Mythbusters Cannonball Stunt Goes Badly Wrong

A Mythbusters stunt went awry on Tuesday (December 6, 2011) leaving a cannonball sailing through the wall of a home in California. No injuries were reported, though residents in the neighbourhood were said to have been shaken up by the incident, according to the New York Times.

The show follows hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyman as they use elements of science to test the validity of rumors, myths, internet stories and adages. The pair's penchant for danger has seen them experiment with alligators, sharks and even elephants, but it could have all ended in disaster on Tuesday. The Discovery Channel, which produces the show, were testing a cannon at the Alameda County Sheriff's Department bomb range on Tuesday afternoon. Although safety procedures were said to be in place, the cannonball "took an unforeseen bounce from a safety berm" into the nearby neighbourhood. The channel said the production company responsible for the show, Beyond Productions, were "currently assessing the situation and working with those whose property was affected". The cannonball tore through a cinder-block wall and flew 700 yards into the busy township where children were said to have been returning from school. It then tore through the front door of a home on Cassata Place, raced up the stairs, and blasted through a bedroom, according to the Seattle Pi.

Back in 2010, President Barack Obama appeared in an episode of Mythbusters, concerning the Archimedes Solar Ray myth.