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The Municipal Bridge Vision: Difference between revisions
→Problem #3 - The myth of men drowning in concrete
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:''The story of the bridge collapse was not given to me by my Dad or by Brother Billy, but by my grandmother, Maud, and by a lady named Dorothy Phillips. She was about my dad’s age and went to church with us at St. Luke’s United Church of Christ. She was telling me about being a little girl watching the construction from the river bank. Remember, that although the depression had not “officially” begun, things were not very good economically in Jeffersonville at that time. Many people had no diversions, and spent time watching the construction of this bridge, as I am sure Brother Billy and my dad did as well. Dorothy recalled seeing scaffolding up around the piling in the first water pile, and she recalled it collapsing while there was a major cement pour and she saw men falling into the cement who were never removed. It was a tragedy at the time, and many people were appalled. | :''The story of the bridge collapse was not given to me by my Dad or by Brother Billy, but by my grandmother, Maud, and by a lady named Dorothy Phillips. She was about my dad’s age and went to church with us at St. Luke’s United Church of Christ. She was telling me about being a little girl watching the construction from the river bank. Remember, that although the depression had not “officially” begun, things were not very good economically in Jeffersonville at that time. Many people had no diversions, and spent time watching the construction of this bridge, as I am sure Brother Billy and my dad did as well. Dorothy recalled seeing scaffolding up around the piling in the first water pile, and she recalled it collapsing while there was a major cement pour and she saw men falling into the cement who were never removed. It was a tragedy at the time, and many people were appalled. | ||
===Problem #1 - | ===Problem #1 - The age of Jack's grandmother=== | ||
In a conversation that I had with Jack Vissing he stated that it was his grandmother who had witnessed this as a young girl. | In a conversation that I had with Jack Vissing he stated that it was his grandmother who had witnessed this as a young girl. | ||
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If so, this is a clear case of Jack Vissing getting the Big Four bridge confused with the Municipal Bridge.''' If Jack's father was 14 in 1929, then it is obvious that his grandmother could not have been a young girl at the same time. However, she would have been a young girl in 1895, when the Big Four bridge had 3 different fatal accidents as noted above. Also, the 16 men that died in the construction of the caissons (on two separate occasions) would appear to be very close the description of the accident that she saw. | If so, this is a clear case of Jack Vissing getting the Big Four bridge confused with the Municipal Bridge.''' If Jack's father was 14 in 1929, then it is obvious that his grandmother could not have been a young girl at the same time. However, she would have been a young girl in 1895, when the Big Four bridge had 3 different fatal accidents as noted above. Also, the 16 men that died in the construction of the caissons (on two separate occasions) would appear to be very close the description of the accident that she saw. | ||
===Problem #2 - | ===Problem #2 - Nothing reported in the newspapers=== | ||
From an engineering perspective, this story is so implausible it is funny. But that is the lengths that people will go to because of [[Cognitive | Jack states that "t was a tragedy at the time, and many people were appalled." | ||
If this was widespread knowledge at the time it happened, why was it not reported in the local papers? | |||
If sixteen men died, how could this be kept secret given the mothers, fathers, siblings and spouses of the people that supposedly died. How would you keep all of them quiet? | |||
There were two men who did die in the construction of the municipal bridge and whose deaths made the front page of the Jeffersonville newspaper. The fact that there was no reporting of these deaths argues for it never having happened. Again, we think Jack's grandmother confused this with the death of the men on the Big Four bridge. | |||
===Problem #3 - The myth of men drowning in concrete=== | |||
From an engineering perspective, this story is so implausible it is funny. But that is the lengths that people will go to because of [[Cognitive Dissonance|cognitive dissonance]]. | |||
This is a story that is also told of the Hoover Dam. The workers were entombed in concrete but the pour couldn't be stopped and they were left dead in the concrete. | This is a story that is also told of the Hoover Dam. The workers were entombed in concrete but the pour couldn't be stopped and they were left dead in the concrete. | ||
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#The structural integrity of the concrete would fail with even one body ini it, let alone sixteen. The bridge would have crumbled and collapsed a long time ago. The reason for this is that the human body decomposes in concrete and leaves a massive air pocket. Imagine that there are sixteen such large air pockets. The bridge pilon would have collapsed after a few years. | #The structural integrity of the concrete would fail with even one body ini it, let alone sixteen. The bridge would have crumbled and collapsed a long time ago. The reason for this is that the human body decomposes in concrete and leaves a massive air pocket. Imagine that there are sixteen such large air pockets. The bridge pilon would have collapsed after a few years. | ||
#Rebar is used extensively in concrete to provide strength. This means there is no room for a single body to be submerged in the concrete. Could sixteen bodies have been submerged? It is impossible. | #Rebar is used extensively in concrete to provide strength. This means there is no room for a single body to be submerged in the concrete. Could sixteen bodies have been submerged? It is impossible. | ||
# | #This would have been reported in the engineers' report. | ||
===Problem #3 - Jack's client is Voice of God Recordings=== | ===Problem #3 - Jack's client is Voice of God Recordings=== | ||