All language subtitles for Ripleys Believe It Or Not s01e01_English

Not every couple faces death
together on a regular basis.

Whoo!

SMITH: I throw the playing cards
so fast and accurate

that it could slice
through a body.

ANDREWS:
If you puncture your stomach,

you have 20 minutes
to live at that point.

[ Sizzling ]

I think is something
I was born with.

I think it's something that is
just a God-given talent.

I didn't know how dangerous
it was. I almost died.

JAMES: There's a freedom there
when you can manipulate

your body in ways that you're
only limited to with your mind.

♪♪

CAMPBELL: 100 ago,
Robert Ripley went on a quest

to the farthest reaches
of the globe

in search of the extraordinary
and unusual.

Today, the adventure continues,

searching the world's
most bizarre,

astonishing secrets...

...on
"Ripley's Believe It or Not!"

♪♪

You know it when you see it.

Uncanny ability,
outrageous talent,

the daring,
the strange to the bizarre.

I'm Bruce Campbell.

Get ready for these
natural-born thrillers.

What you're about to witness

is hard to comprehend
with the naked eye.

Only in super slow motion
can you really appreciate

the talent
that Rick Smith was dealt.

I am the world record holder
for throwing playing cards.

CAMPBELL: He's mastered all
sorts of mind-blowing tricks

with a standard deck of cards.

But today, he's pushing
his skill to a whole new level,

attempting to sever
a tiny olive mid-toss

from halfway across the room.

Believe it...

or not.

At just 1.8 grams,

not much heavier
than a couple of bumblebees,

a playing card hardly
seems like a dangerous object,

but with the snap of his wrist,
this Cleveland, Ohio, native

can turn them into daggers.

When I was 7 years old,
my dad showed me a magic trick.

My uncle showed me a coin trick,
and basically, I tried to learn

as much as tricks as I possibly
could to start fooling them,

but I learned how to throw
playing cards by accident.

I played baseball.

I was an NCAA
pitcher in college,

and we used to have
these sock wars.

Well, one day,
I got hit with a sock

but I didn't have a sock
to throw in return.

I pulled out my deck
of playing cards.

I put the card in between
my two fingers, brought it back,

and I snapped my wrist downwards
just like I would throw a ball.

He threw a card at me,
and it hit me in the leg,

and actually cut me
through my baseball pants.

SMITH: I didn't even
think anything of it

until one of my friends
brought in a world-record book.

And he showed me
the world record

for throwing a playing card.

At the time, it was 201 feet.

CAMPBELL: In March of 2002...

-There it is.
-Rick gets his big chance

to break that record

at the Cleveland State
Convention Center.

-216.
-Oh, yeah.

That's the record!

216 feet is 72 yards,

more than half the length
of a football field,

an astonishing breakthrough
almost 150 years in the making.

Back in the 1870s, card throwing
was first popularized

by French magician
Alexander Herrmann,

better known
as Herrmann the Great.

The Herrmann grip,
as it became known,

involves gripping the middle
of a playing card

horizontally between the thumb
and the middle finger

while the index finger rests
on the corner of the card

nearest the hand
and away from the body.

MAN: Oh!

The wrist is cocked inward
at a 90-degree angle

then flicked briskly outward,
launching the card.

It should slice through the air
perfectly flat,

minimizing any air resistance
that might slow it down.

With his prowess as a pitcher,
Rick brings a unique spin.

His ability to throw
a nasty curve ball

gives his technique an edge.

SMITH: I found out that I can
throw the playing card so fast

and accurate that just
a regular paper playing card

could slice through a cucumber,

a carrot,
a light bulb, a soda can.

When I was a freshman
in high school,

I started working with him
during the summer.

It was very impressive.

He was throwing cards
92 miles an hour.

I definitely never move.

Sometimes I'll flinch if he does
throw it really fast.

CAMPBELL: At that blazing speed,
one bad throw,

and Courtney could cut her face
or lose an eye.

MARCHAK: I trust him,
but it's still terrifying.

♪♪

Rick has proven that he can
throw long,

fast, and accurately,

but now, he's really
testing his ability --

setting his sights
on a moving object

that's less than an inch long.

SMITH: So there's a lot of
things that go into this.

I have to watch
when the olive is released.

I have to release the card
at the exact moment

and slice the olive
in half in midair.

CAMPBELL:
Rick carefully takes stock,

calculations spinning
through his mind.

Just seeing him practice
and throw some things around

kind of makes you a little
scared at what damage

they can actually do.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

MARCHAK: He took magic,
he took baseball,

joined the two things,
and made a living off of it.

I get to travel the world
doing magic tricks,

making people happy,

so I feel that I have been
given this talent,

and I get to share it
with the world.

♪♪

Rick Smith harnessed his golden
arm into a platinum career,

but not all greatness
comes quite that naturally.

♪♪

Most of us would never
even attempt this,

chancing death
with every single step.

But Kimberly Weglin
isn't like most of us.

Some of the most rewarding
things in life

come out of being uncomfortable.

CAMPBELL: Believe it or not,

her life's pursuit
is also her greatest fear.

Now she's about to take on
her biggest thrill

and greatest nightmare
at the same time --

a wedding ceremony
400 feet in the air

that could easily kill her

and her husband-to-be
before anybody says, "I do."

[ Screaming ]

♪♪

When I was little,
I was so terrified of heights.

I still am scared all the time.

CAMPBELL: But five years ago,
Kimberly decided to face

her fears through
the sport of slacklining.

It was a safe way for me
to push past my fear of heights

without having to, like,
stand on the edge of a cliff

and look down
and hope it gets better.

Then I saw
a photo of highlining,

and I was just blown away.

Highlining is when you take
that piece of webbing,

and you put it really
high up in the air,

and you wear a leash,

and you walk
thousands of feet in the air.

Aaaah!

When I first started,
it felt awful.

It completely
shuts your body down,

and you don't have control
over your body.

It's the most primal,
instinctual reaction.

Everything in your body is
telling you to not be up there.

CAMPBELL: The reaction to fear
starts in the amygdala

deep inside the brain.

Once the amygdala
detects danger,

it triggers stress hormones,

pupils dilate,
breathing accelerates,

heart rate
and blood pressure rise.

The body is prepared
for fight or flight.

Not exactly conducive
to balancing

on a 1-inch-wide strip of nylon.

In the early days, Kimberly
would have panic attacks.

And she would just sit there
because it's so much emotion.

Your body is screaming,
"Don't do this."

-Whoo!
-Aah!

WEGLIN: Every weekend,
falling, falling, falling.

-Whoo!
-Oh, my God.

Aaah!

Bruised up, crying,
hyperventilating.

-Whoo!
-Aaah!

Oh, my God.

You learn a lot about what
you're made of and what you do

and how you react
when times get tough.

Like, are you going to tap out,
or are you going to keep going?

You know, are you going to
finish what you started,

or are you going to quit
and leave the edge?

JENKS: So when I saw Kim come
down the aisle, it was like,

"This is it."
This is a magical moment.

Everyone has got to die somehow.

CAMPBELL: Fewer than five
performers in the world

currently swallow swords
with a 90-degree curve.

Only two, including this man,

can swallow
the 120-degree sword.

♪♪

Kimberly Weglin spent a lifetime
in fear, fear of heights,

but two years of nonstop
life-threatening practice

on a highline begins
to chip away at her acrophobia.

WEGLIN: It never goes away,
so two years of just going out,

rigging lines every weekend,

spending my whole weekend
falling, having panic attacks,

and that's kind of why we do it.

It's to push past that fear
and to not let it control us.

-Whoo!
-Oh, my God!

-Whoo!
-Aah!

One day, it just clicked.

I was so scared,
and I was shaking,

and then I felt
the first time

I've ever felt flow state,
where everything was perfect.

I stood up, and I wasn't
as afraid anymore,

and I started taking steps,
and I kind of shocked myself.

Oh, my God.

And then from there,
it just kept getting better.

♪♪

CAMPBELL: Now Kimberly
and her fiancé, Ryan,

are ready to take
their biggest leap yet.

In January of 2018,
Kim and Ryan head to Moab, Utah,

and start setting the stage
for an event

that seems insanely dangerous.

It just felt like the perfect
place to get married.

JENKS: So we were about 400 feet
directly off the ground

and maybe another 400 feet
down to where the river is.

♪♪

WEGLIN: We had the net,
and we built an aisle into it

which is also made out of
netting and rope and paracord.

It was something
that you can walk on,

and we made it so that
our families could join us

out there
on our day if they wanted to.

And that was the first time
anything like that

had ever been rigged with
an aisle built into a space net.

CAMPBELL: The net is anchored to
the surrounding cliffs

at five points.

Each of these lines
can support up to 400 pounds,

allowing 20 very brave
people to join in.

If one of the five legs
were to break

that were holding up the net,
then it goes limp,

and people could fall off
if they're not attached.

I test the anchors.

They feel okay.

I think we're ready
to get married.

WEGLIN: My dad,
he was so determined

to walk me down the aisle.

It was so cute, and our friends
practiced walking him

up and down this net,
and it's really wobbly.

It's hard to walk
with two people on it.

He kept saying things like,
"If it's my day to go,

it's my day to go,
but I'm going to do this,"

and, like, "Everyone has got
to die somehow."

He ended up losing his footing,
and he fell.

JENKS: And luckily,
the aisle kept him on there,

but he only had a sling
around his waist,

and he would have gotten hurt
if he fell off.

WEGLIN:
He was a good sport about it.

JENKS: So when I saw Kim
come down the aisle,

I have all my friends around.

Like, the energy we were aiming
for was all at this moment,

and it was just, like, boom.

It was like, this is it.

This is the magical moment.

It was really special.

MAN: I must ask you that
you agree to love Ryan,

joining him today in matrimony.

Hell yeah.

It is my honor
and privilege

to announce you
as husband and wife.

Ryan, you may kiss your bride.

I announce Mr. and Mrs.
Ryan Jenks!

[ Cheers and applause ]

♪♪

♪♪

WEGLIN: There are so many things
we're afraid of,

but the things
that you're scared of

are the most rewarding things
in life if you push past them.

Kim confronted her
greatest fear head-on,

but for one unusual performer,

it's more than
just mind over matter.

It's mind over sharp-edged pain,

and if this guy tries to swallow
his feelings, it's game over.

♪♪

ANDREWS: My name is Dai Andrews,
and I'm a sword swallower,

martial artist and performer of
Mind-Over-Body Phenomenon.

CAMPBELL: As anyone in
the sword-swallowing business

knows, there's a narrow road
to success,

but now, Dai is forging
a dangerous new path,

one that could kill him
in a matter of minutes.

Fewer than five performers
in the world

currently swallow swords
with a 90-degree curve.

Dai believes he can be
one of just two

to master the 120-degree sword,

believe it or not.

♪♪

♪ Love is all around us ♪

♪ It surrounds us ♪

Dai Andrews has always been
drawn to sharp objects.

ANDREWS: The bed of nails
is a real classic

in mind-over-body performance,

but I wanted something
a little bit more extreme.

So I've replaced
the standard bed of nails

with a bed of five
razor-sharp machetes.

CAMPBELL: It hurts, bad,

but Dai just keeps pushing.

ANDREWS: I've spent my life
studying with kung fu masters

in China who taught me
the meditative practices

that they they use
to get through pain

and that they use to push
themselves to the next level,

and I am able to employ
those same methods for myself.

CAMPBELL: That cinder block adds
30 more pounds of pressure,

and when that sledgehammer hits,

the stakes increase
dramatically.

One of these blades
could sever his spine.

Then again, Dai
has been training

for this his whole life.

♪♪

[ Crowd gasps ]

[ Applause ]

I first started in all this

with a Fisher-Price magic
set at age 5.

Unlike every other kid,
I just never stopped.

But as I got older,

I got interested
in things that were real.

I learned about Houdini
and escape artistry.

I learned to free myself from
handcuffs and straitjackets.

I was fascinated by artists

who could perform
mind-over-body feats.

CAMPBELL: So was Robert Ripley,
who sought them out

all over the world,
like Edna Price,

who get her start in the
sideshow business at just 16.

With her talent for
plunging sharp blades

and neon tubes
down her throat,

Ripley crowned her
Queen of Sword Swallowers.

ANDREWS: The first time
you swallow a sword,

it's frightening, obviously.

You're feeling all kinds
of things

that you've never felt before,

and the first step
is then to try and break

those sensations down and say,
"Oh, I feel this thing,

and I don't like it,"

But don't stop.
What is it?

Where is it coming from?

How is it being triggered?

Can I make it stop?

This is the mental process
that you go through

when you're
practicing mind over body.

[ Applause ]

CAMPBELL:
An X-ray of him in action

reveals the inner working
of Dai's performance.

ANDREWS: When I swallow
the sword, it's down the tongue.

I use the tongue as a guide

through the first
esophageal sphincter.

You'll then continue
to go down the esophagus

until you hit a second sphincter
at the top of the stomach.

Then the sword blade will enter
the stomach itself

where it can travel
all the way to the bottom.

CAMPBELL:
That is, if it all goes right.

ANDREWS:
If you puncture your trachea,

you might not
be able to breathe.

If you puncture a lung,
it might collapse.

The biggest danger is if you
puncture your stomach

or the lining
of your esophagus itself,

at which point your digestive
fluids from your system pour out

and start digesting
the inside of your body.

You have 20 minutes
to live at that point.

♪♪

CAMPBELL: No matter how much
control you have

over your internal organs,

there's no natural path
for a curved sword,

certainly not for this monster,
and still...

♪♪

ROBERT:
Anything he started seeing,

he would start picking up
and balancing it.

I didn't know
how dangerous it was.

There's no other way about it.
They're supernatural.

Troy is an explosion of talent.

♪♪

Sword swallower Dai Andrews
has spent years

controlling his body
and mastering his pain,

but there's one sword
that seems unachievable --

the 120-degree sword.

Despite the enormous danger,
Dai has to give it a try.

♪♪

To triumph over 120, Dai can't
bend the sword to his body.

He'll have to bend his body
to the sword.

If he stands up, the blade will
destroy him from the inside out.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Applause ]

When performing these feats,
the pain never goes away,

but you begin to understand
how much of the pain

is a mental aversion
to the physical sensation,

and when you are really able
to really be with it,

then it will
no longer bother you.

[ Applause ]

In life,
we all look for balance.

This next young man has
taken balance to the extreme.

[ Cheering ]

24-year-old Tyler Scheuer
has a freaky ability.

-Whoo!
-He can balance

practically anything
on his face.

But will he be able to pull off
his most challenging stunt yet,

standing atop this
10-foot ladder

while balancing this
6-foot ladder using this chin?

♪♪

TYLER: I can't do
a handstand and walk.

I can't walk on a slackline.

I just can balance things
on my face.

If someone were to try
to learn this,

my advice would be to look
at the very top of the item,

and wherever it's falling,

kind of move your head
in that direction

to kind of get
underneath the object.

If you had a baseball bat

on your nose,
you would have to feel

where it's kind of falling
before it falls.

Oh, yeah!

I have been doing this
for 13 years.

I have never dropped
a single item.

And I strictly think this is
just a God-given talent.

♪♪

I was bored one day
at baseball practice.

I was 11 years old, and I
balanced a bat on my nose.

I thought kind of anyone
could do it,

so didn't really show it off
to many people.

Then it was a broomstick,
and then it was a shovel,

then it was like anything
he started seeing,

he would start picking up
and balancing.

♪♪

I was so nervous the first time
I saw him do anything

because first of all, I thought
he was going to get hurt.

I thought it was
extremely weird.

Who is able to figure out
they can do this?

TYLER:
Why do I have this skill?

I think it was something
I was born with.

CAMPBELL: Balance is controlled
in our inner ears

where fluid and fine
hairlike sensors

help the body know
exactly where it is in space.

If the system isn't functioning,

you'll feel seasick
all the time.

For some reason, Tyler was born

with an almost
superhuman sense of balance.

TYLER: The first time I ever
tried to balance anything,

a bike, a chair,
a wheelbarrow, a ladder,

the first time, I could do it.

I don't think people
can practice it

and acquire this skill.

CAMPBELL: Tyler isn't the only
wiz in the balancing business.

British strongman John Evans,

with his massive
22-inch-thick neck,

steadies the heaviest objects
on top of his head,

including this 352-pound car.

An impressive amount of weight,

but what Evans does
with the top of his head

Tyler achieves
using only his face.

Now, his most believe-it-or-not
stunt yet.

TYLER: It's 55 pounds of
aluminum, so I have to

muscle it up, and I balance
the 6-foot ladder on my face

while balancing myself
on the 10-foot ladder.

BRIAN: I've heard it from
scientists, medical experts,

that I could blow my lungs out.

JAMES: I can bend more
than almost anyone else I know.

Some people have called me
a human pretzel.

♪♪

As an actor, I made money
off my chin for decades,

but, uh, never quite like this.

TYLER:
It's 55 pounds of aluminum,

so I have to muscle it up
above my face.

When I feel I have it
balanced on my chin,

I let go of my hands

and keep it up there
for as long as possible.

People don't realize this,

but balancing ladders
on your face, it hurts.

I feel the pressure in my chin,
in my neck, in my back.

I feel it everywhere.

CAMPBELL: He's never been tested
like this before,

and the pressure is enormous.

TYLER: There's a lot of risk.
I could lose focus.

I could get distracted,
and the ladder comes

tumbling down,
and I come tumbling down.

The only thing that I have to
balance on

is my feet
at the top of a ladder.

♪♪

♪♪

I kind of discovered
this by accident,

and now here I am,
10 years later.

I'm traveling to Europe.

I'm traveling across
the country.

Aaah!

As long as people
want to bring me out,

I'm going to come out
and entertain their fans.

♪♪

The average person
takes 23,000 breaths a day.

Most we don't even think about,

but there's a man who puts his
all into every inhale,

every exhale.

He's a world-record breather,

and he's about to put his lungs
to the ultimate test

using only his airways
to lift a truck off its wheels,

believe it or not.

♪♪

♪♪

BRIAN: Look at this.

What do you think about it,
Wynter Jackson?

Whew.

CAMPBELL: 5,000 pounds,
Brian Jackson will need to apply

more force with his lungs
than he's ever summoned.

[ Siren wails ]

You guys ready for this today?

[ Cheering ]

CAMPBELL: Can he succeed without
blowing out his own lungs?

I truly believe this is what
I was called to do,

or I wouldn't do it.

My dad was Seminole Indian,
and my mom was Cherokee.

About 9 years old,
moved to a little town called

Wewoka, Oklahoma,
and it wasn't until that time

that I really was
introduced to people

that didn't like Indians.

Found out there was
a lot of prejudice.

CAMPBELL: In his late teens,
Brian's life took a dark turn.

He struggled with drug abuse

and was repeatedly
in trouble with the law.

BRIAN:
People ask me all the time,

"How did you kick
your addiction?"

I didn't kick my addiction.

I redirected it.

Now my addiction
is world records.

There was a guy from Luxembourg
that blew up

and burst a hot water bottle
for a world record,

and I remember thinking,

"If I could blow up
hot water bottles,

maybe I could break
that world record."

I started training.

I didn't know how dangerous
it was.

Those hot water bottles
hold more pressure

than my lung tissue
should hold.

CAMPBELL: A hot water bottle is
made of a high-density rubber.

On average, it is at least
12 times thicker than a balloon,

so the pressure needed
to inflate it

to the bursting point
is enormous.

BRIAN:
When I'm blowing them up,

I have to stop all that
pressure on my throat.

I've heard it from scientists,
medical experts,

that I could
blow my lungs out.

When you're blowing up
a hot water bottle,

it works your neck, your back,
your shoulders, your arms,

even down to your legs,

and it takes every ounce
of energy for me

to blow into something
that wasn't made to blow up,

and then you hope to
blow it up until it bursts.

CAMPBELL: Brian succeeds in this
challenge like no one else

mainly because his lung capacity
pumps out 26% more airflow

than the average person.

His core muscles act
as one massive air compressor,

generating tremendous
force and pressure.

After his success
with hot water bottles,

Brian started to expand
his repertoire.

BRIAN: I know a lot of people
think I'm nuts, I'm a fool.

I decided, "I want to see
if I can lift a car

with just my lung strength."

I had never lifted a car.

The scientists
and medical experts told them,

they said, "Don't let him do
this. It's going to kill him."

CAMPBELL: But Brian
didn't heed that warning.

BRIAN: We put that lift bag
underneath the car.

I start blowing into this thing,

and I could start hearing
that car move.

I'd breathe in,
and I'd breathe out,

and all of a sudden,
the tire comes off the ground,

and everybody
started celebrating.

[ Cheers and applause ]

CAMPBELL:
Brian holds 12 world records.

He's lifted a 2,780-pound car

and a 3,000-pound S.U.V.

Today, he's attempting something
he's never done before.

This will be the heaviest object
Brian has ever lifted.

Ooh, look at the size
of that trailer.

CAMPBELL: This trailer weighs
over 5,000 pounds.

It would take
a Black Hawk helicopter

to lift it off the ground

or just one man
with some very impressive lungs.

I want to put the bags
down on the ground.

Uh-huh.
The plywood will be

on top of it
so when the lift bags

come up under
the trailer...

Okay.
...nothing pops it.

Okay.

Little bit forward.
Just a minute.

Good, right there.

The bags
have been tested.

Should be free flowing
to all three bags,

so none of them
will inflate

more or less
than the other ones.

It should be constant.

It's big.

That's a big trailer,
isn't it?

-Yeah, it's really big.
-Whoo!

[ Applause ]

You guys ready for this today?
All right.

Brian Jackson is just going
to do something

that a lot of people
really don't understand.

They're probably thinking,
"Why are you doing this?"

He has some of the strongest
lungs in the world.

He's just going to go for it,

give us something that's
never, ever been done.

Are we ready?
We're ready.

Let's do it.

♪♪

Oklahoman Brian Jackson
is determined to lift

a 5,000-pound trailer using only
the power of his lungs.

Hey, you going to tell him no?

[ Applause ]

MAN: All right.

Are we ready?

DRUE: I get very nervous.

The older he gets, it's --
I get more worried.

CAMPBELL: Brian has to generate
the same amount of lift

as over 227,000 helium balloons

to get this 5,000-pound
trailer off the ground.

He's exerting a lot of force
through his lungs,

and the human body maybe wasn't
made for such things as this.

DRUE: I'm all over him.

I'm looking at different
angles, seeing,

"What's wrong?
What can I do?"

Because it is scary.

-I believe! I believe!
-Whoo!

[ Cheering ]

CAMPBELL: For Brian's
achievement to be recognized,

the official must be able
to slide

a piece of paper
under the two tires.

WOMAN: Close.

[ Cheers and applause ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

Give it up!

[ Cheers and applause ]

I want to thank everybody
that was out here today

for being a part of this.

Thank you guys very much.

[ Cheers and applause ]

WYNTER: My dad has had some
difficult times in his life,

but he lifted
a semi trailer today.

Yeah, my dad makes me proud.

A lot of people feel
uncomfortable in their own skin,

especially if they're
considered unusual or different.

One such man spent a lifetime

trying to hide
his extraordinary abilities.

Once an outcast, today,
he's a celebrated movie

and TV sensation,
believe it or not.

Nature is remarkable
in its beauty

and also in its singularity.

The same is true for
an astonishing young man

at the end of his own
ugly duckling story.

My friends call me Twisty Troy.

♪♪

♪♪

My name is Troy James.
I'm 29 years old.

CAMPBELL: Growing up, Troy
thought his extreme flexibility

was something he needed to hide.

Can this Canadian contortionist
embrace the very thing

that makes him different?

♪♪

To most anyone who meets him,
Troy James is superhuman.

Aw, geez, am I really
superhuman?

Um, I am abnormally flexible.

I was born with
preternatural flexibility,

hypermobility in my parts
of my body --

my fingers, my legs,
arms, shoulders, back,

and I have fun
scaring people with them.

[ Screaming ]

It doesn't quite look human.

It's been compared to
"The Exorcist,"

when she runs down the stairs.

CAMPBELL: Troy's path hasn't
always been so smooth.

As a child growing up
outside of Toronto,

he learned the hard way
what it means to be unusual.

JAMES: I would be watching TV
upside down or reading a book

with my arms bent
in crazy positions,

and it was not until
the other little children

pointed out that I realized
I was different.

I was teased horribly
when I was a kid.

They would say,
"You're not human.

You're a freak.
You're an alien."

And of course
that makes you sad.

CAMPBELL: Troy's uncommon
ability is a product

of extreme joint hypermobility.

5% of the healthy
adult population on Earth

has hypermobility,

but Troy's unique physiology
puts him in the top 1%.

Though he feels no physical pain
when contorting,

the emotional pain
does flare up from time to time.

Because I'm more flexible,
I can stretch not realizing

I'm in a public place,
and then I get weird stares.

I got embarrassed about it,
and I hid my talent

because I was being
shamed for it.

Twisty Troy James grew up
with a superpower

that allows him to bend and flex
and contort in unusual ways.

Sadly, he was made to see
his gift as a curse.

JAMES: I felt,
"Well, this is not normal."

And of course, the only thing
you want to be

as a kid is normal.

Really got to me,
and I hid my ability

for a really long time,

but things turned around
for me in high school.

WOMAN: Oh, my God!

JAMES: Because I went
to an art school,

and so it was full of kids
who celebrated their quirks,

and I happened to have
a pretty unique skill.

WOMAN: What is
wrong with you?

Something I used to be
teased for became

a really
popular crowd-pleaser,

so I made a lot of friends
in high school.

CAMPBELL:
Finally feeling accepted,

Troy started to see
his hypermobility as a gift

and not a curse,
and soon, doors started opening.

JAMES: About eight years ago,
I was working at a theme park.

I was a roller coaster operator.

My crew knew that I had
this special skill,

and they wanted me
to show the management.

Eventually, I did,
and they were so impressed

that they asked me to work
for our Halloween Haunt,

and they set me loose
in the park

to scare people
however I pleased.

And I found out pretty quickly

that chasing people
upside down covered in blood

was a pretty effective way
of doing that.

WOMAN:
Oh, that's terrifying.

Halloween Haunt attracted
many actor types,

people who performed on TV
and in movies,

and they said, "You should
audition for this horror movie."

I felt it was time I could
show people

what I really had
hidden up my sleeve.

Well, hello,
Mr. James.

CAMPBELL: Roberto Campanella is
a world-renowned

movement coordinator
and professional dancer

who's worked on films
such as "Star Trek"

and "The Shape of Water."

A little bit more.He knew from the start

what a treasure
he had found.

Let's put the arms
a little bit,

maybe a little bit
higher up.

Troy is this explosion of
talent, of natural talent.

Over 30 years, I've never
really never experienced

a talent of that caliber.

CAMPBELL: Robert Ripley was also
dazzled by people like Troy,

scouring the far reaches
of the globe

to find and film them,

be it in China
with the Buddhist Sam dancers

or back in the U.S.
with acts like Joe Laurello,

the man with the revolving head.

The secret to Joe's act was that
he was able to dislocate

various vertebrae to turn
his head a full 180 degrees.

Today, Troy James
doesn't need a promoter.

His drive to succeed in
Hollywood is motivation enough.

JAMES: I would call myself
a creature performer.

I'm a walking,
talking special effect.

And when I'm playing a monster,

I can make it look
like an extreme position

or extreme move
and be really aggressive.

I can chase people upside down.

I can leap at people and jump
on objects which is contortion,

but also pretty extreme
physical performance.

I've performed in several
television shows and movies.

I've had roles on "The Strain."

I recently got a role
on the "The Flash"

as the Rag Doll villain,

so I'm looking forward
to using my flexibility

not only to frighten people

but to twist my body
into shapes that are inspiring.

Whether these performers
were born

with extraordinary abilities

or spent decades mastering
a death-defying skill,

it's their passion
that keeps us spellbound

and keeps them always
striving for the top.

♪♪