Harry Gardiner

Harry H. Gardiner (1871 – 1956), better known as the Human Fly, was an American man famous for climbing buildings. He began climbing in 1905, and successfully climbed over 700 buildings in Europe and North America, usually wearing ordinary street clothes and using no special equipment. "One hundred and twenty of those who have sought to imitate me in this hazardous profession have fallen to death," Gardiner is quoted as saying in a 1905 article published in Muscle Builder. "There is no chance of 'rehearsing' your performance. Each new building is an unknown problem. If you do not guess the right answer, death awaits below, with a breath of up-rushing air, and arms of concrete." Former President Grover Cleveland reportedly nicknamed him "The Human Fly." When he visited Logan, West Virginia in January 1927, the Logan Banner described him as a "boyish-looking man of 57 years." Gardiner reportedly moved to Europe after New York enacted legislation forbidding anyone from climbing on the outside of buildings. A person matching his description was found beaten to death at the base of the Eiffel Tower in 1933. However, obituaries from both the Evening Star (Washington, D.C) and the Cumberland News (Cumberland, Maryland) note that Harry H. Gardiner, the Human Fly, died at home at the age of 89 in 1956.