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 New York–New Jersey and Hudson River crossings along a stretch, from the Outerbridge Crossing in the south to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge in the north, were also changed to eastbound-only at that time. The current toll for autos is $1.50 for eastbound traffic only. The bridge extends 5,040 feet (1536 m) across the river, with a ship clearance of 145 feet (44 m). A multi-year repainting project was completed in 2009 which removed all lead-based paint. Rip Van Winkle Bridge The Rip Van Winkle Bridge is a cantilever bridge spanning the Hudson River between Hudson, New York and Catskill,