Basejumper.com - archive

If you miss it, you did not much.

Recently watched this documentary where a small
film crew spent a year at the Golden Gate Bridge.
Their footage included guys wind kiting/surfing,
tourists on the bridge, lots of cool time lapse
segments, several suicides, and interviews
with their friends & familes.

I think there were 24 people who climbed over the rail,
without gear, in the year they shot. A few would-be
jumpers were yanked back over by cops or bystanders,
but most jumped and died.

However, one troubled kid climbed over, launched,
realized this was not a good idea, and in freefall
managed to position himself for a feet first impact.
He broke a bunch of stuff but lived.

.....I had a few more thoughts on this but not sure
if it would violate the forum rules since it is a well
known object.

I remember seeing TV interviews on the same subject... Does this sound familiar:

I clearly remember seeing something on TV where a group intentionally set up a camera to capture a years worth of suicides. I think I saw parts of it on 60 Minutes (CBS news).

They were criticised for videoing, but not stepping in to save the day when they clearly knew someone was going to jump.

But the angle of video, and the way they recorded, even if they wanted to run and save the day, it would have been too late in most cases.

The purpose of the scientific study was to best understand why and how someone desires to commit suicide, in order to perhaps prevent it in the future, or find warning signs.

The documentary seemed to show suicide after suicide, and the range of delays, confidence, intent (how long people waited before jumping, did people walk back and forth or just do it, etc) seemed to range the gamut.


While your post seems to show multiple aspects of the Bridge, what I saw was focused on the jumping.

Hey Tdog,

I do not watch TV so I am not sure if it is the same
guys you saw on 60 Minutes, but is sounds right.

Yes, the footage looked as though the film crew was
too far away from where people were launching to
run over and interfere. However, there are a few
saves thanks to bystanders and cops.

There was really only one shot that kept a jumper
in frame from exit to impact. All the other clips
were marginal, which also indicated their distance
from the object.

The film's focus is suicide (causes, prevention, etc.)
but the bridge is also potrayed as this magnetic entity
that draws people to it.

Similiar example is how Japan almost plays a supporting
character role in the movie "Lost in Translation".