Frankie 'Of Unsound Mind' Tanner, Daredevil, 62
Cleared four of a planned four thousand buses before landing on a pile of broken beer bottles
By Margaret Huang
Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Frankie 'Of Unsound Mind' Tanner, the daredevil whose four-decade career consisted entirely of stunts he did not survive, died on Sunday during an attempt to jump 4,000 municipal buses on his signature motorcycle, the El Diablo, and land in the open mouth of an orca whale positioned in Gnu Harbor. He was 62. Mr. Tanner cleared four buses before his front wheel caught the roof of the fifth, sending him over the handlebars and approximately 150 feet through the air, after which he landed on a large pile of broken beer bottles that had not been part of the planned course. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The whale, which had been held in a flooded staging area for the occasion, consumed Mr. Tanner's remains later that afternoon after they were pushed into the water by municipal services during site cleanup.
Born in 1962 in the eastern district, Mr. Tanner began performing stunts as a young man and made his professional debut in his early twenties, adopting the middle name 'Of Unsound Mind' after a court appearance he described as "a formality." He was known for attempting feats widely regarded as impossible, for his conviction that he was invincible, and for a black leather jacket he wore in all weather and refused to have cleaned. Every stunt he ever attempted ended in his death, a record he maintained with what associates called consistency. He is survived by a sister, Dolores, and the El Diablo, which sustained minor damage.
A memorial service will be held Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Gnu Harbor amphitheater, near the site of the jump. The family requests that mourners refrain from bringing glass bottles of any kind. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made toward the ongoing care of the whale, which remains in municipal custody.
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