History is full of remarkable moments and memorable accomplishments. However, it’s also teeming with dark secrets and spooky legends. For example, it’s believed that in the late 1960s, something sinister was discovered at Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls is a beautifully massive waterfall comprising three smaller waterfalls located partly in Canada and partly in the U.S. These include Horseshoe Falls in Canada and American Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls in the U.S.
Although water generally flows into all three falls, there are instances when the water gets rerouted for the purpose of scientific discovery. One such event took place in 1969. Allegedly, a team of U.S. Army Corps engineers rerouted the water to do some research. However, when the waters of Niagara Falls, U.S., stopped rushing, the team seemingly stumbled upon a dark mystery.
The team discovered the human remains of two individuals, a man and a woman. Not much is known about the identities of said people or how they ended up dead at Niagara Falls. The story’s internet virality even prompted an investigation by SNOPES in 2020. According to the fact-checking website, they stumbled upon a 1969 news report, confirming the bizarre and chilling story.
Confirming 1969 Niagara Falls Disaster
The official news report from (Friday) June 13, 1969, details the events, according to police reports. “The bodies of an unidentified man and woman have been found here in a grisly beginning to a major engineering feat that has all but halted flow of the Niagara River over the American Falls,” read the report. “Police said today the decomposed body of the woman was discovered Wednesday while they searched for the man, who was seen leaping over the precipice. His body was found Thursday. The water was shunted to the channel flowing over the Horseshoe Falls so engineers can study the face of the American Falls in an attempt to halt erosion.”
Furthermore, the magnitude and powerful rushing water makes Niagara Falls as lethal as it is spellbinding. As a result, it’s claimed the lives of numerous people in the last couple centuries, many of whom can be found listed online. It’s both sad and bizarre for engineers to stumble upon such a “stomach-churning discovery“. However, a place like Niagara Falls, that gets millions of visitors each year is likely to have a few dark secrets.
Within the last 50 years, Niagara Falls has become an incredibly popular tourist destination. There are an estimated 13 million people who visit annually. As such, there are bound to be numerous objects lying at the depths of Niagara Falls. Actually, the same team of engineers who stumbled upon such an unexpected, and “nauseating,” discovery, also found millions of coins after the water had been rerouted to Horseshoe Falls.
Scientific Observations
For around six months the water was forced into one fall, Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Following rockslides that occurred in 1931 and 1954, the American side of Niagara Falls was in danger of disappearing “altogether”. As a result, the team of engineers had a plan to study and better understand the erosion in the area. The project’s chief geologist T.A. Wilkinson commented that Horsehoe Fall wasn’t susceptible to the same disruption faced by the falls in the U.S. “There’s a greater volume of flow,” he explained. “Something like 90 per cent of the water flows over the Horseshoe Fall.”
Because Niagara Falls is still actively visited today, it’s clear that the team must’ve had some success in better understanding and preserving the falls, despite the bizarre and unexpected other discoveries.