Get naked and play in a storm drain? Strange UK death

[Greenbare Woods]

Last June 21 (summer solstice) Noah Donohoe set out on his bicycle to ride about 6 miles to meet some friends.  He was seen and recorded by about 20 video surveillance cameras.  At 5:53 p.m., Noah passed the art college of Ulster University in central Belfast without his backpack.  The backpack was later found resting against a building. 

:The last live sighting of Noah occurred at 6:03 p.m. as he cycled past 85 Northwood Road, at this point he was naked..  Apparently he was recorded by video surveillance every two or three minutes during his bicycle ride.  Northwood Road is a dead end that has a large storm drain at its end.  His body was later found naked in the storm drain. The cause of death was apparently drowning according to the autopsy.

Authorities are mystified about why he got naked, and why he went into the storm drain.  I don't see a mystery about why someone would get naked.  Not even in an area where you get recorded on video every 2 or 3 minutes.  I also am not mystified about why a teen boy would go exploring in a storm drain.   Especially if there is some water in the drain system it would make sense to go naked so as not to get your clothes wet.  His clothes were apparently found resting on top of a wall nearby.

I see two lessons for free range naturists in this story.  The first is that nobody got upset or phoned police because a naked young man was riding a bicycle past their house and being recorded on video.  The second lesson is that there are dangerous places that are not safe to explore naked.  A storm drain in the UK, and a dry wash in Arizona, Utah, or other places are some of them.  Every year or so we read about some hikers who get killed hiking in a narrow drainage canyon when a flash flood comes.

In Albuquerque there are concrete lined storm drainage canals that are fun places to go naked, ride bicycles, and explore.  I've walked and bicycled naked in them too.  But just about every year someone gets caught and dies when it rains up in the mountains east of the city. 

So I like the UK's current attitude where a young man feels safe riding his bicycle naked down a residential street, but I'm saddened that he died.  See story link.

https://www.sott.net/article/455264-Noah-Donohoe-Missing-411

[jbeegoode]

Well, this IS curious. Any number of things could be the cause of this boys death, other than drowning. It is a mystery.
A 14 year old can be seriously influenced. Him reading, 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson and making contact tells me that he had some growing pains and that he was very bright and serious at a time when people are searching for answers, place, existential kinds of sense. He was at a sexual point, have you ever seen "Big Mouth" on Netflix. It shows the secret mind of adolescent sexuality.  Most people thinking that these things are just themselves, but because of the popularity of the show, there are obviously tons of people that relate that.

There is that secret naturist thing, he seemed to have been there before. But, then he leaves his backpack, and some clothing along the way. This sounds more like a plunge than a covert trip into a culvert. I don't know if that answers his demise.

I did wiki and watched part of a talk by that author. There seem to be an importance in his work about what face you put out to the world and the lies behind it.

Well, we don't know.

Kids do hang out in dangerous places. If there is a lock on that ditch, then there is a reason for that. People inadvertently hang out in dangerous places. You go there a couple of times and figure that it is always safe. That's common.
Redington Pass is like that. It seems a comfortable place, but a hard rain up stream may send a roaring deluge to it in surprise.

Nature has some danger. Hiking has some danger. So, naturism, in nature has some danger. In this case, if the boy was after some solitude for an unacceptable behavior, this might be a private place for him. People shouldn't be driven into dangerous compromises to be themselves. They should feel free to be seen as not a real problem, not unacceptable. The issue in particular of naked bodies should be a matter of fact and norm. The sexualization of nude, to make it taboo, is a socio-cultural flaw. Was the ditch an escape hatch, or a secret place?

Oldest teenage trick is to say that you are going to someplace that will please your parents as a pretext to sneaking to someplace to do something else. We don't know, I've always been fascinated by the mysteries of what people do, psychology, etc. With so many millions of us, someone has to do something different, bizarre, or stupid.

I sure hope that the kid had fun and was happy, doing whatever he was doing before he died. So, sad to miss out on so much.
Jbee

[nuduke]

One thing the report does show up is the huge amount of cctv equipment in the uk.  You can't go anywhere these days without being in view of someones cctv, whether it is private houses, roadside traffic cameras, commercial premises or whatnot.  I read that we Brits are amongst the highest density users of cctv in the world.


This is really a mysterious case isn't it? One mystery to me is why his bag and clothing were found a long way from where he must have entered (or been put down) the drainage channel.  Whilst I agree with Bob that it has some of the hall marks of what a secret naturist teenager might do, I can't help wondering why he didn't keep effects and clothes about him and also why the removal of clothes seems to have happened so quickly (only a minute between sightings clothed and naked on his bike).  On one hand it feels like the simplest explanation is foul play, on the other, less plausibly, why was he strewing his effects about and how could a third party have got him to strip and ride off again in such a short time?  Why did Noah take the route up the cul de sac to the waste ground - maybe he was trying to escape an attacker and went just any route to get away?  Feels rather like flight from danger to me.  I think the biggest piece of evidence is the man that tried to pawn the boys belongings.  The explanation that he found them in another location seems a very thin excuse. I can't help concluding that it was foul play and that Noah hid in the storm drain from his assailant.  Why he lost his clothes and why he went where he went remains unexplained and the recidivist that took his bag etc. ain't going to be helpful in explaining that!     
John

[jbeegoode]

Although the information that was given by the creep could be faulty, the cameras do show the boy without the bag, way before he stripped the rest. So, the finding of the bag and opportunism does seem most viable explanation for the guy to have it, unless he jumped the kid and then the kid got away.

The behavior after the bag of valuables disguard doesn't make much sense, but the reckless tossing of valuables and belongings stays a coherent pattern, if the bag is included.

A girlfriend daughters boyfriend had a tendency toward schizophrenia. He was jumped along the river walk and it triggered bizarre behaviors to cope. He would dress and arm as a ninja to patrol the walkway and around town. Some schizophrenia lays dormant, or predisposed until a trauma triggers it. Perhaps his get away from the creep, was ill conceived, cognitive jumble of a fright and flight.

He was young and possibly wound tight, possibly not. Disguarding everything and hiding out would make him less of a target. Hiding away in a drain for days to his detriment might be his reaction.
Jbee

[nuduke]

Gosh yes, there are so many interpretations of how this tragedy could come about.
I guess the real truth will never be known!
John