Local Man Falls 86 Feet From Zipline, Survives To Make Jokes And Catch An Emu

OWINGS, Md. — Calvert County local Jesse Schwenk is no stranger to bizarre incidents. But he never expected that his fall from a zip line would top the list.

Schwenk lives in Calvert County and was ziplining on a friend’s property in Owings. He said he and other friends frequent the large property to enjoy the outdoors with the permission of the owner. Schwenk said the zip line stretches roughly 500 feet across a steep valley, peaking at about 86 feet above the ground — the point where Schwenk fell.

Additionally, he said he had the zip line professionally installed and it was rated for about 80,000 pounds. He’s used it countless times in the past. Then, on July 20, Schwenk was riding the zip line when he felt himself start to fall.

He landed on his feet before falling backward and said he somehow managed to both hang onto his cigar and catch his falling cellphone at points during the fall — though he’s completely uncertain how he pulled off either one.

Even more incredibly, Schwenk got up and walked away from his fall. It wasn’t until he was back home later that evening that he began having concerning symptoms and called 911. Before that, he’d been talking to friends and his uncle about the unbelievable experience, cracking jokes about holding onto his cigar and being able to walk away from the accident.

“I wasn’t in pain, I wasn’t struggling to walk, and I certainly wasn’t acting like someone who had just fallen approximately 86 feet onto hard-packed dirt,” Schwenk wrote in an email to The BayNet.

During his hospital stay, Schwenk found out he fractured his back. Thankfully, he wouldn’t need surgery. But on top of trying to figure out what was wrong with him physically, the medical team was pressing Schwenk to figure out how he survived such a fall at all, let alone in such good spirits.

“This is the most bizarre experience I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a chainsaw go into my leg and later had that same leg amputated,” Schwenk reportedly told the 911 dispatcher, who simply replied, “Oh goodness.”

Throughout his hospital stay, Schwenk said he was sitting up in bed, could walk and refused pain medication because he was “just not in pain.”

Schwenk, who is never behind the wheel long before turning toward self-deprecating and sarcastic humor, said he found the whole incident strange and surreal right away. His first words after hitting the ground were “I went flying!” Later, when a 911 dispatcher told him they were sending a helicopter to take him to the trauma center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, his first thought was “well, that escalated quickly.” He thought, at most, he’d get someone to check his vitals and be sent home.

Instead, he kept friends and family updated through texts and social media as he underwent scans and tests, and when his fracture was finally diagnosed, asked how soon he could get home.

“The amount of people who had heard about what happened was astonishing. Friends started sending me messages saying they had overheard complete strangers talking about my accident while they were eating at restaurants. My sister told me people at her work were talking about it. Everywhere I turned, someone seemed to know the story. I honestly found myself wondering how so many people had heard about it. It felt like the entire community already knew before I had even had time to process everything myself,” Schwenk wrote.

“People would stop me at restaurants, marinas, stores and community events. My phone filled with messages, comments and phone calls from people checking on me. There were hundreds of people who reached out in one way or another. I never realized how many people genuinely cared until I experienced something like this. It was one of the most humbling parts of the entire experience,” Schwenk continued.

But the strangest part of the experience came almost a week later, when Schwenk helped capture one of the escaped emus that took over the news last weekend. When he caught the emu, Schwenk realized he was on the same property as his zip-line fall.

“That entire week felt like one unbelievable story after another,” Schwenk wrote. “Sometimes I wonder if life was simply trying to remind me that it has a strange sense of humor. The fall changed a lot of things. It reminded me how quickly life can change, how fragile it really is, and how many incredible people I have around me. But one thing it didn’t change was who I was.”

Schwenk is recovering and says the zip-line incident occurred because the tree snapped at the base. He’s looking forward to continuing his adventures and doing all the activities he loves. Even catching emus, if the situation calls for it.

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