Silver Bridge: Point Pleasant

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Yesterday I took a whimsical look at Mothman, the creature that was seen for about 13 months in and around Point Pleasant, West Virginia in 1966-67. Today it's all about the very real tragedy. As I mentioned, on December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed into the Ohio River during rush hour, killing 46 individuals. Only five individuals were rescued from the river, thanks to boats that were sitting very close by and saw the tragedy unfold. The Silver Bridge was technically named the Point Pleasant Bridge, but nobody called it that. It was painted with a silver aluminum paint, and that is what gave it the more famous moniker. At the time of its construction (1928), it was hailed as a modern marvel. It was a suspension bridge that connected Point Pleasant to Gallipolis, Ohio. Things were great until rush hour on that fatal Friday. A catastrophic failure of one of the eyebars caused the entire bridge to plunge into the Ohio River. As it was mid-December, it was dark by that time AND cold (the high temperature that day was only about 35F), if the fall didn't kill people the hypothermia would. Two bodies were never recovered. While a lot of people come to see Mothman, they may not know the connection to the tragedy that sadly put the town on the national map. Yes, people who had been saying for a year that they had seen Mothman blamed it for the disaster. (Of course, it was never seen again after the bridge collapsed.) The government wasn't so quick to accept that as anything but bunk. Thorough inspections discovered a corroded eyebar as the cause. In suspension bridges, as with chains, they're only as strong as their weakest link. The photos are of the memorials around Point Pleasant devoted to the tragedy. The sign (left) is posted at the top of the parking lot. That used be a road that served as the entrance to the Silver Bridge. The upper right is the Silver Memorial Bridge, the bridge that replaced the collapsed structure. It opened two years to the day after the disaster, on December 15, 1969. At the bottom right is a painting on the river flood wall, showing the old Silver Bridge entrance from the Point Pleasant side. As the bridge connected two states and two communities, Point Pleasant wasn't the only town that suffered that terrible day. PHOTOS: (Left) Historical marker for the Silver Bridge collapse (Top right) Silver Memorial Bridge, taken from the riverfront walk (Bottom right) Painting of the old Silver Bridge at the flood wall that used to be the entrance to the bridge.