Monsieur de Grandpré and Monsieur de Le Pique fought a deadly duel in 1808 while suspended high above Paris in two identical hot air balloons, purely over the affection of a famous opera dancer.

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Monsieur de Grandpré and Monsieur de Le Pique fought a deadly duel in 1808 while suspended high above Paris in two identical hot air balloons, purely over the affection of a famous opera dancer. The two angry Frenchmen decided that shooting at each other on the ground was far too pedestrian, so they armed themselves with blunderbusses, hopped into wicker baskets, and ascended half a mile into the sky with their terrified copilots. Once they reached the agreed altitude, Le Pique fired his gun and completely missed, prompting Grandpré to return fire and blast a massive hole right through the fabric of his rival's balloon. Le Pique's balloon instantly collapsed and plummeted out of the sky, violently crashing into a rooftop and killing both him and his innocent second, while Grandpré triumphantly drifted away to collect his girlfriend like a nineteenth-century James Bond villain