funambulism

\fyoo-NAM-buh-liz-um\

noun

1 : tightrope walking

2 : a show especially of mental agility

On a Wednesday morning in August of 1974 a French man got arrested in New York for his acts of FUNAMBULISM, which he executed 1,368 feet above Manhattan on a 450 pound cable between the two towers of the World Trade Center. The man—Philippe Petit—and his posse had been staking out the towers for months; the night before his act they snuck their equipment up to the roof of one of the towers and shot the cables across the "void" using a bow and arrow. The next morning he crossed the rope eight times, and finally was greeted by the NYPD at the end of his rope on the South Tower. All charges were eventually dropped in exchange for Petit putting on a FUNAMBULIST show for NYC's children.

When asked how he felt seeing the Twin Towers collapse, Petit responded: "I felt eviscerated."

Good use of vocabulary, Petit.