FERGUS – Marvel billed The Human Fly as the “wildest super-hero ever, because he’s real!” 
A documentary crew from England determined to track down this real daredevil behind the masked superhero, long disappeared from the public eye, found he was last known to have lived in Fergus.
The Human Fly was a Canadian daredevil active in the 1970s who wore a full red suit and was the inspiration behind a short lived Marvel comic series.
Always in a mask, his identity is a bit of a mystery, but one Astronaut Films crew wished to find out and have worked at for years.
Lucy Wallace, executive producer with Astronaut Films, said in a video interview the Human Fly was the brainchild of two brothers who decided they wanted to create a daredevil to do stunts.
“They came up with a character and sort of retrofitted this young guy that they found. The story goes that they met him as a door-to-door salesman that came to see one of the guy's wives to sell them a vacuum cleaner,” Wallace said. “There are so many bits of the story that don’t really make sense and all are a bit all over the place, but it’s just a really interesting story.”
These stunts included a wingwalking stunt on top of a large flying airplane and his effort to beat Evel Knievel’s record for number of school buses jumped on a motorcycle.
In 1977 during a Gloria Gaynor concert in Montreal, The Human Fly used a rocket powered Harley-Davidson motorcycle to jump 27 school buses.
“He did the jump but he crash landed and he was taken off in a stretcher and never seen again,” Wallace said.
Now, Astronaut Films is making a documentary about those involved in the stunts, the creation of the Human Fly and the search for that last missing piece, the man himself. Wallace said nothing was known, and still very little is known, about his whereabouts or what he’s done in the decades since that jump.
They believe he was born around 1948, putting him in his 70s today, and lived in Montreal and Toronto.
The Human Fly was believed to be named Rick Rojatt and Wallace explained she thought he had been tracked down in Calgary as a homeless man and had an article written in the local news about the search in Calgary.
From here, Wallace got a surprising call from Centre Wellington real estate agent Carolyn Sullivan, recognizing him as Rick Rajotte.
“In fact he was (at one time) in our little town of Fergus,” Sullivan explained in a phone interview with EloraFergusToday.
She befriended him while he was considering buying a house in Fergus, renting at the time, and that’s where she learned he was The Human Fly.
Sullivan wasn’t sure about his claim at first but his “story never changed” and he had shown her photos from his time as The Human Fly.
Sullivan said he has since moved to an assisted-living facility in 2022 somewhere in the region. Wallace thinks it is one in Guelph.
This is once again presenting a roadblock for the crew as privacy concerns mean they can’t just call up facilities and ask if he’s there. A daughter of his they had tracked down in the area has also declined to participate.
Whether he's Rick, Richard, Rojatt or Rajotte, Wallace said the team would love to connect with him at least for a conversation with no pressure to appear in the documentary.
With a planned republishing of The Human Fly comic planned for the near future, the timing is perfect to interview the man behind the mask – although true to the character, he won't have to show his face if he doesn't want to.
"Any help making contact with him or if anyone might have know him we would love to chat to them," Wallace said.
Anyone with information can reach out to Wallace via email at [email protected].
