Hey everyone, Alana here. Today's episode is a fun one, but before we get into it, I wanted to let you know that this story is adapted from one of many in a new history channel series.

Hazardous History with Henry Winkler. In a lot of ways, America used to be a lot more dangerous, radioactive toys, heroin cough syrup, horses that jump off high dives.

Check out Hazardous History with Henry Winkler, premiering Father's Day, June 15th,

and available the next day at history.com or on the history app.

The History Channel, original podcast.

History this week, June 14, 1938.

I'm Alana Casanova Burgess.

It's 8.30 p.m. at Lake Worth Casino, which is not actually a casino. It's a lakefront amusement park and boardwalk in Fort Worth, Texas, that advertises itself as the Atlantic City of the West. The smells of candied peanuts and cigarette smoke hang in the summer air, humid even after sunset.

The park buzzes with live music, laughter, and chatter.

But in one area, a crowd of all ages hushes in anticipation.

A one-of-a-kind show is about to begin.

They're gathered around an unusual structure that towers 40 feet above them,

roughly the height of a four-story building.

Picture a long, scaffolded ramp, like the kind that leads to the first big drop on a roller coaster.

But instead of tracks, the ramp is carpeted.

It leads up to a small wooden platform and then nothing, a sheer drop.

Below it, a tank of water 10 feet deep.

It's hard to imagine that anyone could survive such a plunge.

But what's even harder to imagine is that the diver in this show is a horse.

He's a pinto named Red Lips, and he's been wowing crowds across America with his death-defying

dives for more than a decade. On cue, Red Lips begins galloping up the ramp.

A true showman, he pauses just before reaching the top and turns his head to one side,

...