Another official places that number in the “20’s. An unnamed source stated that since 1936 when the dam was completed and open for tours, approximately 100 people had perished by suicide. So, then, what do we know about the prevalence of suicide attempts at Hoover Dam? Ask a tour guide or spokesperson for the Bureau and they will state that it is rare, numbers are vague, or that they are not allowed to share such information. In tacit compliance with the Bureau’s line of reasoning on this matter, the local Las Vegas news media has in the past only given passing notice of suicides at the dam, and follow-up reports are sketchy at best.
This seems unreasonable since the administrators of the dam must surely have to submit quarterly and yearly reports covering all activities that take place at the dam. The officials at the dam have gone so far as to state that they do not know how many people have jumped off the dam, and that the Bureau does not keep records of such events. Also, the Bureau hopes that by downplaying such occurrences, it will discourage others from seeking out the area for the sole purpose of ending their lives. First, suicides represent bad publicity for the dam, a site frequented by tourists looking for something interesting and pleasurable to do during the daytime to escape the vices and excesses of the “Strip“ in Las Vegas. The Bureau of Reclamation, as would be expected, is reluctant to discuss the issue of suicide. The bridge, is located 1500 feet downstream from the dam and is 200 feet higher. The top of the dam is located in a deep gorge and is 720 feet above the Colorado River. The Hoover Dam and the bypass bridge (HDBPB) are world renown for their architectural beauty and engineering excellence. A recent addition to this listing is the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge (Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge). Other lesser known sites reported are the space needle in Seattle, Washington, and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida ( Desert News, July 29, 2012) (Daily Sparks Tribune J). In the United States, sites frequently used to commit suicide include the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, CA, Niagara Falls, the Empire State building, the George Washington Bridge in New York, and Hoover Dam. Mihara and the Aokigahara forest in Japan, and the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in China. Notable landmarks for suicide attempts worldwide are the Eiffel Tower, Beachy Head in Southern England, Mt. They will sometimes travel considerable distances from their homes for the sole purpose of ending their lives in a particular place. "The magical thinking involved in their mind is that 'I will get all of this attention by engaging in a public suicide.' " Yet some victims are not seeking to go out in a “blaze of glory.” Rather, choosing a famous site has some personal significance for them. "There is also a collective sense of connection with other people in these last moments right before suicide occurs.” ( ).Īlan Berman, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology, calls such places "suicide landmarks." "There are sites around the world that, primarily because of media publicity, become known as where someone goes to die by suicide," Berman says. "There is a certain appeal to committing suicide in a place of significance - a romanticism that goes along with it," says Sandra Sanger, a psychologist in St. Such landmarks are sought because of their high visibility and notoriety, experts say.
A minority, however, want their final act have some significance and seek out famous sites and landmarks that can facilitate their deaths. Most suicide victims complete the act in a solitary fashion, away from crowds or special places. An anonymous source once stated that suicide happens when the mental pain of living outweighs the fear of dying. Those who die by suicide frequently have an associated depression, that is accompanied by an intense psychic pain. Their drive and will to live are constantly being challenged by “demons” that are impossible to ignore. They often state that life no longer has meaning. Many of those who take their lives do so in order to escape the mental anguish of coping with daily life. This makes suicide the tenth leading cause of death, with a rate of 12.4 per 100,000 population. In 2010, in the United States there were 38,364 reported suicide deaths.
Death by suicide is never a pleasant topic.