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Bridgend Suicides: A Theory

Re. Mosquito

I suspect there is one of these devices in Aberdeen train station, in a corridor I walk through every day to get home from work. I can (barely) hear a very high pitched tone every time I walk through here, which increases in volume as I approach the device (a beige loudspeaker facing downwards), and sounds really nasty even at low volume. I can 'feel' it inside my head.

I hadn't been taking too much notice - hadn't even seen the device - I just thought it was a malfunctioning departures board. Last week, though, I saw a teenage girl walking through the corridor with an obvious look of discomfort and covering her ears, while her parents just walked past chatting.

I looked up at the place, and sure enough there's this beige speaker pointing down and emitting the tone. I'll get a pic tomorrow. Think I might write to the station manager, as it is extremely unpleasant to have to walk past every day, and I'm certainly no thug!
 
ttaarraass said:
Re. Mosquito
... Think I might write to the station manager, as it is extremely unpleasant to have to walk past every day, and I'm certainly no thug!
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But, presumably, you are young and nowadays, that is considered as much the same thing.
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
also, anyone remember when we changed to 'safer' mains gas?
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The change from coal gas to natural gas took place in the early to mid seventies.
I was an apprentice Gas Fitter at the time. I well remember being on call out, and attending suicide locations to "make safe" the gas supply. The commonest suicide method I encountered was where the victim pushed a "gas poker" up their jumper and settled down in a chair with a drink and some barbiturates.

Sadly, I attended many suicides due to coal gas inhalation. The introduction of natural gas stopped such suicides forever.
 
Bridgend Suicides Theory

I am originally from Maesteg - 15mins drive from Bridgend - and my parents still live in the town. I feel I have more knowledge than most on this subject, due to knowing the 'vibe' of the area. I don't think there is any conspiracy at work here, just one simple word - cocaine.

Please hear me out. I grew up in the Valleys, and between the 'coming of age' years of say, 14-17, we encountered the usual sort of adolescent drug use - ie - mainly cannabis. However, there were the odd one or two youths around our age using stronger, class A substances - these were few and far between. I have spent the past 8years living in Yorkshire, but go home 3-4 times a year. It is amazing how much the use of class A drugs among 14-18 y.olds' has increased. Cocaine in particular has become extremely easy to get hold of, and lads as young as 15-16 are hoovering up a gram or more at least 1-2 times a week (on the weekend).

As anyone who has used class A substances will know, they can provide a pretty depressing 'comedown' when the substance wears off. Couple this with a young, developing mind of 14-17 years old (which is already confused, emotionally-fraught and developing), and the main factor - the drab, grey, dead-end atmosphere that you encounter when you enter these parts of south wales...and it is not surprising that young kids are so distraught and bored they are pushed to suicide. Also, where are these 14-16 year olds getting £40 from every time they buy a gram of cocaine? Chances are some are owing money to small-time dealers, perhaps commit suicide out of fear.

Me personally, I think its just a snowball effect in a community where the youths are confused, upset, emotionally strained and out and out depressed. One commits suicide, a couple of his friends dont see any other way than to follow. The same way they followed in life itself. Please don't flame me for these opinions, I have seen this change in lifestyles first hand.
 
I always kind of imagined some kind of evil manifestation on the internet coaxing the kids into taking their lives, as it often mentioned they had been on MSN, chatrooms shortly before their disappearrance.

I think I had just been watching too many Japanese horror films though... 8)

Certainly think a high level of drug abuse and a form of tragically fatal peer pressure, in that kids were seeing others take the suicide option.

I can't personally imagine everyday teenage troubles being enough to have made me want to kill myself, and fortunately was never a depressed teen, but then none of my mates or social circle killed themselves.

If you are in an area where a large number are doing so I suspect to some it would feel that it is a normal option, and thus increase the number of those who would consider it.
 
At this remove most of the theories look fairly weak because the clustering has not continued. Of course you would need a propoer statistical breakdown by region weighted for population and demographic - you would expect more suicides in areas with higher population and greater deprivation - but I doubt anyone still thinks this area is unusual.
 
Has the suicide amoungst young people in the area decreased? If so is this due to a greater awareness of the risk of suicide by parents , social services schools, etc?

If there has been a spontaneous reduction of suicides in the area might this suggest that the original "cluster" may have had a defined source?

I'm not sure that I expressed my thoughts on that very well, if not apologies
 
I thought the whole point was that there never was a cluster? Just some over excitable journos making stuff up as usual.
 
Bridgend - suicide town secrets told by the dead

A boy's voice from the grave has revealed the tragic truth behind the suicides of at least 28 young people in a small town over the past three years.

In a chilling TV interview about the mysterious deaths in his home of Bridgend, South Wales, 20-year-old Justin Beecham told how two pals were sucked into the web of death.

He described how, torn apart by the loss of their friends and fuelled by booze, they had decided to attempt suicide too.

Yet just months after filming his moving account, Justin himself became the latest victim of Bridgend's curse.

His body was found hanging from a tree next to the spot where best mates Thomas Davies, 20, and David "Dai" Dilling, 19, had hanged themselves in quick succession three years earlier in 2007.

A month before that double tragedy another of their pals, Dale Crole, 18, became the first Bridgend suicide when he was found hanged in a disused warehouse. And in the TV documentary, filmed last October, Justin leads the cameras to the trees where Dilling and Davies were found.

Bearing a tribute tattoo to Davies on his arm, Justin also points to his pal's pictures in a "shrine" on his bedroom walls. He says: "Personally I don't think he (Davies) wanted to die, it was a cry for help that went wrong to be honest.

"People were doing it because they get upset. They hang themselves - but they don't realise when you kill yourself there's no coming back.

"I wake up to see pictures of him and I wish I could see him again. I am angry with him, it's horrible." Among the suicides were clusters of friends. Justin said: "Say someone has hanged themself and a good friend of theirs, as soon as they get drunk, they are upset about that person, and it is the first thing that comes into their head and they just go through and do it.

"They wanted to be the same as everyone else."

Sitting alongside Justin was mum Elaine, who was asked if she feared her grieving son might follow the same path.

She said: "I've never worried about Justin doing it, never, because Justin is too strong-minded for that. So no, Justin, no."

But when her son became the latest victim in March, Elaine agreed his interview should be shown. She said: "I hope it helps others and puts a stop to all of this tragedy."

The documentary reveals how Dilling and Davies told their mothers they'd never join the suicide spiral.

It is set to air on Sky and in America following two years of intense investigations by US documentary maker John Williams. He found police chiefs and authorities still refusing to acknowledge any links between the deaths.

The Bridgend office of the Samaritans has been at the forefront of trying to help the town's troubled youngsters.

A spokesperson for the charity said: "What is happening here is a 'copycat' effect. This happens especially to young people or those close to a person who has died.

"They can begin to think of suicide as a way out of their own problems instead of seeking help."
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Newsoftheworld!
 
They hang themselves - but they don't realise when you kill yourself there's no coming back.
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REALLY? I know not everyone is a rocket scientist, but really?
 
Yes. Really. We're talking the difference between admitting, academically, that something is true - the world more or less round and goes around the sun, people who think differently from me are not necessarily stupid, people who are not me have an independent existence - and behaving as if it were true. It's very difficult to imagine oneself not existing; for an immature brain it can be nearly impossible (hence all the incredibly stupid things teen-agers do).

After all, nothing in your life has been final before. You don't have the experience of finality.

Similarly, people whose entire experience of violence comes from movies and TV are often surprised at how much a bullet, a knife wound, or even a punch hurts.
 
I'll drop this here rather than starting a new thread, another cluster? or just dodgy reporting again?

iPhone maker Foxconn hit by 10th jumping death

An employee of iPhone-maker Foxconn jumped to his death late on Wednesday, Chinese state media reported, the tenth suspected suicide this year at the high-tech company's huge production base in southern China.

Separately, three Taiwan TV stations reported that another person, a young woman, had also jumped late on Wednesday but had survived with serious injuries. If the report is confirmed that would bring to total number of falls to 13, with three survivors.

The spate of apparent suicides have thrown a spotlight on the labour practices of Foxconn, a unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, whose clients include Apple, Hewlett Packard and Sony Ericsson.

Apple and other clients have said they are investigating working conditions at Foxconn, which has come under fire for its harsh and secretive corporate culture.

Foxconn has 420,000 employees based in Shenzhen. They live inside the factory complex and churn out products for the world's leading computer and phone companies in round-the-clock shifts.

Just hours before the latest reports, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou had toured the company's sprawling facilities in Shenzhen with reporters and vowed to take sweeping action to prevent more deaths.

Gou made another trip back to the plant on Thursday following the Wednesday media tour. Pictures on Taiwan TV stations showed him boarding his private jet.

China's official Xinhua news agency said the latest death involved a worker who fell from a dormitory window, but gave no other details.

When asked about the reports of the young female jumper, a police source in Guanlan and Longhua districts, where two Foxconn factories are located, said: "I haven't heard of any incidents this morning."

Foxconn shares rose 3.2 percent in a Hong Kong market up 0.8 percent, having fallen to a seven month low earlier this week. Hon Hai shares fell 0.4 percent in Taiwan, with the broader market up 1.1 percent. Hon Hai officials were not immediately available for comment on Thursday.

The firm was training about 100 mental health counsellors and installing 1.5 million square metres of nets to stop workers from jumping, Xinhua said.

The safety nets will cover nearly all dormitories and factories.

"Although this seems like a dumb measure, at least it could save a life should anyone else fall," Gou was quoted as saying.

In a report to clients, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said that while the incidents would affect Hon Hai's image, they are unlikely to cause a significant impact on earnings, a view echoed by UBS, which noted that Hon Hai remains a "top-notch supplier."

Labour groups say the rash of apparent suicides has exposed the harsh working conditions at Foxconn.

Li Ping, secretary general of the Shenzhen municipal government, told a news conference on Wednesday that the pressure of being away from home with little care from society was part of a complex set of factors underpinning the suicides by the employees, mainly people under the age of 30.

He said the government was joining with the police and Foxconn to consider a range of ideas such as building up sports and cultural facilities to improve the living environment, Xinhua reported.

In another sign of unrest in southern China, Japanese car maker Honda said a labour dispute had shut down one of it parts plants, causing the closure of four car making plants.

The region is home to millions of migrant workers, many isolated from their families and facing a bleak, low-paid existence on production lines.
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http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20100527/tt ... 50bdd.html
 
Back circa 1955 (I was 13 or 14) we had a television set which had a sheet-metal case. The corners were crimped together, apparently with a really heavy duty pliers.

A loud, piercing electronic scream emanated from the upper right corner. It bothered me so much that it was difficult to remain in the same room with the set. (And it was then the only one we had.)

My parents could not hear the sound at all. (But Dad established to his satisfaction that I truly did hear it, by the simple expedient of plugging and unplugging the set out of my sight.

My younger brother didn't hear it either, but he was only four or five at the time.

However, I never so much as once thought of committing suicide because of the sound!
 
An article about Werther fever, Suicide Clusters And Bridgend.

In January of 2007, a strange thing started occurring in Bridgend, South Wales—young people started hanging themselves.

By December of 2008, a total of 26—mostly teenagers—had taken their own lives in the traditional Welsh community. Speculation ran rampant as to what was causing this suicide epidemic: Was it a suicide cult? Some sort of internet effect? Or just depressed teens feeling trapped in a gray and economically depressed former mining town?

Although rare, suicide “clusters” are not unheard of and are considered a classic social contagion effect. This type of suicide social contagion has also been called the “Werther effect,” named after Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.

That novel, published in 1774, narrated the story of a young, sensitive, and passionate artist named Werther. Werther falls in love with a woman named Charlotte, who is engaged to an older man, Albert, whom she eventually marries. Charlotte does share strong feelings for Werther, but knows that their attraction cannot move forward and asks him to limit his visits. Werther is tortured by his unrequited love of Charlotte and has also been ridiculed during a brief foray into noble society, where he’s rejected there as well.

Convinced that his only option in this love triangle is the death of one of the three of them, he eventually realizes that he must take his own life because the idea of murder is unpalatable to him. So Werther borrows two pistols from his love rival, Albert, and shoots himself in the head.

The novel became an instant sensation and established the 24-year-old Goethe as a literary genius. But it had one other significant—and lethal—effect: young men throughout Europe started to dress like Werther and would then kill themselves in what also came to be known as “Werther fever.” They apparently found a deep resonance with his pain and alienation and were inspired and emboldened by this fictitious character to take their own lives. The problem became so severe that the book was banned in both Italy and Denmark in an effort to stop the spread of this suicide contagion that was seemingly caused by this provocative book.

With Werther fever, young men were being influenced to end their lives—by a book.

Werther fever was a classic social contagion effect. With suicides, the thinking goes something like this: when one person does something extreme, it lowers the threshold and makes it more permissible for the next person to do it. And the same for the next person and each subsequent person thereafter. And thus with each successive suicide, it becomes more and more normative and acceptable for the next person to do it. Recall my earlier skinny-dipping example—it’s hardest for the first person to strip and jump in the water; by the tenth person, it’s now the normal practice of the group, and the forces of peer pressure drive action.

With Werther fever, young men were being influenced to end their lives—by a book. And a fictitious character, no less. Imagine the power of social media and real-life suicide influencers—now that’s digital madness. ...

https://lithub.com/how-goethes-sorrows-of-young-werther-led-to-a-rare-suicide-cluster/
 
ramonmercado said:
An article about Werther fever, Suicide Clusters And Bridgend.

In January of 2007, a strange thing started occurring in Bridgend, South Wales—young people started hanging themselves.

By December of 2008, a total of 26—mostly teenagers—had taken their own lives in the traditional Welsh community. Speculation ran rampant as to what was causing this suicide epidemic: Was it a suicide cult? Some sort of internet effect? Or just depressed teens feeling trapped in a gray and economically depressed former mining town?

Although rare, suicide “clusters” are not unheard of and are considered a classic social contagion effect. This type of suicide social contagion has also been called the “Werther effect,” named after Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.

That novel, published in 1774, narrated the story of a young, sensitive, and passionate artist named Werther. Werther falls in love with a woman named Charlotte, who is engaged to an older man, Albert, whom she eventually marries. Charlotte does share strong feelings for Werther, but knows that their attraction cannot move forward and asks him to limit his visits. Werther is tortured by his unrequited love of Charlotte and has also been ridiculed during a brief foray into noble society, where he’s rejected there as well.

Convinced that his only option in this love triangle is the death of one of the three of them, he eventually realizes that he must take his own life because the idea of murder is unpalatable to him. So Werther borrows two pistols from his love rival, Albert, and shoots himself in the head.

The novel became an instant sensation and established the 24-year-old Goethe as a literary genius. But it had one other significant—and lethal—effect: young men throughout Europe started to dress like Werther and would then kill themselves in what also came to be known as “Werther fever.” They apparently found a deep resonance with his pain and alienation and were inspired and emboldened by this fictitious character to take their own lives. The problem became so severe that the book was banned in both Italy and Denmark in an effort to stop the spread of this suicide contagion that was seemingly caused by this provocative book.

With Werther fever, young men were being influenced to end their lives—by a book.

Werther fever was a classic social contagion effect. With suicides, the thinking goes something like this: when one person does something extreme, it lowers the threshold and makes it more permissible for the next person to do it. And the same for the next person and each subsequent person thereafter. And thus with each successive suicide, it becomes more and more normative and acceptable for the next person to do it. Recall my earlier skinny-dipping example—it’s hardest for the first person to strip and jump in the water; by the tenth person, it’s now the normal practice of the group, and the forces of peer pressure drive action.

With Werther fever, young men were being influenced to end their lives—by a book. And a fictitious character, no less. Imagine the power of social media and real-life suicide influencers—now that’s digital madness. ...

https://lithub.com/how-goethes-sorrows-of-young-werther-led-to-a-rare-suicide-cluster/
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Had to look up a word in the full piece: anhedonia.

This is pretty much what it sounds like: an inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities.

I'd totally forgotten about the Bridgend suicide cluster, so this was an interesting – and disturbing – reminder.
 
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