Sheffield Village boy, 9, falls 80 feet off a cliff

The true story of my father’s near fatal fall.

Written by Morgan Alten

“The only way anyone knew I fell off the cliff was because I made eye contact with the 3-year-old neighbor girl, Patty, who was feeding the chickens about 100 feet to my right,” Alten, now 59, said.

Do you have a fear of heights? Have you ever worried about falling off a ladder or even stumbling down a step? Now, imagine losing your balance and plunging 80 feet down a cliff. That's exactly what happened to my father. At just 9 years old, Jeffrey Alten was miraculously saved by a fallen log at the bottom of the Black River cliff in Sheffield Village, a small town 25 miles east of Cleveland in Lorain County. 

Alten lived atop a tall hill, and in his backyard was a cliff that he was warned numerous times to avoid. One day, while helping his neighbors feed their dog, Alten found himself dangerously close to that cliff. The doghouse was positioned near the edge of this cliff, and to access the dog dish, he had to remove a pole that kept the lid shut, preventing the dog from escaping. Instead of carefully removing the pole properly, Alten grabbed it and walked backward, forgetting about the steep drop behind him. In an instant, he lost his footing. 

Desperately clawing at the dirt to stop his fall, his fingernails dug into the earth. As he tumbled 80 feet to the ground, Alten recalls catching glimpses of Christmas trees as if he were in a dream. 

Head gashed, arms and wrists broken, Alten landed with a heavy thud. Still, his head was just cushioned enough by a heap of debris to keep him alive. However, each time he tried to push himself up, he slipped closer to the edge of the riverbank. As he felt himself sliding toward the rushing water, a chilling thought gripped him, “If I keep trying to get up, I’m going to drown.” 

Just then, something caught his eye: a small figure in the distance. Later, he would recall the moment that saved him. 

“The only way anyone knew I fell off the cliff was because I made eye contact with the 3-year-old neighbor girl, Patty, who was feeding the chickens about 100 feet to my right,” Alten, now 59, said.

Eventually, Patty’s parents found him and called the rescue squad. The 12-man crew arrived and placed Alten into a basket that was attached to a rope, but there was a problem. As he was getting pulled up, the bank of the cliff dirt was being scraped by the basket, falling into Alten’s mouth. 

“I knew then not to try to answer my mother’s cries in fear of suffocating,” Alten said. 

Hanging upside down, it took about 45 minutes to reach the top, as the ledge kept the basket from coming up smoothly. One of the firemen was hoisted down to dislodge the top of the wire basket from the ledge. Eventually, they reached the top and headed to the ambulance. He was then rushed to Elyria Memorial Hospital for treatment. 

To this day, this remains my favorite – and perhaps the most unbelievable – story about my father. Against all odds, he survived a fall that should have been fatal, saved by sheer luck, and the quick thinking of a 3-year-old girl. Though he healed well, the memory of that fall has never left him. It’s a reminder of how fragile life can be and how, sometimes, the smallest twists of fate can change everything.