Environment
Mapping the Grand Canyon's Gruesome Legacy of Death
More than 700 people have perished in the yawning crevice—here’s where and how.
One of America’s mightiest sights is also a mighty destroyer. Since the mid-1800s, some 770 people have died in the Grand Canyon—and due to inconsistencies in the record, the real number is probably higher.
In an average year the yawning fissure racks up about a dozen fatalities. Some are suicides, like the man who came from California to gun his car over the rim. Others are the result of dehydration or hypothermia. There’s always the tragic accident, like the guy who perished trying to grab something he dropped, “possibly a hat.” And then there are plane crashes, including the horrific collision of two commercial airliners in 1956, which prompted the country to rethink its approach to air communication.