# Story set in concrete or in sand? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 23, 2001, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-set-in-concrete-or-in-sand/83272 "2001-09-23T00:58:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-set-in-concrete-or-in-sand/83272/1 "2001-09-23T00:58:13Z")
Ever since I was a little kid I have heard variations of this story: During certain construction projects, usually during the construction of X bridge, a construction worker falls to his death in the pillar of cement being poured. Usually this is a base of some kind (it can also be a foundation of a building). Anyway the story goes that the cement is setting so quickly that they can’t retrieve the body. The hapless construction worker is entombed forever in the structure. Does anyone know if this has ever actually happened – it reeks of urban legend, but as they say in sitcoms it may be just crazy enough to be true… ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-set-in-concrete-or-in-sand/83272/2 "2001-09-23T01:23:23Z")
> [@](#): > > …it reeks of urban legend… Any time this is true, the [Urban Legends References Pages](http://www.snopes.com) (“[Snopes.com](http://Snopes.com)”) is a good place to start looking. That said, your question may be a little too broad to answer definitively. Has there _ever_ been a construction project which would up containing the body of a worker or two? All the way back to the Pyramids? Who can say? Snopes does have a page regarding this urban legend specifically related about the [Hoover Dam](http://www.snopes.com/spoons/fracture/hoover.htm). (Not true with respect to that structure.) The page also debunks the notion WRT the Brooklyn Bridge. There _is_ a dam in Montana which contains the bodies of some workers killed in a construction accident. It’s also not true that the body of a worker was left in the hull of the [_Titanic_](http://www.snopes.com/titanic/trapped.htm), but apparently it may have been true of the S.S. _Great Eastern_. ---
**Author:** ![Glenoled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Glenoled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glenoled)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-set-in-concrete-or-in-sand/83272/3 "2001-09-23T03:29:08Z")
I heard that the bodies of slaves working on the Great Wall of China were um, used as filler, so to speak… is this true, or UL? ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2001, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/story-set-in-concrete-or-in-sand/83272/4 "2001-09-23T06:25:48Z")
I have heard the same thing about the Great Wall of China, but since I’m too lazy to check it out, someone might come along and correct that(saw it on the learning channel). Not so much “filler” as the dead workers were just buried under the wall as it advanced. Would be a lot more economical than transporting the bodies of thousands of dirt-poor people half-ways back across the rugged country, if you even knew where they came from. About bodies in cement… unless there were many thousands of cubic yards poured and the wall or dam was really thick, wouldn’t the “hollow spot” where a body was weaken the structure? - Whoops, just checked out the snopes article while previewing and answered my own question (yes).