Hoover Dam: They really got into their work

Mr. Alice:

Are there really dead bodies permanently resting in the concrete of Hoover dam? It is said that workers fell into the wet concrete and couldn't be rescued, so they are still there today.

-- Ben Atthebottom, the net

Will you be disappointed if I say no? Take some of the fun out of those trips to Lake Mead-- drifting in the houseboat imagining the carnage? It's such a persistent rumor, we must get some sort of thrill out of believing it. Our love of discussing horrible stuff that happened to somebody else is the life force of many old wives tales and urban myths. Sorry, Ben, no bodies. Two things wrong with the story. The dam was made of concrete slabs poured individually and allowed to dry before the next slab was poured. Anybody who fell into a fresh section could have been rescued. And any foreign object like a human body would have caused a weak spot in the slab; so even if someone had managed to concrete himself to death, they wouldn't have left the body there.