The Mackinac Bridge Tragedy (Part 2)

On windy days, the Mackinac Bridge closes to lightweight vehicles. There's a reason for that. In 1989, Leslie Ann Pluhar was driving a Yugo across Michigan's engineering marvel when 50-mile-per-hour winds lifted her car and sent it tumbling 200 feet into the icy waters below. She was just 31 years old, heading to meet her boyfriend in St. Ignace. Today, authorities escort vulnerable vehicles across in convoys. But the bridge's dark history didn't begin with Leslie.

When construction started in 1954, the world was still haunted by the collapse of Washington's Tacoma Narrows Bridge—a suspension bridge that twisted and rolled like a wave before plunging into the sea. The footage showed a man in a trench coat attempting to rescue a trapped dog named Tubby before fleeing for his life. That disaster cost David Steinman's predecessor his job. When Steinman took over the Mackinac project, he was staring at the longest suspension bridge ever attempted—five miles of nothing but wind and water. Five workers would die during construction.

This episode explores the engineering genius and human cost of bridging Michigan's Upper Peninsula. We'll visit St. Ignace's 350th birthday party, explore the morphine-stained ghost town of Fayette, and experience a genuinely unsettling wrong turn in the Michigan wilderness. Sometimes local history leaves you looking over your shoulder.

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Show Notes: In This Episode:

• Why the Mackinac Bridge has distinctive grated lanes that hum as you drive
• The 1989 tragedy of Leslie Ann Pluhar and why lightweight cars cross in convoys
• How the Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse almost killed the Mackinac project
• David Steinman's five-mile engineering gamble across the Straits of Mackinac
• St. Ignace's 350th birthday party and the couple singing "Like a Sturgeon"
• Inside Fayette ghost town: morphine bottles hidden in the walls
• Shane's unexplained panic on a remote Upper Peninsula back road

Key Figures:

• Leslie Ann Pluhar - 31-year-old waitress killed when winds blew her Yugo off the bridge in 1989
• David Steinman - Engineer who designed the Mackinac Bridge after the Tacoma disaster
• Tubby - Three-legged paralyzed cocker spaniel trapped on the collapsing Tacoma Narrows Bridge (1940)

Timeline:

• 1940: Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses, halting suspension bridge projects nationwide
• 1954: Construction begins on Mackinac Bridge despite engineering fears
• 1957: Mackinac Bridge opens as world's longest suspension bridge (26,372 feet)
• 1957: Five workers die during construction
• 1989: Leslie Ann Pluhar blown off bridge in her Yugo during high winds
• Present: St. Ignace celebrates 350 years as America's third-oldest city

Tags: Mackinac Bridge, Michigan history, Upper Peninsula, suspension bridge, engineering disaster, Leslie Ann Pluhar, 1989 tragedy, St. Ignace, construction deaths, American history, local history, true story, forgotten history, David Steinman, Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Fayette ghost town, Great Lakes history, Midwest history, engineering, documentary

Category: History

Chapter Markers: 0:00 - Introduction: The Humming Bridge 1:15 - The Deadly Winds of 1989 3:30 - The Ghost of Tacoma Narrows 6:00 - David Steinman's Impossible Project 9:00 - St. Ignace's 350th Birthday (and Sturgeon Parody) 12:00 - Inside Fayette: The Morphine Mystery 15:30 - The Wrong Turn 17:00 - Conclusion

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