Joerg Sprave of Northern Bavaria is YouTube’s foremost authority on slingshots. His channel, which boasts over 300,000 subscribers and 50 million cumulative views, covers the rubber-powered launchers from every conceivable angle.
But in his latest video, uploaded Friday, something appears to go terribly wrong.
While demonstrating “a very safe slingshot” and shooting 20mm steel balls through a variety of bottles, one looks to ricochet and strike him in the forehead, knocking him to the ground. The entire encounter was captured on film.
The video has been appropriately age-restricted on YouTube. Make no mistake: It’s bloody and difficult to watch.
There’s reason to believe, however, that the video is an elaborate hoax, in line with Jimmy Kimmel’s “Worst Twerk Fail Ever” prank.
For starters, there’s how perfectly the camera falls to the ground, capturing Blair Witch Project-style the severity of the wound.
Then there’s the video’s description, “Entschuldigung für den schlechten Schnitt,” which translates roughly to “Sorry for the bad cut.” That has less to do with Sprave’s gnarly gash and more to do with the edit jump the video makes at the 1:25, suggesting foul play.
More telling is Sprave’s other project, a horror film, tentatively titled Zombie Wars: The Movie, that he’s been working on and doing special effects for. He’s even produced some insane rubber weapons for the film: a slingshot that shoots machetes, a pump-action slingshot, a launcher for circular saw blades, and a “witch beheader bazooka,” for starters.
Let’s hope the whole thing’s staged. Otherwise, that’s some pretty painful irony.
Update: Sprave admitted Sunday that the video was staged. Here’s how he did it:
Screengrab via the Slingshot Channel/YouTube