Wallendas Re-enact Fatal High-Wire Act

NewsOK: Two members of a famed acrobatic family commemorated patriarch Karl Wallenda on Saturday by completing the stunt that killed him in 1978, walking between two towers of a seaside hotel on a wire 100 feet above the ground, without a net.

Nik Wallenda said he had planned to walk by himself across a 300-foot-long wire, but his mother convinced him to let her join him. “I’ve been mentally prepared my entire life for this,” he said. “I’ve seen the video of my great-grandfather falling hundreds of times."

He said he initially rejected a request by his mother, Delilah Wallenda, to join him. “Just because of safety,” he said. “We’ve obviously lost several family members doing this.”

But Delilah Wallenda, who is in her late 50s, eventually won him over. The mother-and-son team walked slowly toward each other, balancing on a wire as wide as a nickel. Nik Wallenda was wearing moccasin-style shoes that his mother had made. He carried a 45-pound balancing pole, while Delilah Wallenda carried a 25-pound pole.

They met at the middle. Delilah Wallenda sat on the wire while her son stepped over her in slow motion. She then struggled slightly to get up before both continued toward the towers of the Conrad San Juan Condado Plaza Hotel. Dozens of onlookers on balconies and the street below gasped as Nik Wallenda knelt and steadied himself just feet before he completed the walk.

The Wallendas obtained permission to do the stunt about two months ago so they could commemorate German-born Karl Wallenda, who was 73 when he fell to his death in 1978 after a lifetime of spectacular acrobatics. He was the founder of the “The Flying Wallendas” high-wire act.