Eleventh-century English monk Eilmer of Malmesbury strapped a pair of homemade wings to his hands and feet, jumped off a tall abbey tower, and actually managed to glide for a short distance before violently crashing.

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Eleventh-century English monk Eilmer of Malmesbury strapped a pair of homemade wings to his hands and feet, jumped off a tall abbey tower, and actually managed to glide for a short distance before violently crashing. He traveled over six hundred feet through the air before a sudden gust of wind sent him plummeting to the ground, permanently breaking both of his legs. Instead of recognizing the obvious dangers of medieval skydiving, Eilmer blamed his crash entirely on the fact that he forgot to attach a tail to his rear end for stabilization. He desperately wanted to try the stunt again with a makeshift tail feather, but his abbot absolutely forbade him from jumping off any more religious buildings. It is a tragic tale of scientific curiosity being suppressed by religious authority, or just a boss telling his employee to stop trying to commit suicide on company time!