Suicide off Confusion Hill Bridge, According to Witness
About 4:10 p.m., a man leapt off the southernmost Confusion Hill Bridge, according to Katie Dorn, a Eureka resident who was driving north when she spotted a small group of people standing on the span nearest to the Confusion Hill tourist attraction which is named the Mignon “Minnie” Stoddard Lilley Memorial Bridge.
“There were like two women and some guy,” Dorn said. “It was obvious something was wrong…I’m a nurse so we stopped.” Oddly, she said, the two other women were both nurses who had been traveling together in the same car when one saw a man jump off the bridge.They had stopped and then others stopped also.
An officer arrived and between the people on the bridge and those who went to the riverbar, they were able to locate the body.
Dorn’s boyfriend said he saw a pickup that may have belonged to the man parked alongside the road but he wasn’t sure if it was the deceased man’s.
The Minnie S. Lilley Bridge is 255 feet high which is about 5 feet higher than the height from the Golden Gate Bridge to the ocean.
Note: The vehicles in the second photo were incorrectly identified in an earlier version of this story.
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Hug you’re loved ones.
Godspeed son.
This is sad R.I.P to the person that jumped…😢
I remember folks talking about how the bridge was the new golden gate for suicides…folks, remember that the suicide hotline is always open…and that You might be ending pain, but you leave behind loved ones who will be dealing with that for years…. R.I.P.
The bridge itself has a sad history.
What is the history?
It took a long time to build and while being built a small plane full of the top executives from the company building it crashed killing everyone on board as they flew into the area to inspect the progress.
I remember at least one was deeply involved in its construction.
They might have named the bridge after him.
Never heard of this accident and I cannot find anything about it on the web. I was however involved in the construction of the new road cuts and approaches to this bridge. I would have remembered this incident and I do not. Can you provide a reference that I can use to educate myself?
We speculated early on in the construction that this would attract suicidal people. How many now?
People make bad choices all the time . . .
Remember the road closures that happened almost every winter when the slide came in on the other side of the river?
They crashed flying into the Garberville Airport. Crashed into the hillside.
Picchu, I do recall this incident of the plane crash. The crew was going to land at Garberville Airport, from Redding?
I can’t recall the particulars but it is true it did happen.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwisl4CXwPHfAhWnmuAKHcG9D5IQzPwBegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.times-standard.com%2F2007%2F11%2F07%2Fthree-killed-in-garberville-plane-crash%2F&psig=AOvVaw1J2z0GmESd7gqxzWwPP3y0&ust=1547700603951843
She can’t. 🕯
the plane crash was near the Garberville Airport; can’t remember if it was landing or taking off
https://www.times-standard.com/2007/11/07/company-ids-plane-crash-victims/
I remember this plane crash. My cousins grandpa was the pilot.
I don’t how accurate that is . I do know there was a worker on it when its layer collapsed with another layer under it while being built . And broke bones but didn’t kill him . He was definitely lucky to be alive.
Absolutely horrible to hear someone jumped off …. my heart does go to the family
Long time to build, really, seemed pretty quick to me….
Yeah but whenever you call the suicide hotline they want to send cops and not just try to help. Its pretty shitty in my opinion. Maybe it can help some people but in my experience they just want to send someone to come get you and lock you up in the looney bin for a little while
Well, if someone is about to kill themselves, then being placed in the “looney bin” and receiving help might not only save their lives, but change their lives. Calling the hotline put things in perspective for me and made me realize I was not suicidal. Going to the “looney bin” got my teenage son a proper diagnosis, counseling, and medicines. He has not been suicidal or depressed since.
Too accessible to pedestrian traffic & a sure thing for suicide. Fatal combination.
Condolences to surviving family.
Wtf, so now bridges need full time security detail. Maybe we should outlaw tree climbing gear, and shit down the trail to strawberry rock, wedding rock, or ceremony rock….. For fuck sakes, people need to offer help, and people have to be willing to accept it. Or accept medications if they have an imbalance….
The main trail in Yosemite is all fenced off now due to so many tourists falling to their death. I disagree with “suicide prevention methods” and trying to make things safe for morons. People will find other ways to take themselves out regardless of the safety nets we put in place.
What “imbalance”?
You mean the ones *caused* by psych meds?
The chemical imbalance theory was invented as a marketing tool by PhArma to sell their poison.
Placebo is a wonderful thing…
Dr. Pies, head of the APA, calls the CI theory a “metaphor”…
As someone that has an imbalance I can say it’s not just a marketing tool. I need medication. I have struggled for years to get the right medications. I was not given placebos. I have had positive and negative reactions, depending on what was prescribed. It would be awesome if all I needed was a pep talk and some sugar pills. That would have solved a lot of problems a long time ago.
Please don’t talk about things you have no experience with. Your opinion can be damaging if someone in need reads it and decides its all a “metaphor”. Someone might even be prompted to find a bridge if they think they won’t get any help. And for anyone in a desperate place, help is available. Don’t listen to people say it’s all caused by meds. They aren’t doctors and should not be dispensing advice.
~as usual Guest, well said.
p.s. i find it hard to believe you have any ‘imbalance” -just sayin.
Guestus, I held off on meds for my son. He was depressed and suicidal. He did dangerous things. Being diagnosed and put on proper medicines changed his life. He is no longer depressed.
Your theory is exactly what makes people not get help and end up killing themselves.
Your theory kills.
Suicide doesn’t stop the pain. It just passes it to someone else.
if that is the case make sure they know that their pain and struggles are not a hardship to those around them.
Right on, anti…
That’s for certain.
I like to think I am to stubborn and resentful to kill myself.
Good programming on my part.
Just really stubborn.
Dear Diamond,
That is a very profound observation. Must be one of the truest things I’ve heard in a long time. Thank you so much for sharing that.
Picchu
The crash happened. I was a first responder at the crash. It happened just south of the Garberville Airport. It was very foggy that day. The pilot came down below the fog trying to land. He was way below the elevation of airport. He pulled up and tried to power out of it, but crashed into a small gully on the hillside. Many, many witnesses. it was a well known pilot and the two other people were associated with the bridge construction. At least three maybe four were killed and did not suffer.
Do I count as a reference?
2007 was it?
(Link provided above In reply to pichu)
Thanks to all for the update on the plane crash. At my age, sometimes I do not remember things I should. *LOL*
Up until that plane crash the morning overcast had generally created a ceiling of around 2000 ft. The pilot had been using land marks to get his bearings and then dropping through the the clouds and landing. That morning the overcast was on the deck. One witness who lives on Sprowel Creek road says the plane was at eye level or lower the it passed his place. He tried to pull up but didn’t make it. If he had banked to the right he probably would have made it.
There’s a lot of emotions to override to do such a thing. Hope who ever it was is in a better place now. “Goodbye cruel world,I’m leaving you today…goodbye…goodbye.” R.I.P.
I was heading home from the north, I was wondering what was going on. I saw a tow truck so I thought maybe a car accident. Sad that this poor soul was not able to stay strong. RIP😢
Confidential help is available for free.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Call 1-800-273-8255
Available 24 hours everyday
Or text 741741
(carrier txt rate may apply)
Hope that the cops don’t pick you up cuz you’re a “danger to yourself” for a nice stay in the closest looney bin…where they strip search you, feed you neurotoxicity drugs and pathologize everything you say so you end up with a DSM label for life.
The stigma starts with the diagnosis people…
Of course, your confinement is open-ended if your insurance is good.
We need to be kinder to people in our lives and just fuckin’ listen…costs nothing.
Connection cures much distress.
“Connection cures much distress.”
~Second.
I wouldn’t mind posting the name i go by and telephone number. With Kym.
Guestus, Please, stop trying to scare people into not reaching out. You are not helping. Post your name and your number and tell them to call you instead. You say what not to do, but do not offer any positive advice on how to cure depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and PTSD. People suffer long before a diagnosis.
Thank you for sharing You’re Not Alone
In the last 25 days the potential for suicide because of the government shutdown has risen by 100%,divorces, domestic violence and just crime in general. Thank you Federal government.
I stubbed my toe last night. I’m sure it’s somehow the government’s fault, but I’m not quite sure how to put the blame on them. Can you help me through the logic?
It’s easy logic, just blam everything on Trump! Take no self accountability and blam others .Simple logic really….. hope that helps. Wonder if it would be a bad thing if the government STAYED shutdown? Ponder that.
Well trump was on live TV taking credit for his shut down, so yeh, I guess it’s pretty much on him.
Comments like this always remind me of the “what have the Romans ever done for us” scene in Life of Brian.
Lets try to run an industrial economy without working sewers or roads, see how that works. Actually, I think that might be how they do it in Russia.
LostCoastEMP,
~what if we run out of cheese and diapers?
Thats [edit] not true
That would be a great bridge to jump off of. Dramatic scenery,.. beutiful Eel river. pulsing flow of a storied countryside.. nibbling away at the old landslide. confusing hills..
Maybe things are more certain for him now
YOU KNOW SOMETIMES THERE IS KNOW ONE AND THE PAIN YOU ARE IN ALL THE TIME THE PEOPLE ARE THERE NOT FORE YOU BUT MAKE YOU FEEL SO I THINK WELL MAYBE IT BETTER TO DO IT BECAUSE YOU KNOW THE BULLSHIT YOU BELIEVE HURTS BYE GOD BLESS
Is this a cry for help?
Are you o.k. Gary?
~i want to know too about Gary.
Let us, or one of us, know how to get ‘in touch’ with you Gary. Don’t be silly -you are here for a purpose – please.
Dont wanna seem underly concerned about what Gary wrote but I do hope I’m not incorrect in my own perception of what I felt Gary was saying . I took it to be a real good expression of what he feels that a person must be thinking prior to taking their life and hes describing the common consensus amongst many suicide cases or those who have survived the attempted suicides of how many people have reported a sense of being a burden or perhaps people who would be a persons only support system to begin feeling tired and also unsure of the actual help they can further provide. A sense of distancing ones self due to uncertainty and it many times could easily be confusing for the person needing help as it might appear the distancing is for other reasons and is probably a lot like a feeling of abandonment and irritability in the chore they feel they present which is why they view themselves in that state as a burden. 🙁
With enough unhappiness pervading, it seems as though nothing exists that will not make it worse. At some point, in attempting to suppress these bad feelings, all reactions, even the ones that are good, are suppressed, even the natural will to survive. Suicide begins to look like a reasonable choice.
But, with time and treatment, first the overwhelming unhappiness can be put on hold then treatment can continue to reduce the unhappiness until room for pleasure is made. Then life begins to look much more like the reasonable choice instead. It happens that way.
~good Guest. The keyboard warrior is mightier than the sword.
I could throw a joke in on the other thread -but, u no.
You are not alone in feeling like that. But almost always, despite it seeming there is no possibility of improvement, you can trust your genes, the innate ability to heal, to be working to fix it. It just needs to be given the time to work its magic.
*Source*
I believe a fellow from Covelo jumped shortly after the bridge was completed. It did not get a lot of press
Yes he was the Superintendent of Round Valley School district, father of 6 I believe.
Permanent solution for a temporary problem very sad
Agreed that it’s a beautiful place to exit life,the rock crag mountain side,the redwoods,the river in all it’s beuitiful fury untamed!!!! Hope I’m in a spot as naturally gifted at my end. R.I.P. to the jumper.As we go into an erra of local dispear due to greedy politics and treasonous politicians I hope alot of people don’t use this method to evade there lifes problems.the poor are getting squashed,and the middle class are being moved to the poor class!!!!!!
Are we approaching the limits of what can be done politically in America? The U.S. Inc., faces serious structural problems involving Federal Grant encroachment, debt spending, alphabet agencies, regulations, taxes, sovereignty, and foreign policy.
The Supes., in every Tuesday mornings Only meeting, Agenda’ Consent Calendar -veiled in semantic deceit with millions transferring from-and-to multiple revenue accounts as Supplemental Budget, can’t even pass a budget they stick to, much less decide the great issues of the day.
As politico breaks down, will the myth of democratic consensus be exposed? Will the great social, economic, and cultural matters of our time increasingly not be decided by politics? And will America turn to markets and society for answers to the seemingly intractable problems corporations can’t solve? Is the future necessarily more authoritarian and statist, or does the breakdown of politics provide an opportunity for us to make the case for non-political age-old solutions to social and economic problems?
Best thing I ever read from you. Despite our differences, it feels good to find common ground. Take care Central HumCo.
~528Hz
They could put phones at the bridge that go to the suicide hotline. I’ve seen them on other bridges. Like one last hope.
Excellent Idea Fran. Strength to family and friends.
Lilly ‘Minnie’ Stoddard is buried in a crypt just to the southeast of the South Bridge at confusion Hill. Between the existing Highway 101 and the Old Highway 101. That is where the bridge got its name.
In the middle of the Grove she loved so much and worked so hard for ❤️
Universal single payer healthcare that includes MENTAL health is long past due in the wealthiest country in history. I welcome arguements against it by the small minded😊
“MENTAL” patients prescribed petrol-chemical pharmaceutical poison pills labeled; May cause thoughts of suicide, don’t help.
My son’s mood stabilizers and anti psychotics made him no longer depressed or suicidal. No other changes made in his life at that time. We tried everything else before. EVERYTHING. I was afraid of the meds. I regret him not getting on them earlier now.
Good thing, that.
I’m sure it makes *you* better.
The side-effects are one thing, but the medicos that hand that shit out (black box, anyone?) have no clue how to get off the poison safely.
Those drugs change the way your brain works!
Check out the SURVIVINGANTIDEPRESSANTS site or BenzoBuddies before you crow about how great the ‘meds’ are.
There is no lab test for ANY “mental illness”. It’s all subjective and very very lucrative.
CORRECTION: My use of the word ‘Crypt’ was incorrect the proper term is ‘Tomb’ The lady the bridge is named after is buried in an above-ground concrete and stone encasement.
We can all benefit from a little inspiration, sometimes it only takes one person.
Jan/2019 Footprints in the snow lead to an emotional rescue:
https://www.unionleader.com/nh/outdoors/footprints-in-the-snow-lead-to-an-emotional-rescue/article_482a2e0f-e725-5df6-9e7c-5958bdb272e5.html?fbclid=IwAR3kMCwBGe4-7x0JnsPnEv0YxpfOW52o3rozM12d5IGOOTSQIUnWimJIjnY
Great story. Thanks.
Maybe there should be nets that go out 25+ feet from under the bridge.
That way no one dies or try to jump.
Sadly they need to do this to a lot of bridges around here, I know there’s two Bridges back in the eighties and nineties in Southern Leggett the people used to jump off of.
That’s a damn good idea!
~not on THE Agenda.
This is the second suicide that I know of that happened on this bridge.
The first one happened shortly after it opened. RIP to them both!
Nets on the bridge? Waste more tax payers money because of I’ll people who commit suicide. Yes have been a victim of suicide….I don’t blame the rocks or the cliff he jumped down. If people want to do it their going to find a way. Can’t hold everyone’s hand and put the world ina plastic bubble
I am so sorry.
I don’t know who you are- but you should not be posting personal information about this person without permission from the family. The family has asked for privacy and respect. You should be reaching out to the family- not random people on the internet who did not know him. This post is hurtful in ways you obviously do not understand. Random people who do not care about him or know him will be reading this and you have no right to talk about him to people who do not care. How could you possibly make sense of anything- you haven’t been around him in years. I am his mother. If you have something to say you should be reaching out to us – not this website.