Darwin says, "Accepted into the Archive."

It was a warm summer day in NJ when a friend and I were out for a walk at a near by lake. He is a school teacher by day but also dabbles in photography, as a hobby. he had his camera with him and was taking various "nature" shots. The lake sits next to rail road tracks and trains often fly by as they move folks up and down the NJ coast line (about every 15 min one passes). We are both in our mid 30's and we have known each other for most of our lives. As we walked we were reminiscing about old times and telling funny stories from our youth. As kids, we spent many summer days fishing at the lake and occasionally would put things like rocks, pennies, etc on the train tracks and would then take cover as the train zoomed by and annihilated the objects. As we came around a part of the lake that is very close to the tracks, my friend had the bright idea to relive his youth by putting a few stones on the tracks and then take a photo as the train ran them over... an "action shot" as he referred to it. I insisted that it was a bad idea but he pressed the issue and proceeded to place several fist sized stones on the rail. I told him that I wanted nothing to do with the stunt and I walked a good 100 yards away as he sat in wait about 20 yards from the tracks, camera ready. It was no longer than 5 min when I heard the train coming down the track. I watched as he crouched down and put the camera to his face. As the train flew by, I saw my friend fall flat on his back. I immediately knew what had happened. Just what I thought was going to happen! The train shattered the stones and a piece of one flew straight toward him and hit him in the face. I ran to his side as he laid there spitting out blood. The stone had hit him right in the mouth and knocked out two of his teeth. Now with Broken teeth, lips bleeding and a look of sheer horror and surprise on his face, I couldn't help but laugh. I warned him of the stupidity that he was so eager to take part in but my concerns were put aside for the sake of the "shot". "Well, did you at least get the shot?" I asked (which was my sarcastic way of saying I told you so). He just looked at me as if he wanted to kill me. When he finally developed the film he found that he had captured an "action shot" all right, just not the one that he had expected. It was simply a blurred picture of the top of the train and the sky above it. I'm guessing he snapped it as he fell backwards. I told him that he should put the photo up in his class room along with a picture of his two broken teeth and a sign explaining the dangers of playing on and\or around train tracks. It scares the lights out of me to think that this man is a roll model for the future generations of our society! Not a DA but funny story none the less.

Submitted on 04/16/2007

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: PA

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
I concur entirely!! Somehow, kids have guardian angels of sorts who protect them while they put pennies on the track, &c (I did that all the time). When one is grown, however, it's suddenly payback time and those same guardian angels will see to it that you pay back for all those free good times...with interest! A well-told story which IMO will bring a laugh to one and all!

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Thanks for the great story! You're right to be concerned about this fellow teaching the next generation. Hopefully he'll take your suggestion of posting the pictures in his classroom to heart!

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