The Bridgend Suicides

*Not sure if this is in the right section so please feel free to move if not

I've been looking in to the suicide "cluster" that took place in Bridgend (Wales) in 2008, and after searching on here it seems that there is a real lack of information, and no real conclusion to the case.

I did a bit of digging on the web and came across this excellent article from Vanity Fare. Now its quite long so I wont post anything other than the link, but I think it offers great insight in to the community and the events that took place.

www.vanityfair.com...

A few things that stood out for me are as follows:

* Its seems that a lot of (if not all) the suicides followed a trauma in their personal lives, be it a family breakdown, a spilt from a partner etc
* One of the girls who attempted to commit suicide but failed said the following " My head kept telling me to do it because everything was going to be O.K"
* A victim actually died plunging from a balcony in Turkey, he had gone there to rest and to help him get over the deaths/suicides of 2 of his friends. It seems there was no escaping even by leaving the country for this person
* Most suicides (almost all) were by hanging.

The reason I posted this in the Paranormal section is because there just seems to be something really not right about this situation. Its almost like something feeding off negative emotions, and influencing these people to commit suicide and I refer back to "My head kept telling me to do it because everything was going to be O.K".

Then there's the person who left the country to get away from it all and ended up dying by falling from his balcony... so even outside of environmental influences, this persons still ended up dead.

How could so many people sucessfully hang themselves? I wouldn't have a clue how to do this, and yes its possible that people can hang themselves with no knowledge of how to do so, but so many in the same or similar location?

Anyway I thought I'd post this thread as there didn't seem to be anything post 2008 on here, and the article I posted is from 2009. If anyone has any information more recent then please feel free to post. I'm really interested in if this epidemic suddenly stopped? And if so why and how?

Living in the UK I can honestly say this is one of the strangest cases I've heard of over here.

Yes - good thread, I remember reading about these and wondering too.

Very odd scenario. Still no clearer, still no answers. It could simply be a case of one person felt suicidal and his / her death led to copycat suicides.

Or maybe something far more sinister?

reply to post by ajax_andy

This is great ! i am glad we are giving it some more attention as it is still wide open as to the reasons why there was such an influx of close proximity suicides, i always found it hard to believe that these individualls decided that they would follow suit with people they knew had commited suicide and in such large numbers!

I dont think we will draw any real conclusions but i am keen to hear peoples opinions on this.

Are there paranormal influences at work ( Chimera ) or is this a case of some "final destination" like scenario where there fate was pre mapped.

It is frustrating that this died of from the media with no real conclusion but i feel there is defenately room for investigation into what was happening in that area at that time, something does not add up !

Great thread cant wait to hear some opinions on this !

Yes I remember this being on the news. I recall that each person knew the one previously (who had committed suicide), maybe I am wrong. Thats not to say that they could have all been inclined to be very depressed. Bridgend is not a well off area anyway, lots of unemployment and that. (Just like lots of other towns)

I think I get where your coming from. What about 'emotional contagion', they were influenced by each suicide enough to become suicidal themselves? Is that what you mean?

Goleman came up with the term in relation to studies into flash point violence, I think. (It's been awhile since I read his stuff, sorry). Goleman argues that a person can be so influenced by others, they can catch their emotion. Although he did say that audio and visual cues played some part in this as well. I reckon he was right.

just found this link, which may interest you-
zacharyburt.com...

reply to post by Taffygirl


I think there was a connection or assosiation between most of if not all the suicides, but does that not make this more unreal ! I mean there were 20 plus deaths ! this amount alone is shocking but to believe that there was a steady progression of people or teenagers saying "ok such and such has just commited suicide, i cant cope now i will do the same" and then this been an influence on the next and so on. I do find this hard to comprehend to this degree.
Also if there were associations between the victims then why were there no joint suicides or group suicides why when supposedly a young group in the same area chose to carry out this lonely and heartbraking acts were they doing it alone??

At the beginning of the school year here ( september2010) there was a few incidents of suicide turns out there was a kid that started a suicide pack at one of the local High Schools. He killed himself and it started a chain reaction of kids killing or trying to kill themselves. It was a horrible mess for a long time. The local mental health ward was full of teenagers that had tried to or threatened to or were in the pack. My oldest who was 16 at the time this all started was the one that told me about it all and said her school was not involved in the pack, and that a group of her friends were organizing a suicide awareness walk and they were all keeping an eye on each other for signs. The pack here was spread over a few schools because the kids knew each other OUTSIDE of school. It was so bad here my 14 year olds Physc. offered to see my oldest with out a referral if I felt she was suicidal.
Perhaps there was some kind of pack amongst these kids? Was there anything connecting them? Perhaps there was a demonic force at work? Whatever it was it's still sad that in today's society with the amount of help/help hotlines etc that these poor kids felt there was no other choice than to kill themselves.

check out what james casbolt seems to think about it on the bottom of this wikipedia page ;-)

en.wikipedia.org...

I took the following (large) quotes from the following link
www.guardian.co.uk...

"What's more, the Bridgend suicides are a case unto themselves. I ask Dr Lars Johansson of Umeå University, Sweden, who has published several papers on teenage suicide, about other, larger clusters, but there hasn't ever been one. It is the largest teen suicide cluster of modern times, he says, and there's never been a cluster reported as sensationally, as comprehensively, as widely, or for as long. I outline the coverage to Steven Stack, a sociologist at Wayne State University, Michigan, whose entire career has been spent studying suicide. I tell him about the day-in, day-out banner headlines, the dead memorialised in huge photographs, the expectant horror of when the "next" one would be, and he racks his brain - he has undertaken three meta-analyses into the media and suicide, studies of the studies - but can't even come up with a near-parallel."

The report goes on to say-
"Research has repeatedly shown that reporting by media may facilitate suicidal acts among vulnerable individuals. And that the most vulnerable are the young. How much of a factor was it in Bridgend? Nobody knows because, amazingly, no one has so far instigated research into it."

Also-
"But when the story finally broke it did so across all news outlets, with a profoundly terrifying twist: that Bebo, the social networking site on which many of the dead had profiles, was in some way to blame. It was this that grabbed the headlines, which made the story hang in the bulletins and the radio phone-ins: the internet had killed them.The only problem was that it wasn't true. There was no internet death pact. No dark cyber-mystery. But by the time the police established this, it made no difference."

So why did so many of them commit suicide? It's odd that there appears to be no link other than they knew each other, lived in the same area and were of the same age.

www.express.co.uk...

Interesting article about the possibility of phone masts being involved...it would not suprise me.

I remember thinking this case was really weird. I hope we can sheds some light on it.
Good thread!

Thanks everyone for replying to my thread. I've been doing more research and it seems that since the initial 27 people commited suicide that it just suddenly stopped?!

Then in 2010 another person hung themselves:

www.thesun.co.uk...

It seems like the death of his friend just took a grip of his life, and finally he secumbed to the same tragic end.

Another similar example is this quite harrowing example:

www.newsoftheworld.co.uk...

It doesn't seem to suggest a suicide pact (as someone else mentioned, there weren't any mass suicides), more that the events just took hold of each individual so much that they ended up also hanging themselves.

Is this a failing of the council or health service, who didnt offer enough support and councelling, or something more "out there"?!

It reminds me of a film I once saw staring Denzel Washington, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was called.

reply to post by Bex33

www.express.co.uk... Interesting article about the possibility of phone masts being involved...it would not suprise me.

This is more like it ! i think that whatever the cause, it is more likely to be something obscure or random than what is suggested, but that said then why have we not seen this elsewhere why would it be local to Bridgend ??

Originally posted by Exforcesuk
reply to post by Bex33

 

www.express.co.uk... Interesting article about the possibility of phone masts being involved...it would not suprise me.

This is more like it ! i think that whatever the cause, it is more likely to be something obscure or random than what is suggested, but that said then why have we not seen this elsewhere why would it be local to Bridgend ??

And why would the suicides suddenly stop?

Its an interesting theory, but it leaves too many gaps to be treated as the main cause... it could be a contributory factor though.

Or for a more outlandish theory... maybe something was transmitted over these phone masts that only certain people could hear and it made them respond in this way?

And yes that technology does exist:

www.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by ajax_andy


Andy what your saying may be heading in the right direction! I typed bridgend suicide into the well renouned and 100% reliable wikipidia and it mentions some conspiricies! one of which is ...

there were suggestions of MI-6 and Group 5-8 special forces working on telephone poles and in telephone boxes in the background while cameras where interviewing newscasters. They suggest these "operatives" were searching for an “item,” which had gone missing from the underground genetics facility below Brecon Beacons in Wales, known as "Trapdoor". They suggest that this item was a Chimera that had gone AWOL and that these chimeras are referred to as a “feeders,” as being near to it reveals such feelings as intense suicidal tendencies and depression.

I understand how the mosquito detterent works, its only audable to people of a younger age as they are still able to hear this specific frequency ! but what is Chimera does it affect everyone near it ? is it mechanical or living? ..
Is this what you were suggesting?

Or for a more outlandish theory

These are usually closest to the truth!

I'm not entirely sure what a chimera is either tbh, but I think it's entirely possible that a signal of some kind could cause some sort of mind control, and with the mosquito deterant it's already been proven that sounds can influence different age groups differently.

It's just one theory though but it's an interesting one, and certainly worth considering... Especially when you consider the fact the suicides suddenly stopped rather than slowly petering out... Almost like someone flicked an off switch.

Again it's just one theory and there are other things like ouija board gone wrong, copycat suicides, social depravation that could easily be responsible.

Can anyone confirm the supposed work going on in the background on the phone masts?

Hi guys.

I've been posting on here since I joined but I haven't disclosed who I work for yet so I thought now is the right time as phone masts have been indicated as a possible reason for this.

I work for a large Telecommunications company in Britain and I can safely say that phone masts would have no effect on human beings with regards to thoughts. I have been working in close vicinity to radio/mobile transmitters for years and have never had illicit thoughts as such.

Regards...

Also, radio/molbile phone masts have limited bandwidth, as they have to take thousands of calls per minute...I highly doubt they would use 'x' amount of bandwidth to transmit hidden signals..

Just my two cents...

I work for a company which provides these masts so if you want me to try and dig deeper I can...

But I can safely say there is no hidden agenda here folks....

Originally posted by LondonerBLV
Also, radio/molbile phone masts have limited bandwidth, as they have to take thousands of calls per minute...I highly doubt they would use 'x' amount of bandwidth to transmit hidden signals..

Just my two cents...

I work for a company which provides these masts so if you want me to try and dig deeper I can...

But I can safely say there is no hidden agenda here folks....

Hi, thanks for your input... Can I ask how many phone masts you'd expect to find in a 50 mile radius? It'd be interesting to see how many of these masts there are in the suicide hot spot compared to normal.

Also you say you work near them, what do you think to the reports that suggest they can cause depression, and that the ones in this case are a lot closer than normal to houses? Could longer and more regular contact than you have cause significant problems?

reply to post by ajax_andy


Hi Andy,

I work in London, central London to be precise.

And I install around one per week in a radius of approx 200m minimum.

If it isnt poles it is on roof tops or on the outside of pubs. (They get paid to have these per annum) If I can find pictures I will post them up.

This is due to the fact that there are numerous companies providing telephony service like Orange, O2, Vodaphone, etc.

My specific role is a fibre planner so I dont have an in depth knowledge of these but I can try my best to help.
When I go back to work on tuesday I will research this a bit more and see what I can dig up.
(I've booked a bit of time off at the moment)
Regards,

reply to post by LondonerBLV


Hi, yes please the more info the better. I don't want this thread to go off on a random conspiracy tangent if it's a completely incorrect one

Just out of interest, what is your opinion on this case? Do you have any ideas as to what may have caused this amazingly unusual situation?

reply to post by ajax_andy


if anything, i'd look into what made that one person successful in NOT killing herself. be it possibly a psychic attack or something like that ( hey, this IS a conspiracy site in the paranormal forum, i would be open minded to a possibility of that ) or maybe possession