Summary: The Sirens Of Wildwood Falls

The Sirens of Wildwood Falls

When Alex Smith noticed his 13-year-old brother, Chris, slip off the rocks above Wildwood Falls he knew there was only one thing to do. Without hesitation, the 16-year-old boy ran to the edge of the rocks, where the current of the Row River was pulling his younger brother towards the nearby waterfalls. He extended his reach as far as he could to save his brother, and was unable to grab him. Leaving the safety of the rocky shore, he jump in, hoping to pull his brother to safety. Wildwood Falls, located near Cottage Grove, Oregon, is a local favorite for cooling off on a hot summer day. With the temperature, reaching 96 degrees on that July day in 2014, when Alex’s family had decided a picnic along the Row River,

He said that they have asked themselves many questions regarding choices that were made that day. Choices that might have prevented them from visiting the site where they lost Alex. They wonder, what would have taken place if they had stopped for lunch somewhere else, instead of having lunch at Wildwood. Meanwhile, Chris has suffered from survivor’s guilt. He blamed himself for Alex drowning, in an effort to save him. These feelings are quite normal, and occur frequently when a person feels they have done wrong by surviving a traumatic event, when others did not. Wildwood Falls has a history of killing young swimmers, who come to the pool during the summer to cool off. She lures them into her cool, refreshing waters, while lulling them into believing nothing bad is going to happen. In the same way that the Sirens in The Odyssey beckoned sailors to crash upon the rocks, Wildwood calls young men into her watery tomb. The frequency of these deaths is disturbing, and yet every summer swimmers return to her. Another specific example comes from 1977, which illustrates the trickeries of this pool. Bob DeMoss came from a working class home in nearby Springfield, Oregon. As was the expectation, after he obtained his driver’s license Bob had sought a

“Wildwood Falls has a picnic area, and a great place to swim,” Rick, another assistant manager had offered. The location was set, and on a hot summer day in August, everyone that planned on going met at the pizza parlor. They packed several cases of soda in one car. Ben had several pizzas, along with other food prepared, and put in another vehicle. A couple of the employees made a halfhearted effort to smuggle beer out of the cooler as well, but Ben would not allow minors to have alcohol. There was some room left over in the 1976 red Honda Civic that had the soda in the back. With enough space for a couple passengers Bob and his best friend, Rich, climbed in. The car was not very big, but there was enough room in the back for two passengers. Gatehouse Pizza had only been in business a few years. Similar to most restaurants that start out it had struggled financially. While most of the staff, made up of high school students, did not know of the difficulties, management did. On this day, management was in a festive mood since there had been significant improvements in the finances. This had also contributed to Ben’s desire to do something special for the