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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

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

I think I forgot something...

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Carl McCunn (1946 - 1981) was a Texan who, in March 1981, paid a bush pilot to drop him at a remote lake near the Coleen River in Alaska, on the southern margin of the Brooks Range, to photograph wildlife.

McCunn flew in with 500 rolls of film, 1,400 pounds of provisions, two rifles and a shotgun, but had not arranged for the pilot to pick him up again in August. He prematurely disposed of boxes of shotgun shells in the river; used the wrong emergency hand signals to a plane that had spotted him and waved the plane off; and waited too long in the season to attempt to walk out.

In February 1982 Alaska State Troopers found his body, emaciated and frozen as hard as stone, along with a 100-page diary that documented his demise. He wrote "I think I should have used more foresight about arranging my departure." Rather than starve, McCunn had shot himself in the head.

Submitted on 03/02/2008

Submitted by: Brandi
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_McCunn

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

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>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Maybe Toss: Other
I'm torn about this. The Wikipedia article is very brief, but the New York Times article it links to provides quite a bit more detail about this man. It says he was a wildlife photographer and had spent 5 months in a remote part of Alaska prior to this, so this wasn't the first time he had done something like this. After months of isolation like that I have to wonder about his state of mind. His diary showed he knew he hadn't arranged for somebody to come get him and he knew he could hike 75 miles to a town, yet he didn't. Since he was apparently aware of his predicament and knew of a way to get out of it I'm left to wonder if he suffered mental problems or if he was suicidal, so I'm inclined to toss this. Let's see what the others have to say. Thanks for sending this in, Brandi.


James said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
Actually, I rather like it and based on the evidence, it does seem to qualify (though I will give Bruce the benefit of a doubt and vote neutral). For one thing, he did not seem to have a pre-existing mental/medical condition, and apparently entered into this venture willingly and presumably in sound mind. If he went mad after the fact, then he and only he is to blame for that! Half a ton of provisions should have easily seen him through his stay. Whatever happened, he did remove himself from the gene pool...Thanks, Brandi!


Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Not often do we see a historical Award candidate as this one is. Thanks for the story, Brandi


Jorge said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Planned everything except the exit. I think it is solid DA material


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