Warmer weather in the city means pretty cherry blossoms, outdoor cafes clogging sidewalks . . . and a reliable spike in the number of bodies found floating around in New York City’s waterways.
Yep, it’s a documented phenomenon. These “floaters” are the remains of people who ended up in the river during the winter, either by suicide, homicide, or accidentally.
Why do they reappear in spring? Frigid water often keeps a corpse submerged. But once temperatures rise, gases are produced in the body that force it to come to the surface . . . and get picked up by NYPD harbor boats.
The identities of many floaters never make it into the papers. But one turned out to be monologist Spalding Gray.
His body came up on the Brooklyn side of the East River in March 2004, two months after he’s thought to have jumped off the Staten Island Ferry.
Tags: East River bodies, floaters, NYPD harbor patrol, NYPD harbor police, Spalding Gray, spring in New York City, suicide in New York
Ephemeral New York 
April 22, 2010 at 2:48 pm |
I recall reading about Spalding Gray’s disappearance and possible suicide from the Staten Island Ferry. He had been seriously injured in a car accident a few years earlier and also suffered severe depression. His final appearance as a “floater” is a sad end to an amazing individual.
April 23, 2010 at 3:43 am |
yes i remember his death too. i saw one of his monologue shows, it was very droll and very good.
April 23, 2010 at 11:27 pm |
[…] Spring in New York brings flowers—and floaters […]
May 3, 2010 at 5:47 pm |
[…] is a beautiful time in New York. The flowers bloom. The trees awake. And, as the often-interesting Ephemeral New York reminds us, the bodies begin to float on the river. Yep, it’s a documented phenomenon. These “floaters” […]