One of the boys carried sticks of dynamite and detonators, while his buddy carried the electric initiator plunger box and detonation cord.

The boys were seen wondering about the site by a farmer taking a break and sipping coffee from a flask, but thought nothing of the boys, as it was the normal thing that pubescent teenagers explored their surroundings, often on occasion falling foul of the law searched in places they should not. In one part of the site was a large building, open at one end and a long tube, perhaps 50 feet protruding upright from the roof, with an extractor fan at the top. The boys were seen to enter the building with the tube or chimney and some few minutes later some smallish explosions were heard.

The farmer was just finishing his cigarette, and about to turn away and clamber aboard his tractor when he saw something red like mince meat being ejected from the fan atop the steel chimney. Then he heard the sound of dynamite going off and a huge thud as the meat entered the atmosphere to spread moments later all around the building.

The farmer drove to his farmhouse and dialed 911. Upon the arrival of the police, and shortly after an ambulance, there was found one youth sitting amongst a collection small, stubbly sliced pieces of dynamite and detonators.

The boys though it would be fun to place the small cut pieces of explosive in an thick steel tube and shoot rocks up the tube come chimney, when one of the boys thought its would be fun to sit on a round 7 ply and see how far he could shoot himself up the chimney. He climbed up the ladder outside of the chimney and dropped a now secured and many knotted (a knot every foot) hemp rope down the inside to tie round himself, should he plunge down too fast he could grasp the rope.

Both boys prepared the dynamite and placed one third size stick into the thick steel tube and pushed a detonator and its cord ready to fire.

The boy sat on the 7 ply wood, rested on some bricks and both boys counted down from ten to the magic moment. Boom! The boy shot up the chimney like a rocket. However, the shock-wave had shaken the breaker handle that started the fan to the on position, and, by the time the misjudged prime had ejected the youth to the top at great speed, the fan was whirring also at great speed. The boy overshot his hoped height and through the fan blades he went.

The police deemed the event misadventure and did not charge the remaining boy, preferring this a lesson too unfortunately learned.

From the 1960's

Submitted on 01/26/2014

Submitted by: Polly Brown
Reference: My father related this many years ago. Possble tall story

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Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Urban Legend
Thanks, Polly, but this sounds like an excellent example of an urban legend to me. Launching oneself "like a rocket" with pieces of dynamite simply does not happen, especially when just sitting on layers of plywood. Thanks just the same.

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: Urban Legend
Rockets work the way they do because the results of the explosion are confined and directed. While blowing up dynamite under oneself could result in chunky salsa, it would be the direct result of the explosion, not from being blasted into a moving fan. I'm inclined to agree with Bruce. If you can find a newspaper article or obituary or such, you can scan it, post it online, and resubmit the story with a link to it. Thanks, and submit again!

James said:
Definitely Keep: Urban Legend
I am going to keep this one as an Urban Legend on the outside chance that there may be substantiating evidence out there! Thanks, Polly, and anything else you might send in proving this one a true story would be appreciated!

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