Christine Chubbuck (partially found on-air suicide footage of television news reporter; 1974)

File:Christine chubbuck.jpg

The late Christine Chubbuck hosting an episode of Suncoast Digest.

Status: Lost

On the morning of July 15, 1974, American talk show host Christine Chubbuck (then 29 years old) shot herself in the head on live television, following a fierce battle with depression. The now notoriously elusive broadcast stunned audiences, making headlines worldwide and marking the first time that a suicide was ever shown on TV.

Chubbuck originally worked at Channel 40 (ie. WXLT-TV, now WWSB, a small market channel in Florida which, up until relatively recently, only aired over three counties) as an evening news reporter, later moving on to host a morning community affairs talk show titled Suncoast Digest; in the lead-up to her death, Chubbuck (who was known to detest what she referred to as "blood and guts" reporting, ie. sensationalised violence over legitimate journalism) had volunteered to produce a feature on suicide for the station, during research for which she had asked a sheriff about how someone would go about taking their own life (the sheriff proceeding to reveal what kind of gun and bullets that he would use if ever put in that situation). One co-worker has since recalled that around the same time, Chubbuck had said to him (in what he assumed was a joking manner) something to the effect of "wouldn't it be wild if I blew myself away on the air?"

July 15 began much as any other day, until Chubbuck (who was noticeably more enthusiastic and cheerful than usual) declared, just before Suncoast Digest was due to go to air, that she needed to read a newscast beforehand, confusing co-workers (as this was something she had never done before). Oblivious to her real intentions, the audience casually watched her read the newscast for eight minutes, as she covered three national stories. When she got to the fourth story (ie. that of a shooting at a local restaurant), the reel jammed, prompting her to shrug, nonchalantly turn towards the camera and proclaim "In keeping with Channel 40's policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts and in living color, you are going to see another first - attempted suicide." Chubbuck then drew a revolver that she had hidden in her bag, placed it behind her right ear and pulled the trigger, immediately slumping forward violently onto her desk, as the technical director scrambled to fade rapidly to black.

Many viewers who witnessed the broadcast proceeded to phone both the police and the station itself, some of the belief that it was nothing more than a morbid joke (some of the WXLT-TV staff members have even recounted that they too initially doubted the legitimacy of what had happened, on first impression also believing it to be a prank of some kind). After being rushed to Sarasota Memorial Hospital, it was discovered by WXLT-TV news director Mike Simmons that Chubbuck had left behind both a follow-up news story describing her suicide attempt (in which she accurately predicted that she would be taken to Sarasota Memorial Hospital) and a suicide note (in which she said goodbye to her co-workers and loved ones, also expressing the chilling sentiment that she wanted "everybody" to see the broadcast). Chubbuck's pre-written newscast script was sent to other stations, the majority of which presented it verbatim in reporting on her suicide attempt; she was pronounced dead the following day.

Shortly thereafter, an injunction was brought against Channel 40 (by Chubbuck's family) preventing them from ever releasing the footage of her death; the master copy was then allegedly handed over to the family, who are said to have destroyed it. As the broadcast took place in 1974, it's possible (though highly unlikely) that the suicide could've been recorded by a home viewer, as several primitive VCRs had been made commercially available by that time (such as the U-matic, one of the first home video recorders; although due to the high cost of the unit, it was rare for a 1974 household to possess one). Until some form of hard evidence surfaces indicating that another copy still exists somewhere (or proof that the original was not actually destroyed) the video is generally accepted as being impossible to obtain.

Interestingly, several people claim to have seen the footage via a number of sources, including early websites, FBI training videos and mondo films a la Faces of Death, though given the circumstances, this seems incredibly unlikely, with most passing these claims off as mere fabrications.

External links

• Christine Chubbuck segment from an episode of E!'s Boulevard of Broken Dreams; 26 Feb 2007.Last retrieved 08 Oct 2014.