Posted on 11/26/2004 3:54:54 PM PST by SmithL
NEW YORK -- A man jumped to his death Friday from the 86th-floor observation deck at the Empire State Building, one of Manhattan's busiest tourist destinations, police said.
The apparent suicide forced police to briefly close the landmark on Fifth Avenue to tourists in New York for the holiday weekend.
The man apparently climbed over a security fence that encloses the observation deck before leaping off. He hit a landing on the sixth floor, where he died instantly, police said.
No identification was found on his body.
At least 31 other people have committed suicide at the Empire State Building since it opened in 1931. More than 3.8 million people visit the tourist attraction each year, according to the building's Web site.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Really?
Is that true?
I've never heard that.
must not have been wearing his spiderman suit
That's one of many possible manifestations of obsessive-compusive disorder -- an odd, unwanted urge to harm yourself or others.
I know the feeling. I don't do heights at all. As a matter-of-fact, one of the reasons I joined the Submarine Service was so I could avoid heights.
"Actually, the experts say that most people who fall and/or jump from great heights usually die of heart failure before they ever hit whatever it was they were aiming for."
I DON'T BELIEVE THAT! It's what we used to be able to call an "old wive's tale," but now in modern PC times it would be an urban legend, I guess. If you are in a rural area, it is a rural legend.
For one thing, dying of a heart attack is not that fast, and after the fall there is not enough evidence left to tell by autopsy. The impact causes also sorts of damage much more severe than would be caused by any little, old heart attack.
There are also a number of people who have fallen great distances and have survived, and they have not died (obviously) from heart failure first. A few years ago a girl sky-diver fell when her parachute failed, and survived when she landed in a muddy swamp. A flyer in WWII fell from a US bomber, had his fall cushioned by trees, and landed in a 2-meter drift of snow. He broke his leg, but survived. There is a horrrible movie of the Shenandoah dirigible which, in a launching accident, dragged several grounds-crew members high into the air. Once aloft, they lost hold of the ropes, or else let go unaware of their elevation. One victim tried to run through the air desperately as he fell, and he continue this futile action all the way to the ground.
He must have been determined. I've seen the suicide fencing at the Empire State Bldg. Climbing over that isn't the easiest thing.
20,000 feet or 2000 feet..the result is still the same if you hit water or concrete.
I've been sky diving, bungee jumping, and glacier hiking - it is just tall buildings and stairways where I think I'm going to fall/get pushed over the edge.
HELP.
Trajan88; TAMU Class of '88
Just like the jumper.
Or, in layman's terms, after about 50 feet:
Terminal Velocity
G-d-damm you! I just choked on a fine Foster Bitter because of your pungent, accurate and peerless prose!
It would have been better if that guy volunteered to be a suicide bomber and blew himself up with the terrorists in Fallusia, but unfortunately its a patented method developed by muslim extremists...
...he should have died accomplishing something of worth, not being a superman rival who failed...
Hey, I've missed our ol' tourist. Glad to see him back.
"Chief, he missed it by THAT much."
Yeeeeee...HAW!!! |
You really have to have a lot of leg strength to clear that sixth-floor landing;)
I have the same thing, and it is very strange! I'm not suicidal at all, but have had that same feeling come over me when standing on the edge of a cliff. I don't get too close to the edge, because I'm afraid I might jump off. Very weird.
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