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The Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Mystery

The Golden Gate Bridge has long been not only the most famous attraction in San Francisco, but also considered a feat in the history of architecture and aesthetics. The red bridge spans the San Francisco Bay, and the bay often rises with thick mist. The red bridge shrouded in it seems to lead to Beyond Wonderland. But the title of “global suicide mecca” also casts a shadow over the Golden Gate Bridge. One can’t help but ask: “Why is this place so popular with suicidal people?”

The Suicide Aesthetics of the Golden Gate Bridge

When the Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937, chief engineer Joseph Strauss responded confidently when asked about his fear of suicide by jumping off the bridge, saying: “The Golden Gate Bridge is practically suicide proof. Suicide from the bridge is neither. possible nor probable.” (The Golden Gate Bridge can actually prevent suicide, jumping off the bridge is completely unrealistic and impossible)

As a result, in 1937, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge, just three months after the bridge opened, someone jumped off: a World War I veteran Harold Warber, after being silent for a while on the bridge, suddenly said, “This is where I’m going to jump down.” As soon as the voice fell, the person was drowned by the rushing sea water.

Over the past 70 years, 2,000 people have committed suicide by jumping off the bridge here. Although the number of suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge is no longer officially counted after it reached 1,000 in 1993, according to an average of one person jumping every two weeks, it is conservatively estimated that by 2016, the number of suicides should be more than 2,000. people.

In the 1980s, some scholars studied the reasons for suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge, and the results were shocking. Most people had no symptoms before and came to the Golden Gate Bridge to commit suicide entirely on a whim. For example, a young father, holding his two-year-old daughter, originally enjoyed the scenery of San Francisco Bay with other tourists, and took many photos with great interest. But suddenly, he threw the child into the sea and immediately jumped off. There was no omen, and there was no reason, stunned the tourists around him.

Scholars think this way: standing on the bridge, looking down at the blue sea and the white sails and the vast skyline in the distance, the scenery is so magnificent that it is so tragic, you can’t get such gorgeousness anywhere else of death. The bright bridge in the mist is like a satanic smile. Standing on the Golden Gate Bridge, you will have such hallucinations that jumping off will be a clean, peaceful, and supple death.

Jumping down like a fluffy feather, as if you are about to join the team of angels in the next second. In fact, this kind of thinking is very wrong! When a person jumps from a 60-meter bridge deck, he will hit the water surface at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour. After 4 seconds, he will enter the water with a huge impact force, and his internal organs will be shattered by the shock!

Subsequently, the media in the San Francisco area also stopped reporting on the suicides by jumping off the bridge, trying to curb the imitation of the suicides. To this day, in San Francisco newspapers and on TV, there are few reports of suicides on the Golden Gate Bridge.

However, the jumping still happened, so the management council installed 13 emergency telephones along the bridge’s sidewalks, which can be connected directly to suicide counselors. Every other section of the road, different slogans such as cherishing life are also posted.

After several years of discussions, evaluations, and funding issues, last year the Golden Gate Bridge finally began installing protective nets. In fact, studies have shown that installing protective nets is the most effective means of preventing suicide, and the guardrails of the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building and Sydney Harbour Bridge have reduced suicide rates in these places to near zero.

The newly installed protective net is about 1 meter long. It will intercept people who jumped from the bridge 6 meters under the bridge. After wrapping the person, it will be slightly retracted, making it difficult for the suicide to climb out. The plan is expected to be completed in 2018. In fact, in the previous four years of bridge maintenance and construction, in order to protect workers, a safety net was installed under the bridge, which is said to have saved at least 19 lives.