A symbol of American engineering might, visible for miles around and as graceful as it is functional, the Golden Gate Bridge is one of the world's leading tourist attractions. Less well known, however, is the fact that it is also one of the world's most popular suicide locations.
The Facts:- Roughly one person every two weeks jumps from the bridge.- Around 1,300 people are known to have died there since its 1937 opening- Many more have probably also ended their lives in the waters below unnoticed- During the four seconds it takes to reach the water, fallers reach a velocity of 120 miles an hour. The impact almost always kills them - and even if they survive the fall they very often drown.
Spurred on by these stark facts and an article in the New Yorker calling for the erection of a barrier around the bridge's walkway to prevent further deaths, filmmaker Eric Steel spent most of 2004 with cameras trained on the bridge to pick out any potential suicides.
Steel says he and his crew had the bridge authority on speed dial and immediately phoned if they spotted anyone who looked like they were about to jump - thus preventing many suicides. Even so, 23 people did leap from the bridge that year and all these suicidal jumps were documented.
Once he'd gathered his footage, Steel interviewed the friends and family of the jumpers, showing the human tragedies behind the shocking images, piecing together their final moments and exploring the legacy of their decision to die.
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