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Darwin Awards
2006 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
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Legos and explosives

2006 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

I have always been a pyromaniac- testing new and fun ways to play with fire and explosives. Its a wonder I made it to adulthood. One particular cloudy day, a few friends and I decided to destroy my old collection of Legos. Not being one to pass up the opportunity to blow something up, I headed for my bucket of old shotgun shell. I cut a few open and emptied the contents and collected as much gunpowder as I could. I then filled a bottle with Gasoline, grabbed a pack of matches and we all headed to the gravel pit close by, where we had built a hollow Lego castle roughly 2 feet high. I placed a line of gunpowder about 10 feet long from my "ignition" area to the castle- long enough for me to run to safety. I had emptied the rest of the powder inside the castle, then sprinkled some of the gas over the top (Intricate, i know). I handed the bottle of gas to one of my friends and headed back to the start of the powder line. I struck a match and lowered it towards the line as my friend with the bottle of gasoline leaned over my shoulder with anticipation. The initial snap and fizz as the powder ignited startled my pal with the bottle, which he dropped and spilled all over the sleeve of my shirt. The flame from the match burst alive and consumed the right side of my body, and the remainder of the gas spilled at my feet, which promptly cought fire. I managed to leap away from the blaze and tear my shirt off. I then dropped to the ground and rolled to no avail. Gas induced fire didn't seem to know the "stop-drop-n'-roll" rule! I rolled into a puddle of water seconds later and doused the flames that remained. I suffered minor burns on my right arm, hand and leg. I also managed to ruin my new shoes.

In the end, my friends and I missed the castle ignite and burn, but they did get to whitness first hand the power of natural selection- Even if I did manage to evade it... this time.

Submitted on 04/12/2006

Submitted by: Mark H
Reference: Personal experience - 1995

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

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Sheryl said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Thanks for taking the time to write up and submit the story, Mark. It never fails to amaze me why males seem to have this desire to blow things up. I quite liked your story but I'm not sure if there was enough stupidity on your behalf to qualify. It *was* your friend who dropped the bottle and you seemed to do all the right things thereafter.

James said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I think the effort was combined. Your friend enabled your communal lack of common sense. Whatever the case, I got a good laugh out of this, Mark! If you're going to submit a PA about fireworks, always go for overkill. You guys sure did! :-)

Jorge said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Goog write up!

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