Reddit reviews Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park

This is a well-known story in the region around the Park and those of us who are native to the area are well-acquainted with the usual response to the story, which is "What a fucking idiot, what was he thinking?"

Kirwan survived long enough to be pulled from the water, and was clearly in shock -- but even in that state he obviously regretted the action, saying "That was stupid . . . That was a stupid thing I did." Unsurprisingly he died later in the hospital.

The horror of knowing you have literally cooked yourself to death makes me shudder every time.

Edit: also, for context, the Celestine Pool where this happened does not necessarily "look hot". It's named for the extremely deep blue color of the pool (caused by minerals/bacteria) and while the temperatures are well above lethal to humans and animals, the surface is still and smooth, not rolling/boiling. There was a lot of signage around it in 1981 reminding visitors of the deadly nature of the hot water and there's even more today, but to someone not used to Yellowstone, Celestine Pool might not have initially appeared as deadly as it is.

Edit 2: Since the link apparently does not work for some viewers, you can also read about it at Snopes here and in this Chicago Tribune review of the book I linked. The book is Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park by Lee H. Whittlesey. As other commenters have mentioned it's an excellent book in general, and right up /r/MorbidReality's alley.

For those interested
https://www.amazon.ca/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217

An entire book describing the accidental deaths at Yellowstone national park.

Example: One guy was saving his dog which jumped into one of the sulfur ponds to chase.....something. He got his dog out, but was burned to badly and swallowed so much sulfur water that he slowly died after he was pulled out of the pond. He was constantly saying how stupid he was and how much he regretted it

IOW: Its the most entertaining Darwin Awards compilation you'll ever see.

If you would like a detailed report of what happens when people do jump or fall into the pools, check out Death in Yellowstone. You can read most of the first chapter using the 'Look Inside', which has the 'boiling to death' stories.

Had a friend who worked at Yellowstone for Xanterra (the folks who run concessions and lodges in the park). He had so many stories of the completely insane things people do when they have never been exposed to nature before.

I think my favorite story was a guy getting out of his car and walking up to a bison, trying to put his kid on its back for a ride. Bison are wild herd animals, are fucking huge, and are at LEAST as dangerous as a grizzly (most of the time). The bison flipped out and charged, managing to gore the guy pretty badly (he survived). The kid got away fine, and probably has a little goddamn respect for nature and the wild now.

If you're a bit morbid, and want to marvel at the stupidity of people in a national park, check out Death in Yellowstone. It's a book full of this sort of shit.

I hate that I don't know how to link you to the right spot, but hit "look inside" on this book. You want to read the chapter titled "Hold Fast to Your Children: Death in Hot Water". It gives actual accounts of people who went into the pools. One man dove, most fell accidentally; either way it isn't pretty.

There is a whole chapter about horrible deaths resulting from people getting too close to the hot springs in the book Death in Yellowstone. It should be required reading before entering the park.

I highly recommend the book "Death in Yellowstone"

A LOT of people have died from the hot springs.

One of the people mauled by a bear was someone from my hometown and a good friend of my dads at the time.

Death in Yellowstone is a very interesting book. But I just couldn't finish it. It was too depressing, especially the stories of little children who died horrible or painful deaths.

There's a whole book of this stuff. We read stories aloud as we drove to and from the park. "Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park." Many stories of attempts at hot tubbing the pools, falling into the pools, rocks falling on heads, etc.

Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1570980217/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ZPwTAb8JCFRZX

Probably this.

https://www.amazon.de/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217


Edit: Here is a small interview, topic related.

http://www.yellowstonepark.com/unnatural-deaths-yellowstone-national-park-avoid/

have you ever read Deaths in Yellowstone? I spent a week there years ago and read that book during my stay. it made for some very interesting talking points at various sites.

Unfortunately these stories are nothing new. It's odd to have a lot of stupid people this early, but the whole history of Yellowstone has people dying due to their own stupidity.

One of my favorite books is Death in Yellowstone. Glad to know they're getting plenty of material for Volume 2.

Bear spray. And read the instructions on it, and wear bells or sing the whole time you're out.

I know, silly - but I just finished reading Death in Yellowstone and damn.

Bear spray, bro.

Also, ensure you're not camping with any food smells - or any other strong smells - in your tent.

My mom read these books to me... they scared me a little. The trauma came from camping trips in Yellowstone National Park when she put those books away, then pulled out A Grizzly Death in Yellowstone and Death in Yellowstone so that she could read graphic stories of campers and hikers being mauled to death by bears in the same fucking place we were going to sleep.

I, to date, have a completely totally rational fear of bears.

That's the one! It has some great stories in there, and yes, a lot of people have been scalded to death in the geysers. You can frequently witness tourists going off the boardwalks, illegally, to get closer to the geysers. Darwin was really on to something.

I've read both Death in Yellowstone (A+) and Death in Yosemite (C+) and found them to be interesting.

Most of the deaths are rather unexciting. Automobile accidents are the leading cause of death in every NP I have ever heard of.

Here is a list from the Smokey Mountain NP website.
>Average number of serious injuries in the park each year:
Motor vehicle accidents - 50,
Walking or hiking accidents - 38,
Bicycle accidents - 16,
Falls from waterfalls - 9,
Horse related - 7,
Tubing related - 5,
Bee Sting reaction - 4

My recommendation is to drive the whole length of Hwy 441 through the park. The road might as well be a graveyard. Tons of people have died on it. But don't come crying to me when you come back and say it doesn't feel any more dangerous than any other road.

I felt the true meaning of the word "ambivalence" when visiting Yellowstone. Deadly, beautiful thermal features...

Anyone else ever read the book "Death in Yellowstone" while visiting/camping in Yellowstone? For true "trippyness", do it!

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217

I have this book my pa gave me called Death in Yellowstone, which talks about Miss Weeks and others. The part this article does not kindly mention is the fact that all of the skin on her lower half slid off when she was pulled out. It happens to almost everyone who falls in a geyser in Yellowstone.

> What bothers me the most about this is that the adults seem to either not care, or are clueless to the danger that this group, of mostly kids, is in.

I used to work as a Ranger in the park. This is, unfortunately, not uncommon. For some reason, otherwise normal, reasonably intelligent people just leave their brains behind when they go on vacation. I don't know if they think Yellowstone is like Disneyland, or a zoo, or what, but they just lose all sense of fear when it comes to the dangers around them.

One day, I was gassing up a Suburban in a clearly marked Rangers-only restricted area. A moose walked by. Okay, cool. This is awesome. This is why I'm here. I love nature. Nature is awesome.

But then...

Not ten yards behind the moose comes this group of 20-30 people, just completely ignoring all the signs telling them not to enter this area and completely ignoring any common sense that says you should not be anywhere near that close to a wild animal that could turn and charge them at any moment.

When I stopped them and asked them what they were doing, one guy finally said "We're trying to take pictures of the moose."

Sigh. Sigh. Fucking sigh. Now I have to be the asshole and tell them that they shouldn't be anywhere near that close to a dangerous wild animal in the first place, and second they should not have ignored the multiple signs telling them that they shouldn't be in a restricted area. And, that they need to go back and watch the moose from a safe distance.

Now, repeat this similar encounter nearly every single day. Sure, the specifics are different, but the same thing happens all the time, and I really don't get it. In spite of all the warnings people are given not to approach the wildlife, they still keep doing it.

As a side note, if you want some morbid but fascinating reading, check out Lee Whittlesey's book Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park. It's a fascinating book on all the various grisly ways people have managed to off themselves in the park, often through their own idiocy, and often ignoring many warnings in the process.

If you like spending money on something that wikipedia rendered obsolete-ish, I recommend

http://www.amazon.com/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217

Picked it up as a young morbid person in the park. Fantastic.

I worked a summer in Yellowstone a couple years ago. It's amazing how many people just lost their minds when they got near these large wild animals. The bison harmed FAR more people every year that bears ever do. Not because the bison are that aggressive, these people have never been around wild animals and think they are tame.

I was surprised how many times I was asked if they could swim in the hot springs. "I would not recommend it, since most of the springs are boiling or almost boiling. It would most likely be lethal"

FYI: the vast majority of deaths in Yellowstone are car accidents.

Check out Death in Yellowstone it's a great read

Love Shoshone Geyser Basin. I've been there 3 times! Finally got to see Minute Man go off on the 3rd trip!

Ever read Death in Yellowstone? You'll never look at Shoshone Geyser Basin the same...

I picked up a copy of Death in Yellowstone during a trip there a couple of years ago. Highly recommended.

The chapter on bears had many anecdotes about dog / bear interactions. Also people / bear interactions.

People can be really stupid.

I got this book a while back: https://www.amazon.com/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217

You'd be surprised how many morons die by falling into hot springs and the like.

They have graphic fliers and signs which I am positive they saw. Especially since the lady was joking about the danger. There is a good book called Death in Yellowstone that has many good stories about what dumbasses people can be.

After reading this I know how easily that could have turned into Thai Soup

Oh - yeah, like BeTee said, tourists (or tourons as the staff called them [moron tourists]) are notorious for their naivete. There is an entire book dedicated to the dumb ways tourons have gotten themselves killed in Yellowstone over the years.

Death in Yellowstone changed my opinion on kid-leashes. Of course, taking a toddler to a massive caldera/wildlife preserve is a bit of a risky idea in the first place. But leashing them up could mitigate most of that risk.

I think I read it in this book actually.

I could be wrong though

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217

Loved this as a kid

If you are in a campground as big as that one, there is zero chance of bear attack. But, if you want to suitably freak yourself out about the ways Yellowstone is trying to kill you besides bears read this book while there, (in every gift shop) http://www.amazon.com/Death-Yellowstone-Accidents-Foolhardiness-National/dp/1570980217