Towering Stupidity 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
Several years after this incident, and immediately after the birth of my fourth daughter, I voluntarily removed myself from the gene pool via vasectomy (and NO I did not perform the vasectomy myself).
In my mid-twenties, I was in the process of removing an old tv-tower at my home. The 50 foot tower was set in concrete at the base, and bracked at the rear peak of my house. After cutting the lower legs to allow the tower to fall in an appropriate direction, I climbed up to the peak of the roof, secured the tower to the bracket with a c-clamp and undid the u-clamps and mounting hardware.
Carefully loosening the c-clamp, the tower remained standing as it was a calm day and it had no particular lean to it. Deciding to salvage as much of the tower as possible I tied a heavy nylon rope to it about 6 feet above the peak, walked along the roof ridge about 30 feet and gave the rope a good shake.
This was sufficient to start the tower falling, fortunately in the correct direction (away from me). As I paid out the nylon rope, when the tower reached an angle of about 60 degrees to the terrain, I felt the rate of descent was too rapid and started pulling back on the rope.
As the tower tilted further, the rope was beginning to pay out very fast, so I increased my grip. At this point, my feet began sliding along the ridge line as the tower was now at an acute angle and considerably heavier than I.
In my defense, keep in mind this occurred in a very short period of time. Before I finally let loose of the damn rope, I had been dragged to the far end of the roof ridge and had acquired enough momentum that, yes, I shot right off the peak and into the air. From a height of about 28 feet, I dropped straight down.
Fortunately, I didn't land on the tower. In fact, I landed on my feet ... sort of. One foot was on the ground, the other on our redwood picnic bench. This is not a position conducive to comfort.
The pain in my groin was so terrific, I topped over sideways, rolled over on my back and lay there, cursing softly and groaning. That was when it occurred to me that I might have broken a leg, back, ripped open my groin or ruptured myself.
Unfortunately, my wife and children were gone on a shopping trip, so after about 30 minutes I had to attempt movement on my own. Amazingly, other than a sprained ankle and some very sore ligaments, I suffered no ill effects. The tower was badly damaged however. Submitted on 08/03/2002
Submitted by:
Don W
Reference:
Personal Experience
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