Floating Corpses

I am disturbed to report the latest creepy news of Toledo. If you had not heard, last week two bodies were found within a mile of my house, washed up on the docks downtown. One body was found by some marine operators working on the MLK bridge, and the other by some Central Catholic rowing students. One body had been missing for only a week, and the other was missing since November. Yuck. I seem to be living dead center (no pun intended) in the heart of all kinds of craziness. Last year a body was found downtown too. This winter we had a jumper off the High Level Bridge. The speculation of the most recent deaths are that the cause of death was drowning due to being drug under the current by filled up waders. Apparently fishermen, often trip, or slip on their way out to the middle of the river to fish, then their waders fill up with water, they panic, and forget to unhook their waders, and subsequently drown. Andrew and I went down to the river to check this out for ourselves. We were suprised to see that, yes, indeed, this seems very possible. We saw a lone fisherman, seemingly tring to find a quiter spot away from the flock of 40 or so casters. We watched him make his way through the river, once nearly slipping. He easily could have gone down without anyone noticing. Word to the wise: always fish with a partner, and carry a very sharp knife. For insight on what happens to a body after being immersed in water for a period of time, and other reactions to death see the intriguing book on the subject, Stiff, by Mary Roach