According to the official AJ Hackett Web site, the practice of bungee (or bungy) jumping –- i.e., throwing yourself off a tall object while tied to a piece of elastic –- owes its origins to an unhappy housewife on the island of Pentecost, in the South Pacific country of Vanuatu, many centuries ago. After years of spousal abuse, the lady in question allegedly climbed a tall banyan tree to escape from her husband and, taunting his cowardice, dared him to follow her up there and jump. He followed in hot pursuit and, not to be outdone by an unruly female, followed her as she flung herself to the ground. What he'd failed to notice, however, was that his wife had tied some young vines to her ankles, thus facilitating a safe landing; he, on the other hand, succeeded only in committing freefall suicide.
In subsequent years, the event, whether real or apocryphal, became enshrined in Vanuatu ritual and has now evolved into an annual stunt that coincides with the yam harvest, in which males prove their heroism to the female population by jumping from a specially constructed platform some 30 meters off the ground.
The next evolutionary step in the development of bungee jumping was taken in the 1970s by a group of people renowned for their reckless abandon –- yup, that's right: students. Inspired by the exploits of the Vanuatu, members of the notorious so-called "Dangerous Sports Club," loosely based around England's Oxford University —- that renowned medieval bastion of advanced learning —- embraced bungee jumping as a life-enhancing activity. (Other of their reputed extreme activities included playing a grand piano as it descended the Alps on skis, hosting a cocktail party on a rocky outcrop located 200 miles into the Atlantic Ocean, and catapulting a man from a medieval trebuchet device, which ended in fatal tragedy when he missed the safety net.)
The exploits of this latter group of maniacs inspired New Zealand speed-skier AJ Hacket to team up with fellow skier Henry van Asch and, after much testing of latex cord, turn bungee into the global phenomemon it is today, with well over a million safe jumps to their name to date.
As the world capital of general abandon, Las Vegas was an obvious bungee venue. In 1991, a 210-foot "T-Tower," with a 171.5-foot drop, was built by Casey Dale and Bungee Masters Adventure America Unlimited next to Circus Circus, from which numerous visitors and locals, including our own Anthony Curtis, subsequently hurled themselves. In 1996, the attraction was sold to bungee master AJ Hackett.
But nothing in Vegas lasts forever and AJ Hackett's bungee platform was no exception. In 2005, the land it stood on was sold to developers and the tower dismantled, bringing to a close more than a decade of death-defying insanity. The plan was to close the attraction in true Vegas style by setting a stuntman on fire and having him plunge off the platform into the Circus Circus pool, but on the scheduled day it was too windy to perform the stunt safely, so he had to content himself with a regular jump.
So there's all the background. What of the future? We hadn't heard anything about a new venue, although it still seems ready-made for this thrill-seekers' paradise, so we followed up on your inquiry and dropped the company a line. We got an email back from Elaine Hackett, AJ’s sister, all the way from Australia, and here's exactly what she said:
"Yes, we are looking at reopening in Vegas, but at this stage no definite time-frame has been set, as we still haven’t found a suitable location. We are, however, hoping we will be reopening within the next 18 months to two years. I will keep your details on file and as soon as we have more info on this, I will email you direct."
So there you have it. As is so often the case, no news is no news. Maybe they can team up with Wet 'n' Wild, the other sorely missed Las Vegas attraction that's also in search of a new venue. For now, however, the best we can do is keep you updated as and when we hear anything.
