Elvita Adams was 29 years old, living in the Bronx, and barely holding on. She had lost her job. She was surviving on $100 welfare checks. Her landlord was threatening to evict her and her 10-year-old son. She had run out of options and, on that cold winter night, she ran out of hope.
She bought a ticket to the 86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building.
The deck sits 1,050 feet above the street. More than 30 people had jumped from the building since it opened in 1931. Only one survived, Thomas Helms. And the same thing that happened to him was about to happen to Elvita.
She climbed over the protective fence and jumped. But the world had other plans for her.
A gust of wind, clocked that evening between 23 and 38 miles per hour, caught her body as she fell and pushed her back toward the building. She landed on a 2.5 foot ledge on the 85th floor, just one story below where she had jumped.
She suffered a fractured pelvis.
A security guard found her on the ledge and she was taken to Bellevue Hospital.
Very little is known about what became of Elvita Adams after that night. She retreated from public life entirely.
She Jumped Off the Empire State Building… The Wind Said “Not Today.” 😂
