The infamous Wall of Death, which used to be called the silodrome back in the early 1900s, is an old carnival sideshow consisting of a huge drum shaped cylinder with tall straight walls where motorcyclists perform tricks. The audience views from the top of the drum, looking down. The bikes start at the bottom, in the middle, and drive up the curved section until they gain enough velocity to drive horizontal to the floor. In India and other parts of the world, performers even use small cars.

There is a similar act called the Ball of Death, where riders zip around inside a wire mesh sphere rather than a drum.

Well, apparently, back in the day, some carnival performers didn’t think the trick was dangerous enough, so they took a lion from the “dangerous animals” section, and let him ride in the sidecar with the “dangerous motorcyclists”, creating the first “dangerous animal motorcyclist”. Groundbreaking. Here’s the complete lion picture and some videos of the trick:

The WALL OF DEATH!:

And…the BALL of Death: