The Deadly History of The Bolton Strid

Hidden within the English forest, the deadly, yet breathtaking rapids at the River Wharfe's narrowest point are some of the deadliest waters in the entire world, boasting an alleged 100% fatality rate for all who have had the misfortune to enter its waters.

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[dgz_]

I feel for that firefighter in the last story. Imagine the guilt you’d carry having been so close to saving someone but losing your grip at the last second. Thats the kind of thing that will never leave someone’s mind for the rest of their life. So tragic.

[hms_thunderchild]

One of the most terrifying stretches of water on earth. So unassuming, yet so deadly

[markhiggins]

I live within walking distance of this deceptive stretch of water and since childhood it was impressed on me constantly how lethal it is. It looks as if you can almost step over, or certainly easily jump across. Unfortunately the rocks are slippery.

[ajaks]

It's the stories involving children, that are the worst. RIP to all of them. Great video! Thank You.

[j.jwhitty]

As a former Lifeguard some of the things I have seen people doing around water has never ceased to baffle me.

[kathyinwonderlandl.a.]

Ever since I heard about the Bolton Strid I became mesmerized by it. It got me on a deep level of horror as I imagined myself in the past, coming upon this hidden death trap. Anything there is about the Strid and I’m on it. I’ve never lost that tenseness in my gut when I come upon it.

[Tishers]

I led a dive/recovery team in the early 1990's and we were tasked with finding two fishermen who were traveling down a 15km long stretch of river. We were called in to start the search at around 7pm, we only had an hour of daylight at that point. We had boats in the water all night long and beached our boats (around 3am) right above a sunken road that was acting like a low head dam.
The river narrowed from a sedate, meandering river 15-25 meters wide down to a narrow channel about 5m across where it reached this submerged road.

The submerged road was for the crossing of bulldozers and tracked construction equipment; Things that could handle a couple of feet of water. The river was running high at that time from spring rains.
What we did not know is that the river had carved out a deep cut in to the limestone right after the road and it was a drowning-pool for anyone who was in the water. We had secured lines across the river at that point so our rescue boats could be guided to the western shore right before that point.

The next morning we had air-support from the US Coast Guard who sent a helicopter to cover the river again, from the launching point down to where we had our command post. We were about 250 meters downstream from this submerged road.

I was watching the helicopter as it was approaching us as the crew member at the door started to vigorously point downward and the helicopter started to circle one spot.

The rescuers who were resting at the command post all started running up on the road alongside the river. One unknown man leapt in to the river and pushed himself out to where the helicopter was, The river was still a little fast at that point but it was only waist deep.

He grabbed on to something.... two somethings and began to drag them to shore. I could see that it was the wrists of bodies in the water. By now my team was jumping in to the water to help pull out these bodies and to help this poor man.

They brought the bodies ashore and we had bags and stretchers; We knew it was a recovery and not a rescue. The two men were obviously dead, their skin was the color of a marble statue and where in rigor mortis.

The man came ashore and was crying; Trying to keep a woman and another younger man from approaching. I suddenly realized that this was the father of one of the two men. We jumped in to recover the body of his son.

Imagine my shock when I then recognized the man; He was one of the teachers from my high school where I had graduated about 15 years earlier.

Dealing with the families, gathering personal information, pictures so we can identify what is hopefully just two guys lost along the river somewhere; That is for the police to do. It is not a good practice for the rescuers/ recovery team members to know too many personal details about the potential victims. Too much information and you end up taking very dangerous personal risks that can turn rescuers in to victims. Through that night I kept in contact with my teams on the water by radio. I stood by and supervised pulling the boats out before this sunken road because even in the absolute darkness I knew that I did not want rescue boats crossing that sunken road. It was just too dangerous.

I could of not imagined that all night long we were probably 30-40 meters away from the drowning victims, who had been in the water for almost 20 hours by then. Being responsible for a team means I had to keep them safe too. We knew that we had at least another day on the river the next morning and we needed light to do what was next.
+++
The father's look on his face, as his entire world was broken apart by what had happened. The loss that he and his family had experienced and how this had broken him... It still haunts my dreams.

[thereasonableconsumer]

My friend nearly drowned in the Salt River while we were tubing. He fell off his tube and was caught in a current like this. He bobbed to the surface twice and yelled help. I was unable to fight the current and couldn't help at all. His saving grace was when he gave up, and the current at the bottom pushed him out of the turbulent section. He survived, thankfully.

[yyle_strz..]

i saw that one video where it was a cloudy stream and it looks shallow but the guy put his whole arm and it didnt touch the bottom. he did amazing splits by the way. (not related but honourary mention.)
there was a comment, saying “real life horror movie if there was a current and you fell into a very thin-aired place”. reply said bolton strid, and i searched it up

[ShadeEmberi]

Basically a large river on its side with alcoves and caves along the sides.

[jabbawakka]

Enjoy your content and body of well told and edited, thank you.

[HandyMan]

I just wanted to say that I had to turn my laptop over to show what your opening picture is to my coworkers. Just wanted to throw that out there, Midnight. Thanks again for another interesting upload. Take care, and keep safe.

[riverbender]

The depth in the narrows is an amazing, 100 ft.

[atheistsince]

Absolutely obscure and fascinating I never knew about this river and currents the beautiful green moss on all the rocks well that's the kiss of death impossible to get a foothold or grab hold . As a geek and Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast there are water elementals that lure adventurers to thier deaths but I'm sure in the Middle Ages there were localized superstitions and folklore surrounding the dead bodies that always turned up back then it was sparsely populated and a full on untamed wilderness the very reason I'm a medievalist to this day nature wasn't meant to be tamed keep it all wild .

[HealThyAse]

This is an amazing video. Information I’ve never heard nor read before. Bravo MM

[smedleyx]

Kind of surprised I haven't heard of any cocky YouTubers get Darwinised trying to do a "Strid Challenge". Yet.

[scarletmacaw]

That eerie music you play in each video…I call it “Lethal Injection”.

[devora]

My goat with another obscure banger 🙏🏼

[teresacorrigan]

Good cautions. Like the river down from the Niagra falls on the Canadian side. 🇨🇦

[classicmicroscopy]

I like the format of having a teaser short followed by a full video later on. 😊