Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park

Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park

By: Lee Whittlesey  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Publisher: Roberts Rinehart Publishers

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Frightening, With a Good Purpose - I read this book after my fourth visit to Yellowstone Park. It is so scary that it made me wonder how I survived four visits! Various manners of death throughout the history of the park are described in a not unnecessarily exploitative manner. I say not unnecessarily because the author includes gruesome details because he thinks it's important to shock people out of their complacency - he's trying to save lives and avoid over-regulation due to visitor carelessness. Those of us who only come to the wilderness on vacation need to be aware that when we are in a National Park, we are not in a theme park - the environment has not been sanitized for our safety. The opening chapter on death in hot springs is the most horrific in the book, in fact it's one of the most horrific things I've ever read anywhere. This is unfortunate from a literary standpoint as it makes the rest of the book somewhat anticlimactic, but it's probably the most important chapter and that's why the author put it first. The hot springs in Yellowstone are very beautiful, very deadly, and the landscape they're in is very alien to what most of us will encounter in our lives when we're not in Yellowstone so it's important to understand what can happen. I recommend this book to anyone who is planning to visit Yellowstone, even if you're not a first-time visitor, and especially if you are going to bring children.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
The Wild and Unpredictable Wilderness - My husband and I purchased this book before our 3 week camping trip to the Zion, Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks in early June as I was fascinated by the reviews and subject matter described in this book. Generally I do not sleep well in tents, so I was able to read this book while trying to sleep when the temperatures reached the lower 30's in Yellowstone. Did not help me relax (!), but provided an added sense of adventure and danger....of course our experiences and wonder of the parks were excitement enough!
The stories and history of the park were interesting as we explored the park each day and remembered the events described in the book that occured at some of the sites. We did observe quite a few episodes such as "foolhardy" folks who walked off of the walkways (someone with kids and a small dog walking in the Midway Geyser Basin area!), or someone who turned their back to an elk! We were shocked that people could be so foolish...
Since our return home, there has been a freak thunderstorm in the Tetons causing lightning strikes to several climbers (with one death) ,a tranquilized bear attacked a hiker near Yellowstone, flash floods in Zion causing 3 hikers to be carried down 40yds, then 60yds down a river,a woman gored and tossed by a Bison when she got too close in YNP, and most recently a fatal bear attack (rare for a bear to attack multiple tents with food stored as directed) at the Soda Butte campground near the NE entrance to Yellowstone! (We had travelled to all of these areas in our trip)
The danger of the beautiful wilderness is unpredictable and man's interaction with it can be disastrous. There were even reports of Grizzly bears in our campground. Many of us have positive experiences, but a certain respect for nature and common sense can help.
This book was fun to read and share (i finished it when i got home to the comfort of my own bed!).
I also ordered Yellowstone Treasures: The Traveler's Companion to the National Park from Amazon and this book was helpful in navigating our way through this beautiful park and its varied treasures...from geysers,fumaroles, paint pots,expansive green valleys, canyons, waterfalls, bison "jams", and yes, a Mama Grizzly and her cubs-were greatly apprciated and respected by these two "happy campers"! Sharing some of the stories from this book with fellow campers was kinda fun, too! Especially at night around the campfire...

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Very Disturbing, but Absolutely Fascinating - This nonfiction work is chilling but utterly fascinating, and serves as an emphatic caution for anyone who (like me) is planning a visit to the park. It is an account of all of the known deaths in the history of the park except for car accident fatalities and deaths due to illness.

The author lived and worked as a bus guide and then ranger in Yellowstone for over twenty years. He was involved in some of the incidents and knew several of the people mentioned in the book. He did a massive amount of research while writing it, and it shows. Each incident is thoroughly and impeccably documented, and Whittlesey often also provides detailed information from personal interviews with witnesses and family members.

The book is organized by means of death, with each chapter focusing on one particular type.

Being the unique place that it is, Yellowstone provides some unique ways to die. The book grabs the reader's attention instantly by starting right off with the strangest and most gruesome of all: by falling into one of the boiling hot pools of water for which the park is famous. I've always wondered if that has ever happened, and the answer is "yes." At least 20 known times, and probably 21, according to the author. (Since the book was published in 1995 there has been yet another such death.) Names, ages, and details are provided for each; and two victim's stories are told in great (and extremely intense) detail. It is impossible to convey the horror and morbid fascination of these accounts, yet they are a way of honoring the dead: by recognizing them as real people and realizing the extent of their suffering. And I guarantee that the stories will make anyone who reads them really, REALLY careful when they visit the park.

What's particularly surprising is that some people have actually survived falling into the hot springs. These were always people who were submerged only partially, though, such as up to their knees.

Being eaten by a grizzly bear runs a close second in the most gruesome ways to die in Yellowstone. Fortunately, this has happened less often (5 times as of 1995.) Each of these deaths is related in detail.

One of the most common means of death is by falling from a great height. Although that can happen many other places as well, these stories are also horrifying. Also common are fatalities due to hypothermia and drowning.

One of the saddest accounts tells of a little girl who was killed by boys throwing rocks in play from the cliffs above. The worst part is that when the boys - and their parents - were confronted by the girl's parents, they showed no remorse and did not even apologize, although they were told that the rocks had inflicted a severe head injury on the child.

Another unusual death was caused by toxic gas fumes that were emitted naturally from underground.

The only car accident included (because it was so unusual) was when a man (with his wife as passenger) accidentally backed a car off a very high cliff. Both were killed instantly.

Other means of death were: murder, suicide, lightning, earthquake, bison, eating poisonous plants, avalanches, cave-ins, falling trees, forest fires, battles (between Indians and whites in the1800's), horses, accidental shootings, diving, structural fires, stove explosions, stagecoach accidents, carbon monoxide poisoning, airplane crashes, etc. The book also contains a chapter on people who are missing (usually for unknown causes) and presumed dead.

There are some great black and white photographs and drawings, often historical. (Don't worry, there are no graphic photos of corpses.) Besides an extensive bibliography and footnotes section, appendices also include maps of the three Yellowstone cemeteries and known gravesites that are located outside of the cemeteries.

This is a very disturbing but excellent book for adults. I definitely wouldn't recommend it for kids or for anyone with a weak stomach.

(246 pages)

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
My Favorite Book! - This book is excellent! I've read it many times! Lee Whittlesey is one of my most favorite authors.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Thoroughly Researched, Very Interesting - Just like watching a car crash. That's how I would describe my interest in this subject. I have never been to Yellowstone, but I love nature and I am very aware of what can happen to those who are careless. This book chronicles all (and I do mean all) of the deaths that have happened in Yellowstone park since it was founded. The first chapter is about deaths due to people who have fallen into hot springs and lakes. I was horrified at the accounts of people who were careless enough to fall into one of them. Just imagine sticking your hand into a boiling pot of water on your stove. Then imagine sticking most of your body in there and you will have an idea. People actually fell into these things and managed to crawl out just to exist in pure agony until they died of dehydration from not having any skin. Another chapter which caught my attention was the one pertaining to drowning. Campers would get into a 40 degree lake in a canoe loaded with hundreds of pounds of equipment with the edge of the canoe just 4 inches above the water (a picture is included), tip over, freeze and drown. There is a particularly gruesome story about a young woman who was camping alone and attacked by a bear. They found parts of her face near her tent and the rest of her strewn for some distance.

This book is extensively researched and documented. It does bog down a bit in death after death in the 1800's, and there is a body count on each page. It is morbidly fascinating and there are definitely lessons to be learned here. The author was a park ranger and steadfastly defends the park as family members of the deceased seek to blame, sue and otherwise disparage the park and its wilderness when the vast majority of deaths were inflicted due to carelessness and drunkenness. The book is very well organized and well written. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys the outdoors.

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