I was out fishing around Narragansett this morning and walking along the rocks near narrow river and I see a coat folded up neatly on a rock and then turn my head to see who's coat this could be and then I see a man with a gun. At first I back up thinking the guy is going to take a shot at me , but I quickly realize he is dead. I can see the blood on the rocks. Suicide with a rifle. I back up and call 911.

I would sometimes think someday I am going to see a body wash up. I never thought I would see this.

I stand there waiting for the police thinking this poor guy is missing this nice fall day, very sad.

I think he was an older man but not sure.

That is sad. Very sad...

Sad. I hope I never see that.

Seems that place likely had some meaning to him. He may have had a severe health condition and decided he was not strong enough to handle it. Have kind thoughts, and say a brief prayer.

Wow. Just Wow
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I can't imagine things getting so bad that the only way out is suicide. God rest his soul! If there is any family, they are now left with this too. God help us all!

Sorry that had to happen Plugger....and sorry you had to find it.

Ya.....as a kid fishing the canal and seeing all the red and blue lights on top of the bridges and the army corp patrol boat with its flashing lights on pulling a dead jumper out of the ditch......It is very sad that some folks think suicide is there only option.......sorry you had to see that........

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I've always said I hope never to find a body while I am fishing.. I've rehersed the way i would approach it.. I dont know how I'd approach what you found, other than the way you did.. talk about making your blood run cold...

Sorry you had to see that........sad to see and now you will always have a reminder at that spot.

I feel for the individuals family having dealt with that situation suicide should never be an option. You never what could come for you down the road. I am sorry you had that experience. I hope he finds the peace he was looking for.
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Sad, indeed.

What a macabre and bizarre scene that must have been.

At the risk of sounding like a new-age freak, that spot does have a mystique and a power about it that is very unique.

At the risk of sounding like a new-age freak, that spot does have a mystique and a power about it that is very unique.

I always felt that way when I fished there. Now I fear that feeling will be tainted. Very sad...

Makes me think we should all help one another a little bit more then maybe.........
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I'm curious about where this took place... The rocky areas of the narrow river are so hard to get to.... I'm wondering if this was at sprague bridge?? I always felt nervous anytime I approached the underside of that bridge.
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Sorry you came upon that. Hope he's at peace now. Bummer...

Nebe, it was on the camp varnum side of the inlet, not an easy spot to access.

Wow. Thats concerning. I hope it wasn't who I think it was
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Plugger, make sure your O.K. with it. I know how sucky this is, so make sure you talk it out bud.

We'll never know. Maybe the guy was an #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& to everybody he knew. Maybe he beat and tortured children. Try not to think the guy was a great guy who decided to end his life. He obviously did have problems and that sucks. I feel more bad for you than I do for the guy that killed himself.
You may think my feelings are heartless, but stuff like that doesn't disturbe me...I see a lot of it so im just numb to it.
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I'm glad I didn't see it. That stuff leaves a stain on you. It's why so many first responders have emotional problems. You have to be capable of either compartmentalizing the job, or desensitizing yourself. I couldn't do it. Seeing that could definitely cause some short or long-term PTSD.

I'm glad I didn't see it. That stuff leaves a stain on you. It's why so many first responders have emotional problems. You have to be capable of either compartmentalizing the job, or desensitizing yourself. I couldn't do it. Seeing that could definitely cause some short or long-term PTSD.

Well said Joe, after 30 years in the business of dealing with this type of death it never gets easy, if it does, then you have your own problem. The people who commit the act do not realize that it affects many more than just the family involved. There is a railroad overpass where I must drive at least once a day where a local citizen decided to jump in front of a train, there is not a time that I pass under that bridge that I do not not think about that incident, 25 years later. Prayers for his and this mans soul.

To the OP, if you find that you have trouble dealing with what you saw, always remember , that he was beyond your help. As someone else said, talk to close friends and family about it and seek help early if you think it has affected you.

Horrible. Sorry for everyone involved.

My God have mercy on his soul and yours for seeing it, sad indeed..

RIP, God bless his family/friends. Also sorry you had to see that.

We'll never know. Maybe the guy was an #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& to everybody he knew. Maybe he beat and tortured children. Try not to think the guy was a great guy who decided to end his life. He obviously did have problems and that sucks. I feel more bad for you than I do for the guy that killed himself.
You may think my feelings are heartless, but stuff like that doesn't disturbe me...I see a lot of it so im just numb to it.
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For whom the Bell Tolls
John Donne

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From "Devotions upon Emergent Occasions" (1623), XVII: Nunc Lento Sonitu Di#^&#^&#^&#^&, Morieris - "Now, this bell tolling softly for another, says to me: Thou must die."
PERCHANCE he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that.
The church is Catholic, universal, so are all her actions; all that she does belongs to all.
When she baptizes a child, that action concerns me; for that child is thereby connected to that body which is my head too, and ingrafted into that body whereof I am a member.
And when she buries a man, that action concerns me: all mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated; God employs several translators; some pieces are translated by age, some by sickness, some by war, some by justice; but God's hand is in every translation, and his hand shall bind up all our scattered leaves again for that library where every book shall lie open to one another.
As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come, so this bell calls us all; but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness.
There was a contention as far as a suit (in which both piety and dignity, religion and estimation, were mingled), which of the religious orders should ring to prayers first in the morning; and it was determined, that they should ring first that rose earliest.
If we understand aright the dignity of this bell that tolls for our evening prayer, we would be glad to make it ours by rising early, in that application, that it might be ours as well as his, whose indeed it is.
The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute that this occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God.
Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world? No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
Neither can we call this a begging of misery, or a borrowing of misery, as though we were not miserable enough of ourselves, but must fetch in more from the next house, in taking upon us the misery of our neighbours.
Truly it were an excusable covetousness if we did, for affliction is a treasure, and scarce any man hath enough of it.
No man hath affliction enough that is not matured and ripened by it, and made fit for God by that affliction.
If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels.
Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it.
Another man may be sick too, and sick to death, and this affliction may lie in his bowels, as gold in a mine, and be of no use to him; but this bell, that tells me of his affliction, digs out and applies that gold to me: if by this consideration of another's danger I take mine own into contemplation, and so secure myself, by making my recourse to my God, who is our only security.

At the risk of sounding like.............................................. ..well me. Did you end up fishing and did you catch anything if you did fish.

And I am sorry for you having to find and see that, that sucks big time for all involved.

I came across pretty much the same scene when I was a kid visiting my grandfather in Delaware. He was taking me fishing. I barely saw the man because my grandfather turned me around so quickly when we came upon the body. So quickly that he thought I never saw it and I never told him I did.

I saw a person laying on the front lawn of a house on West Beach Road early one fall morning - the car door was open.
But I figured that he was a tourist who had came back from the bar, and was passed out drunk. I didn't stop to investigate.
I think he just dropped dead - the ambulance and a bunch of cops were there on the way back.

That's very tragic. An 'oligist once said: " Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem." My condolences to the family.

Plugger, make sure your O.K. with it. I know how sucky this is, so make sure you talk it out bud.

These traumatic things can come back to haunt you for life.
Like Swimmer and Westhavendave said.

I've pulled a few bodies out of the water when I was in the CG in St. Pete. They would jump off of the SkyWay Bridge. We would land the chopper in the water and taxi over and pick them up but a couple times they were in the water so long the arm would come off. Time for the boat crew with a net.

I don't see how doing those kind of things can be a positive experience, but that's why they call it 'service.'
I read a story about a kid who came back from Iraq, settled in Vegas in a seedy part of town, got a job at a casino. On the way back from work he killed or wounded seven local gang-members who had harassed him the night before. It was self-defense, no charges filed. The survivors said he took pleasure in it. There are some traumatized people floating around with real short fuses - be careful about arguing in traffic.

The ones I don't get are the ones who do it in front of loved ones.

Had a guy in New London a few years back who stopped his truck on a highway overpass, got out, walked over to the passenger side, and jumped off into the I95 rush hour traffic below while his wife watched in horror.

Mental illness is treatable folks, so don't hesitate to reach out for help when things look bleak.
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The ones I don't get are the ones who do it in front of loved ones.

Had a guy in New London a few years back who stopped his truck on a highway overpass, got out, walked over to the passenger side, and jumped off into the I95 rush hour traffic below while his wife watched in horror.

Mental illness is treatable folks, so don't hesitate to reach out for help when things look bleak.
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I went on one suicide a few years ago where the son was in his bedroom downstairs in a rasied ranch, and the father was just down the hall. The son yelled to his father, " hey dad, look at this". When the father poked his head around the corner the son allready had the handgun to his head, he then pulled the trigger.

I've pulled a few bodies out of the water when I was in the CG in St. Pete. They would jump off of the SkyWay Bridge. We would land the chopper in the water and taxi over and pick them up but a couple times they were in the water so long the arm would come off. Time for the boat crew with a net.

Same thing when I was at Castle Hill in the late 80's. A guy went missing, they found his truck but divers found him two weeks later off of Oceancliff. We brought him back in on a 41, not a pretty sight.

The thing with mental illness is not everyone thinks it's real, so they are callous and do more harm than good when someone comes to them. Not everyone recognizes counseling and psychiatry as valid alternatives to problem solving. Those that apply broad-brush reductive reasoning to anything they can't touch or spend often equate mental illness as a cop-out for laziness or lack of masculinity.
If someone picks a person to witness their suicide, that person could very well be complicit in some way that we'll never know. We'll only get one version of events: the abridged and sanitized version.

knew an 18 year old kid that commited suicide, took his mothers cellphone and put it in his pocket before he hung himself. the mother couldn't find her phone, dialed it from the house phone, heard the ringing and when she went to the ringing found her son....truly effed up....good kid too.

I've personally known 3 people that commited suicide.

A friend of mine killed himself when he was 27. I used to hang around with him and his cousin....his cousin was one of my best friends growing up. He summed it up best at the wake. He told me he felt like "Dragging his ass outta that box and kicking the chit out of him".....people don't think about the people they leave behind when they do it.

its very sad

I had this friend who was from Plymouth Ma.

we met out in California (a friend of a friend there)
knowing i was from Mass we became great friends....

He used to repair type writers for a living
and as that industry crashed completely
with the advent of computer word processors
his life was nearly over...that and he had really
bad ankles Both of them actually...

One Day he asked my wife and i to go on a ride...
we did and we had a super great time....laughed alot
and had a very memorable occasion...unforgettable!

Then he left southern Cal and returned back home to plymouth
where i later learned he had pinned a note to his self
and turned on the gas..... ending his life.

he wasn't about to spend the rest of his days in a wheel chair
is all i can figure ...that.... and his career had ended.

i quite often remember that ride we took as it was later
that i totally realized it was all pre meditated.

It was His way of Saying Good-bye :uhuh:

One of my friends just got on Boston Police dive team. Fantastic job for about 95% of the time. Lots of training, ride around on a boat all day, go diving. It's the other 5% of the time, you're pulling bodies out of a quarry.

..people don't think about the people they leave behind when they do it.

its very sad

Yes they do think about the people they leave behind and many times that is exactly why they did it to begin with. It is the ultimate form of control. It is without question the most selfish act a human being can commit. It is the "I'll get them stupity at its worse". People committ suicide where they either loved to be or where tyhey hated where they were. Most often it is where they hated to be.

My brother-in-law on a personel note, other than my on-duty experiences spent two with with his sister, my wife, and his three kids at the Mount Desert Island Campground back in 1995. It was a joyfilled two weeks. He was in the process of getting a divorce, and he new the kid would go to the mother. He was out sick from his job, due to depression, because of everything that had been going on. I am still pissed at him for this. The day he got home from the camping trip, August 23rd, with us, he dated and started writing the suicide note. I and his sister, had just spent an enormous amount of money, which was no big deal on him and his kids, my nieces and nephew. We talked and talked and talked. His brother talked with him just about every day. We took a gun away a few months prior to this vacation just in case. He had no money to purchase another one. A gunshop in Maine sold him a gun on credit the first week in December. He killed himself December 15th. The note dated August 23rd was on the table bside the bed. He did it then to make the biggest impact on his soon to be ex-wife, his kids, and the rest of the family.

I have seen this professionally so many times, I never lost any sleep over, regardless how it happened. Yes, you do get used to it Westhavendave. When it happens within your own family you dont ever get over it. My wife agreed to handle his affairs after the will was executed, and yes, insurance policies do pay off after suicide. My wife handled the trust until the youngest, his son turned twenty two. So for approximately twelves years everyday I had to deal with this in one form or another. My wife had to buy cars for the kids. Pay for semesters in college that emotionally we new they would never make it through the first semester and didn't. We had to deal with the minor car crashes, the drug abuse by two of them. Normal passings go away, but suicides never do.

I found a body when I was a teenager fishing Jamaica Pond.
I was playing the "Wouldn't it be freaky if" game in my head when I saw what I "thought" could be a torso floating with legs dangling down, and when I got close enough for a positive identification (of what it was not WHO it was), I was sufficiently freaked out enough to probably break the row-boat speed record for the half mile.
I ended up LITERALLY rowing the boat up onto the dock, where I processed to let the authorities know what and where I saw it.

Apparently the older man (old for a teenager) had been mugged and dumped into the pond!

As for suicides, there are those that do so because they want to leave a lasting impression on the surviving family and friends (truly selfish). This is usually true for high ranking officials that don't want to spend the rest of their life behind bars and opt out instead.

Then there are those that are truly suffering and don't want to be a burden to their friends and family, and assume that their death will be seen as a selfless act. Even though their intent is to lessen the suffering of their survivors, it ends up doing just the opposite.

The best you can do is realize that not everyone can be saved or wants to be saved, and no matter what you try to do you can't change these facts. Also, remember that just listening to someone that is heading down that dark path can sometimes make them rethink where they are going and what they will be doing!

Hopefully you won't be carrying this memory around like a weight around you neck!