In 1991, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude put up an environmental installation art of thousands of oversize yellow and blue umbrellas in California and Japan.
The giant umbrellas, which measured about 20 foot (6m) in height, 28 foot (8.7 m) in diameter and weighted about 500 lb (227 kg), become a huge tourist attraction.
Less than two months after the installation opened, Lori Rae Keevil-Mathews, 33, went to see the umbrellas in California. A guest uprooted one of the umbrellas. Mathews was crushed against a boulder and killed.
Christo immediately ordered all of the umbrellas taken down. The umbrellas, however, were not finished. They soon took another life, this time in Japan. Whilst removing the umbrellas, crane operator Masaaki Nakamura was electrocuted when the machine’s arm touched a 65, 000 volt high-tension line.
