Naked New Yorkers Jump to their Deaths, and other Lover’s Leaps

On Tuesday morning, two naked lovers clasped hands and jumped from the southbound side of the Tappan Zee Bridge, which spans the Hudson River 25 miles north of New York City.

One, a teacher named Alfa Choice, did not survive, her body was pulled from the Hudson later that morning. The other, 44 year old Christopher Shears, lived and remains in critical condition. Tales of lover’s leap appear across cultures and around the world, from the Cherokees of North Carolina to the Chamorros of Guam and often involve a similar story; lovers down on their luck or forbidden to be together meet on a promontory or are chased to one, then leap hand in hand into the abyss.

One well-visited lover’s leap occurs along a rocky scenic overlook on the Jeb Stuart Highway in southwestern Virginia. During the 1600s, white settlers were engaged in a series of fierce battles with local Native Americans. Legend has it that a settler’s son saw the twinkle in the eye of a young girl named Morning Flower, the daughter of a chief, and immediately fell in love. The couple grew their love via secret meetings but were threatened and shunned by their respective clans. “With the beautiful rock and wildflowers as their backdrop, they jumped into the wild blue yonder,” states a Virginia state tourism website.

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Further south, in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, is another lover’s leap involving Native Americans. Blowing Rock takes its name from a rock formation which towers 1,500 feet above the Johns River. The rock cliff’s unusual shape and size are such that wind currents sometimes blow straight up, causing light objects to float into the sky. The area was once a battleground between two great Native American tribes, the Cherokee and the Catawba and according to legend a man and a woman from the opposing tribes fell in love. One day the couple was walking near Blowing Rock when the man received notice to report to his village and prepare for battle against his lover’s tribe. She urged him to remain with her. Distraught over what to do he threw himself into the gorge. The woman prayed to the Great Spirit for her lover to return. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew the man back up the cliff and landed him safely beside his beloved.

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On the south coast of Jamaica a famous Lover’s Leap rises 1,700 feet above the Caribbean Sea. Story has it that in the 18th century there were two slave lovers, Mizzy and Tunkey. Their master was a man named Chardley and he was also in love with Mizzy. In order to have her for himself he arranged for Tunkey to be sold to another estate. The slave lovers fled but were eventually chased to the edge of a steep cliff. They embraced one last time then jumped to their deaths.

Another tropical paradise lover’s leap is on the Pacific island of Guam, where a 280 foot cliff known as Two Lovers Point rises directly out of the sea. Today, it’s a popular tourist destination and the site of picnics and weddings. A 25 foot bronze statue commemorates the story of the suicidal lovers that gives the place its name. The story has several versions, the oldest involves an ancient high-caste chamorri Mattao from the village of Gnaton who fell in love with a pretty young low-caste mangatchang maiden. The two families refused the couple permission to marry. Exiled from their villages, the lovers traveled the island looking for asylum but no one took them in. Pursued by the man’s relatives the lovers were forced to eke out an existence in the jungle. They starved and suffered. In a state of despair they built a tomb of stones and placed inside an infant child the woman had borne. Then they climbed to the top of a steep cliff, tied themselves together by their hair and jumped into the crashing waves below.

According to a second legend, their remains were retrieved by villagers who intended to bury them at sea but a typhoon blew up out of nowhere, sweeping the bodies into a cave. The lovers were crystallized into large limestone statues.