Silver Bridge
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
The Silver Bridge was an eyebar suspension bridge that connected the cities of Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Gallipolis, Ohio over the Ohio River. It was built in 1928, named for its aluminum paint, and collapsed on December 15, 1967, killing 46 people; investigation of the wreckage pointed to the failure of a single eye-bar in the suspension cables due to a small flaw that was introduced at the time it was made. Odd events before the collapse, particularly the appearances of a "Mothman," led to a 1975 nonfiction book named The Mothman Prophecies, which led in turn to a 2002 "based on a true story" movie of the same title (although the movie is not set in the 1960s, but in the present day).
Very specific information on the 46 victims and others who have died linked to the collapse of the Silver Bridge can be found in an ongoing list (http://www.lorencoleman.com/mothman_death_list.html) on this subject.
External links
- "The Collapse of the Silver Bridge," by Chris LeRose in West Virginia Historical Society Quarterly (vol. xv, no. 4, Oct. 2001) (http://www.wvculture.org/history/wvhs1504.html)
- "The Point Pleasant/Silver Bridge Disaster" (http://filebox.vt.edu/users/aschaeff/silver/silver.html)
- Mothman Death List (http://www.lorencoleman.com/mothman_death_list.html)
- Corrosion Doctors (http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Bridges/Silver-Bridge.htm)
References
- Mothman and Other Curious Encounters by Loren Coleman (Paraview Press, 2002, ISBN 1931044341)nl:Silver Bridge
