In 1997 a woman experienced what has to be one of the most terrifying deaths a person can imagine after being sucked into the Monticello Dam’s morning glory spillway.
Emily Schwalen was a 41-year-old university student, studying agronomy at the University of California. On March 9, 1997 she was visiting Lake Berryessa and the Monticello Dam in Napa County. That day, the waters were pretty high meaning the spillway was draining water at a fast speed.
This specific spillway works without any need for human intervention as it is essentially a large funnel that automatically starts draining once the water level exceeds the height of the funnel. Just imagine a giant plughole draining all the water. The glory hole attracts viewers year round, particularly when the lake levels are high enough for the water to be draining, it’s almost hypnotic watching the water disappear into the abyss.
The water that is drained comes out further downstream and is practically fired out of a pipe due to the huge amount of pressure. Drowning is a horrific way to go, but any living thing that fell in this glory hole would likely be crushed by the water while also not being able to breathe.
What happened to Emily Schwalen?
Accounts of what happened that day vary depending upon the outlet which reported on it. Sadendings.blog presents a few of the conflicting reports that came out regarding the incident.
Online narratives suggest that Schwalen was swimming in the lake but soon found herself being pulled towards the huge spillway (again, imagine a giant plughole sucking you in). Unfortunately she was unable to swim away from the hole. As she reached the lip, she was able to grab ahold and some reports suggest she clung on for an agonising 20 minutes before finally losing her grip and being sucked into the raging waters below.
The ordeal sounds horrific but other outlets at the time suggested that Schwalen’s death was intentional and that she had committed suicide. Some witnesses claimed to have seen her swimming, fully clothed, towards the glory hole. She then apparently climbed onto the edge and jumped in, onlookers also noted that she appeared to be crying. The fact that some outlets specified she had to climb onto the edge suggests the water levels weren’t high enough for the spillway to be overflowing.
Schwalen’s body was later recovered downstream. As for whether her death was really a suicide or a tragic accident it seems nobody will ever know for sure. Whatever the case, the lesson here is to avoid swimming in large bodies of water that contain a glory hole unless you want to experience one of the worst deaths imaginable.
