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Darwin Awards
2006 Slush Pile

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

Dry Dock

2006 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

It was late fall. George decided to clean his boat (which was sitting in his front yard) and get it ready for winter. In the process, he noticed that some tubing was frozen onto the side of the boat. Giving it some thought, he decided to bring out his propane torch to defrost them. While heating up the tubing, he tripped over a rock and dropped the torch. He ran away. Nothing happened, so he timidly approached the boat. He then noticed that the flame was pointed at the (still full) fuel tank of the boat. This time he ran away even faster. BOOM!!! He ended up losing his expensive boat and burning many of the surrounding pine trees. While he was not harmed much more than having his eyebrows singed off, he could have been hurt more seriously, therefore qualifying him for an honorable mention.

This happened to my neighbor (across the street) in late 2005.

Submitted on 11/15/2006

Submitted by: Nick Aldwin
Reference: Southern NH in 2005

Copyright © 2006 DarwinAwards.com

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

Graham said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Great story, Nick and I bet it was hilarious to witness! However George's mishap was purely accidental with no evidence of stupidity involved, though I'm unsure why George would scarper when he dropped the torch. Thanks for the submission.


James said:
Maybe Toss: Personal Account
I concur with Graham! Great story, but we ALL trip over rocks every so often (carrying whatever), and the fact that George ran rather than looked on in wonderment tells me he really isn't as stupid as he is unlucky! Hope he had boat insurance! :-)


Jack said:
Neutral: Personal Account
While I agree with both Graham and James, we generally give more slack when it comes to Personal Accounts, so I'll vote to keep this. Thanks, Nick.


Chip said:
Neutral: Personal Account
I agree that this is funny enough to keep as a PA.


Shadow said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Unfortunate enough to be funny enough to stay in as a personal account.


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