# Buried alive during bridge construction **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-alive-during-bridge-construction/233306 "2004-03-09T15:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-alive-during-bridge-construction/233306/21 "2004-03-09T21:20:22Z")
Not a bridge, but there is an urban legend about the ship \*\* The Great Eastern\*\* (Snopes seems undecided) having had workers sealed up in the hull by mistake. > [@](#): > > When the ship was eventually scrapped, there was a story that two bodies—one an adult, and the other a child—were discovered walled up between the hulls. The story was that they were bashers who got trapped, and that their deaths put a curse on the ship. ---
**Author:** ![GreyWanderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@GreyWanderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreyWanderer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-alive-during-bridge-construction/233306/22 "2004-03-10T00:09:01Z")
One thing I’ve wondered for a long time. How do you _start_ building a dam? How do you keep the water away while you’re building? ---
**Author:** ![Alto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Alto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alto)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-alive-during-bridge-construction/233306/23 "2004-03-10T00:17:29Z")
> [@kellner](#): > > According to a 19th century book on mythology\* there was a superstition from germanic times to the middle ages that a human had to be sealed into the wall of a new castle or one of the pillars of a bridge. > I can’t provide a cite for the verification of a particular case but it is presented as undisputed fact by a historian of the time (but keep in mind that this was also the time when the “right of the first night” was treated as historical fact.) > So the overall idea is very old and that could explain why this story comes up again and again. > > - Paul Herrmann: Deutsche Mythologie (1st edition 1898) In Iona and Peter Opies book of Nursery Rhymes, they mention the superstition in their discussion of “London Bridge Is Falling Down,” speculating that “We’ll set a man to watch all night” might refer to this. According to the Opies, a medieval bridge in England was found to have the skeleton of a child bricked up inside. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-alive-during-bridge-construction/233306/24 "2004-03-10T01:01:46Z")
> [@GreyWanderer](#): > > One thing I’ve wondered for a long time. How do you _start_ building a dam? How do you keep the water away while you’re building? With great difficulty approaching, if not equalling, that of the dam construction itself. The high points: Decide where to put dam. Dig huge tunnels through surrounding rock on both banks to re-route river. Build cofferdams (temporary dams) upstream and downstream of dam site to keep any remaining river flow out. Build dam. Remove cofferdams. Close tunnels. Watch Lake Mead appear. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-alive-during-bridge-construction/233306/25 "2004-03-10T01:05:17Z")
> [@GreyWanderer](#): > > One thing I’ve wondered for a long time. How do you _start_ building a dam? How do you keep the water away while you’re building? Diversion. ---
**Author:** ![BoringDad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ad7895/32.png) [@BoringDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoringDad)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2004, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-alive-during-bridge-construction/233306/26 "2004-03-10T01:50:11Z")
> [@Mr. Matthew](#): > > Maybe I’ve got it backwards but I thought that crystallization was an exothermic process (i.e. sodium acetate heat packs). The cooling rods would actually increase the rate at which the concrete cools down by carrying away all that waste heat. Isn’t that why they frequently cover freshly poured concrete slabs with insulated pads in cold weather; to keep them from curing too fast due to the low temperature? The curing of concrete IS an exothermic process. The chemical reaction gives off heat, the heat is the result of curing. However… as curing is a chemical reaction, it is sped up by higher temps, just like most chemical reactions. In a huge monolithic pour, the heat generated in the center of the pour causes the center to cure faster than the outside. This differential curing will cause lots of nasty stresses in the concrete leading to the problems mentioned by others. Removing the heat slows the chemical reaction of curing. If I remember properly, for a given concrete mix, too rapid curing also makes weaker concrete because all the cement in the concrete is reacted before each individual crystal can grow very long. More but shorter crystals are weaker. In cold weather the isulating blankets are used to retain the heat generated by the concrete, increasing the reaction rate, and allowing it to cure in a reasonable amount of time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buried-alive-during-bridge-construction/233306.md?page=1)