# Falling From Buildings!:eek:
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 12, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166 "2002-09-12T21:54:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Elis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elis)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/1 "2002-09-12T21:54:00Z")
I vaguely recall once hearing that when a person jumps off a skyscraper they die before hitting the ground?:eek: What physiologically occurs to the body while falling from a tall building?š
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### Author:  [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/2 "2002-09-12T22:00:17Z")
My WAG - which Iāve always maintained but have yet to substantiate - would be the person would go into shock, meaning the brain, knowing death was imminent, would just shut off.
This question came up for me again when I heard people were jumping from the WTC.
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### Author:  [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2002, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/3 "2002-09-12T22:55:11Z")
Iāve heard this too, however I wonder how much evidence there is to support itā¦ I recall reading somewhere (sorry, no cite) that there is no physiological reason for someone to go into shock. Obviously, skydivers donāt go into shock, and they are jumping from thousands of feet in the air. The counter argument would be that skydivers know they have a parachute, so their brain knows they are not in danger.
Perhaps itās a way for the living to feel ābetterā about the poor people who die this way. I personally would not want anyone who died this way to be aware of every second of their fall until impact. I hope and pray they donāt.
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### Author:  [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/4 "2002-09-12T23:38:26Z")
Falling from the top of say the sears tower in Chicago would take about 7 seconds.
1- Mississippi
2- Mississippi
3- Mississippi
4- Mississippi
5- Mississippi
6- Mississippi
7- Mississippi
Done.
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### Author:  [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)
#### Post date: [September 12, 2002, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/5 "2002-09-12T23:42:08Z")
Urban legend. Itās been discussed here before. You remain alive and conscious until you hit the ground.
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### Author:  [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/6 "2002-09-13T00:34:23Z")
Unless your dad accidently shoots you on the way down.
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### Author:  [@femtosecond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femtosecond)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/7 "2002-09-13T12:25:36Z")
[Are people who jump off buildingsā¦](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=91431) unconscious before they hit the ground?
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/8 "2002-09-13T12:48:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ringo \*
> **Unless your dad accidently shoots you on the way down.**
[In case some were wondering.](http://www.rescue-equip.com.au/REhumour.html#Suicide)
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/9 "2002-09-13T13:26:58Z")
And in case anyone was inclined to believe that story:
[http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.htm](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/opus.htm)
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/10 "2002-09-13T14:17:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ringo \*
> \*\*Unless your dad accidently shoots you on the way down. \*\*
But not only did you fail in killing your self, you also contributed to your own murder?!?!
(One is the lonliest number)
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### Author:  [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/11 "2002-09-13T14:21:37Z")
I once fell about 35ft from a tree, and I either fell unconscious almost instantaneously, or have failed to recall what happened after the instant I heard the branch snap beneath me. I was certainly unconscious once on the ground for a good few minutes. Hard to know which of the above is true for the intervening time.
So thatās conclusive thenā¦not.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/12 "2002-09-13T14:26:47Z")
**Andy** ; that could just be that you donāt retain any memories of falling because of the trauma of impact.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/13 "2002-09-13T16:48:40Z")
On one of those forensic detective shows on the discovery channel (or maybe it was TLC), a woman claimed to remember being knocked out by an attacker. An expert was called in who says that this canāt happen, that when you get knocked out you lose some of whatās in your short term memory. The result is exactly what Andy describes, you donāt have any memory of the event. If you said you remembered falling and hitting the ground and being knocked out weād have to assume you were lying.
They also had some really great graphics of your brain sloshing around inside your skull.
I remember reading about an aircraft gunner in WWII who was shot out of his plane without his parachute. It took him something like 2 minutes to fall to the ground (count 1 mississippi for 120 seconds and see how long this is to be falling :eek: ). From what I read he was concious the whole way down. I canāt remember if he got knocked out on impact or not but by some
miracle he managed to live (I think he landed on a bale of hay).
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [September 13, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/falling-from-buildings-eek/128166/14 "2002-09-13T17:21:50Z")
Iāve never before seen **Mississippi** mentioned so many times in such a benign manner. š