'Suicide Town'

Two cousins from 'suicide town' hang themselves within hours as death toll rises

The death toll in a small town hit by a spate of suicides rose to 16 yesterday when two young cousins were found hanged. They died hours apart, leaving the South Wales community of Bridgend reeling from the continuing string of tragedies.

Nathaniel Pritchard, 15, was still alive when he was discovered in an attic room at the family home on Wednesday but died yesterday morning when his life-support machine was turned off.

His cousin Kelly Stephenson, 20, had been told of Nathaniel's suicide bid while she was on holiday in Folkestone, Kent, and warned there was little hope he would survive.

Kelly - who knew two of the young men who died last year - was found dead shortly after midnight yesterday by a relative.


More here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...tml?in_article_id=514778&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Has this story already been posted here? it is shocking how now 16 young people have committed suicide since January, 2007 in a small town in the United Kingdom and it keeps happening! police saying they don't think there's any connection between the suicides defies belief!

ETA: there is too much going on here. i found a story on 13 of the deaths from last year:

Why did they die so young? Police re-examine files on 13 tragedies

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jan/26/uknews4.mainsection6

Is it a cult? is some drug doing this to them? what? some weird experiement?

if it could happen here, could it happen in a town you know?

Hate to say it Floh but i think theres something paranormal at work here.

Its very weird.

Thinking there is some sort of pact or cult thing going on.

Really wied.
Don't drink the water there.....

Nah definately paranormal phenomenon

isn't there a lot of copycat suicides. like one kid dies, and then he gets adoration and attention, so another kid does it, and so on and so on.

MistyM said:

isn't there a lot of copycat suicides. like one kid dies, and then he gets adoration and attention, so another kid does it, and so on and so on.

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That does happen but typically not to this extent.

Something similar is happening on Nantucket, winter population of under 10,000.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080120/NEWS/801200343

The adults now seem to think the kids are given too much sympathy, and not enough is being said about just how wrong suicide is. So sad for the entire island.

Moe said:

Something similar is happening on Nantucket, winter population of under 10,000.

http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080120/NEWS/801200343

The adults now seem to think the kids are given too much sympathy, and not enough is being said about just how wrong suicide is. So sad for the entire island.

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Horrendous.

A small town near me had the same phenomenon some years back but not as many kids. The parents got so anxious because there didn't seem to be rhyme or reason and they worried if their child would be next because it seemed almost contagious. The school got very involved by bringing in a counseling team. This episode ended as quickly as it began. It was in the wintertime.

I have been to the beautiful country of Wales and I can't imagine this happening. I wonder how many of those were on antidepressants.

This is a case of a well-documented and often undertreated psychological phenomenon among teenagers.
The FIRST suicide was a true suicide of a tortured young person who was clinically depressed and died because of it.
The majority of the others are teens imitating teens, because a teenager has no true sense of their own mortality. We see evidence of the lack of understanding of their mortality and even lack of understanding that bad things can happen to each of them, when teens do things like drag race, drink and drive, use drugs and engage in risky behavior with weapons, extreme sports and their trust of strangers.
Often a teenager has never experienced fear in their lives until just before their body hits the water, or just before the noose tightens. Usually, teens who commit mass suicide like in this town have a huge " Uh Oh" moment when it's too late to reverse the situation. They don't mean to be dead... They are NOT all depressed or suicidal by any means.

It is a tragedy which calls for massive psychological intervention, optimally by bringing psychologists and other mental health care professionals into the area for an extended period of time to interview every living friend and peer of the dead teens, if they will consent to a helping hand. Schools and parents have to both educate teens and protect them in special ways for quite a while until the glamour of a publicized death spree stops being glamourous to the living.
The cycle can be stopped with direct interaction involving love and providing the child with a security as well. A few of the adult interventional measures which help teens to live through peer mass suicide are: holding private, family only services for the latest dead children, parents imposing curfews on their teens on both school nights and weekends, families eating meals together and talking together in the AM before school and being together as a family until bedtime, involving each teenager in charitable acts and current affairs such as volunteerism ( taking the emphasis off self).
A life which is grounded in a strong family love and a personal sense of spirituality with a personal belief in God is much less likely to end in a hasty fatal decision " to be like Susie or John". This doesn't develop overnight, but teens respond quickly to positive interaction and love. The cycle can be broken by them understanding that their life is so priceless to those who love them.

I think the following practice is a USA phenomenon, and I apologize in advance if there are people here who do this but it has always bothered me to see the roadside handmade crosses and memorials of flowers and teddy bears left to accident fatalities in the USA, particularly when the person killed was a teenager, who often has a photo left at the makeshirt memorial site.
Often, the memoralization, no matter how well intended, will provide the impetus for another teen to want their own memorialization. If you look, the crosses are often in a cluster, not because of some quirky danger at that spot in the road, but because in a teen's mind, the romantic idea of being remembered with a cross and flowers on the side of the road for all to see is permanent. The idea of one's death at this age is NOT one of permanence.

Paranormal? I'm baffled by that...

I think it is kids that THINK they are having a hard time dealing with life, so they think they are left with no alternative.

Thats just alot of people in a short time. How strange

When this story first made headlines, there was a lot of talk about a suicide pact. (I'm 99% sure the thread is on here somewhere).

SeekingJana - I don't agree with your assessment that roadside memorials are causing kids to kill themselves. When I was in high school, one of my best friends was in an accident with two other kids. One got killed, one had a broken neck and back and my friend had a broken arm. Going to the funeral was one of the most horrific experiences in my life. Of course there was a memorial where the accident happened, but it certainly didn't cause anyone else to have an accident. If anything, for the first time my peers realized that death could happen to them and it changed a lot of attitudes. If you can show me data proving me wrong, I'll accept it, but it is my personal experience that it is not the case.

Paranormal? I'm baffled by that...

I think it is kids that THINK they are having a hard time dealing with life, so they think they are left with no alternative.

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Alot of areas in Wales are old and haunted.

cenasangel said:

Alot of areas in Wales are old and haunted.

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Oh, okay... even though I am a skeptic, I have never heard of a suicide thought to be brought on by a paranormal aspect. Something new to research... (and please please please don't think I am making light of things... I am always researching stuff that draws my curiosity...)

I've heard of several towns in the U.S. that have experienced this. I think the smaller the town, the worse it probably is for the teens.

I think it's the same "phenomenom" (holy mackeral that's probably spelled wrong) as the increased rate of suicide in a FAMILY if a family member has already committed suicide. It's like a runaway train once it starts.

I can remember feeling so desperate.