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2008 February Slush
(DA)Chalk one up for the dog.
(?)Seatbelt subterfuge kills driver
(?)Mamba kills Man
(Hmmm)Surfing the wrong wave
Fatal Ski Slope Prank
(DA)A Breathtaking View
(HM)Mexican Divorce
DA:Dynamite Defroster
(DA)Stabbing suspect dies in car crash
(?)Die Hard
(DA)Chemistry Went Over Her Head
(>)Living the High Life (On a Budget)
(DA)On the Piste
(?)Darwin in heavy traffic
(?)Winched up
Monk killed by own runaway lawnmowe
(DA)Slip Sliding Away
(No)Swimming with the fish (bits)
Man died after driving down boat ra
Up, Up, and Away!
(DA)Hare today, gone tomorrow
Top of the train
Killer locomotive
A good thought gone bad
(HM)Shock Horror
Inspiration + Youth + Explosives =
Brain Evacuation
Manhole kills man, Dove in for Cana
Bridges are lower than they appear
no diving please
Roping a Bobcat
Mattress Race
Just Say No
Man has friend shoot him to get off
Old shells never die
Wash those genes away
BASE jumper succumbs to stupidity
A Mattress of Life and Death....
(DA)4 Die In Dirtbike Collision
boat welding
Trail Blazing Gaffe
It only works in the movies
feeling tyred - near miss
Tram drags man with him
Tree felling made easy
Community service for teen who burn
If at first you don't succeed
Man dies trying to beat train in Sa
The $500 Bullet
Please Take This Outside
Trailer burns when woman uses gas t
Death by iPod?
BBQ Whippits
Two men burned in backyard blast
Sledding Accident
The Widow Maker
Redneck Bee Exterminator
Miner nearly crushes himself
Too Close For Comfort
A fool and his bike
Drain Surfing
arrange your own hit
A tough act to swallow for student
Grocery Bang!
Drove 2.5 miles on the wrong way
2 teens hurt by explosion while dri
Departing parted
I'm dying for a drink
Smoking related near miss
Smoky bar triggered fatal asthma at
Man's death linked to cotton swab u
putting your foot in it
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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

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BBQ Whippits

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Pat & I were party buddies at the University of Mississippi. Towards the end of a summer semester fueled by every mind-altering substance known to man, we were having a cookout with some friends. Earlier in the day we had consumed several boxes of whippits. For the uninformed, whippits are small cylinders of nitrous oxide gas commonly used as whipping cream propellant and is also the same as laughing gas that dentists use. These cylinders closely resemble a CO2 cartridge used in air guns to give you a general idea of what they look like. Earlier that summer I had stocked up on fireworks and at some point during the day we became bored with just plain garden variety firecrackers. I had the bright idea that we should make a supersize firecracker using one of our spent whippit cartridges, so for the next hour or so Pat & I peeled apart a couple of packs of firecrackers dumping the gunpowder on to a paper plate until we had a good sized pile. We then proceeded to fill up this empty metal cartridge with as much gunpowder as we could get in this thing. We then stuck one of the big long fuses from the unraveled pack of fireworks in the end of this whippit container, lit it, then ran to a safe distance to watch the explosion. Well, the whippit didn't explode...it only shot a flame out of the top for a couple of seconds and went out. We were disappointed, but wisely decided to wait a few minutes until approaching it just in case there was going to be a delayed explosion. There was no explosion, so Pat walked over and picked up the whippit cartridge and decided to toss it in the bbq grill we had going. About 30 seconds later, there was a loud explosion and Pat was on the ground cursing in pain. Apparently there was still a considerable amount of gunpowder still left in the cartridge that had not ignited on our original attempt. The resulting explosion blew shrapnel and hot coal embers into more than just the meat on the grill. I drove Pat to the hospital where they were only able to remove a few pieces of metal from his side. Most of the pieces were too small to extract and they told him that his body would naturally expel these over time. For the next several months, Pat would get these large festering zits on his side and back where most of the shrapnel had lodged and sometimes pieces would come out in the puss. He was very lucky that he had his back turned to the grill at the time of explosion and did not suffer any facial scarring or eye damage. This taught us a lesson to abandon future attempts at home-made explosives, but we continued on our partying ways until I finally graduated the following year. I lost touch with Pat, but hopefully like me he has wizened up over the years and has not made any more attempts to win a darwin award.

Submitted on 02/15/2008

Submitted by: Eric Drewes
Reference: Personal Account - August 1987

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

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>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
That's one BBQ that I'm sure Pat will never forget. Thanks for a great story, Eric!


James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
OWWWWWWWCH!!! Well, I guess that episode rather ruined the BBQ, eh?! Thanks for sharing a very painful and funny story, Eric!


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