# Is a temptation to jump off high buildings normal? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994 "2009-10-07T23:47:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/21 "2009-10-08T14:17:26Z")
If you’re prone to this sensation, you might really enjoy standing on a freeway overpass. Something about the rapid flow below carrying you away really amplifies the effect for me. Even from behind the tall cyclone fence, the attaction is almost magnetic. It’s a very weird sensation. And not one I’d actually want to act on. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/22 "2009-10-08T14:20:35Z")
Yep, I occasionally think about turning my car into the other lane, or crashing into a guard rail or bicyclist on purpose. It’s a control thing–I know I’ll crash my car by accident at some point, and God forbid may actually hurt someone, so I’d like to choose to get it over with. But I don’t. A co-worker used to make the sickest jokes about bad things happening to his toddler–I think maybe it was to diffuse his own real fears about what could go wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/23 "2009-10-08T14:29:26Z")
I get the urge to leap from the cliff to tall trees that are a few feet out. I know I might make it, but it would be fatal when you fail in the jump and catch. It’s one of those things you might try if your life was in danger. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/24 "2009-10-08T14:38:09Z")
I love heights. I loved lying on the glass panes at the top of the St. Louis Arch, I’m looking forward to doing the same on some of the the other glass panes being constructed at the top of buildings, and the grand canyon. I like to sit at the top of cliffs with as much view below and above as I can get. And I do feel a pulling to let go and jump/fly/fall, but I have it under control and just enjoy the feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/25 "2009-10-08T14:44:18Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > It’s common, but I’ve never experienced it. I’d never experienced it until a couple of years ago, walking round the city walls of Dubrovnik ([photo](http://www.timemert.com/images/Dubrovnik%20walls%201X.JPG)). Something about the sheer drop and the deep blue of the water just triggered my brain to start thinking “Hey, what if…?” I almost had to cling on to the masonry, the feeling was so strong. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/26 "2009-10-08T14:55:31Z")
My wife and I both get that feeling, and I get the why-not-just-slam-into-that-abutment feeling occasionally as well. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/27 "2009-10-08T15:18:14Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > My wife and I both get that feeling, and I get the why-not-just-slam-into-that-abutment feeling occasionally as well. There’s a long straight stretch of single-lane road I drive along quite often - it has a 60mph limit, and it’s quite narrow. As I’m approaching oncoming cars at a combined speed of 120mph, I do sometimes think, one yank of the wheel and that would be a biiiig crash. I don’t have any desire to kill myself, it’s just a scientific curiosity I guess. 🙂 I’m glad it’s not just me. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/28 "2009-10-08T15:18:47Z")
I’ve experienced this in a couple of situations: 1. A hotel with an eight-story-high atrium in the middle. On each floor, walkways run around the perimeter of the atrium. On the top floor, the ceiling is right above the walkway, and it’s one of those industrial-type ceilings with I-beams. So if you were so inclined, you could just reach up and hang by your hands, like you were on monkey bars, out over the atrium. Just imagining doing that made my stomach do flips. 2. I went to Niagara Falls about 20 years ago. There was a place where you could stand insanely close to the river bank right at the exact point where it drops off the edge. It was quite an amazing spot – turn your head one way, you see a big, wide river; turn the other way, nothing. It was hard not to imagine yourself just stepping into that river. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/29 "2009-10-08T15:22:35Z")
First time I got that feeling was at the top of a ladder coming off a friend’s house when I was about ten years old. I paused for so long, my friend’s Dad asked what was going on. I still have a vivid memory of grasping the top of the ladder, looking down at their upturned faces and the very soft and cushiony looking green lawn and just wanting to jump. I agree it is an odd feeling. -rainy ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/30 "2009-10-08T15:22:41Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > 1. I went to Niagara Falls about 20 years ago. There was a place where you could stand insanely close to the river bank right at the exact point where it drops off the edge. It was quite an amazing spot – turn your head one way, you see a big, wide river; turn the other way, nothing. It was hard not to imagine yourself just stepping into that river. You’d love the [Devil’s Pool](http://www.pbgalerie.ch/images/zamma/30.jpg) at Victoria Falls. More pics [here](http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1078000.ece), for context. (Vic Falls is twice as high as Niagara.) I do have to wonder how long that “natural rock ledge” is going to hold out, though. Wouldn’t want to be there when it goes… ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/31 "2009-10-08T16:00:16Z")
> [@Driver8](#): > > I thought this was just me. 🙂 > > I’m far more afraid of my brain misfiring and causing me to jump than I am of accidentally falling. Thank you. Thank you. I’m so happy not to be alone. There’s a Calvin and Hobbes script where Calvin laments that his brain is trying to kill him. I can so sympathize. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/32 "2009-10-08T16:12:50Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > That’s why I don’t like high places without railings - I’m not afraid I’ll fall, I’m afraid I’ll jump. I thought I was the only one who didn’t like high places without railings for this reason. ---
**Author:** ![hellpaso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@hellpaso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellpaso)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/33 "2009-10-08T16:20:53Z")
Wow–I thought it was just me. I’ve also had the urge to jump into deep water (from bridges, boats, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![bri1600bv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@bri1600bv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bri1600bv)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/34 "2009-10-08T16:24:47Z")
I don’t have the “urge”. I feel like I’ll be put into a trance and kind of be “sucked” over the side. It’s terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/35 "2009-10-08T16:33:50Z")
Sure, I think it’s very common. Now that I’m a parent, drop-offs terrify me because I’m afraid the _kids_ will get too close. It gets better as they get older, but whenever we go hiking I clutch the 6yo’s hand in terror near any cliff. And last summer, we hiked on to an old covered bridge, and the 2-foot gap between the floor and the walls completely freaked me out. Everyone laughed at me, but I know that if my 6yo had gotten anywhere near that, she would promptly have slipped and been sucked out and fallen 20’ into the river. So there. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/36 "2009-10-08T16:34:03Z")
My mom experienced this. Unfortunately, she chose to tell me about it when I was just a kid, on a visit to the Grand Canyon. She wouldn’t go to the edge with me, and I asked if she was afraid of falling. She said, “No, I just want to jump off.” Well, _that_ freaked me the fuck out. I spent the rest of the visit terrified, watching her like a hawk, ready to tackle her if she made a run for the edge. I’ve never had that feeling, although I have stood on subway platforms and imagined stepping into the path of the train just as it arrives. I imagine that, rather than falling and being immediately crushed under the wheels and electrocuted on the third rail, I might be pinned to the front of the train for a few seconds by the train’s momentum. And I have a good idea of what the initial impact might actually feel like, since I was once hit by a semi (while driving, so it’s not a perfect corollary, but still). But as vividly as I’ve imagined it, I never once felt a desire to do it, or the need to restrain myself from it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/37 "2009-10-08T16:34:35Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > That’s why I don’t like high places without railings - I’m not afraid I’ll fall, I’m afraid I’ll jump. I’ve heard other people say the same thing. I experience the same thing…I don’t like knives or razors for the same reason - I’m afraid of cutting myself, not by accident, but deliberately. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/38 "2009-10-08T17:02:34Z")
I’ve no experiences with high buildings but as a kid on the farm we often amused ourselves by jumping out of a hay loft. Jumping from bridges is a fairly widespread amusement, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/39 "2009-10-08T18:40:31Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Why not take up Base Jumping or abseiling? > > Then you can jump off and hopefully live. I have to abseil (in North America it’s more common to say “rappel”) a lot when I rock climb. No matter how zippy it looks in movies, it’s actually a relatively slow decent and does not at all feel like falling. Sky diving, bungee jumping, or [wingsuit base jumping](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gUxnlE_mwk&feature=related) would be the more like falling/flying. ETA: And yes, I’ve had the jump-off-the-edge impulse too. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994/40 "2009-10-08T19:11:59Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > You’d love the [Devil’s Pool](http://www.pbgalerie.ch/images/zamma/30.jpg) at Victoria Falls. More pics [here](http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1078000.ece), for context. (Vic Falls is twice as high as Niagara.) > > I do have to wonder how long that “natural rock ledge” is going to hold out, though. Wouldn’t want to be there when it goes… Aggggggghhh!Just looking at those pictures gives me the vertigo. I’m not afraid of heights, per se, but the picture of the woman leaning back on her arms with her head over the edge makes me very anxious :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-a-temptation-to-jump-off-high-buildings-normal/512994.md?page=3)