Thanks everyone for your messages, pms and emails. This thread and the private messages and emails has helped us alot.

This is the bridge where it happened:

http://en.structurae.de/structures/data/......s0017861

The photo only shows about the top 2/3 of it and not the highest part that is over the road, but you can get the idea of how high it is if you are not from Toronto.

Its called the Leaside Bridge.

After Lyndsy was doing some research we found out some interesting history on the prevention of suicide from the bridge.

While travelling south towards the downtown core of toronto right after you pass under the Leaside Bridge there is a second bridge which is slightly higher, and has had multiple suicides there, so they put up a vertical wire fence to prevent people from jumping(Bloor street bridge). They were going to do it for the Leaside Bridge, but the local residents and commuters(on top of the bridge) voted no, because it would wreck their pretty view while driving on the bridge. Well what I can tell you is the view is not so pretty from under the bridge when someone jumps. Hopefully they will reconsider to help pervent this in the future.

P.

A guided walk across the Leaside Bridge in Toronto, with views from on top:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWY9csrluGU

Good God Peter! I am at a loss for words.
I cannot imagine how hard this is for you and your family to deal with.
I wish you, Lyndsy and Cole well.
Call me anytime if you need to talk.
I am so sorry for this to happen to your family.
Chance

I'm still trying to figure out why this post appeared in the Café. Of COURSE we're sorry it happened, for all the reasons listed. We're about magicians helping magicians, to be sure. But -- and I mean no offense -- is this really the best forum in which to disgorge such a disgusting, horrifying scene? As a father of two kids, 4 and 6, I now have a nightmarish image in my head, thanks to your highly vivid description of a random life event that had no relationship to magic.

Feeling ill as I read it, the post made me wonder how my fellow magicians would feel if I wrote, "Last night I was practicing my classic pass when I saw four terrorists break into my neighbor's house. They burned him alive with oil, dragged his wife onto the lawn and violated her. Then they smashed in her bloody skull with shovels until she stopped screaming."

Sorry, with all due respect, it seems wildly off topic. And now I await being called a heartless bas****.

This is the "Not Very Magical" section. It is a section where we get to talk about issues other then magic with folks from a potentially similar mindset.
Peter is very well known and cared for on these forums, if something affects him folks want to know about it. We all really just want to help in our own ways.

We, as performers, don't get as much of a chance to hang about the watercooler BSing with our co-workers. This is the substitute.
And really is Magicians helping Magicians. It's not always about the slights. It is about the people.
If you don't like it, don't read it.
The title was plain enough if you wished to avoid a disturbing topic.

If you haven't noticed, this entire part of the forum is off topic.

Peter...I hope you and your family can move past this smoothly. Anger, hate...All rational responses. I guarantee the family of this poor person are not just feeling sadness at their loss, but anger at the stupidity of it as well. There should be no guilt for these feelings. It is natural.
I am very glad that you all escaped injury due to the thoughtlessness of another.
Be well,
Gwyd

We can not hide reality.
Its there.

Peter,

That is a tough one. Man, I wouldn't know where to begin to help, except to agree with those who suggest you all seek the advice of the professionals. Hope everyone makes it through this ok, Cole, Lyndsy and you. Post traumatic stress is nothing to fool around with.

I remember when they put the suicide barricade up on the Bloor St overpass. I thought they were going to put it on each of the bridges, but obviously not. Apparently, this is a problem with the bridges over the DVP as well as stops on the TTC. From what I understand, this is a fairly common event that is kept out of the public's view.

Best to you all,

Rob

A friend of mine jumped of the bay bridge in oakland. He had an addiction to a drug, and he was somehow convinced that he could save the world by killing himself. It was a very sad event. He was no idiot, just someone who got mixed up in some bad stuff.

Suicide is horrible, for all involved.

Padraig...Peter came among Friends. Many of us know him well and this is where friends gather from all over. When you need somebody to talk to, you talk. I would do the same.


Kevin...your friend jumped into the water, not into a car load of innocent people...it was a sad event and no your friend was no idiot nor would he have been called one.

That woman must have been mad at the world if she intended to take other people down with her.

I hope you're not the type to think badly of seeing a psychologists because it may be the best thing for your son (or anyone else that witnessed it). Not figuring something out as horrific as that can lead to a skewed perception of the world and personality disorders.

Either way I hope you all feel better.

Taking others with her may not have been her intent, taking herself out was. Some pick places because of the view as a final thing to see, that is why the golden gate bridge is so popular and people tend to jump where they can see the city.

Peter, I've looked all over and have not found any articles or news coverage on this event... I'm not implying that I don't believe it happened, I just found this to be strange. Do you have a source for an article or something along those lines?

Peter,

I too am sorry for what you witnessed. I had a horrible nightmare once of people on one of those rides that you sit in a seat and then you start to go round while suspended in air by a chain. As the ride picks up speed you go further out in a circle. Well in my dream the chains started breaking and I saw people flying into buildings and hitting the ground. I woke up and I was very shaken. I don't scare very easily but this scared me a lot. It seemed so real. So although I have never seen this in real life I can only imagine the mixed emotions you and your family must feel. I also feel for this lady who felt that this was her only answer.

Anger is normal to feel when something like this happens. Also there are certain feelings of guilt that creep in. Being so close and yet not being able to help. Then just the wondering of why you had to be just at that spot and just at that time? But Peter these are all normal. And "This will also pass". I guess that lady never knew how much she was actually taking that day. She thought it was only her life.

I used to wonder why people did things like this. I used to wonder why people did a lot of things. One day a teacher said something to me I'll never forget. He said "Eric---people do whatever they do, for whatever reason they do it." That stuck with me.

This lady had her reasons and she felt like she had no other way out. I'm sorry for her. You and your family witnessed something that was tragic. I'm sorry for you as well. I've always heard a good way to start healing is to forgive. Although this lady never intended for her actions to affect you and your family like this---the truth is it did. She's gone now but forgiving her for what she left behind I believe will help you and your family with the healing that is needed when something like this happens.

My wife and I will keep you and your family in prayer and we wish you nothing but the best.


Eric

Thanks again for the support and the questions.

To Padraig
As gsidhe stated, I tried to make it very clear what this thread was about. You were the one that chose to click on it. Its not like the thread title was, a sunday picnic in the park on a bright and sunny day. I have a lot of friends here, and also a lot of people that I respect and thought that talking it out might help me an my family cope with what happened. I also posted this in a section dedicated to things that are not magically related. I am sorry that I offended you. Your post has only now added to my stress me and my family have felt. I guess, I should have tried to make the title of this thread a little more clear. I also appologize for anyone else who clicked on this thread with its title thinking it was something else.

To MichaelMystic. Trust me this was not made up. A person would have to be utterly SICK in the head to dream up or make this up.

The story was at first covered by local radio stations and tv staions that day such as AM 640 and CP 24 only stating that the DVP was closed from 11:30 to 2:30(or thereabouts) only stating that it was closed for a police investigation. The only news station that I know of that actually covered the story on their nightly 6:00 news was CBC. The video link on their site updates and is changed everyday with the latest stories, so there is no internet link I can provide anymore, as the video has changed(it changes daily/hourly...I guess). It was originally posted here:
http://www.cbc.ca/video/popup.html?http:......onto.asx
If you would like to contact CBC, I am more than sure they can provide you with the news coverage footage that you are after, or some sort of archive link.

I wrote some news stations about what I had experienced(not as a story but why the bridge doesn't have the vertical fence such as the next overpass)as it was such a surreal and mind changing event, and their response is that the government doesn't want the act of public suicide sensationalized, therefore, if any reporting is done, it is to be kept quick and in some cases quiet. This is to help prevent suicide. If every public suicide was made a big deal, then there would be more of them. However with that in mind, I was also told that if the person had actually killed me and my family(and or others), then it would have had to be covered in more depth, and that is only because it would be harder to hide. Nice huh?

Thanks to all who have supported me and have sent their advice and warm wishes.

P.

Don't let what Padraig posted add to the stress Peter...He just didn't understand the section. You gave plenty of warning.
It was a horrible thing that happened to you and I am glad you came here to share with us what you are going through.
Gwyd

DOug, I wasnt trying to rebuke you, just stating that people have odd reasons to kill them selves, and choose odd places.







People jump off the golden gate (the most popular place in the world for suicide) and it almost never makes the news. If you know someone in the bay area, ask them if they see it on the news or hear it on the radio, I bet they don't.

Story out of Spain. Reported today by AFP...

A suicidal woman jumped from an eighth floor window. Killing herself, and a pedestrian who happened to be walking by the building.

Think about that pedestrian. Probably, he got up in the morning...brushed his teeth did all his stuff...made a few calls. Decided to take a walk before calling his wifes family to set up a nice weekend. He's walk to the store and bring back some ice cream for the kids...tickets for the big game in his pocket he was about to.....


Out of the sky comes a deranged human being.


Sadly the WORST we can do to this person who just killed another is call him/her a name. Those who believe in an after life should be able to imagine a bit more. Do so for me please.

Peter, just to add a thought to what Gumbystock said. I wanted to add that you may wish to consider forgiving yourself at this time as well. Others, far more eloquent than me, have expressed an understandable form of this through grief or recovery literature. You and your family are far more resilient than you know right now. Thought Farmer.

Thanks again for all of the support everyone. Thanks for the emails, and pms, and posts, and also thanks to all also who took the time to call me on their own dime to express their thoughts.

Turns out the situation has a strange twist.

At the time, I had thought it was a man, but after watching the CBC 6:00 news report on the internet, they had reported it to be a woman. But in their defense, due to the state of the remains, it would be hard to tell exactly what gender the person was. I can confirm now it was indeed a man that took their life that wed morning.

A magician friend called me a few days ago and informed that a mutual friend of ours(who also dabbles in magic as a hobby) had just told him that a friend of theirs passed away due to suicide off the Leasside bridge at that exact time. Turns out this was the same person. Out of respect of all parties, I will not name them in respect of their privacy unless they choose otherwise, nor will I mention who the suicide victom was.

It is so strange to imagine that what happened that day was a friend of a friend(and a friend of a magician at that) While this sixth degree of seperation is far too close and very bizzare, it has helped us understand what took place, and while this is now a bit more connected to us, and an unbelievable strange conicidence, and while the experience has changed our lives, it has helped us put some closure to our tramatic experience.

Thanks to all.

P.