# Video of a Woman "Falling" - Is This Real ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498 "2004-02-04T16:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![psychotropic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@psychotropic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychotropic)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/21 "2004-02-05T11:40:12Z")
It LOOKS real but I don’t know how she couldn’t have heard the door open and even see out of the corner of her eye her colleagues descending into the cellar. The guy that “squeezes” past her would probably indicate to her that the cellar door was open too. You know how you just get used to familiar noises and situations in your workplace or home or wherever and subconsciously know what they mean. She did look very shocked when she fell and if it IS real, then that’s absolutely awful and she should take her employer to the cleaners. How dangerous and negligent of her colleagues not to just say, “Hey, be careful, we’re just going down to the cellar. Watch you don’t fall”. Stupid. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/22 "2004-02-05T11:51:33Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > This reminds me of a time I saw footage of a big wedding party in progress while the floor of the room they were in just collapsed. All the people vanished into darkness. It was quite shocking. It was on morning news. The censors must have made a late decision because I never saw it, or the story related to it ever again. **Lobsan** , I remember that. I saw it on Sky News on the morning after my father-in-law got remarried, so it was quite poignant. And horribly shocking. It happened in Israel (Jerusalem, I seem to recall). The dance floor was on the third storey, and the whole thing just plummeted down, smashing through the next two floors and ending up in the underground parking lot. 24 people were killed. The image of all those people having such a joyful time and then just falling is stuck in my brain. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/23 "2004-02-05T12:07:44Z")
I downloaded it and watched it in VirtualDub (which allowed me to step through fram by frame and scan back and forth) - It looks genuine in that I think a real person fell down a real hole in the floor, however there’s something about it that just looks _staged for the camera_ to me. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/24 "2004-02-05T14:13:54Z")
I can’t believe the number of replies on this thread that mention the words “lawyer” or “take to the cleaners”… a sad symptom of our times, if ever there was one. Quick! Something bad happened! Sue somebody! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/25 "2004-02-05T17:14:20Z")
> [@Kal](#): > > It was originally shown about 5-6 years ago, IIRC - The barmaid who fell down the cellar appeared on the show. So what did the barmaid say? Did she break anything? It just looks soooo painful. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/26 "2004-02-05T17:24:17Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > So what did the barmaid say? Did she break anything? It just looks soooo painful. Oh she’d have been laughing all the way to the bank\*: you get 250 smackers if you end up on _You’ve been framed_! Irony. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Slant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c57346/32.png) [@Mr.Slant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Slant)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/27 "2004-02-05T19:38:27Z")
Are you sure that was a bar? I’ve not seen many bars with back windows that big. The guys in my office thought it would have been a bank or a pharmacy with a drive-up. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/28 "2004-02-05T19:49:20Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > It’s video clip #3 right [here.](http://www.officeclips.com/) From the link, next to the download button for that clip is this: > [@](#): > > London Footage > Royalty Free, affordable, clips from London. Massive! > [www.globalcuts.com](http://www.globalcuts.com) So, what, they guarantee no footage of the royal family? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/29 "2004-02-06T14:56:12Z")
> [@Jonathan Woodall](#): > > Are you sure that was a bar? I’ve not seen many bars with back windows that big. The guys in my office thought it would have been a bank or a pharmacy with a drive-up. I don’t think you will find beer taps in banks or pharmacies and it’s a mirror, not a window. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/30 "2004-02-06T15:15:41Z")
> [@wolf\_meister](#): > > Have any “Dopers” seen this video and/or know if it is the real thing? We can only hope not. But it looks pretty real, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![psychotropic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/57b2e6/32.png) [@psychotropic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychotropic)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498/31 "2004-02-07T13:50:18Z")
> [@r\_k](#): > > I can’t believe the number of replies on this thread that mention the words “lawyer” or “take to the cleaners”… a sad symptom of our times, if ever there was one. > > Quick! Something bad happened! Sue somebody! :rolleyes: It is every employee’s basic RIGHT to work in a safe workplace and every employers LEGAL obligation to provide it. Imagine if there were no Occupational Health & Safety Laws … plenty of people die or are seriously injured every year in their workplace and it just shouldn’t happen. I don’t think it’s a case of “QUICK! LET’S SUE!” I just believe that safety in the workplace is a very serious issue. Forget the ‘slipping on lettuce in the supermarket’ or ‘spilling hot coffee on yourself in McDonalds’ type cases. I just think that the cellar door is a dangerous area of that workplace and steps should be taken to avoid someone falling down it again. That poor woman could be permanently disabled or impaired now in some way. How’s she supposed to work if she’s now in a wheelchair or in constant agony or suffering psychological issues because of what happened? What if she was pregnant? What if she’d died and had children to take care of? There has to be some sort of recourse for injured employees is all I’m saying. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-of-a-woman-falling-is-this-real/227498.md?page=1)