VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: Hoover Dam Bodies

Posted on: December 15, 2023, 08:04h. 

Last updated on: December 17, 2023, 11:33h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas.

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Busted” publishes a new entry every Monday, with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. Today’s entry in our ongoing series originally ran on July 22, 2022. 

A surprising number of alternative facts about the world’s gambling capital continue to resonate across pop culture, with little relevance to reality. The Hoover Dam holds one of the biggest.

Hoover Dam
The Hoover Dam, seen above, was never officially called Boulder Dam. That nickname was used by political detractors of President Herbert Hoover following the dam’s construction. (Image: TravelNevada.com)

Construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s was dangerous work; as such, there were many fatalities. But no bodies lie inside the mammoth structure’s 4.4 million cubic feet of concrete, despite what your cousin Josh whispered to you when you toured the facility.

While Hoover Dam was built between 1931 and 1936, setting the stage for Las Vegas’ eventual transformation from a small town to a big city, about 100 unfortunate construction workers did lose their lives. One was even buried alive in the Hoover Dam concrete, according to former Nevada state archivist Guy Rocha. But his remains didn’t remain there.

The Hoover Damned

On Nov. 11, 1933, the wall of a form collapsed, sending hundreds of tons of wet concrete tumbling down the face of the dam and onto poor W.A. Jameson. When Jameson’s fellow construction workers toiled for 16 hours to exhume him, it wasn’t only to comfort his bereaved family and friends.

There are several logical reasons why workers wouldn’t have been left in the concrete. For starters, the dam is made from many slabs of concrete. Each slab took hours to set before the next could be poured. So, if someone died during the process, there was plenty of time to recover the body.

Secondly, organic material (like a human body) would cause significant issues for the structural integrity of the concrete. As a body broke down, it would create an air pocket inside the concrete. Over time, this would create an unacceptable structural defect that could break up or damage the dam’s integrity, according to Rocha.

Dam Sparks Imagination, Confusion

The myth of Hoover Dam’s entombed owes to how large the structure has loomed over Las Vegas for nearly 100 years.

Hoover Dam was such a massive engineering project that shaped the region so much, it has sparked a lot of people’s imaginations for a long time,” said David Schwartz, Las Vegas historian and UNLV professor.

People may also have confused Hoover Dam with Montana’s Fort Peck Dam. In bad news for anyone trying to get some sleep in the vicinity of that Missouri River structure, the bodies of six of eight workers killed by a catastrophic slide there on Sept. 22, 1938, were permanently entombed inside.

Fort Peck is an earthen dam, so decomposing bodies aren’t considered structural defects, Rocha explained, since the loose earth slowly collapses around them.

Unlike the Hoover Dam, nearby Lake Mead does hold a few morbid secrets. Two bodies were found on its exposed bottom in May, with one suspected to be a mob hit.

Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. Visit VegasMythsBusted.com to read previously busted Vegas myths. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.