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2008 April Slush
DA:Priest in balloon is blown to ocean
DA:Priest Visits boss
DA:Off to heaven
DA:More details on the missing priest
DA:Sky Pilot Priest Balloon Bye Bye
Balcony jumper wanted to test himse
Bonfire Night
HM:Battered Sausage
On The Road Again
(?)Four Wheel Drive
DA:Look Before You Leak
ice diving instructor misses hole
DA:DIY Pensioner Meets Shocking End
(DA)Intravenous Birdseed Man
Crushed crooks
Vibrator, blender and bathtube
Mr
(?)Pedestrian Killed on Barlow Trail
DA:A Screw Loose...
(?)cutting up gas tank
Chloroform and Sex Don't Mix
Beer, baseball, and an escalator
Crank it up a little Virgil
He wasn´t the Hulk...
No balls No brains
Huntingdon Man Shoots Himself in L
battered and bruised member
A "Hot" Idea.
Guns are not effective bee killers
Boys Will Be Boys
Man dies from mercury poisoning aft
In over his head...
Drunken Idiot Falls from moving SUV
A New Take on Car Surfing
Groin ... groin ... gone
Irish Bomb Expert
toasted Grenade
Possible Copper Theft Leads to Elec
Snakeskin Bracelet
Electrocuted stealing live wires
Man accidentally shoots self in che
DA:Off to Heaven
Teen sneaks out, plunges 11 floors
blasted dog
no through road my ass
Train hits man peeing on track
Police: Man dies in freak accident
Teens, Bonfire and Gas
Skateboarder Crashes into Bus
Banned for Life
A+B+C=almost DA idiocy.
Parrot rescue ends in disaster
Man runs himself over with U-Haul.
Caution: Flammable Material
See how fast I can go!
Jumping From Bridge To Train
Now promoted to higher position
Drunken Construction Worker Death
Thief burnt to death
Tree Ride Gone Wrong
Drunk Motorbike riding ends "split"
Man killed by 11,000 volts
man falls into mt st helens
I dare you to jump
Reach out and touch a tree
Fatal Boat Party Tragedy
Stuck for a 'pee'?
The Campout Pyro
Racine man dies while climbing at w
Detonator's Radio
Bubba's Electrical Service
Earth Day Gone Wrong
Man drowned after jumping into lake
Cuddling with the crocodiles
Blown Lung
heat sink fire
virginal birth - NOT
Shock Therapy for Thief
The Eye and the Testicles
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Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

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Tree Ride Gone Wrong

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

I work with a guy on a paving crew. One day we were paving a road going up the side of a mountain. This guy - we'll call him Gary - saw a tree over the drop off and decide to try a trick he used to do as a kid. It was "tree riding" - the fine art of jumping into the top of a small tree growing over a steep bank, and riding it down as the tree bends from the weight, letting go at the moment just before you hit the grond & letting the tree spring back into place. Since he was larger now (about 180 lbs), he decided he would need to try a larger tree. Soon he spotted what he thought to be the perfect specimen. He climbed down off his equipment, asked a fellow worker to borrow his gloves, ran to the gaurdrail, climbed over it, and yelled "Hey, watch this!" (I swear he said it - famous last words, right?) He jumped out over the drop off towards the top of a branchless tree at little taller that a telephone pole and about the same thickness at the bottom. He reached the top of the tree as planned, but that was the end of the as planned part. He grasped the top of the tree, but the tree didn't give - at all. he went out from the tree sideways, lost his grip, ans slid down the tree considerably faster than he reached it. We all watched in wonder as he dropped to the ground pretty far down the bank, impacted the ground with tremendous force, then continued to roll a ways down the side of the mountain. Thankfully, nothing was seriously damaged except his pride. He managed to make it back up to the top somehow, and began to inspect hios wounds. The bark of the tree had removed a good portion of the skin from his right arn from the wrist to the elbow. A lage rock he landed on left a huge bruise that stretched from his waist to his underarm. A beer bottle his knee crushed left two cuts on his need that would eventually need stitches. as we were all laughing at his extreme stupidity, he laughed and said "Maybe I should've picked a bigger tree. That one didn't have any give to hit. I'll find a good one tomorrow." Ahh.. nothing like a good laugh at work.

Submitted on 04/12/2008

Submitted by: Steve M.
Reference: Self

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

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James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Thanks, Steve! Maybe someone should have applied some hot tar to his wounds to remind him to "get back to work"! :-) A very funny PA!


Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Just a normal work day, right! Very funny story, Steve. Thanks.


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