Kenny was 16, and living in a very small town on the Gaspe coast. The town bordered a 30-foot drop to the sea. Road and houses were on one side, blue water on the other. There were no street lights or guard rails at the time, and nights were pretty dark.

One afternoon, he and two older brothers biked to a friend's house to play cards. They played until two in the morning, in a little kitchen that was lit with bright fluorescent bulbs. When they finally decided to head home, they realized they couldn't really see the road. The light of the moon just isn't as bright as those fluorescents, my dad likes to say.

Well, my dad's brothers did the sensible thing: they decided to sit and have a smoke while they waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. My dad, however, was the "smart" one of the family, and he he knew these roads like the back of his hand. He was biking home, blind or not.

Bruce called out, "Kenny, you best wait, boy. I can't see a damn thing and neither can you, I'm guessing."

My father called called back, "I'll be fine, don't ya worry."

Once again, Bruce called out, "Kenny! Don't be stupid, boy. Wait here for a few minutes. You're blind!"

My dad replied, "Don't worry, I'll be..." and, just like that, he was gone.

His brothers found him later, unconcious at the bottom of a thirty foot cliff, mere feet from the water. It seems that my father had become dissoriented in the darkness, and walked his bike toward the cliff rather than toward the road. He says that when he felt his bike go over the cliff, he let go... and then took ANOTHER STEP to see what had happened!

To this day, he still can't understand how he could've been so stupid.

This story is about my father. Ok, so he did reproduce; however I still firmly believe that he is al least eligible for an honourable mention for this one. It happened in the summer of 1965 when he was 15 pr 16 years old. My father lived in a very small town on the gaspe coast and his town pretty much boarderd a 30 foot drop to the sea: road and houses on one side, water on the other. There were also no street lights or guard rails at the time and it was pretty dark at night. Anyway, he and two of his older brothers had gone out on their bikes to a friends house to play cards one afternoon.They played until about two in the morning in a little kitchen that was lite up with bright flaurescent lights and when they finally decided to head home, they realized that they couldn't really see. (The light of the moon just isn't as bright as those flaurescent lights as my dad likes to say when he tells the story)Well, my dad's brothers did the sensible thing: they decided to sit and have a smoke while they waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. My dad however, being the "smart" one of the family decided that he knew these roads like the back of his hand and he was gonna go home right away, blind or not. His brother Bruce called out, "Kenny, you best wait boy. I can't see a damn thing and neither can you I'm guessing." My called called back, "I'll be fine boy, don't ya worry. I'll see you at home." Once again, bruce called out "Kenny, don't be stupid boy.Wait here for a few minutes, you're blind!" To which my dad replied "don't worry I'll be..." and he was gone. His brothers found hime a few hours later, unconcious at the bottom of a thirty foot cliff just a few feet from the water. It seems that my father became dissoriented in the darkness of the night and walked into the back yard rather than toward the road. As if trying to ride a bike home while temporarily blind isn't bad enough, he sais that when he felt his bike (which he was walking with at the time) go over the cliff, he let go and then took ANOTHER STEP to see what had happened! To this day he still tells that story at family parties and he cant' understand how he could've been so stupid. All I can say to this is at least he was walking and not ON the bike when he fell, otherwise he would

have definately qualified for a darwin award!

Submitted on 02/07/2007

Submitted by: Leann Day
Reference: may,1965

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Graham said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Well, this is just amazing. He almost got away! Just ONE more step is all it took. I guess you're lucky to be here today: 30 feet is a long way down

James said:
Neutral: Personal Account
The Gaspe peninsula is a part of Quebec (Canada) and considered "provincial" even by other provincials! In the end this is a rather funny and distressing story (my in-laws live in upstate NY on the shore of Lake Ontario, where it gets just as dark and the drop from backyard to rocky lakeshore) is about 30 feet, so I can certainly relate! This one spooked me as much as it made me laugh! Thanks, Leann!

Jack said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Definately an "OOPs" moment...

Chip said:
Neutral: Personal Account
Funny story! I don't think it would take THAT long for the eyes to adjust to the dark. My suspicion is that there might have been just a bit of the malt involved in that card game. Thanks for the story, Leann. Glad you are around to write it.

Shadow said:
Neutral: Personal Account
an account of one step to far... glad he is ok.

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