The other day a friend of mine told me about a news report which seemed fishy to me. Apparently a child was reading Harry Potter, and he put on a cape, and jumped off a roof. I instantly realized that this story was very similar to some urban legends, in which someone does the same thing after seeing Superman, or after playing Dungeons and Dragons, etc. I told my friend this, but he just said, “It has to be true! I saw it on CNN!” So I have to know, is there any truth to this story?
Sure enough, children are uncoordinated, accident-prone and impressionable. This is news?
[editorial]Which movie do we blame if a child gets hold of the parent’s car keys and goes on a joyride? How about if he sets his hair on fire doing that neat trick he saw at the circuis? How about- oh nevermind.[/editorial]
I saw this and was rather amazed that a jump from a countertop could leave a child in critical condition. Anyone know exactly what she injured?
Reading the OP gives a little thumbnail sketch on the birth of an UL though, doesn’t it?
A fall of a few feet can cause serious brain damage, especially to a child’s somewhat softer skull. It really doesn’t take much. Bikers occasionally do serious damage to themselves by hitting their heads falling over at stop signs.
Way back in the seventies, my six year old neighbor broke his arm when he thought the combination of superman undershirt and his mom’s apron as cape would give him the ability to fly from the hood of my grandpa’s truck.
Good thing it was the seventies, or grandpa woulda been sued.
Just thought I’d share. 
I’ll just note that, in reference to the OP, there is no connection between capes and flying in the Harry Potter books. There are plenty of flying broomsticks, mention of flying carpets, and riders on the back of flying hippogryphs (but if your kid has access to a hippogryph, him or her trying to ride it would be the least of my worries), but there are no references to people with capes flying.
Way back when, it was “Peter Pan” who was blamed for this kind of thing.
I was a victim of this kind of thing myself - deliberately getting in front of a toboggan so I could be knocked up and over into a headstand at the rear of it, just like Yogi Bear.
What can you say? Kids are kids and sometimes do stupid things, most of which don’t hurt them seriously.
Now, if you really thought you could fly, why would you have to jump from a high place anyway? I haven’t read the series, but I watched the Harry Potter movie, and everyone who flew started from the ground. I understand this is a child we’re talking about, but people blame drugs for the same thing. “Guy on acid tries to fly from 5th story window.” My advice: try taking off from the ground first!
When I was a kid, I hauled my tricycle up an eight foot high bale stack and was going to ramp off like Evil Kineval, who was my hero back then. Fortunately, for me, my mom looked out the window and immediately figured out what I planned to do. I was four years old and gunning for glory
An injured child is not funny but kids have been doing stuff like that for years but no one blamed a movie for “johnny rooftop paratrooper” accidents. The news channel page actually captions the video clip as a “Harry Potter injury.” Truth is more surreal than fiction. It sounds like an article from The Onion
An injured child is not funny but kids have been doing stuff like that for years but no one blamed a movie for “johnny rooftop paratrooper” accidents. The news channel page actually captions the video clip as a “Harry Potter injury.” Truth is more surreal than fiction. It sounds like an article from The Onion
I was seven years old when the original Star Wars came out. It made a big impression on me. Particularly the scene where Luke Skywalker defends himself against the remote with his eyes closed, using the Force. I started to wonder if I could do that. Well, only one way to find out, right?
So, did I do something harmless like toss a ball up in the air with my eyes shut and see if I could catch it? Of course not! I got on my bike and pedaled around the neighborhood with my eyes shut, and got an aluminum mailbox in the face for my trouble. I guess the Force just wasn’t with me.
My point is, kids will ALWAYS do stupid stuff.
On the contrary, I imagine that you experienced a very significant force from the mailbox ;).
And mandielise, what you say makes sense, but I can annecdotally say that whenever I or any of my friends tried to fly, we used at least four steps on a staircase. Yeah, it might be logical to start from the ground, but you really can’t count on kids to be logical.
Anybody concerned about whether Harry Potter is an appropriate film for a kid this age? Gee, can’t wait for preschoolers to watch dementors sucking people’s souls out in the 3rd film!
At age 6, I hauled myself up into a tree with a rope, and forgot that I had to hold on once I was in the air. No help from literature or film generated this adventure, I’m afraid.