"Jaws Bridge" jump tragedy results in one death and another missing

Jumping off the Jaws Bridge in Martha's Vineyard - the fictional filming location of Amity Island in Jaws - has long been a rite of passage for islanders and its visitors.

That's despite numerous warning signs about it not being safe to jump or dive from the bridge. As the MV Times put it in a previous article about the bridge, "jumping off the bridge is technically illegal, but is tacitly accepted by the community and town officials."

That could all change after one confirmed death, with another jumper still missing, after nine people jumped into the water late at night.

The unnamed swimmer death was confirmed by the US Coast Guard. Another is still missing, despite a detailed water search by divers, boats and police helicopters.

Quoted in the Vineyard Gazette, Oak Bluffs Police Chief Jonathan Searle - who himself had been a child actor in Jaws - said nine people jumped off the bridge late Sunday night.

He said: “Two of the nine got into trouble swimming."

The official name of the Jaws bridge, which connects Edgartown to Oak Bluffs, is the American Legion Memorial Bridge, but has been lovingly referred to as the Jaws bridge since it appeared in the 1975 Steven Spielberg shark thriller.

Words by Dean Newman

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