Gene Beene

Who is Gene Beene?

Gene Beene of Chattanooga, Tennessee, was a stunt performer, who made a name for himself in the 1960s with a novelty act known as "The Human Bomb." He survived over 570 explosions, wherein he would seal himself in a small corrugated building rigged with 2 to 5 sticks of dynamite. At a precise moment before impact, Beene would clear his lungs of all air, in essence equalizing the pressure inside the room, in such a way that the impact of the explosion would destroy the building, but leave him unharmed. Beene appeared on the television show What's My Line in 1960.