The Suicidal Attraction of the Golden Gate Bridge: Archetypal Gateway to the Other Side

by Laura Strong, PhD

The Golden Gate Bridge stands as a symbolic threshold between the end of Western world and the vast Pacific ocean beyond. Each year millions of tourists come to admire its romantic beauty from afar and to walk across its span to see the sweeping views of San Francisco and the Marin Headlands. Yet, each year the bridge also attracts a number of people with a different agenda. They come alone or in pairs to end this life by jumping over the edge into the depths of the icy waters below.

While I have consoled a number of suicidal friends over the years, I have never personally known someone who has taken their own life. I have, on the other hand, had a long-term interest in the topic of death and the transition to the afterlife. It was my fascination with this subject that led me to pursue my PhD at Pacifica Graduate Institute—one of the few graduate programs in the United States which offered the opportunity to take a cross-cultural look at the subject of dying, death, and the afterlife.

In the year 2000, I also participated in the first of a nine-part series presented by the Institute on Dying entitled "Conversations with Death." The evening lecture and full-day workshop called "Keeping Death Alive" was hosted by author, mythologist and storyteller Michael Meade. The brochure promised that, "By invoking the wisdom of traditional cultures that view death as a companion, not an enemy, we discover the importance of giving death its honored and proper place in our personal lives and contemporary culture." The evening lecture, which was appropriately scheduled the weekend before All Hallows Eve, consisted of drumming, storytelling, and commentary about how other cultures approach the subject of death. Afterwards, we closed the evening with a group ritual to honor the dead.

Most of us regrouped the next day, a rainy Saturday morning, at the Golden Gate Conference Center in Fort Mason, which is located on the San Francisco waterfront. In addition to continuing proceedings similar to the previous evenings, the workshop format allowed us to participate in a group discussion about death and to personally honor those who had recently passed away. As people stood up one-by-one to speak about their friends and loved ones, one thing became painfully apparent: for such a small group there was a very large percentage of people who personally knew someone who had committed suicide by jumping, or in one case hanging themselves, from the Golden Gate Bridge. There were so many people with similar stories that at some point someone asked if we could open the curtains for a moment of reflection and prayer. As the curtains gave way to the expansive view, we all turned to face the western wall of windows, which framed the Golden Gate Bridge.

As I drove home to the East Bay that night across the very same bridge, I couldn't help but wonder why so many suicidal people have been drawn to the very same place. I soon found out that the numbers are so high that the Golden Gate Bridge has surpassed all other locations as the "world's prime suicide spot" (Fernandez). There are various opinions that attempt to explain the magnetic attraction of the bridge. Some believe it is the romantic setting that entices people, while others claim it is the notion that their death may get some publicity. San Francisco medical examiner, Boyd Stevens, believes there may be yet another reason: "San Francisco has always been the city at the end of the rainbow. People come here with high ideals, and some times [things] just [don't] happen for them" (Marcus 24).

Historically, suicide rates have always been higher in the Western United States than in other parts of the country. In many cultures, the West is symbolic of the dying sun and death, but there may be an even closer connection between the West and the act of committing suicide. Sandra Reeves and Alina Tugend took a look at some possible reasons for the higher numbers in their study of teen suicide entitled "Suicide's 'Unanswerable Logic'." In addition to lack of community and support systems caused by the increased mobility of those who come to the west, they found that "the very promise of the West, of more opportunity, better living conditions, and greater freedom, may lead, in some cases to disappointment and depression" (48).

While it may be true that some of the suicides are the result of lost innocence and disappointment, it still does not explain the numerous stories of those who came from around the world for the sole purpose of ending their life by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. People such as Raymond Voelker III who: "walked out of his college dorm in Williamsburg, VA, and bicycled away without telling anyone his destination. Twelve hours and one plane ride later, at about 11 p.m. California time, Voelker jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge to his death" (Zamora). I believe stories like Raymond's point to the possibility of a deeper and stranger draw to the bridge. Maybe there is something archetypal about this gateway, whose name declared it golden long before the building of the bridge.

The bridge was actually named after the Golden Gate Strait, which is the physical entrance to the San Francisco Bay. The location is commonly believed to have received its name from Captain John C. Fremont in the mid 1800's, who named it this because it reminded him of a similar harbor in Istanbul called Chrysoceras or the Golden Horn. This gateway to the world began to claim the lives of the living even before the completion of the bridge. Eleven men died during its construction, which was an all-time record in the field of bridge building. The first person to die by choice came a short time later.

The first recorded suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge occurred just three weeks after its official opening. Since then, over 1,000 people have jumped from its span. The actual numbers are even higher, since most of the bodies that wash up in the neighboring county of Marin cannot be included in the count unless there is enough supporting evidence to prove that they jumped from the bridge. This is also very convenient for the city of San Francisco, which would rather not be remembered for its fame as a suicide spot.

San Francisco, which heavily depends on the financial benefits of its tourist trade, does a very good job of supporting the pseudo-innocence of its visitors. The city hides the homeless and the addicts, and gently guides its guests to the most scenic well swept streets where vendors sell their overpriced souvenirs. It also does everything possible to suppress its reputation as the leading suicide destination in the world. I have lived in the Bay Area on and off since I was born and it wasn't until I began researching this paper that I came to learn of the vast number of suicides at this location. I have taken numerous friends and family members to visit this popular place, and I have never seen a single memorial to the dead except for the bridge builders, nor have I heard anyone speak of the suicide statistics.

Suicide, or "self murder," is one of the greatest taboos in our society. For centuries, justice systems throughout the world have viewed suicide amongst the highest of all crimes. Courts have even been known to punish the survivors of suicide by confiscating the possessions of the deceased, who were of course conveniently not able to stand trial. In this country, suicide was still considered a felony until 1961. According to the research of James Hillman, the underlying belief is that: "we might kill others in many ways and on many grounds without breaking the law. But we could never in any circumstances justifiably or excusably kill ourselves" (29). If suicide is considered a crime against man by the legal system, to the religious it was an even more serious offense.

From the religious viewpoint, suicide is also a crime against God. The reasoning behind this comes from the belief that: "We cannot take our lives because they are not ours. They are part of God's creation and we are his creatures. By choosing death, one refuses God's world and creatureliness." In addition to this, taking control of one's destiny through suicide can be seen as a sinful demonstration of pride: "One has set oneself up in the seat of judgment where God alone may reign over life and death." Hillman therefore draws the conclusion that suicide is "the act of rebellion and apostasy for theologians because it denies the very ground of theology itself" (31-32).

Suicide possesses a different set of challenges to those in the field of psychology. A question that troubles many people is: how can a psychologist remain open to a patient and help them explore their wish to commit suicide, if their objectivity could, in any way, lead to the death of that patient? Contemplation of this conundrum lead James Hillman to write an entire book on the subject entitled Suicide and the Soul. His book attempts to challenge the taboo of suicide in our society and look at the subject from the standpoint of the soul. "It regards suicide not only as an exit from life but also as an entrance to death" (11).

As we have seen, the idea of willingly choosing death over life does not sit well with most people in our society. It is difficult to see any merit in an act that most people view as the tragic ending of one's own life. Yet, what if we attempt to gain some understanding by taking Hillman's approach that: "Because suicide is a way of entering death and because the problem of entering death releases the most profound fantasies of the human soul, to understand a suicide we need to know what mythic fantasy is being enacted" (51).

What mythic fantasy are people acting out when they jump from the gateway that is marked by the soaring orange towers of the Golden Gate Bridge? And is there any way to know if they have accomplished their goal? I hope to explore these questions further by looking at suicide as a symbolic act.

First, let us take a look at the archetypal symbolism of gateways and thresholds. Beside serving as an entrance, a gateway offers "communication between one world and another, between the living and the dead," while a "straight gate," which is reminiscent of the horizontal walkway of the bridge that stretches across the Golden Gate Strait, is said to be the "central point of communication between the lower and the higher; the passage, in 'spiritual poverty' for initiates or at death" (Cooper 72-73). Thresholds are also seen as passageways "from the profane to the sacred, from the outer profane space to the inner sacred space; entering a new world." In addition to the symbolic association with the name and location of the Golden Gate Bridge, the very act of jumping over the edge, followed by "sinking in the water" is itself a symbolic crossing of a threshold (171).

The desire to cross the threshold into a "new life" is a familiar feeling that most people manifest through such worldly changes as taking a new job, moving to a new house, or seeking a new spouse. But, for some people a more permanent transition is necessary. James Hillman explains that: "The soul favors the death experience to usher in change. Viewed this way, a suicide impulse is a transformation drive" (68). It is a forced transformation of the soul through the death of the body.

An individual who commits suicide is in effect performing their own "rite of passage." They are going through the motions to enact a life-altering transformation. Whether they realize it or not, there are many similarities between the ritual act of suicide and a traditional rite of passage. By looking at the patterns of a typical rite of passage it is possible to see some of these similarities.

Anthropologist Arnold von Gennep, who was the first to use the term "rite of passage," discovered that throughout the world there are three phases to the process. In Victor Turner's book "The Ritual Process," the three phases are described as: separation, margin (or limen, signifying 'threshold' in Latin) and aggregation" (94). The first phase is marked by a symbolic separation of the individual from their community. This may be purely metaphoric or it may be manifested by such actions as sending the initiates out to a secluded site in the landscape, containing them in special buildings, or concealing their identity with masks and costumes. They are made to be "invisible" to those around them and "often their very names are taken from them, and each is called solely by the generic term for 'neophyte' or 'initiand'" (Turner, Betwixt 7).

People who are contemplating suicide often find themselves isolated and alone as well. According to professor of clinical psychology, Mark Williams:

Suicide comes out of mental anguish. It is a response to uncontrollable stresses that arise from the environment, or from the uncontrollability of the mental anguish itself. When an individual first becomes aware that they lack control over important areas of their circumstances or of their mental life, the cry of pain may be one of anger or rage; a protest against the feelings of entrapment. As the person becomes more and more convinced they have failed, or that they have been rejected or abandoned, the anger becomes mixed with hopelessness and despair. A tunnel visions ensues, in which normal escape routes are not noticed. Offers of help are rejected and misinterpreted. The person feels more alienated, increasing his or her feeling of anger and hopelessness, and begins to seek alternative ways of escape. (218)

When someone commits themselves to escaping their reality by ending their own life, they almost always act alone. "Once the choice is made, ambivalence overcome[…], the person is usually deliberate and calm, giving no sign of his intention to kill himself. He has crossed over" (Hillman 69). The person has entered the liminal phase.

People in the liminal state are referred to by such terms as "transitional beings" or "threshold people." They are considered to be neither living nor dead. In addition to this, anthropologist Mary Douglas found that, "liminal personae nearly always and everywhere are regarded as polluting to those who have never been, so to speak, 'inoculated' against them, through having been themselves initiated into the same state" (Turner, Betwixt 7). When someone finds out that a friend or relative is feeling suicidal, they often do not know what to do. There may even be an urge to distance oneself from someone depressed enough to consider taking their own life. With the exception of a few instances such as assisted suicide, it is virtually impossible to support the intentions of a suicidal person, which merely reinforces their need to act alone.

Yet, why perform this symbolic act of transformation from the Golden Gate Bridge? As we have seen, the name itself implies the presence of a gateway or threshold. In many cultures the ritual crossing of a threshold is seen as a positive action. Brides are carried across the threshold into their new life, and there are often guardians at the threshold to make sure candidates are worthy of crossing. In Africa and the Far East, Arnold von Gennep documented actual "portal rituals," which were designed to enact "a transference of evil" by having someone cross under or through something after which they had symbolically passed "from a dangerous world into one that is favorable or neutral" (59). It is my belief that most of the people who end their own life do so with the hopes that it will lead to a better life than the one they had. But how will we ever know?

In 1975, a psychiatrist named David Rosen from the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute in San Francisco conducted a study of six of the eight survivors who attempted suicide by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge. Like me, he was interested in the suicidal attraction of the Golden Gate. The results are surprising:

All these survivors, during and after their jumps, experienced mystical states of consciousness characterized by losing the sense of time and space and by feelings of spiritual rebirth and unity with other human beings, the entire universe, and God. As a result of their intimate encounter with death, some of them had a profound religious conversion; others described a reconfirmation of their previous religious beliefs. One of the survivors denied any suicide intent altogether. He saw the Golden Gate Bridge as 'golden doors' through which he will pass from the material world into a new spiritual realm. (Grof 152)

Did everyone who performed the life-altering ritual of suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge have such a positive result? We will never know, but I would like to believe that maybe they did complete their rite of passage and have been reborn into their new community on the other side. It is only a small ray of hope for the survivors of suicide, and all of the rest of us, who are left to wonder on this side of the archetypal golden gateway.

Works Cited

Conversations on Death: An in-depth exploration and re-visioning of dying in America. San Francisco: Zen Hospice Project, 2000. (For more information go to: www.zenhospice.org)

Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols. London: Thames and Hudson, 1978.

Fernandez, Elizabeth. "Golden Gate Bridge Nears Grim Milestone." San Francisco Examiner June 12, 1995. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi~bin/article.cgi? file=/examiner/archive/1995/06/12/NEWS12707.dtl.

von Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1960.

Hillman, James. Suicide and the Soul. New ed. New York: Spring, 1997.

Marcus, Eric. Why Suicide: Answers to 200 of the Most Frequently Asked Questions About Suicide, Attempted Suicide, and Assisted Suicide. San Francisco: HarperCollins. 1996.

Reeves, M. Sandra, and Alina Tugend. "Suicide's 'Unanswerable Logic'." Betwixt & Between: Patterns of Masculine and Feminine Initiation. Ed. by Louise Carus Mahdi, Steven Foster and Meredith Little. La Salle, IL: Open Court. 1987. 44-59.

Turner, Victor. "Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites of Passage." Betwixt & Between: Patterns of Masculine and Feminine Initiation. Ed. by Louise Carus Mahdi, Steven Foster and Meredith Little. La Salle, IL: Open Court. 1987. 3-19.

---.The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Hawthorn, NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 1995.

Williams, Mark. Cry of Pain: Understanding Suicide and Self-harm. London: Penguin, 1997.

Zamora, Jim Herron. "Bridge Suicide No. 987 – Cross-country Conundrum." San Francisco Examiner March 26, 1995. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi~bin/article.cgi? file=/examiner/archive/1995/03/26/NEWS4004.dtl