A man who appeared to be of unsound mind fell 30 ft from a tree in front of Birla Planetarium on Friday, after keeping the crowd that had gathered there to watch his antics “oohing” and “aahing” for several minutes.

The crowd gaped as the unidentified man in shorts, aged about 30, mimicked a trapeze artist and swung his body back and forth while sitting on a branch with his arms folded. If there was an element of fun there, it disappeared the moment he lost his balance and hit the ground with a thud.

“He was bleeding profusely from the head and neck. We took him to SSKM Hospital immediately,” said one of the police officers who had been pleading with the man to come down.

The drama began around 6.30pm, when the man was spotted climbing the tall kadamba tree. When someone asked him what he was up to, the man only smiled. “He paused for a moment on one of the middle branches and then started climbing again till he reached the topmost branch. He sat there and kept swinging his frail body. He wasn’t holding on to anything,” one of the onlookers said.

Doctors at SSKM said his condition was critical.