The X-Files 4800-volt ‘Freak Accident’ and 5 Other On Set Movie Deaths Before Marvel’s Wonder Man
Injuries and deaths on the sets of the series and movies are highly unlikely, to say the least, but the number has seen a major increase in the last few years. The death of a crew member on the set of Marvel’s miniseries, Wonder Man has been making a lot of headlines recently. Here, we will be looking at a few of the most high-profile accidents that have taken place on the sets in the past.
The X-Files terrifying electrocution accident
While filming the 8th season of the sci-fi series, The X-Files back in the year 2000, a fatal accident occurred that ended up killing one of the production crew members and leaving six others critically injured. The crew was allegedly setting up a scaffolding to use for the filming of a scene when it accidentally came in contact with an overhead high-power line sending an electric discharge of almost 4800 volts.
Of all the 7 members affected, Jim Engh was the only one who could not make it and died due to the terrifying incident. Chris Carter, the executive producer of The X-Files even issued a statement to mourn the loss of his crew member and wrote,
“All of us are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and colleague Jim Engh. Our hearts go out to his family and friends. He will be deeply missed by all who have known him and worked with him. Our thoughts and prayers are with the other crew members who were injured.”
All seasons of The X-Files are currently streaming on Hulu.
Alec Baldwin’s Rust Shooting Accident
One of the most recent and high-profile tragedies occurred back in October 2021 when a live round of ammunition was fired from a pistol that was only supposed to be used as a prop by the actor Alec Baldwin. During the filming of Rust, the cast and crew of the movie were filming a scene at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in New Mexico when a terrible accident occurred.
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A live ammunition round was fired from the gun of Alec Baldwin which was originally supposed to only be a prop. The bullet ended up killing the cinematographer of the movie, Halyna Hutchins, and also injured the director, Joel Souza due to its trajectory.
The death of a crew member on the set of G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation
Deaths in the acting industry are quite rare and death after the wrap-up of filming on the sets is even rarer. However, they are not non-existent. Mike Huber who was a crew member on the set of Dwayne Johnson‘s action movie, G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation suffered a fatal injury when he was working on tearing up the New Orleans set.
According to TMZ, “The man was working on a high-powered scissor lift when the machine tipped over and the man sustained fatal injuries.”
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The Paramount studio also expressed their condolences over the loss of Mike Zuber and also issued a statement for the same.
The stuntman, Paul Dallas died after a 57-Foot fall
Back in 1996 while filming for the action series, L.A. Heat, the stuntman, Paul Dallas fell to his own death after he jumped from a power plant platform in Sun Valley. Dallas was allegedly supposed to land on an airbag that would have broken his 3-storey fall but instead, he ended up landing on the edge of the airbag which resulted in severe head injuries.
Paul Dallas was rushed to the hospital as he was immediately in a cardiac arrest after the fall but unfortunately, the stuntman could not make it and died due to extensive head injuries.
The horrifying death of the camera assistant, Sarah Jones
The safety of the cast and crew should be the top priority of any producer of the movie but it seems like that was the last item on the list of priorities for the executives of the movie, Midnight Rider. On the very first day of filming, the cast and crew were supposed to film a scene on a live train track atop a 110-year-old bridge.
The company had no permission to film on that bridge and the crew was there to do a camera test with a metal bed and their pieces of equipment. When a train came, the director Randall Miller shouted urging everyone to run off the tracks but the camera assistant, Sarah Jones tried to save her equipment unaware of the speed of the train that was approaching.
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Although Jones was able to save her equipment but was stuck on the side of the tracks and as the train approached, it blew up the metal bed that was on the tracks to pieces. One of the shards from the metal bed ended up hitting Jones and as a result, she fell towards the train and instantly died.
Art Scholl: The man who gave his life to get the perfect shot for Top Gun
While filming for Tom Cruise‘s action drama film, the aviator Art Scholl was a part of the camera crew who were responsible for filming the jaw-dropping scenes that we saw in Top Gun. While filming the scene of Goose’s death, Scholl spun his plane as he was trying to get the camera shot that Maverick would have had.
However, Art Scholl soon lost control of his plane and started spinning uncontrollably, he was unable to recover from the spin and ended up plunging the plane into the Pacific Ocean. Neither the plane nor the body of the pilot was found in the search-rescue mission.
