Le Mur de la Mort (The Wall of Death) is a fairground attraction dating from the early 20th century.
It consists of a large, upright wooden cylinder, a tent, and a metal frame. Motorcyclists ride almost horizontally along the walls, often two of three at a time. The audience looks down from above, choking on the gas fumes. On their bikes, Arnaud, Vince, Raoul and Petit Jean defy gravity with a series of stunts as they ride along the Wall of Death. A main attraction in postwar fairgrounds, the Wall of Death disappeared in the 1990s. This group of carpenters and masons, all bikers, spent months training and renovating the attraction.
I followed them for a week during their last production, “Mécanique Quantique” (Quantum Mechanics).
Marie Augustin
