Published on: January 2, 2026, 07:21h.
Updated on: December 31, 2025, 09:07h.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: “Vegas Myths Busted” releases new articles every Monday, with a bonus edition on Flashback Fridays. Today’s feature, originally published on June 16, 2025, revisits the infamous jump Evel Knievel attempted over the Caesars Palace fountain 58 years ago this week.
On December 31, 1967, Evel Knievel aimed to leap a staggering 141 feet across the Caesars Palace fountain but only managed 140 feet. Instead of a safe landing, his rear tire clipped the ramp’s edge, sending him into a somersault before he rolled across the pavement of the Dunes parking lot for approximately 60 yards.
According to the New York Times in Knievel’s 2007 obituary, “He was unconscious for a month after the accident.” However, the newspaper did not cover the event initially, as Knievel was not yet widely recognized.
“You are astonishing,” Johnny Carson remarked during one of Knievel’s three appearances on “The Tonight Show.”
However, the narrative surrounding his near-fatal accident is rife with exaggeration.
Indeed, Knievel sustained serious injuries, including fractures to his hip, pelvis, femur, wrist, and both ankles, as well as a concussion. Nonetheless, he did not lose consciousness, nor was his life in imminent danger, as he was never placed in the ICU.
“Though he claimed he was in a coma, he really wasn’t,” Knievel’s wife, Linda, confessed in the 2015 documentary “Being Evel.” A childhood friend remarked, “Knievel orchestrated the drama, indicating that he was near death when in fact he wasn’t.”
A Palace of Deception
Recent revelations suggest that the founder of Caesars Palace, Jay Sarno, may have also been involved in perpetuating the narrative that captivated audiences—if only to gain credit for it. This was highlighted during a speech by Sarno’s son at a recent architectural festival.
“My dad used to say, ‘Moron Blows Jump!’ is not compelling enough,” Sarno Jr. stated, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “But, ‘Man Almost Dies After Jump!’ sounds much more engaging.”
At the time of the incident, Sarno Jr. was just 9 years old when his father followed Knievel’s ambulance to Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital (now University Medical Center).
“We were frightened and confused; I was crying, asking, ‘Is Mr. Knievel going to survive?’” Sarno Jr. recalled. “My dad reassured me, saying, ‘No, he may walk with a limp, but he’s going to be okay.’”
“However, he added, ‘But that won’t be the story you read in the newspaper tomorrow.’”
According to Sarno Jr., his father recognized that reporters were likely to sneak into the hospital, prompting him to preemptively control the narrative.
Sarno, who was also the mastermind behind Circus Circus, would allegedly hand $100 bills to hospital staff to relay messages indicating Evel was “barely clinging to life” (knowing better than to bribe medical professionals who were bound by oath not to speak with the media).
“Consequently, sensationalized stories flooded the press the following day,” Sarno Jr. explained. “And such fabrications can cement themselves in history, resurfacing in accounts from future authors and historians.”
After the Caesars Palace stunt, Knievel attempted more than 65 additional jumps, including a notorious failed bid to soar over Snake River Canyon in 1974, before ultimately retiring in 1980. He passed away from pulmonary disease on November 30, 2007, in Clearwater, Florida, at the age of 69.
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