Water was redirected from the falls for six months for an engineering project
Engineers working at Niagara Falls were met with a gruesome sight when they prevented the water flow at the iconic tourist attraction.
Whether you’re lucky enough to have visited Niagara Falls in person, or you’ve simply seen it on pictures or on TV, you’ll know that it’s a force to be reckoned with.
According to the website for Niagara Falls State Park, 3,160 tons of water flows over Niagara Falls every second, falling at 32 feet per second.
The site is a natural wonder, but in 1969, mankind had to get involved to divert the water flowing on the American side of the falls.
As confirmed by Snopes, the water was redirected by the Army Corps of Engineers to the Canadian side of the falls as part of a huge project to assess erosion going on in the area.
The Niagara Falls site explains: “In 1969, an earthen dam was built across the head of the American Rapids, de-watering the American Falls. For six months, geologists and engineers studied the rock face and the effects of erosion.”
However, when the water stopped flowing it wasn’t just mud and rock the engineers found underneath. They also discovered the remains of a man and woman.
In the days after the discovery, The Toronto Sun published an article which revealed that the decomposed body of the woman was found first, while the engineers were actually looking for the body of a man who had been seen leaping over the falls.
The man’s body was then discovered the following day.
Decades on from the recovery of the remains, it is unclear whether the man and woman were ever identified, or exactly when their bodies ended up in the falls.
Though the bodies were definitely the most gruesome of the discoveries made during the engineering project, they weren’t the only findings that were out of place underneath the water.
The team also uncovered millions of coins along the ground, which had likely ended up there after being dropped or thrown in to the rushing water by tourists visiting Niagara Falls from either Canada or the United States.
After six months on the project, the engineers ultimately determined that it would be too expensive to remove rock at the base of the American Falls, and that nature should take its course. The water was released back to the American side of the falls, once again covering up all the secrets underneath.
Now, Niagara Falls is used to produce over 4 million kilowatts of electricity, which is shared by the United States and Canada.
