

09:19and so many other similar things

09:21happened throughout history.

09:24You may have already heard of George C. Parker,

09:27one of the most fascinating American con artists

09:30that mostly operated in the late 1800s.

09:33Con man is usually a term for a person who tricks others.

09:36First, they gain their trust and then persuade them into believing something that's not true.

09:43Parker was a native New Yorker,

09:45and he made his living by making illegal sales of landmark items he didn't really own.

09:51He managed to sell popular properties such as the Statue of Liberty,

09:55Madison Square Garden,

09:57the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

09:58and, of course, the Brooklyn Bridge.

10:01That's the one he's best known for.

10:03He repeatedly sold the bridge,

10:05at least twice a week.

10:06One time, he even got to a price of $50,000.

10:11The new owner wouldn't even know he was a victim of a con

10:14until the New York police officers would stop them

10:17from doing things you'd normally be able to do on your own property,

10:21like setting up tollbooths in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge.

10:25The Brooklyn Bridge opened for business at the end of the 19th century.

10:30It was a toll bridge,

10:32which means pedestrians had to pay money every time they wanted to cross it,

10:36riders with horses had to pay five cents,

10:38and if you had a horse and wagon,

10:41it would cost you ten cents.

10:43Tens of thousands of people would cross the bridge every day

10:45as they were heading to work from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

10:48A couple of years later,

10:50this pedestrian toll was repealed,

10:52so some obviously thought they could bring it back.

10:56Parker would often choose different names,

10:59such as Warden Kennedy,

11:01James J. O'Brien,

11:02Mr. Taylor,

11:03Mr. Roberts,

11:04and so on,

11:05while pursuing his scams.

11:06He also used multiple methods to present himself as the legal owner of properties he was selling.

11:13For example,

11:14forging documents to make his cons more believable,

11:17and setting up fake sales offices when needed.

11:20Also,

11:20when he sold Grant's tomb,

11:23he posed as the general's grandson.

11:26One of the most popular places he'd operate was Ellis Island.

11:30He'd wait for people coming from different countries,

11:33especially those who had money they wanted to invest in some new enterprises.

11:37His favorite target wasn't just people who wanted to move to the U.S.,

11:41but tourists on their first visit to New York.

11:44What a welcome, huh?

11:47The United Kingdom had a man who did a similar thing,

11:51but in the opposite direction.

11:53Arthur Ferguson was selling famous English national monuments

11:57and other public properties to tourists coming from the U.S. during the 1920s.

12:02He sold monuments like Big Ben,

12:05Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square,

12:07and Buckingham Palace.

12:09And yes,

12:10he'd also sell such buildings over and over again,

12:13finding different buyers for them.

12:15He managed to scam so many people

12:17because buyers were not informed well.

12:20Plus,

12:21they were too embarrassed to tell their stories in public

12:23once they found out the truth.

12:27Ferguson then went to the United States

12:29and sold the White House to a rancher

12:31who had to pay $100,000 yearly.

12:34Like George Parker,

12:36Ferguson also tried to sell the Statue of Liberty

12:39to a tourist from Australia.

12:41The man wanted to buy the impressive structure,

12:43but he couldn't collect the money in time.

12:46Ferguson was getting more and more impatient,

12:48bringing it up all the time

12:50and pushing his buyer to get the money.

12:52The buyer pretty soon grew very suspicious.

12:55Finally,

12:56he decided to share the entire story with the police.

12:59They finally managed to catch Ferguson.

13:02He was sentenced to five years

13:04because they found out about some other scams he did in the past.

13:09The Eiffel Tower was made available for sale too,

13:12somewhere in the 1930s.

13:14Victor Lustig was another famous con man

13:17who was 46 years old at the time.

13:19He rocked jazz-era America

13:21as well as the rest of the world.

13:23While in Paris,

13:24he made an enormous business deal.

13:27He actually sold the Eiffel Tower.

13:29And not just once,

13:31but twice.

13:34Victor's deal was pretty simple.

13:36He set up meetings with people who needed scrap iron.

13:39He convinced them the Eiffel Tower was going to be demolished

13:42because it was in desperate need of repair.

13:45So, whoever offers the biggest price gets the materials.

13:50He was a charming man with strong communication skills

13:53that helped him convince his buyers

13:55that the Eiffel Tower was really going to become theirs

13:58after that purchase.

13:59He had dozens of fake passports,

14:02often changing names while making illegal business deals.

14:07There's an interesting local legend

14:09told in Wichita Falls, Texas.

14:12In 1919, one man, J.D. McMahon,

14:15had an idea to convince people who lived there

14:18he was going to build a large property

14:20that would stretch far in the air,

14:22something we'd call a skyscraper today.

14:25He collected $200,000

14:27and then constructed a building

14:29that was only four stories high.

14:31It was 16 feet deep and 10 feet wide,

14:35way smaller than it was supposed to be.

14:37The measurement he presented in the paperwork

14:39wasn't in feet, but in inches,

14:42which, as a detail, investors kind of overlooked.

14:47The investor who came up with the original idea,

14:50of course, ran off with his windfall,

14:52leaving the embarrassment called

14:54the world's littlest skyscraper behind.

14:58Back in the 18th century,

15:00a woman called Barbara Ernie

15:02traveled across and around Liechtenstein.

15:05During her trip,

15:06she would tote a big trunk secured to her back.

15:09She lived a nomadic existence,

15:11which is why she'd often make stops

15:13to try to get lodging for the night.

15:16Every time she stopped,

15:18Ernie would tell her innkeeper

15:19that her most valuable items were in her trunk.

15:22Then she'd ask the owner to lock the trunk

15:24in the most secure room in the inn.

15:28The innkeepers obliged.

15:30They weren't aware there weren't jewels

15:32or clothes inside of the trunk.

15:34It was actually her traveling buddy

15:36who would then spring out of the trunk,

15:39grab all the valuables,

15:40and then run away with Ernie again.

15:42And that's something that lasted for 15 years

15:45until they finally caught the traveling duo.

15:49A furniture salesman,

15:51Ed Barbara,

15:52from the San Francisco Bay Area,

15:54discovered his business formula

15:56back in the 1970s and 1980s.

15:58He peppered that region with commercials

16:01that irritated people very much.

16:03Then he took it to another level.

16:05At one point,

16:06he told everyone he had a 50% interest

16:09in the Golden Gulch gold mine

16:11right next to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.

16:15Everyone heard the story

16:17that the site was ready to excavate gold.

16:19And we're talking about a lot of gold,

16:22worth as much as $93 million

16:24in the first year only.

16:26His company sold shares,

16:28which netted the salesman big profits.

16:30Of course,

16:31all that was a con.

16:34A certain truck driver

16:35didn't have a job in 2010,

16:37so he came up with a pretty unusual idea.

16:40He tried to sell the Ritz Hotel in London

16:43for almost $300 million.

16:46Not bad for the person who wants to buy it,

16:49considering the real value

16:50was going up to over $700 million.

16:53The driver was pretending

16:54he was a good friend of the owners

16:56of this fancy hotel.

16:57He also introduced himself as their associate.

17:02He said the owners had their own reasons

17:04to sell the hotel through a third party,

17:06and they couldn't discuss them.

17:08His buyer even handed him over

17:10$1 million as an initial fee.

17:13The driver then told him

17:14he got an even better offer,

17:16so he would pass the offer to another buyer,

17:19but wouldn't return the money.

17:22People tried to sell bizarre things

17:25on the internet, too.

17:26For example,

17:27in the early 2000s,

17:29when the internet was only rising,

17:30and many people didn't even understand

17:32the concept of online shopping yet,

17:34one man from Australia

17:36tried to sell a whole country

17:38on eBay.

17:39Yep,

17:40you could buy New Zealand

17:41in a one-month auction,

17:43and the starting price was

17:45$0.01 Australian dollars.

17:48Some potential buyers

17:49took this pretty seriously,

17:50so the price got to $3,000

17:52before eBay stopped it.

17:57That's it for today.

17:58So hey,

17:59if you pacified your curiosity,

18:00then give the video a like

18:02and share it with your friends.

18:03Or if you want more,

18:04just click on these videos

18:05and stay on the bright side.

18:07let's get started.

18:07So let's get started.

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