Debunk this? (Stuff my friend told me about Wyoming)

Factual Questions
1

Fun Facts About Wyoming (according to my friend, who’s from Colorado)

  1. The suicide rate is higher there than in neighboring states.

  2. This is probably due to the never-ending wind.

  3. The wind is so strong and so constant, the trees actually move three feet per year, sort of like a sand dune.

2
  1. Sort of. Google, “wyoming suicide rate higher”.

http://wyhealth.natrona.net/suicide.html

http://www.irecc.org/wyoming.htm

The actual data is here. Generally, the western states have higher suicide rates than the Northeast. On this chart, for the years 1990-1994, Nevada and Montana are right up there with Wyoming.

  1. However, nobody on all the “wyoming suicide” websites that I could find has any clue why this is. There’s no suggestion that “it’s the wind”. I believe that the thing about the wind driving everyone crazy stems from a controversial 1925 bestselling potboiler titled The Wind by Dorothy Scarborough, which was made into a classic 1928 silent movie starring Lillian Gish.
  2. Um, if you’ll think about this for a minute, you’ll probably see how silly it is. :wink: How can a 75 foot tall cottonwood tree pick up its well-established root system and “move it over” three feet? No. Trees don’t work like that.

Has your friend got a stuffed jackalope on the wall of his den, too? :smiley:

3

If he found it dumpster diving, probably.

4

As regards #2, Montana and Wyoming have higher than average rates of gun ownership and alcoholism.

Makes suicide a little easier for those so inclined, or the booze tips the scales a bit towards despair.

5

#3 is plainly silly.
#1 is of course true.
Regarding #2, there was a front-page article in the Casper Star-Tribune (the most-read paper in Wyoming) many years ago. It described a theory that the wind creates an excess of positively charged particles in the atmosphere which is bad for people’s morale.

Pollutants are positively charged particles. Negatively charged particles supposedly have a positive effect on people. More negative ions are found around a lot of houseplants, and around waterfalls.

Remember ‘negative ion generators’? We used to see them for sale here & there. Haven’t seen those in a long time.

6

The idea that wind can drive people insane is not unique to Wyoming, either (or people who believe things about Wyoming). In the Swiss Alps, the Foehn ( very strong wind coming down from the slopes) is said to drive people crazy. But this seems to be a much stronger and howling wind than that in Wyoming, though what I know of der Foehn is only from reports.

It’s not inconceivable that a constant wind is a contributing factor to depression leading to suicide, though I’m inclined to think it’s more the noise and the pressure when moving around outside than whatever ions might be in the air. However, I’d guess the isolation of the place is probably a bigger factor.

7

Raymond Chandler

Red Wind1938

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”-- " Philip Marlowe’s opening narration

8

Here’s another data point - I grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta, a city known for its constant annoying wind. We always heard the the suicide rate in Lethbridge was higher than the Canadian average, and the putative reason was the wind.

I never wanted to kill myself, but the wind could just drive you batty. Especially after the 10th straight night of a howling 20 mph wind.

9

I love that story. And that is a cool quote, that I remember well. :slight_smile:

10

Mariah Carey drives people crazy.
They call the wind Mariah.
[sym][/sym] The wind drives people crazy. Q. E. D.

11

Is that sarcasm?

The lyric is "They call the wind Moriah

But you knew that…right?

12

Wow. You mean people actually live in Wyoming?!

:slight_smile:

13

I was going to mention places like Lethbridge and Pincher Creek too. Anyone know how often workers at wind turbine research stations off themselves? Going to Letbridge or any consistently windy place can be annoying 'cause it’s ALWAYS blowing; good for kites and such but hell on the hair! If you’re used to it, well, I think you’d only be driven to suicide if you were prone to such thought patterns to begin with. If it’s not the wind, maybe it’s the isolaion, or the crowding, or the heat! Oh well, I can’t get any more scientific than that.

14

Oh, yeah, me and the other guy … :wink:

I can’t add much to the data and information provided by previous posters, other than a couple of observations.

Times have been tough here recently in certain economic sectors, including some that were once booming. A lot of people have suffered severe financial reversals. Combine that with the tendency of places like Wyoming to attract the old “rugged individualist” type, a person who would have a lot of ego tied up in his ability to provide for his family and be a success in his trade or business, and …

Also, since Wyoming has such a small population base, a relatively few incidents can really skew a per capita statistic like the suicide rate.

Alcohol - yeah, fueled by isolation, boredom, and cabin fever (that season is just getting underway.)

But I’m not blaming it on easy access to guns. I’d like to see some stats on suicide methods here. My (unscientific) observation is that some use guns, but just as many use carbon monoxide, hanging, etc.

Thank God, the wind doesn’t blow much here (we’re in a relatively sheltered intermontane basin.) But I have spent enough time in Casper and Cheyenne and Rawlins to testify that the constant howling can drive you stark raving batsh*t.

15

I have only seen it spelled “Mariah.”

http://persweb.direct.ca/fstringe/oz/w1792.html

The story is that Mariah Carey was named after the song.