The architecture of doom

Then there are the designers and engineers of such monstrosities. Obviously none set out to create a monster, but then again, neither did Doctor Frankenstein. The old saying about the road to Hell being paved with good intentions could never be more true! When Frankenstein showed some of his colleagues what he was planning on doing, he was strongly warned of the catastrophic consequences that could result from playing God. Likewise, Joseph Strauss, the engineer who designed San Francisco’s orange iron monster, was also given a warning. He was strongly advised to make the edge railing taller to be harder for anyone to climb over it, but he could not imagine his creation ever becoming a bloodthirsty death machine. Frankenstein was hoping his experiment would benefit human kind, as the Golden Gate Bridge’s engineer was hoping to benefit the city of San Francisco and its people. But both unwittingly created a monster. Igor chose the brain of a criminal by mistake, and the railing on the bridge was made too short. Frankenstein’s monster went on a rampage, killing and destroying until the townspeople had enough and destroyed the monster and its creator. The Golden Gate monster has been on a steady rampage ever since it was created, and it is unknown if its creator was ever sanctioned because of this. Considering that there is a statue of Strauss within sight of the bridge, I’d imagine he may not have been blamed, at least not in his lifetime, for his monster’s lust for death. However, in recent years the townspeople have gone after that orange metal monster, not to slay it but to try and separate it from its intended victims. Much like putting a dangerous animal in a cage, the monster has been fitted with a net below its railings to arrest the fall of anyone who might heed its call to jump. Now only the most determined to submit to the monster’s pull will end their lives beneath it. Some already have, and there will be those who will continue to do so by defeating the monster’s barrier and jumping from it. The Golden Gate monster has been forced, after over 70 years of bloodshed, into a state of semi-retirement. Like an aging serial killer, it will claim far fewer victims than when in its heyday of mayhem. Of course, few human serial killers have ever amassed as many victims as this iron monster has. And even though it is semi-retired from luring victims to their deaths, it still reigns supreme as one of the most lethal bridges ever built.

The high body counts of other marauding metal and concrete monsters has led citizens and municipalities to try and come up with ways to curb the bloodshed. The infamous Sunshine Skyway Bridge has also been semi-retired. This of course does nothing to absolve it of its grisly past nor make it any less creepy. A serial killer in prison is still a bloodthirsty killer, even if they never claim another victim. There are more than a few other such monsters here in the US and worldwide, that have been set upon, so to speak, by angry townspeople. Monsters whose facilitation of death and destruction has at least been sharply curbed, or, in rare cases, stopped entirely. Those potential victims then seek out other ways by which to accomplish what they set out to do. Perhaps making use of other unfettered bridges or readily available structures, or simply other by means. In other words, these deadly incidents still take place but are then swept further under the rug. The wildebeest that is somehow saved from the crocodile’s jaws might well find itself in the death grip of a lion just on the other side of the river.