Over The Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, Revised and Expanded Third Edition

Two months ago, my wife, 13/10 year-old daughters and I visited the Grand Canyon for the first time and found it to be the most exquisite and breathtaking natural sight we’ve ever seen (believe me, pictures cannot come close to seeing it with your own eyes). Having made such an impact, I found myself immediately searching for something interesting to enhance and remember my Canyon experience; all my searching paths seemed to lead to the same conclusion: OVER THE EDGE: DEATH IN THE GRAND CANYON. I found this book exceeding my expectations of simply being interesting (and morbid?); in actuality, it was intriguing, informative, fascinating, memorable … and not so morbid.Taking the Bright Angel Trail from the Rim to the bottom (Indian Garden) and back up proved to be challenging, rewarding and memorable. The trip down is both alluring and easy. Only when you start making your way back up the trail do you realize the Canyon has lured you into its trap and all the subtle/not-so-subtle warnings you ignored on the easy trek down suddenly turn into blaring alarms. Sheer drop-offs, plague-carrying squirrels, rattlesnakes, deadly desert heat and no water are just some of the potential dangers we either sensed or saw on our own trek. OVER THE EDGE documents the myriad of ways people have died in the Grand Canyon and made me glad I walked Bright Angel before I read the book … it certainly made me aware of dangers I’d never considered before we blindly trekked to the Canyon bottom!What is great about OVER THE EDGE is that it is simply a wonderfully compiled wealth of information that is intended to educate and generate awareness … even scare some common-sense into those who tend to act before thinking. At almost 600 pages, there is obviously plenty of death covered and the book is graciously divided into chapters that lump the deaths into types (falls of the Rim, dehydration, drowning, suicide and even murder). And even though the book is all about dying, at no point did I find it morbid or unnecessary. In fact, this book only enhanced my understanding and appreciation of the Grand Canyon and its rich history. History serves to warn the future not to make mistakes of the past and OVER THE EDGE delivers that history and serves as a cautionary tale … don’t make the mistakes others made that cost them their lives.While all known Canyon-related deaths (up to the publishing date) are tallied and summarized in a table at the end of each chapter, only select stories are detailed in the chapters themselves and there are plenty. All the death stories are presented in a clear an interesting manner, with specifics that indicate multiple sources were involved in illustrating the full picture (witnesses, survivors, park personnel and law enforcement). It’s hard not read and think how utterly stupid some people are (like hanging off the Rim for a photo op … only to lose grip and fall into the depths of the Canyon) or how one could unwittingly find themselves in a world of hurt (not bringing enough water). Regardless, the stories are presented in a way that makes you cringe, but more importantly, they make you think. While I’m not a fan of heights, I found myself more creeped-out walking around the guard-railed Rim than trekking down the steep switchbacks inside the Rim. I thought we had more than enough water, only to find out we needed to fill our two 2-liter Camelbaks three times to sufficiently hydrate ourselves for the entire trek. OVER THE EDGE dedicates one of its largest chapters in recapping situations where people didn’t bring enough water, dress appropriately, wandered off the park-maintained trails, underestimated the effects of 100+ degree desert heat or simply overestimated their physical/mental capabilities to meet the demands of a Canyon hike … all cautionary tales designed to educate the reader.While some of the accounts are sad to read, some are quite fascinating. Whether it be the chapters dedicated to murder, the deadly Colorado River, plane crashes or suicide, the authors present stories in a way that make it hard to put the book down. We see the historical nature of many events covered in the book and even some of the more current instances seem historic. I found the book to be a surprisingly quick read that never became dull or horrifying in any way. In fact, I feel the authors took special care in presenting the demise of individuals in deftly tactful manner that in no way comes across as “entertaining” … you are made to feel that the deaths covered serve a greater purpose. I definitely considered this more of a history book than anything else.I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed reading this book. As I said earlier, I wondered if I would have gone into the Canyon if I’d read OVER THE EDGE beforehand … yes, definitely … but I would have been much better prepared! I now know why this book is said to be a best-seller at the stores around the Grand Canyon. The history of the Canyon as a National Park is told through the lives of those who never left it. I think Ghiglieri and Myers wisely saw telling their stories as a means to both educate and memorialize. I would consider this book an essential read for anyone wanting to visit the Grand Canyon or as a way or making a past trip more memorable.

Book arrived in quickly and in good shape.

Good reading.

IF you like being scared by reading actual eyewitness accounts of terrifying events, this is the book for you. It is a no holds barred look at the unbelievable stupidity and just plan bad luck of people who travel to the Grand Canyon from around the world to enjoy it wonders... and sometimes fall off the edge, get struck by lightning, eaten by bears, dive into rivers without noticing the waterfall a few feet away, or wander off the trail and are never seen again.Almost every single death is because of the incredible witlessness of people who read signs, listen to rangers and then instantly do the very thing they were warned NEVER TO DO.The events are fleshed out with the back story around it, and the end of each chapter has a list of the date, time, place and name of all the people (to date) who have died of that cause. The first chapter leaps right in with accounts of people who fell off the edge of the Grand Canyon. There are hundreds of people who HAVE to climb the barrier to get the perfect shot (because being a foot closer to the edge than anyone else is so cool..), and did not live to tell the tale.. Amazing as it is almost unbelievable, People have backed their cars OFF the cliff edge while parking, left their children in a running vehicle without putting it in park or setting the brake, "for just a second" and had to watch as their car and children went over the edge of a thousand foot drop, or just gunned it and went all Thelma and Louise into space....You begin to get the feeling that some people should never go anywhere, because they have zero common sense or instinct for self preservation. The book does go into the fact that we live in a fairly sanitized society, and the Disneyland syndrome, of thinking that everything is happy and safe for us because it IS A PARK, also applies to the wilderness.There are also chapters on murders and suicides in the park, and of employee mishaps going back to the 1800s, which I thought was intensely fascinating. The indians who lived in the canyon, and who were driven out of it, also did their part to erase some early tourists from the face of the earth, and i honestly couldn't blame them, although some accounts are pretty shocking. Altogether it is a must read for anyone who loves trivia, startling their friends with weird tales or just wants to know, "what happens when someone falls off the edge". This book gives you the real story.

I found "Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon and some of the stories are truly harrowing, such as the lady who tried to walk atop a wall, lost her balance instead and plunged to her death. Another is the grandmother who decided to takre her family on a hike and deciding to do it at the hight of the day. As a result, her grandson died of heatstroke and dehydration. Another was the crash of a DC-7 and a Super Constellation after colliding in mid-air over the Canyon.I was somewhat turned off by the chapter on suicides with all the snark and griping from the authors. No one knows what might be enough to drive them to commit suicide. A little more empathy from the authors would have been appreciated.I've visited the Grand Canyon twice, once when I was five. I remember how my mum amd dad held my hands, so I didn't do something like run off and end up going over the edge. The next time was in 2017 and I can confirm that the Canyon definitely does have a sort of pull to it. I could feel it, even as I stood well back from the rim. The Canyon is a very beautiful place, but it can also be very dangerous, especially with that pull to come closer to the edge.All in all, aside from the snarkiness in the chapter on suicide (hey, guys, there but for the grace of God you could go), I enjoyed the book--I have it on my Kindle) and found it very interesting.

This book was really interesting and written in a sympathetic and informative way. It does not come across as cashing in on misfortune, more giving people the facts about the tragedies that have occurred to stop more of them happening. It also gives you a lot of insight into what an incredible place the canyon is, especially for those of us who didn't get below the rim when we visited for various reasons.I was fascinated and captivated by this book, and was almost addicted to reading it. The history of the first explorers, the awful things that happened to various tribes in and around the canyons and the more current disasters all made thought provoking reading. A sad read in some ways but I really felt I learned a lot from this book.

Amazing

The book is exactly what it says it is: an exhaustive catalog of all the deaths that are known to have occurred in Grand Canyon National Park. It didn't take long before I sickened of the accounts of repeated examples of sheer stupidity on the part of park visitors.If you are in the business of running a natural park, this is a very good book to familiarize yourself with. The hazards your visitors face may be different from those faced by visitors to the Grand Canyon, but the visitors themselves will probably be just as careless as those to the Grand Canyon. It appears that there is no 100% reliable way to stop people from accidentally killing themselves in natural areas: signs are ignored, fences and railings are jumped over, and many visitors toddle off into the wild without anything near adequate preparation.But if you interest is curiosity, unless you can handle accounts of death after death after death, this is not a fun book to read.The authors have done a very good job, even if the end result is unpalatable. The only way the book could be improved would be with a detailed map or at least geo-coordinates so you could locate the sites of misadventures on Google or Bing.

Human nature continues to amaze me. These stories will leave your jaw on the floor. I found myself yelling at the people and wishing they had paid better attention to signs words of wisdom from the Rangers.

Great detail. Lots of interesting facts.