Silver Bridge Disaster Only A Scar Remains 1992 WCHS

It was rush hour, a mere 10 days from Christmas, when tragedy struck the small town of Point Pleasant, W.Va., 54 years ago today on Dec. 15.
The Silver Bridge - the key connection between Point Pleasant and Gallipolis, Ohio - collapsed into the Ohio River. Thirty-one vehicles plunged into the icy depths of the Ohio River.
Accompanying this story is video pulled from the West Virginia State Archives of the special Eyewitness News ran in 1992 on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy.
You hear from a man who fell into the river from the bridge, and the man who saved him. It also includes an interview with the first witness to report the collapse, and the patrol trooper who responded to that call that dark winter night. See story at WCHS-TV: bit.ly/3oX6vXh
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[@bud3094]

I was 9 years old at that time and lived there.. I vividly remember my parents being very distraught as they knew several people that perished in that tragedy.. Our entire town stopped as I recall..Never will forget the sadness all around me..Rest in peace all 46 people who perished 🙏

[@michellepatterson1726]

My mother was just 5 months pregnant with me when she and my grandmother had finished Christmas shopping in Gallipolis, Ohio and was crossing back over to Point Pleasant WV (we lived in Sandyville in 1967) They made it over about 15 minutes before it collapsed 😢

[@AndrewThomas-gu3ip]

My Grandfather crossed 20 minutes and his son (my uncle) crossed 45 minutes before. My grandfather was in the basement shower of his Point Pleasant home and felt the vibration. He knew immediately what had happened. Amazing that more time has passed since this piece was produced by WCHS than the number of years between the piece and the tragedy. I still have relatives who live in PP.

[@blackpowdermaniacshooter]

I was 8 years old at the time living in Maysville KY. My parents drove out family to PP roughly a week after the tragedy. I can still remember the huge cranes on barges pulling wreckage out of the river.

[@markuse3472]

KZbin has the movie "The Mothman Prophesies" for free, I just watched it, which brought me here.

[@karynbanksley7110]

I believe the bridge collapsed because when it was built in 1928, very few people had cars, and there probably was no such thing as 18 wheelers. But by 1967, much of the population had vehicles, and I’m sure there were plenty of large freight hauling trucks going across the bridge. I believe that the builders of the bridge did not anticipate the excess weight of a bridge full of gridlocked cars and large 18 wheelers barely moving due to rush-hour traffic just sitting on the bridge. If the traffic light truly did malfunction and cause the traffic that day, to come to a screeching halt, causing the vehicles to fill the bridge completely with cars & heavy commercial trucks that just sat there for an extended time, was simply too much weight for the bridge to hold. Thus the bridge began breaking apart under the weight.

[@megs4193]

I agree completely, they couldn't see into the future, it's all so heartbreaking, sadly when our Tasman bridge collapsed, that could have been avoided, but again, no one could see into the future 😔🥺❤.

[@crowleysridgegirl]

I've seen two or three of these documentaries and stories about the bridge, and they all say that, but that's really not why it fell. The extra weight didn't help but the bridge was load tested and rated for high traffic levels even when it was built. If you'll read online about it and watch the video on here from the BBC Open University, it tells why, one of the eye bars failed because there was a small crack when it was made, and over the years it corroded out and rusted to the point of failure, when it failed the whole thing came down. The bridge was dependent on all the parts, if one thing went wrong the rest couldn't hold. Even people in the town with the museum there explaining that and with an eye bar on display and pictures of the one that failed, still try to say it had too much weight on it.

[@megs4193]

I'm very grateful just to hear from the people involved in this tragedy, and nothing that went with it ❤❤❤. Thank you.

[@rickyhaycraft2513]

I was 7 and my Grandfather had passed over the bridge From PP to Gallipolis on his was home from work. As he got off the bridge and made his way down Rt7 he heard the crash and saw it go down. We as a Family were grateful he was not caught up in the tragedy, but, I remember crossing on a ferry for over 2 years to visit my Uncle who lived in WV at the time during the holidays and summer lake visits.

[@leehuff2330]

A good friend of mine remembers travelling to Point Pleasant with the Chester, WV volunteer fire department to help with the recovery operations.

[@user-pb9xj8nf5v]

It's very humbling when you stop and consider what wouldn't exist if everybody was as smart as you.

[@davidbrugman2171]

So sad 😞

[@jamesnapier955]

Do they have a museum there about the tragedy

[@CrazyCancun197800]

Yes

[@jackdakota9187]

I have always watched this station because of their good reporting but for the life of me, why in the headline of this story and many more on their app and news channel currently do they continually put W. Va when referencing West Virginia. W. Va implies that we are western Virginia, not our own state and is just plain ignorant. We're our own state now folks, since 1863. And in 1963, the post office started using two digit abbreviations.

[@rickygreene5020]

I was 6 years old & remeber it well, mom & dad just got off the bridge was at the light in Point Pleasant, Mom heard something and looked back yo watch the bridge go down.

[@jayskicksnfits9372]

*remember*

[@crowleysridgegirl]

Imagine seeing something like that behind you when you'd just crossed it!

[@kelroberts2140]

There will be others. 😢 It said

[@edwardharold5091]

The newspaper (at 6:25) clearly says "Christmas baskets" NOT "holiday baskets" as the narrator falsely stated. This error on the part of the narrator obviously was not unintentional. He wrongfully is trying to de-emphasise Jesus Christ and to remove Christ from Christmas.

[@brunello2012]

Is moth man the cause or is he a warning?

[@thevintagesystem]

It's supposed to be an omen the cause is well known that it was the failure of a single eye bar in the suspension chain

[@NathanHassall]

does anyone know if those original bricks are still there?

[@kelroberts2140]

Kellerman ..in the book searches out the truth of the unusual mothman sightings happening throughout the state. For several years in fact

[@joyouslily2982]

45 seconds…😢

[@kelroberts2140]

Point pleasant monument is what the monster looked like. According to several eyewitness accounts the point pleasant artifact remains. Searching for the child. It was quoted as saying. To a bystander according to records

[@kelroberts2140]

There was .. some conversation to this effect. Its in the book. By kellerman

[@kelroberts2140]

M x record ⏺️ speaks for itself 😢 the wind blows against me

[@kelroberts2140]

Mothman

[@kelroberts2140]

Circa 2024 the m

[@kelroberts2140]

The book .. is more of a real document. The movie has much hollywood in it. The lovers quarrel the house. Yes make love in the house. The beautiful house first. Richard gere. The

[@kelroberts2140]

Mothman. Gave the prediction. On the telephone. Beforehand

[@megs4193]

I don't think anyone would build a bridge the way they did if they ever thought this was going to happen 🥺❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹⚘️.

[@rickyhaycraft2513]

They rebuilt it nearly exactly as it was. While visiting recently I notice how the expansion turnbuckles were heavily rusted and wondered, GEEZUS do they ever learn ?

[@crowleysridgegirl]

No they didn't. No bridge has been constructed since then using eyebar assembly and they don't forge high strength steel that way anymore either. New bridge is a totally different design, it's a truss

[@megs4193]

@@crowleysridgegirl good, thank you for that 🙂💞💞💞.