Ithaca is gorges, all right

[edenfalling]

So I was out walking Dottie at a quarter to five and suddenly a helicopter came flying overhead as we moseyed along Fall Creek. Then it came back the other direction. Then it hovered on the far side of Rt. 13, just sat there in the sky wobbling a little as it veeeeerrrrrrrryyyyy ssssllllloooowwwlllyyyy inched to the north.

After a few minutes, it occurred to me that they were probably looking for a dead body in the creek. :-(

And lo and behold, when I checked the news upon returning home, that is indeed what was going on. Around 12:30pm, a police officer and a couple Cornell employees saw an unidentified man jump off the Stewart Ave. bridge, whereupon the water promptly swept him over Ithaca Falls. It's been raining a lot the past couple days. The creek is in full flood. No one thinks the dude survived; it's just a body recovery at this point.

...

Ithaca doesn't actually have a particularly high suicide rate. It's just that a lot of our successful suicides are really dramatic. :-(

Comments

[mme_hardy]

Ooog.

Around here, people jump in front of mass transit. :(

[edenfalling]

Urgh. That is also a very messy and dramatic way to die... and probably worse for whoever was driving the train or bus in question and didn't ask to be made an accessory to somebody else's death. :-(

[mme_hardy]

It's very, very hard on the train drivers. :(

[transposable_element]

Yes. So awful for the driver (and other witnesses, but especially the driver).

There is a railroad crossing a mile from my house where there were four teenage suicides over the course of about a year and a half. I think of it every time I go through the intersection.

[transposable_element]

I'm sorry. Such an awful thing to have to confront out of the blue, even if it's a stranger.

[rthstewart]

oh gosh. I'm sorry. That's just sad.

[edenfalling]

I am always sort of... casually aware, I guess, that Ithaca gets at least one gorge death per year: suicide, accidental fall, drowning while swimming in an area you shouldn't be swimming (possibly while drunk), etc. Stuff happens. I've even seen search-and-rescue efforts in my neighborhood before. I mean, I live approximately five minutes' walk from Ithaca Falls; assuming I'm home, it's hard NOT to notice when sirens converge and the little park around the waterfall gets closed off. But it's still an unpleasant surprise when today is the day that that statistically expected death comes due. :-(

[edenfalling]

Yeah. :-( The search team has apparently found the guy's body, but they're not releasing his name yet. I feel terrible for his family, whoever they are.