I heard about a strange sexual practice the other day that I hope you can tell me more about. It seems a boy was found dead with a rope around his neck, but he hadn’t purposely killed himself. Apparently he was masturbating at the time of his death and hanged himself in order to heighten the sexual sensation. The radio announcer called it an autoerotic suicide and said it is not uncommon. I’ve never heard of it. Can you tell me more? –Desiree Blough, Santa Barbara, California
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Time for a walk on the weird side, kids. Autoerotic asphyxiation–“suicide” is a misnomer, since death is usually accidental–is in fact fairly common. One researcher estimates there are at least 50 deaths annually nationwide. The victims are mostly young males; evidently if you live long enough to become an old male you start getting a partner to help you, although it’s quite dangerous even so.
Needless to say, this is not something you should try at home. Judging from the photos–hey, it’s my job–not only do you end up dead, you look real stupid when they find you. I mention this on the theory that if fear of death won’t stop somebody, maybe fear of embarrassment will.
The descent was uneventful except for the fact that the balloons wrapped around some power lines at the end, knocking out the electricity in a Long Beach residential neighborhood for about 20 minutes. But Larry and his chair stayed clear–he simply dropped a few feet to the ground, having spent about 90 minutes in the air. Most people thought the whole thing was pretty funny, and Larry got to appear on Letterman and the Today show. But the FAA was not amused. “We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act, and as soon as we decide which part it is, some type of charge will be filed,” a spokesman said. Sure enough, Walters was charged with reckless operation of an aircraft, failure to stay in communication with the tower, and flying a “civil aircraft for which there is not currently in effect an airworthiness certificate.” He wound up paying a $1,500 fine. You ask me, it was worth every penny.
