Oh, dear.

[elfs]

The Reverend Gary Aldredge, a friend of the late Jerry Falwell's, died in Alabama two days ago under curious circumstances. The state of Alabama has ruled his death "accidental by mechanical asphyxiation."

Aldridge served as the church's pastor for 16 years. Immediately following his death, church officials issued a press release asking community members to "please refrain from speculation" about what led to Aldridge's demise, adding that, "we will begin the healing process under the strong arm of our Savior, Jesus Christ."

The deceased was clothed in a diving wet suit, a face mask which has a single vent for breathing, a rubberized head mask having an opening for the mouth and eyes, a second rubberized suit with suspenders, rubberized male underwear, hands and feet have diving gloves and slippers. There were numerous straps and cords restraining the decedent. There was a leather belt around the midriff. There was a series of ligatures extending from the hands to the feet. The hands were bound behind the back. The feet were tied to the hands. There were nylon ligatures holding these in place with leather straps about the wrists and ankles. There were plastic cords also tied about the hands and feet with a single plastic cord extending up to the head and surrounding the lower neck. There was a dildo in the anus covered with a condom.

Clothing: The deceased was received wearing two (2) wetsuits, one scuba diving mask, one pair of diving gloves, one pair of slippers, one pair of rubber underwear, two (2) ties, five (5) belts, eleven (11) straps.

Personal effects: One yellow metal ring intact on left finger, one dildo.

Wait, aren't dildos illegal in Alabama? Didn't he have to cross state lines to get it?

[Hat tip to jwz, PZ Myers, Stephanie Miller and pretty much the whole damn giggling blogosphere this morning.]

Comments

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm not going to giggle.

Much.

And I find it a touch difficult to believe that he did this all on his own.

You bet his church is worried about speculation.

[elfs.livejournal.com]

That's what I was wondering! How do you get on two wetsuits? I mean, really, how do you pull that off by yourself?

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

I couldn't figure that one out either, unless he used lots of talcum powder or something.

[pteryxx.livejournal.com]

...Don't you mean 'how do you pull that ON by yourself?' ; )

*runs for the hills*

[hydrolagus.livejournal.com]

It's possible. The rubber in wetsuits is often fabric-coated neoprene so is more likely to slide over itself than bare latex. Also, it would help if the outer one was actually a wetsuit rather than a drysuit--wetsuits have a looser fit, and the terms often get used interchangeably by non-divers. And there's always lube.
Sounds like he was probably in something similar to a standard hogtie, which some people can do on themselves, but 1)not without a good bit of practice and 2)very likely not while wearing diving gloves.

Question from a not-recent-diver

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

Don't wetsuits tend to be tighter than drysuits? I mean, I've seen baggy drysuits, but never a baggy wetsuit.

. png

Re: Question from a not-recent-diver

[hydrolagus.livejournal.com]

Bah. Am I getting them backwards?

Re: Question from a not-recent-diver

[danlyke.livejournal.com]

It may be different for divers than for whitewater paddlers, but for us whitewater paddlers a drysuit was a flexible loose fitting plastic affair with latex seals at the wrists, ankles and neck (and a waterproof zipper).

The only water that appeared inside the drysuit was sweat.

A wetsuit, on the other hand, let your skin get wet, it just kept the same water near your skin so that when your body heated it up it stayed warm.

[scyllacat.livejournal.com]

Saw this yesterday (metaquotes?) and I don't even give a drat about the poor fellow's kinks as much as the stupidity involved... Doesn't anyone read SM101 anymore? I've seen people pass out wearing much less restrictive synthetics, such as rubber masks and plastic bags. How dumb do you have to be not to see how risky this is?

[pixel39.livejournal.com]

There's a huge* amount of stupid out there. Also a huge amount of lack of common sense.

*Huge. Vast. Ginormous.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

Apparently, he didn't, and he was just so dumb.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's much speculation necessary, here. I mean, it's pretty damn clear what happened ... LOL.

Truth, stranger than fiction ... even the freakier stuff on alt.sex.stories doesn't compare to what this guy was doing. HAHAHA.

[briar-fox.livejournal.com]

Just to clarify - the church was asking people to refrain from speculation right after he was found dead back in June and nobody except the police knew any details. (With reason, too, as this thread from back in June shows. "Apparently murdered" indeed.) The investigators sealed the records of the investigation, presumably to spare his family the embarassment, and only said that his death was accidental and not a murder or a suicide. That was it until the autopsy report surfaced on The Smoking Gun a few days ago and got reported all over the Net.

And people want to know why I podcast...

[graydancer.livejournal.com]

...it's so people can learn to do this stuff safely.

Trying not to giggle too much.

Re: And people want to know why I podcast...

[elfs.livejournal.com]

All I know is, if I were to expire suddenly, I would certainly not want to leave behind quite so much awkwardness with which my family would have to survive.

How does it go?

[graydancer.livejournal.com]

"I want to die like my Grandpa did, peacefully, in his sleep...not screaming like the passengers in his car..."

[drewkitty.livejournal.com]

Tragic. Simply tragic. If only he had been exposed to basic concepts of BDSM safety, this need not have happened.

When you consider how many teenage lives have been wrecked by his hypocrisy and prejudice, from gay teenagers estranged from their families and committing suicide to straight teenagers forced to birth babies they are not ready for and did not want . . .

I wonder how fundamentalist ministers sleep at night. If I were one of them, I would lie awake in bed at night, terrified that God is just and I might get what I deserve.

[pteryxx.livejournal.com]

But this is so typical of the extreme denial of the fundamentalist mindset. Ban education about birth control and deny the teen pregnancies that result. Ban homosexuality and deny the suicides and wrecked lives that result. Ban kinky sex practices and deny the injuries and deaths that result. The fundies then can feel secure in their innocence because they believe ignorance is safer than knowledge! I don't have to be interested in BDSM kinks myself to be grateful for a community that allows discussion of them, specifically so that my friends WILL be safer because of it.

The best depiction I've ever seen of humans' capacity for denial is this article, recently revisited: 'The Only Moral Abortion is My Abortion' in the Daily Kos.

Daily Kos (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/7/22/9334/83825)

[fallenpegasus]

Have you ever sat down and *talked* with a "fundamentalist"?

Any "My parents made me go to church when I was a kid?" doesn't count.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

No. They've generally just preached at me without listening to a thing I said. Once they start with the "have you accepted our lord Jesus Christ as your saviour" greeting, and I reply with "No thanks, I'm an Atheist" it generally just goes downhill from there.

[pteryxx.livejournal.com]

Re 'Have you ever sat down and *talked* with a "fundamentalist"?'

Not for very long. After I've been condemned for various reasons right off the bat, the least disruptive action I can take is to escape quickly. I *have* had individuals come up to me and ask in all honest curiosity how I can consider myself an atheist and still a moral person, and I welcome that discussion wholeheartedly.

I would say, though, that when we're discussing public announcement of expected values, public condemnations, and systematic attempts to influence public policy, that a given acquaintance being both fundamentalist and a good person isn't really relevant anymore.

[gromm.livejournal.com]

That's because Christianity is a religion best suited for one's neighbour.

[danceswithlife]

*Fundamentalist* Christianity, please. There are other Christians who aren't idiots and believe in personal conscience, and don't think you have to believe in Jesus to be...well...anything special :-)

[danceswithlife]

We don't know each other--sorry to assume that isn't your viewpoint. And yes, I've been repeating it a lot lately myself. :-)

[bldrnrpdx.livejournal.com]

So, no foul play was suspected. And yet, his hands were tied to his feet, with both tied behind his back. In a way, I'm surprised the church isn't jumping all over the idea that Someone Did This To Him. OTOH, we all know there's evidence of the Good Reverend's proclivities elsewhere.

I wonder how long till the Lovely Assistant comes out of hiding for a book or movie deal.

[kengr]

Trust me, there are ways to do that unassisted. And they tend to leave evidence that the police are *more* than familiar with.

The problem is that it's way too easy to get "stuck". Most folks that go in for something that strict use a knife to free themselves by cutting the rope. But if the knife falls off the bed, or they can't move enough....

(not my thing, but I've read a lot of the tutorials on places like Grommet's Plaza)

[pteryxx.livejournal.com]

Ode to Gary Aldridge on Pharyngula here:

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/10/turning_the_tawdry_into_poetry.php ()

[wendor.livejournal.com]

I'll agree with the comment about it not being all that difficult to put on two wetsuits...I wear a .5mm suit under a 7mm suit regularly in cold water and it's not uncommon to layer a wetsuit jacket over a full suit (never seen anyone wear a "farmer john" over a full suit, but then again this guy wasn't heading for the water)

I do however have to point out that you may be off in your statement "...died in Alabama two days ago..." since the date of death was actually June 24, 2007.

And I'm not giggling....well not loud enough to scare people here at work at least.

[syredronning.livejournal.com]

Brilliant, hypocrisy in perfection. And I agree, once more a good proof that more, not less information is needed for all kinds of sex.

Oh my.

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

How does one hogtie oneself, though?