She was 63, nearly broke, and about to climb into a barrel above Niagara Falls.

On October 24, 1901, her birthday, Annie Edson Taylor, a former schoolteacher living in Bay City, Michigan, went over the Horseshoe Falls in a custom-made barrel of oak and iron, padded with a mattress. She survived and became the first person known to make the plunge in a barrel.

She hoped the stunt would secure her old age. It didn't: her manager ran off with the barrel, and she spent much of what she earned trying to recover it.

Why it still matters: her story is a reminder that fame and fortune are not the same thing, and she remains part of Niagara's legend.

What is the boldest thing you would do to change your life?

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