Suspended animation in fiction which is indistinguishable from death. In American fiction, the first story to deal with suspended animation is the tale of Rip Van Winkle, a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819 as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. In the story, a British subject in the American colonies wanders into the Catskill Mountains in the years before the American Revolutionary War, and finds a group of fairies, whose moonshine he drinks. He then falls asleep for 20 years, and returns to his village in what is now the United States, finding his home town
Rip Van Winkle Bridge Rip Van Winkle Bridge The Rip Van Winkle Bridge is a cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Hudson, New York and Catskill, New York. The structure carries NY 23 across the river, connecting on the west side, US 9W and NY 385 with NY 9G on the east side. The bridge is named after the 1819 short story of the same name by Washington Irving, which mentions the cities of Hudson and Catskill. The bridge includes a new pedestrian walkway which was completed in 2018 on the south side of the bridge which is open from dawn to dusk.