Top 10 Daredevil Stunts Gone Wrong (GRAPHIC)

Well, that wasn't how it was supposed to go. Join http://www.WatchMojo.com as we count down our picks for the Top 10 Daredevil Stunts Gone Wrong.

For this list, we’re looking at intentional stunts that went horribly wrong, resulting in either significant injury or death. Also, and we can’t stress this enough: DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME.

Jim Bailey was an amateur Australian stuntman, and his work was featured on the television series “That’s Incredible,” including a segment where he was dragged behind a car going about 100 miles an hour. In April 1981, “The Human Torpedo” attempted a stunt which involved hanging from a single-engine airplane by a strap and a belt and using the airplane as a hang glider. However, only seconds after takeoff, Bailey’s harness snapped and he was left dangling five hundred feet in the air before his hands finally slipped and he fell to his death.

A stuntman from Montreal, Canada, Ken Carter loved rocket-powered cars. The Mad Canadian’s first big stunt attempt involved jumping the St. Lawrence river, a distance of one mile, but health concerns forced him to back out at the last minute. Not one to be deterred, Carter planned a jump over a pond in Peterborough, Ontario with his Pontiac Firebird rocket car. After a failed first attempt, Carter tried again two months later. However, he seemingly over-estimated the jump and how much power to use, as his car cleared the landing ramp and landed on its roof, and he was immediately killed.

Before losing consciousness and dying while attempting to beat a world record, Mestre was a well-known, record-setting freediver - meaning that she dove without the help of an oxygen tank. A seasoned scuba diver by thirteen, Mestre once dove 545 feet off a beach in the Dominican Republic. While attempting to beat that record by diving 561 feet, her lift balloon malfunctioned and she lost consciousness on her ascent back to the surface. She was underwater for over eight minutes, and died later in hospital.

In 2013, stunts involving stuntmen swinging from a rope through the Corona arch, a 110-foot arch in the desert near Moab, Utah were going viral on YouTube, with one in particular amassing over seventeen million views. A 22-year-old man named Kyle Lee Stocking was an amateur stuntman, and thought that replicating the world’s biggest rope swing would provide a thrill and a challenge. Unfortunately, Stocking made his rope far too long, and instead of swinging through the arch, he ended up falling 140 feet and smashing into the ground, and died on impact.

Matt Cranch was a 24-year-old stuntman and a part of Scott May’s Daredevil Stunt Show, a touring group of stuntmen known for their signature pieces. That included this one where a man is fired from a cannon into a safety net. On this particular day, a faulty catch released the safety net while Cranch – called the Human Cannonball - was in the air and it collapsed. As the unaware Cranch prepared for his headfirst dive into the net, he instead crashed into the ground. Paramedics could do nothing to save him, and he died from his injuries.

Performing a stunt on live television is always a risk, not only for your reputation, but also for the sanity of the potential children watching at home. Samuel Koch was performing a stunt wherein he would jump over moving cars with a pair of spring-loaded boots on the German television show “Wetten, dass...?” He miscalculated a jump, and he tumbled over the top of the car, landing on his head and fracturing two vertebrae. He is now paralyzed from the neck down and has since left the stunt business to become a stage actor.

Sailendra Nath Roy was a Guinness World Record holder from India who currently holds the record for the farthest distance traveled on a zip wire using hair. Yes, his hair. He accomplished the feat on March 1st, 2011, when he slid 270 feet. Not one to simply hold a record, he attempted to beat this in April of 2013 by traveling across the Teesta River. However, his ponytail became stuck in the rope wheeler halfway through the stunt, and he was left dangling for over 25 minutes. He died on the wire when his heart failed after paramedics were unable to reach him in time.

Pavel Kashin was a young Russian freerunner who attempted all sorts of dangerous stunts, usually at staggering heights without the help of harnesses or any other forms of safety equipment. For this particular stunt, Kashin was doing backflips on the roof of a 16-story building in front of onlookers and fans alike. While his friend took photographs, Kashin landed awkwardly after one flip and lost his footing, slipping and falling 16 stories to his death. While no footage exists of the accident, his friends’ photos provide a heartbreaking depiction of his final moments.

Jane Wicker was a professional stuntwoman who partook in various air shows. She was a wing walker, meaning that she would stand and walk on the wings of a flying plane without the help of harnesses or a parachute. During the Vectren Air Show in Ohio, as Wicker was performing her famous wing walk, her pilot lost control of the plane and it began barrel-rolling towards Earth before smashing into the ground and erupting into a ball of flame. Wicker and her pilot both died upon impact.

Before we shock you with our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Todd Green Slips and Falls to His Death
Gary Wells Misses the Landing Ramp
Charles Stephens Goes Down Niagara Falls

In what is perhaps one of the unluckiest deaths ever, Sean Cunningham’s was a true act of misfortune. A member of the Red Arrows, the aerobatic team of the British Royal Air Force, Cunningham was a highly skilled pilot who mastered the art of aerial stunts. However, tragedy struck one day as Cunningham sat in his Hawk T1 preparing for takeoff. His ejector seat malfunctioned and sent Cunningham roughly 200 feet into the air. If that wasn’t enough, his emergency parachute then failed to deploy, and Cunningham slammed into the ground where he immediately died.

Do you agree with our list? Can you think of any daredevil stunts that went wrong? For more harrowing top tens published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.