By

John Sheppard & Erin Stone

Photo courtesy of www.wvculture.org
 Occurred on December 15, 1967.

 37 Vehicles were crossing the bridge when it collapsed.

 31 of those vehicles fell into the river.

 46 people died with the buckling of the bridge.

 9 people were seriously injured.

The Mothman was said
to be cited around the
time of the bridge’s
collapse. Many people
believe the Mothman
caused the bridge to
collapse.

Photo courtesy of www.livingspiritmag.com

The Curse of Chief Cornstalk
was another suspicion about
the bridge’s collapse. He was a
friend of white settlers in the
1700s but was taken prisoner
and killed by radicals. With
his last breath he uttered a
curse that promised to bring
tragedy to Point Pleasant.

Photo courtesy of www.findgrave.com

A sonic boom is the sound something makes when it
breaks the sound barrier. Some people believe they
heard a sonic boom causing the bridge’s structure to
collapse. Local officials checked with the military bases
and no aircraft was said to have flown over the area.
 A unique eye-bar design made from heat-treated carbon steel,
broke and put the bridge under major stress.
Photo courtesy of http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod

This is a replica of an eye bar like the one that broke on the
Silver Bridge.
 The fracture was caused from a minute crack formed
during the casting of the steel eye-bar. Over the years,
stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue allowed the crack to
grow, causing the failure of the entire structure. In order to
check the eye bars properly, the bridge would have had to
be disassembled.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

 Although it was a tragic event for West
Virginia and Ohio’s citizens, the collapse of the
Silver Bridge had a positive impact on the world’s
transportation system. Due to the collapse, bridge
inspections are more thorough and occur more
frequently.