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Darwin Awards
2005 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Grandma with ballhead

2005 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

I am an Orthopedic Technician working for a hospital for burns in Germany. I produce compression stockings and clothes for the treatment of burns and scars. In Februar 2000 I was called to tread a patient, who was a tiny little grandma, who had nearly no hairs on her head and burned hands up to the elbows. While taking the measures which I needed for my job, I asked her how it resulted in the combustion. She told, that two weeks ago in her living room still the christmastree has been standing, with two miracle candles at that she wanted to burn before she wanted to clear away the tree. And so happened, what had to happen - the very dry tree caught fire. In her fear she wanted to bring the tree right across the room onto the balcony. When she arrived with the tree there, she noted, that it did not fit through the door. Now the whole living room was burning. Realizing not getting through the door, she tried to bring the burning tree into the kitchen by dragging it along behind herselve. A water faucet with which she wanted to extinguish the tree was in the kitchen. When she arrived there she realized, that the tree didn't fit under it. Now the kitchen was burning too. And she also had a big life threatening problem. Her kitchen was very narrow. Through that that she dragged along the tree behind herselve, it barred her now the exit. She had to wait, until the tree was burned down to get out. She finaly maid it. Her appartment was completely ruined, but she went out of this situation only by loosing her hair, which came back, and with some small scares at her hands. (Please excuse the bad translation - I have no problems with changes, that have to be done)

Submitted on 10/16/2005

Submitted by:
Reference: Februar, 2000

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Great? 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Awful?
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>> Moderator Scores <<

Sheryl said:
Neutral: Other
I smiled at this one, although it seems more a case of panic rather than stupidity. I'm staying neutral on this and I'll let the other Moderators comment on it.

James said:
Maybe Toss: Other
I too got a chuckle out of it, but I rather feel sorry for the little old lady! They often do forget the basic fire safety rules! I agree that she probably panicked. Anyway, I'm glad she's OK. Thanks for submitting!

Greg said:
Maybe Toss: Other
Bless her! I feel sorry for her too. I can just see her panicking. I bet she won't light any candles next year! She ought to get an HM or a PA maybe, but I can't bring myself to do it to her, even though she'll probably never know. If this was a 30-something, s/he would be straight in there! ;-)

Jack said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Interestingly enough, we got a very similar story, "Christmas Tree Explosion" on Jan 26, 05. In fact, the earlier story combined with this one makes me think that this is a legitimate follow-up to the earlier story, so I'm passing the submission along to Wendy for Darwin's Eyes.

Tracy said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Hi - it's amusing, because I can picture the panic!

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