Almost a million tourists from around the world tour the Hoover Dam every year. Many simply want to marvel at its sheer size, however some come to find out what makes the Hoover Dam so haunted. The Hoover Dam is considered to be haunted because there are so many deaths associated with it. Hundreds of people died during the construction of the dam and hundreds more in recent years. Let’s dive in deeper and find out why so much death is closely associated with this massive structure.
Originally known as the Boulder Dam, the Hoover Dam is a gigantic concrete impoundment that stands over 726 feet tall, and lies on the border of Nevada and Arizona. The dam connects the Colorado River and Lake Mead, the largest US reservoir. Hydroelectricity produced by the dam supplies more than one million people in California, Nevada, and Arizona with power. Construction of this behemoth spanned from 1931 to 1936. A project of this magnitude was much too expensive for any single company to complete during The Great Depression, so six construction companies joined forces to carry out the assembly of the dam. More than 20,000 people took part in erecting the dam. So many people came in search of work that Boulder City, Nevada was stamped into existence in order to house everyone. By the time it was finished, over 100 workers had died in construction related accidents.
It’s no secret that many lost their lives in the construction of this monument, but what many don’t know is that there are many more deaths surrounding the dam, many of which have happened since the dam was completed. Around 100 people have been reported intentionally jumping from the top of the dam to their deaths. This large number of suicides surely lends itself to the ghost sightings and the idea that Hoover Dam is haunted. St. Thomas, Nevada became an underwater ghost town as the dam’s construction was completed. Residents were told that they had to evacuate to the town, but there has never been confirmation on whether everyone got out alive. Lake Mead is currently at its lowest levels since the 1930s, and the skeleton that was once St. Thomas is now exposed.
The Hoover Dam is most widely known as the largest and most complex construction project of its time, but underneath this thin veneer of accomplishment lie hundreds of deaths that make this dam one of the largest haunted structures in the world.
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