Monday, May 22, 2006
CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio (AP) -- A stuntman has revived a tradition of lighting himself on fire and diving into the Chagrin River in Northeast Ohio.
Ted Batchelor took the flaming plunge Saturday, the 30th anniversary of the first time he did it.
About 1,000 people cheered as he burned while wearing a flame-retardant suit for about a minute, then jumped into the Chagrin River. Some onlookers gasped as he leapt and held their breath for a moment before he surfaced.
Batchelor performed the stunt annually for 10 years beginning in 1976. Usually he was arrested right afterward, and the last time he did it he was fined $1,000 and given two years of probation, with the threat of a 90-day jail term if he did it again.
Batchelor was a high-school student when he first made the jump on a bet to earn money for prom.
He went on to be a professional stuntman and holds the world record for the longest full-body burn without oxygen.