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 ...
My father lost a friend who jumped off a tall building. Witnesses say the man tried to get up after he hit the pavement. That part made me saddest of all.
Stay tuned for the 0000 news with Fall Rather, He will tell the Riveting story behind the Jump along with exlusive footage of the man jumping and hitting the landing. incriminating memo GWBush was the man behind it., Stay tuned.....
(Sarcasm off)
I don't feel sorry for this guy at all. He knew what he was doing, he had all the time to think about it going to the top and on the trip down. Maybe they should give him a refund if they charged him admittance fee? That should make it all better. ;)
Why leave a note who wants to hear from a loser, did Kerry leave a note?
His family should be held liable for him breaking the law, NO TRASPASSING BEYOND THIS POINT.
I just hope, the judge has good sense to trow this law suit out of court.
I imagine all they needed was a garden hose.
Yeah, but the landlords had it put there to prevent people from jumping in, not jumping out. I mean it, look at history. Has anyone ever successfully jumped onto the Empire State Building??? I thought not.
If it had been The Nadster, they would have felt it in Vancouver.
Here's a link to the Life Magazine photograph with its description.
http://www.discovery.mala.bc.ca/web/martinar/Index.htm
... and lyrics to the eerie song about the suicide:
http://www.nyloose.com/lyrps.htm
Why on earth would anyone take thier life, how can things be that bad ?I know lifes sometimes hard my own has been filled with peaks and valeys, am I crazy to think those long valleys lead to higher peaks? I always thought to get to the top you start at the bottom.
When my parents used to take me to the WTC observation deck, my mother would literally be clawing the back wall as my father and I would be sitting on the little benches that ran all the way around the building just inches from the windows.
Needless to say, she wouldn't even go anywhere near the escalator up to the outdoor deck.
Another 5 floors and he could have hit an apple cart. That's what happened in 1929 - my grandfather was wiped out in the stock market crash that way.
He may think he would have stayed, but he'd be wrong. You know how your spinal cord automatically pulls your hand back from a burning hot pan on the stove the moment you touch it, before the signals even reach your brain? The same basic thing happened to those trapped in the WTC on 9/11. Once the heat reached a certain level, their bodies went into survival mode, and instinctively did whatever was necessary to get away from the source of the heat ... even if it meant jumping out a window from 100 stories high. Those people didn't even realized they'd jumped until they were already in midair.
Simple: Mental illness.
Well, I think you may be right.
I just asked my physician husband,
and he said it's highly possible!
I don't understand the need to violate so many others in this kind of act.
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