What your mother and brother did seems like it was from duress and panic. It is something that's difficult to explain people's responses in this regard. But, we see it occurring repeatedly in our lives. It always reminds of a story that I'm still haunted by to this day of an American model by the name of Ginger Faye Meadows who was taken by a large saltwater crocodile on March 29, 1987 in northern Australia. The story is tells us the inexplicable reactions to situations that cause duress and panic.

The story behind Ginger Meadows is equally as bizarre as what your friend did. I'll provide this link to an article written in 2017. I remember reading about this tragedy shortly after it occurred. The skipper's story has changed since the interview that occurred some 34 years ago. Now, he is saying he 'warned' Ginger Meadows not to "so much as dangle a foot in the water" because of the crocodile danger.

Cascade Falls south of Darwin is a beautiful scenic area with its cascading stream descending into a large pool of water. It looks like a great swimming area. It was originally reported that crocodiles were not in this area and was a concern. This was the reason why Ginger Meadows and her friend along with other members of the crew went swimming. At the time, it was purported the crocodile population had already been greatly reduced as a result of decades of over hunting. The Australian government even imposed a protected species protection on crocodiles.

I'll get to the point of this story and it goes like this. Ginger Meadows and her friend Jane Burchett swam to the falls and were positioned on a waist deep shelf under the falls. One of the crew members had already made the swim and scaled the staircase wall to the top of the falls. It was he who first saw the 3-meter crocodile approach and called out --"crocodile!". The women standing on the shelf saw it too. And it was rapidly approaching them. They were panicking and couldn't climb out up the wall. Burchett even took her shoe off and threw it at the croc. It didn't help. On the boat, a crew member saw the croc too. He frantically started the yacht's motor, but didn't have time to maneuver the boat, so he revved the motor hoping to scare the croc away. The croc continued moving straight at the girls.

Jane Burchett then tells this incredible puzzling piece of information. She said--

"'It swum right up to us and had its mouth open,'" she said.

"'Then I took my shoe off and threw it at it and hit it on the top of its head and it closed its mouth."

"The crocodile then went under the water and Ms Meadows jumped into the water in an apparent attempt to reach safety."

"'She [Ginger Meadows] let go of my arm, jumped off the ledge took two strokes and it grabbed her around the waist and pulled her right under the water."

"'Then he pulled her up out of the water right in front of me – I looked her right in the face she had her arms in the air and she was looking right at me."

"'Then it pulled her back under the water.'"

For better than 30 years I have been horrified by this story and I keep asking myself -- "Why would she jump off the shelf to swim? Her chances would have been better if she only would have remained where she was.

The young woman's body was recovered the next day – which would have been her 25th birthday.

Was it irrational behavior due to panic and stress? Why do people do act irrationally under duress?

Is there a '100th monkey effect' that works against a person's better judgment? In other words, everyone else is doing it, I should too?

What your mother and brother did seems like it was from duress and panic. It is something that's difficult to explain people's responses in this regard. But, we see it occurring repeatedly in our lives. It always reminds of a story that I'm still haunted by to this day of an American model by the name of Ginger Faye Meadows who was taken by a large saltwater crocodile on March 29, 1987 in northern Australia. The story is tells us the inexplicable reactions to situations that cause duress and panic.

The story behind Ginger Meadows is equally as bizarre as what your friend did. I'll provide this link to an article written in 2017. I remember reading about this tragedy shortly after it occurred. The skipper's story has changed since the interview that occurred some 34 years ago. Now, he is saying he 'warned' Ginger Meadows not to "so much as dangle a foot in the water" because of the crocodile danger.

Cascade Falls south of Darwin is a beautiful scenic area with its cascading stream descending into a large pool of water. It looks like a great swimming area. It was originally reported that crocodiles were not in this area and was a concern. This was the reason why Ginger Meadows and her friend along with other members of the crew went swimming. At the time, it was purported the crocodile population had already been greatly reduced as a result of decades of over hunting. The Australian government even imposed a protected species protection on crocodiles.

I'll get to the point of this story and it goes like this. Ginger Meadows and her friend Jane Burchett swam to the falls and were positioned on a waist deep shelf under the falls. One of the crew members had already made the swim and scaled the staircase wall to the top of the falls. It was he who first saw the 3-meter crocodile approach and called out --"crocodile!". The women standing on the shelf saw it too. And it was rapidly approaching them. They were panicking and couldn't climb out up the wall. Burchett even took her shoe off and threw it at the croc. It didn't help. On the boat, a crew member saw the croc too. He frantically started the yacht's motor, but didn't have time to maneuver the boat, so he revved the motor hoping to scare the croc away. The croc continued moving straight at the girls.

Jane Burchett then tells this incredible puzzling piece of information. She said--

"'It swum right up to us and had its mouth open,'" she said.

"'Then I took my shoe off and threw it at it and hit it on the top of its head and it closed its mouth."

"The crocodile then went under the water and Ms Meadows jumped into the water in an apparent attempt to reach safety."

"'She [Ginger Meadows] let go of my arm, jumped off the ledge took two strokes and it grabbed her around the waist and pulled her right under the water."

"'Then he pulled her up out of the water right in front of me – I looked her right in the face she had her arms in the air and she was looking right at me."

"'Then it pulled her back under the water.'"

For better than 30 years I have been horrified by this story and I keep asking myself -- "Why would she jump off the shelf to swim? Her chances would have been better if she only would have remained where she was.

The young woman's body was recovered the next day – which would have been her 25th birthday.

Was it irrational behavior due to panic and stress? Why do people do act irrationally under duress?