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FATALITIES IN ACADIA NATIONALPARK
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Stunning, Beautiful, Breathtaking...just a few words you often hear when people discribe the beauty of Acadia National Park, and millions flock here every year to both relax and take on an adventure.  But there is another side of Acadia you don't hear talked about where people are left paralyzed, crippled or even killed .  
Places like the Precipice, the Beehive, Thunder Hole,Otter Cliffs and even the cliffs overlooking the parks popular Sand Beach, all can and have left lives shattered and changed  forever - as these areas are unforgiving should you take a wrong step.  Below are just some of the people who traveled to Acadia National Park and ended up losing their lives there.

MAN FALLS TO HIS DEATH IN AN ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE THE PERFECT PHOTO

Posted June 7, 2016
A man who was attempting to get the perfect photo of a sunset fell 40 feet to his death in Acadia National Park.  The man, Mark Simon of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, was  68 years old and spent his summers in the town of Southwest harbor, a town located on the quiet side of the island..
Park officials are investigating how and why a 68-year-old man fell to his death in Acadia National Park on Monday, the National Park Service said Tuesday.  The accident occurred in an area where others have lost their lives in the past.
Over the years a number of other deaths have resulted from falls in this same area of the park.  He and his wife had stopped on the Park Loop Road so he could photograph the sunset from an area off the Ocean Path. Simon’s wife waited for him in the car, but became concerned after the sun had set, and waved down a passing park ranger.
Once Park Rangers had located Mr. Simon's backpack, they spotted his body down at the bottom of a 40 foot drop.  He was said to be not moving and lying at the water's edge.
Because of the steep terrain, park rangers could not reach him, and the U.S. Coast Guard was called to assist in recovering Simon’s body, which was only reached once the rising tide carried it into the water.
While the fall appears accidental, the National Park Service said it would continue to investigate the circumstances Tuesday.

MAN DIES AFTER SWIMMING ACROSS ECHO LAKE

Published July 3, 2016
Despite their best efforts to resuscitate him, a man who was from the city of South Portland Maine died Saturday afternoon following a swim in Echo Lake in Acadia National Park, according to a Park Spokesman.  He had been at the lake with his wife and children.
Nathan Savage, age 39, had been swimming in an area of the lake known as Ikes Point and had just finished a swim across the lake when he collapsed where he had been setting on a rock at around 3pm.  It was reported that Savage's wife began CPR while another park visitor used a phone to call for help.  Shortly afterwards Park Rangers and local police officers arrived at the scene and altemated CPR until an ambulance arrived at the scene, but by then Savage had died.
Park spokesman John Kelly said Mr Savage was taken to the state medical examiners office where an autopsy would be done.

LOCAL MAN DIES AFTER FALLING FROM BRIDGE

posted June 5, 2015

BAR HARBOR – Christian Linwood Emigh-Doyle, 23, died May 25, 2014. He was born April 6, 1991 in Boston, MA, the son of Kenneth Edison Doyle and Christie Ellen Emigh, MD.
As a child, he attended the Acadia Friends Meeting in Northeast Harbor, until age 14 when he moved to Newtown, PA to attend The George School. During high school, Christian attended The George School, a Friends school in Newtown, Pennsylvania for 2 1/2years. Then, he completed high school at the Mt. Desert High School in Bar Harbor, Nov. 22, 2011 by obtaining a GED. During childhood, he enjoyed many summers at the Friends Camp in China, Maine and Camp Beech Cliff, Mt. Desert. In the outdoors, he appreciated rock climbing, ice climbing, skate boarding, slack lining, and bicycling. He studied the cello under Arkady Levitan. He also enjoyed reading and video car racing games.

Christian is survived by his parents and two sisters: Hannah Leigh Emigh-Doyle and Sarah Dierdre Emigh-Doyle, all of Bar Harbor. The family would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Bangor, Holden, Hampden, Brewer, Ellsworth, and Bar Harbor Police Departments, Acadia Search and Rescue Team, the Acadia National Park Ranger, Bill Weidner, and to Police Officers Tim Bland and Tom Tardiff for their loving care and support.
A visitation will occur from 2-8 p.m. Saturday, June 7, 2014 and from 6-8 p.m. Monday, June 30, 2014. A memorial service under the care of the Acadia Friends Meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, 2014. All services will be held at the Neighborhood House in Northeast Harbor, and all are welcome to attend. The family suggests memorials to the Acadia Friends Meeting, PO Box 21, Bar Harbor, ME, 04609 or the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 rather than flowers. Arrangements in care of Jordan-Fernald, 1139 Main St., Mt. Desert. Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com

LOCAL MAN FOUND DEAD ALONG HIKING TRAIL IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

 posted June 7, 2012
BAR HARBOR, Maine — Acadia National Park officials are investigating the death of a local elderly man who was found lying in a marshy area along a trail in the park on Wednesday afternoon. Rangers said the death is not suspicious.
John Baer, 85, of Bar Harbor was walking his dog on the park trail that runs along Schooner Head Road sometime around 3 p.m. when his wife became concerned because he had not returned.
At around 4 p.m., 911 dispatchers received a call from joggers who had discovered Baer lying face-down near a bridge that goes over a brook outlet and marsh, said Richard Rechholtz, Acadia’s supervisory park ranger. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
“We believe he fell somehow,” said Rechholtz, who added that the dog was still in the area when Baer was discovered. “There is no suspicion of foul play.”
Acadia officials are investigating the death because the incident happened on park land.
Baer’s body was being taken on Thursday to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta for examination.

MAN COMMITS SUCIDE ATOP CADILLAC MOUNTAIN IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

 posted July 8, 2012
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — A 38-year-old Connecticut man killed himself early Sunday morning in the parking lot at the summit of Cadillac Mountain, park officials said Sunday night.   Cadillac Mountain is a popular place where people gather just before dawn to watch the sunrise. 
Supervisory Park Ranger Richard Rechholtz said the man committed suicide in his car by carbon monoxide poisoning. The victim was discovered around sunrise by other tourists.  This was not the first sucide to have taken place in the park.
The man was traveling alone and his family had been notified of his death, Rechholtz said.
“National parks can attract people who want to commit suicide because they are beautiful places,” Rechholtz said. “We have our share at Acadia, and it’s always very unfortunate.

BODY OF MAN FOUND ON GREAT HILL

March 8, 2004
ACADIA NATIONAL PARK - The body of an Ohio man was found Sunday morning off Route 233 after he apparently had told a friend he intended to commit suicide, according to a park ranger.  It is not the first sucide to have taken place in the park.
Benjamin A. Ellis, 21, of Granville, Ohio, died from what is believed to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Ranger Dustin Warner said Sunday afternoon.
"We found the body on top of Great Hill at 10 a.m.," Warner said.
Park officials were still working Sunday afternoon to remove Ellis' body from the top of the hill, which is just north of Route 233 and to the west of the Park Loop Road, the ranger said.

Great Hill has a number of abandoned hiking trails on it which draw people to the hill even today. 
Ellis' car was spotted Friday parked at the gated Park Loop Road entrance on Route 233, but park officials did not realize anything was amiss until the next day, when a ranger noted the vehicle was still in the same spot

ROCK CLIMBER DROWNS AFTER ENTERING OCEAN TO RETRIEVE SHOE

 2004
 ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – A rock climber from the Bangor area, Emil Lin,  is missing and feared dead Sunday after retrieving a climbing shoe from the ocean off Otter Cliffs and then being washed by a wave into the pounding surf, park officials said.
A search for the missing climber was called off Sunday evening after the sun went down. It was expected to resume this morning, Acadia National Park Ranger Neal Labrie said Sunday.
The identities of the missing climber and his climbing partner, who also is from the Bangor area, are being withheld pending the results of the search and notification of their relatives, Labrie said. The second climber was unharmed during the incident.
Both men are in their 20s, according to the ranger. One is a student at the University of Maine in Orono, and the other attends Northeastern University in Boston, he said.
“They were just trying out new climbing gear,” Labrie said.
According to Ranger Richard Rechholtz, the two were rock climbing at Otter Cliffs around 1:30 p.m. Sunday when one of them unclipped himself from a climbing rope and, from the bottom of the cliff, jumped into the frigid ocean water to retrieve a climbing shoe.

“He swam out, retrieved his shoe and came back to shore,” Rechholtz said. “He made it back to an outcropping below Otter Cliffs. A wave came and washed him back in, and he disappeared under the water.”
After officials were notified of the incident, park staff started a search for the missing climber.
Three Coast Guard vessels, personnel with the Bar Harbor harbor master’s office and two sightseeing boats motored back and forth offshore looking for signs of the man. A jet and a helicopter, both sent by the Coast Guard, participated in the search

TEEN DIES IN FALL FROM CLIFF IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

Aug. 30, 1993
A 17 year old teenager from Richmond, Va., who was visiting the park, lost his life here after falling from a cliff in Acadia National Park.  This area of the park is known for its steep dangerous cliffs and others have lost their lives in this area of the park.  A path leads from Blackwoods Campground to the Park Loop Road, where the road runs along high steep cliffs.
On sunday after noon, Sean Kelley had been walking with a friend along the shore on a path niot far from Blackwoods Campground, when he lost his footing on some loose gravel and fell 30 feet.  He was said to be unconscious when he was taken to the local hospital and died later that evening at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, Maine.

12 YEAR OLD GIRL FALLS TO HER DEATH ON THE PRECIPICE
 At age 12, Lucreatia  had her whole life in front of her, that would all change one day when on Aug. 3, 1853 her and another 12 year old school girl decided to take a walk down the Schooner Head Road.  At some point it was decided the two girls would veer over toward the Precipice, where they slowly made their way up it to an area known as The Great cave, a popular hike long before there was a National Park in Maine.    The goal of climbing up past the area of the cave was to see if they could see one of the girls Uncle's farmstead below on the Schooner Head Road.

They had made it up about three forths of the way up the side of the Precipice, when one of the girls stood upon a huge boulder.  The other girl soon climbed up on the boulder when it suddenly gave way, tossing one of the girls off to the side with only minor injures, but carrying Lucreatia down the mountain side to her death.
As far as I have been able to tell, this is the earliest recorded death on the Precipice - long  before the Precipice trail had been built.  To make matters worse, the family was poor and could not afford to purchase their daughter a headstone, so for many years her grave lay unmarked between to churches in the town of Bar Harbor, maine.
Than one day her brother returned to the island and purchased a headstone for his sister.  Some say the ghost of the dead girl still haunts the Precipice to this day.


PRIEST FROM NEW YORK FALLS TO HIS DEATH IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

In 1989 on an early  Tuesday morning search and rescue workers  found the body of a 50 year old man who apparently had fallen 40 feet to his death off a nearby hiking trail in Acadia National Parl.  Bartholomew Keohane was a Priest from Springfield Gardens, NY, and was found on the side of Mansell Mountain, in a steep area between two trails.  It was believed that a storm passing through the area may of caused him to seek a shorter route down the Mountain side, which is thought to have lead to the accident.    Authorities say that Keohane died of multiple injuries


COUPLE POSING FOR PHOTO IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK SWEPT OUT TO SEA

Robert Croteau, age 51, and his wife Margaret, age 63, had no idea that as they stood on rocks waiting for their picture to be taken, that a huge wave would rise up out of the ocean and carry them out to sea.  The tragic accident took place along the rocks by  Schoodic Point in Acadia National Park when a large wave swept them into the sea.  A friend was preparing to take a photo of the couple could only look on in horror as  the large wave swept them away.


LOCAL MAN FALLS TO HIS DEATH FROM BRIDGE IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine — Rangers are investigating the death of a Bar Harbor man whose body was found Sunday in a brook underneath a bridge which crosses the waters of Duck Brook.
The body of Christian Emigh-Doyle, who was in his 20s, was found in Duck Brook late Sunday afternoon by hikers, Ranger Bill Weidner said Tuesday.
 The body was in the shallow brook directly underneath a stone bridge where Paradise Hill Road passes overhead not far from the Hull's Cove Visitors Center.   From the top of the bridge to the brook is about a 90 foot drop.  Though Emigh-Doyle appears to have fallen from the bridge, the cause of death remains under investigation, Weidner said.
“We have no reason to suspect foul play,” Weidner said.
Members of Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue assisted park rangers in recovering Emigh-Doyle’s body from the deep ravine under the bridge, the ranger said.


MAN PUSHES HIS NEW BRIDE FROM CLIFFS IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

HELENA, Mont. — The man now serving time for pushing his wife off an 80-foot cliff in Acadia National Park in 1987 has confessed to killing his first wife in 1975 in Montana, according to court documents released this week in Montana.
Dennis R. Larson, who is age 50, admitted to a Montana state investigator on Sept. 14 that he pushed his wife, Leslee R. Larson, into a stream near Wolf Creek on June 19, 1975, and watched her float away in the deep, fast spring runoff. No trace of her body has ever been found. Larson was charged in her death last week.
In 1975, Larson told law enforcement that the wife from his first marriage had fallen into the waters of a fast moving creek and that in an attempt to save her he leaped into the fast moving water.  The problem was that the first law enforcement officer who arrived at the scene stated that Larson was not wet but dry.
Seven years would pass before his first wife was ruled dead, following that ruling Larson was able to collect $20,000 in life insurance.  
Larson is serving a 50 year jail sentence for murder in the Oct. 11, 1987, death of his third wife, Kathy Frost Larson, which turned out to be a murder for profit scheme.  
Larson met Kathy Frost, his third wife,  by placing personal ads in two Maine newspapers
Kathy Frost was only 25 years old when she responded to his ad and the couple married  in september of 1987, after only seven weeks of dating.  It only took Mr Larson one day after exchanging his wedding vows to take out a $200,000 insurance policy on her.  
Kathy Frost told friends and family members that she was unhappy being married to mr Larson and that she was planning on telling him the marriage was a mistake during a planned trip to Bar Harbor, Maine.
The couple went to nearby Acadia National Park at dusk on Oct. 11,  they had gone to the sheer vertical drop at Otter Cliffs to look for otters in the water below.  He said they had taken different paths and, while they were separated, he heard his wife scream. When he got to the edge of the precipice, he said he saw his wife lying on the rocks, 81 feet below.
But there was a major problem with Mr. Larson's story, people that knew Kathy Frost well all said she had a great fear of heights and would never have gone off on her own along those shear cliffs.
During the trail Mr. Larson also contrdicted himself repeatedly from a recorded interview he had given to police earlier on.



YOUNG COLLEGE STUDENT SHIRLEY LADD DIES FROM INJURES FROM A FALL ON THE PRECIPICE

Despite the heroic efforts of dozens of search and rescue workers along with the crew of a Lifeflight helicopter,  Shirley Ladd, age 22, a college student from the University of Maine died from her injures suffered when she fell from a ledge on the Precipice Trail in acadia National Park.  The precipice trail is located on one side of Champlain Mountain, where others have died from falls in the past.  She had been majoring in psychology.
A close friend said Ladd had travelled to Bar Harbor last weekend to visit her boyfriend, a recent university graduate.
Most consider the Precipice Trail to be the most dangerous trail in Acadia National Park, with a number of very narrow ledges and iron rung ladders you must hang from while advancing up the side of the mountain.
Since the mid 1800's people have been drawn to the Precipice in search of a great adventure, and some have died in that search.  The nearby Beehive Trail is considered to be the second most dangerous trail in Acadia National Park.
“There are not many trails like this left in the United States,” said Tierney, a former climbing ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park. “Certainly there are hazards but then there are hazards in everything we do in life.”
The first park ranger to reach Ladd  alerted the park service that Ladd had sustained severe injuries, which triggered a massive rescue effort.
After Ladd finished climbing one ladder section of the trail, she was preparing to climb another ladder section when she fell form the ledge, landing on the trail below, and nearly hitting another hiker on the trail below.
Multiple agencies responded including all of Acadia’s on- and off-duty park rangers, members of the Bar Harbor Fire Department, Mount Desert Island Search and Rescue, a crew of medics from Lifeflight of Maine, and the privately owned Acadia Mountain Guides.



SNOWMOBILER DIES AFTER CRASHING INTO TREES IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

It was  the winter of 1997 when  Shon Lewis and some friends traveled to Acadia National Park to do some snowmobiling. Everything had gone well that day, so no one could of seen that all that would change two hours later.  
The snowmobilers returned to the Acadia National Park Hull's Cove Visitors Center and were taking a rest when Shon decided to take one last spin around the parking lot.  At some point while he took that final ride he lost control of his snowmobile and was killed.  
It was reported that his machine left the parking lot, traveled down an enbankment and crashed into several tree's.  It was said he went head first into the trees and most likely died instantly.
Following an investagation into the crash, it was determined that Speed, loss of control and weather conditions at the time were to blame for the fatal accident.



MAN FALLS FROM THE PRECIPICE TO HIS DEATH

Following a lengthy search the evening before, the body of a 37 year  old Old Town man was located Monday afternoon in Acadia National Park.  
Michael Domino, who had moved with his wife and 6 year old daughter from the Boca Raton, Fla. area last Oct., apparently fell Sunday afternoon while hiking near the East Face Trail on one of the most treacherous mountains in the park.  Icy paths now cover many of the rock faces and trails in Acadia National Park.
This death was more personal for me that the other deaths in Acadia National Park, because the evening beofre his tragic accident me and my oldest son had met Domino as we were nearing the bottom of the Champlain Mountain North ridge trail.  It was very dark out and we were making our way along when he came up behind us, in the dark, with no light of any kind.  He walked the rest of the way down to the Park Loop road with us as we talked.
He said he loved to climb up the Precipice trail and did so every chance he got.  I looked at him and replied "You didn't just climb the Precipice tonight, did you?  His reply was that he had, and was looking forward to climbing it the next evening.
I was shocked at his comments, because Mr. Domino was not dressed for a Maine Winter, in fact he was wearing a jogging suit and had jogging sneakers on his feet, no heavy coat, no boots, no hat or gloves.
I told Mr. Domino that the Precipice trail was a very dangerous trail in good conditions and that he could end up getting seriously injured attempting it in winter conditions.  He laughed and said he was a careful climber.  With that he wished us a good evening and took off jogging in the direction of the Bear Brook Picnic area.
The next night was when Mr. Domino had his accident.  Search and Rescue teams along with a Army National Guard helicopter using infrared sensors searched for Mr Domino but it wasn't until around 12;30 pm the following day that his body was found.  Park Officials and volunteer's brought Domino's body down from the mountain side on a stretcher.




HURRICANE BILL CLAIMS THE LIFE OF A 7 YEAR OLD GIRL IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK

As the remnants of Hurricane Bill stired up huge ocean waves, it suddenly turned deadly for a family from New York who were on vacation here on Sunday.
A wave larger than the others before it rose up and swept several people off the rocks along the coast, including that of a 7 year old girl who ended up being swept out to sea by a 20 foot wave and drowned.
The young girls father was also injured by the huge wave and was hospitalized in intensive care Monday after being caught by the water.
others who were swept out to sea by the same large wave were rescued, but it was too late for 7 year old Clio Dahyun Axilrod
Since this tragidy the Park Service has become much more aggressive in keeping people out of harms way, at times shutting down large sections of the Park Loop road when sever weather makes its way up along the coast of Maine.
2009 will always be remembered by locals as the year a 7 year old girl lost her life at the hands of Hurricane Bill

 MOTORCYCLIST DIES AFTER CRASHING ON CADILLAC MOUNTAIN SUMMIT ROAD

Monday, July 17, 2017
The accident occurred on the Cadillac Mountain Summit road in Acadia National Park, when a motorcyclist was killed.  The young man was from the country of Saudi Arabia and was attending the University of Maine.   Park spokesman John Kelly said the accident took place at about 4;30 on Sunday  afternoon.   Witnesses who were interviewed said the driver was operating at a high rate of speed and passing cars in a dangerous manner.  Kelly reported that the operator of the motorcycle apparently lost control of his bike on a curve and crashed.
The young man killed in the crash was later  identified as Abdulrahman M. Alamer, age 21, who later died at Mount Desert Island Hospital as a result of his injuries.
The motorcycle he was riding was a red Ducati motorcycle, and as he was riding down the Cadillac Summit Road, he was passing cars when he skidded and lost control of his bike, crashing down an embankment.  Rangers were said to have arrived on scene about five minutes after the crash and found the victim still alive.  The victim was wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

To learn more on others who have lost their lives in Acadia National Park, visit my blog onDEATHS IN ACADIA NATIONAL PARK