Bad Idea

July 9, 1993 — In Toronto’s 24-story Toronto-Dominion Centre, lawyer Garry Hoy attempted a stunt he had performed many times before: demonstrating to colleagues that his office windows were unbreakable.

During an after-work party, Hoy sprinted across the room and hurled himself against the glass. As usual, the pane held. When another group of lawyers arrived, he repeated the trick. This time, though the glass itself did not break, the entire window frame popped free, and Hoy plunged to his death 24 stories below.

The bizarre accident quickly became a cautionary tale — and one of the most enduring modern urban legends about hubris, office culture, and fatal irony.