Glamour Isn't the Only Attraction in NYC

The Empire State Building is a necessary site to see if you are a tourist in New York City.  Its silhouette has become a tattoo on anyone's memory of the city's skyline. It's so classic New York; like a little black dress in Aubrey Hepburn's closet.  It looks peaceful and resilient and towers over the Big Apple like a watchful sentinel.  Oh, but little do you know…

    Construction for the Empire State Building began in 1930 and it was completed thirteen months later. Today the Empire State Building is home to over 1,000 businesses and even has its own zip code.  It towers over New York City at 1,250 feet and held the title of "Tallest Building in the World" for forty two years.

    In the 1930s, the estimated death toll for any given construction was about one per floor.  However the Empire State Building only had about five to fourteen deaths (depending on the source) during construction.  One might say it was lucky considering that since the building has 102 floors, if it followed the trend it would have 102 accidental deaths.  Instead, it attracts another sort of demise.  To this date, over thirty people have chosen to end their lives via the Empire State Building, the most recent happening this year in January.

    "Researchers stumbled upon an interesting fact about suicides in New York", said Phil Zabriskie, "surprising number of people who kill themselves in the city come here from out of town, and many appear to come expressly to take their own lives".  One such example was Shawn Gibson who was from Michigan.  He made a special trip to New York to claim his own life.  So if it isn't just the Empire State Building, why does New York City seem to entice suicides?

    According to Zabrinskie most cases are controlled by many factors.  "Just as the city's glittering, outsize reputation attracts many people for happy reasons, it attracts others for tragic ones." New York tends to be a cliché stage for many movie settings and for someone who wants to die in a dramatic way, the city can also serve as a perfect set.

    Obviously this is a problem, not just for the reputation of the city but also for the well-being of the individuals who live here.  However New York City cannot filter who may or may not be visiting for self-destructive reasons.  But preventative measures, undoubtedly must be taken and there is one easy way; make suicide more difficult to carry out.  The Empire State Building had not taken preventative measures until 1947 when a jumper injured a pedestrian on the street below.  After the incident a steel fence was constructed around the observation deck and additional guards were hired.  Nonetheless, later the same year there was a successful suicide attempt.  Reconstruction of the fence proved to help deter suicides from the observation deck but instead re-directed jumpers to use other floors of the building. 

    The fact is, if there is a will, there is a way.  If suicide is desired, suicide will be accomplished one way or another. New York is an attractive city to many different types of people and as long as there are glitz, glamour and tall buildings, it will continue to be just that.