That big green statue in New York. The one that welcomes immigrants. We’ve all heard many stories about her. And everything she stands for.
But. There are also things we don’t know. I happened across an interesting article the other day about our good Statue of Liberty. It is a pretty morbid topic. However, the article has a list of people who have jumped off of Lady Liberty.
Who knew? Some did it for sport. They might have given a try at paragliding and that sort of thing. But one guy committed suicide by jumping out of her crown.
That made me wonder how often that sort of thing happens at monuments and landmarks around the world. And as I found out, it happens pretty often. On occasion, the person jumping doesn’t succeed.
So. Here are a few suicides off of well-known monuments or landmarks that failed and some that have succeeded.
The Statue of Liberty suicide, which I mentioned, happened on May 13, 1929. A guy named Ralph Gleason (no relation to Ralph Kramden or Jackie Gleason) made his way out of one of the windows on the crown. But wait. He seemed to maybe change his mind and try to crawl back in.
But then the tragedy occurred. Gleason slipped. He then flew downward, bounced off the statue’s breast, and landed in the grass at the base, just feet from a very surprised man who was mowing the grass.
On the other end of the country, the Hoover Dam appears to be the hotspot.
There have only been 20-some suicides at the Hoover Dam since its completion in 1936. At least, that is the official word in the pamphlets and such. People on the “inside” say it happens about every other week.
One of the most well-known occurrences was as part of a murder-suicide in 2004. The man apparently shot his girlfriend at the Treasure Island casino on the Strip in Las Vegas, then drove to the Hoover Dam and engaged in a standoff with police. After several hours, he finally jumped and fell about 750 feet to his death.
Other monuments include the Hollywood Sign, Eiffel Tower, Space Needle, Empire State Building, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Not all of them turn out tragically, as I mentioned.
Like this. In 1979, a 17-year-old man jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. He was 250 feet up. After he leaped off the edge, he changed his mind. I’m sure many people do. Anyway, this guy, in the midst of his free fall, decided that his best chance of survival was to hit the water feet-first. So. Mid-air, he adjusted his position accordingly.
He did, in fact, hit feet-first. Amazingly, he was well enough to swim out, get in his car, and drive himself to the hospital. He had some cracked vertebrae but was otherwise fine.
All of these stories are sad. People in desperation.
Suicide is always a tragedy. Behind each leap, each final act, is a human being. There is someone who once laughed at jokes, made plans, felt joy, and had people who cared for them.
It’s hard to think about, but so many of these stories aren’t really about daring jumps or shocking headlines. They’re about quiet suffering. About people who felt they had no other way out.
The sadness of suicide isn’t just in the act itself. It’s in everything that led up to it—the long nights of loneliness, the silence that smothers, the sense of being stuck or invisible.
And maybe most of all, the belief that no one would care or notice if they were gone. That kind of thinking is never true, but when someone’s in pain, the truth can feel very far away.
It’s also heartbreaking because so many people who attempt suicide don’t actually want to die. They want the pain to stop. They want a lifeline. They want someone to hear them, see them, reach out.
If there’s one thing to take from these stories, it’s not just the strangeness or the spectacle. It’s the reminder to be kind. To check in. To talk to each other. Because we never really know what someone’s carrying.
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“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.” — Seneca
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“Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.” — Victor Hugo
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“Rocks in my path? I keep them all. With them I shall build my castle.” — Nemo Nox
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