Just incase you are wondering about our history, how long we've been doing this, how we got started, our saftey record, etc;.. I  think it's only fair I tell you a little about our company and our long history with bungee jumping and how we got to where we are today. So I'll start the year we first went Over the Edge...1988... get ready to go--> Over The Edge.....................J.A. ♠

  It was the fall of 1988-October to be exact and I was spending the night at a friends house,and there was going to be this story about Mike Tyson on that night on a program that used to be on called PM Magazine. I was really into boxing then an he was still the heavyweight champ. So I had my Dad record the show.  The next day I came home and that night we watched the tape. I can't remember a single thing about that Mike Tyson story, But the next story on the show is burned into my mind. It was about this guy named John Kockelman-and this crazy looking new sport-Bungee jumping !! It was a 10 minute spot abut John and his new company--Bungee Adventures --which WAS the VERY FIRST Bungee Company in the world!!!!

   Now a lot of info on the internet will say that it was A.J, Hackett was the first-HE WAS NOT!! he opened his site in New Zealand in 1989-at the the Kuwarau bridge in Queenstown New Zealand. Although it was the first permanent legal site-meaning he had permission to use it, because well they State GAVE IT to him! But John Kockelman had his system in place and was running a commercial Bungee company in California a couple years before Hackett started his commercial bungy Company the- "A.J. Hackett Bungy Co."  If the State of California had give Kockelman a bridge the first year he started jumping, The media and and all the Mis-info on the internet would be accurate and correctly say that the first Commercial bungee company was Bungee Adventures. Because the media would have had a place to go and film dozens of TV shows and had that to point to and say....this is the first Bunee co. in the world! Now I point this out only because -.....well it is the truth the truth about how it really happened - All over the world Hackett has been portrayed as the person who started Bungy jumping and brought it to the public, well yes he did bring it to the public - a couple years after John Kockelman was taking people out to the Mountains jumping from all kinds of bridges. Yes Hackett he did bring it to the public- he made the McDonalds of Bungy Jumping, and he has come up with some really cool jumpsites and made bungy jumping available to the masses . I respect what he has done for the sport. I just want everyone to know that he was not the sole person responsible for making bungee jumping what it is today- and he WAS NOT THE FIRST! I apologize, it just REALLY bothers me,-all the mis -information, and well to be honest all the Lies that are all over the internet.

SO back to Kockelman- He began taking people jumping from various bridges in the Seira Nevada Mountains in-- 1987 !!! And he developed what is called today the "American style" jumping system, which is still in use all over the world-- This is what we use.-It is incredibly strong and durable!! OK- back to the show we saw in 1988- we watched the program and I immediately wanted to do it !!! The only problem was I was only 12 yrs old, and we lived in Ohio and Bungee Adventures was in California. WellMy Dad was as intrigued as I was and decided to look into this further-He saw the potential,so he called John Kockelman a day or two later. And as fate would have it John was coming to West Virginia the following week to go to Bridge Day at the New River Gorge Bridge to Bungee jump off it. Well we live in Cambridge Ohio, just a few hours drive for us. So we went down to Bridge day to meet John. My Dad talked to him for a while and he invited my Dad to come to California to Jump and see how it was done in person. So like a week and a half later My Dad went to California and spent a few days out there and made his first jump on Halloween 1988. John showed him how it was done. My dad Studied the gear and payed really close attention to how it all worked. So my dad came home and that winter he started putting together his own Bungee equipment. And when spring came it was time to to put our asses on the line and test it all out. We went and made that trip on April 1st 1989. My Dad went first, then my uncle went, and then it was my turn. Up untill that point I thought I would be able to step right up and jump off -NO PROBLEM, well I did but I thought I wouldn't be very scared. I was WRONG !!

As soon as I new it was my turn I got the worse case of the butterflys -and weak knees -and dizziness- and sick to my stomach. But I just forced myself forward and stepped up.I did my first jump in a body harness and went backwards, meaning I climbed over the rail and turned to face everyone on the bridge. Then they all gave me a countdown 5.4.3.2.1 and everyone screamed bungee and I stepped off backwards and went down feet first. It was the scariest most insane thing I've ever experienced in my life! There are many ways to jump but I still find that jumping backwards is the scariest most thrilling way to go.

                                                          This is that jump, my very first one-------> I was 12 yrs old!
                                                            (at the time it was the record for the youngest jumper)​




So after that we started going back and jumping every single weekend and every chance we got, until we were confident that everything was completely safe and that we knew exactly what we were doing. And then I went with my Dad when we took our first group jumping in the spring of 1989. Making us THE SECOND bungee Co.in the United States. We immediately started taking groups bridge jumping every weekend. At first we stuck to our first bridge we used in West Virginia but we were soon ready to move on to higher bigger better bridges. That led us to Pennsylvania, and a slew of new bridges where we were able to hone our skills We got a lot better, and had A LOT of fun!!....Fun---- that's obviously a big part of why I loved going and jumping everychance we got. It was the thrill of the unknown, what would happen this weekend, who would we meet? But regardless if it was a good weekend or a bad one, One of the biggest reasons I Loved going,...was because I got to hang out and spend time with my Dad. BOTH of us doing something that we both enjoyed doing together. We connected and and had fun together like never before and ever since, unfortunatley...when things get rough today as they do too often, I can always think back to those long Summer days and those endless hours in the car "bridge hunting" that seemed to last forever and remember a million funny memories and smile....OK sorry for my trip down memory lane..anyway. we had plenty of practice- business took off! It wasn't very long before we were no longer one of two bungee Co's in the U.S.-not long at all. In California companies started springing up left and right
and within a few years there where close too a hundred Bungee Companies in the U.S. Today only about 10% of those companies remain in existence, if that!

For a few years we jumped strictly from bridges.And then in 1991 we started jumping from a hot-air ballon.But where we are located, in Cambridge Ohio, It turned out to be too windy most of the time.So the balloon turned out to be not a very reliable means of jumping
So the following year he (my Dad) bought a 200' ft construction crane and set it up here in Cambridge and did a lot of our jumping right here.We had the Crane Set up here untill 98, when we sold the property and put the crane into srorage. Ever since then we have done only Bridge jumps, in Ohio,West Virginia,Pennsylvania New York,Kentucky,and Tennesse. And still to this day that's how we do our jumping, from big, high scary ass bridges!!!. .........
.....The way Bungee Jumping was born, the way it was meant to be done!!! .. So if you think you would like to come out with us and step up to the rail, and go........ Over the Edge!!
Then please keep on reading and go to our Schedueling page. To find out about the details and some stuff you'll need to know in order to get set up to come jumping with us. ......Jesse Anderson