Britt Jones
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
A drone operator has revealed an up-close look at a lake's 'gory hole', where a woman fell to her death 27 years ago.
The Monticello Dam in Napa County, California is the seventh largest man-made lake in the the state and is a great spot to chill out and catch some rays.
However, nobody would know just how mesmerizing the ‘glory hole’ is until it was too late.
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Thankfully, one man decided to fly his drone into the spinning circle to see what it was really like. Take a look:
The lake is a 300-foot-high, 72 feet wide arch dam made completely out of concrete.
The structure famously has a spillway - dubbed the lake's 'glory hole' - for water to flow into when the dam reaches its maximum capacity of 1,602,000 acre-feet.
But getting too close to it can prove fatal.
In 2017, a YouTube channel called NorCal H.I.D. Matt Casias, run by Matt Casias, provided the public with a close up look of the ‘glory hole’ and it’s the same site where one person tragically died.
Emily Schwalen, a citizen of Davis, is the only known person to have died from the spillway drain after being caught in the current and was tragically swept down the pipe in 1997.
Reports at the time vary, and it is unclear if the incident was an accident or a suicide.
One account in SFGate reports Emily managed to desperately hold onto the rim for about 20 minutes before eventually falling 200 feet to her death.
For obvious reasons, swimming near the glory hole has since been prohibited, and recreational use of the lake has been declining since 2008.
At its peak popularity, 1.3 million visitors used to visit the lake each year but now it’s around 400,000.
Even though it’s a pretty scary view, and the thought of being sucked into a water vortex a possibility if you get too close, viewers were still stunned by its ‘hypnotic’ views.
One person commented: "Well done, nice to see the whole hole and not just the top side. Looks like it is functioning as it should. Thanks for the vid!"
A second added: "This is so f**king hypnotic."
While a third viewer said: "This is the best video of the Glory Hole that I have seen. Awesome, thanks."
Someone else wrote: "As a person who is scared of water and height, I find this so terrifying."
A fourth viewer said: "Nice drone work. Thanks for showing where the water comes out, too. Not many do that."
To be honest, it is a wonderful sight.
Its continuous flowing water is something that many could fall asleep listening to, but you wouldn’t want to take a closer peek in person.
It might swallow you whole.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741