2000 Honorable Mentions

Although the stupidity displayed in the following tales stops short of the ultimate sacrifice, we salute the spirit and innovation shown in these misadventures.

Stubborn Stains   2000 Honorable Mention Confirmed True by Darwin (3 June 1998, Minnesota) For more than half a century, TV and radio commercials have offered clever suggestions on how to tackle tough cleaning jobs. However, one domestic innovator managed to demolish more than just stubborn stains when he decided to wash with gasoline. Robert, 29, filled the bathtub in his small West St Paul apartment with gasoline, but was understandably bothered by the fumes. That's when he had his second bad idea of the day. He tried to cover the smell with a selection of lit candles and incense. When firefighters arrived at the scene of the explosion, they found that the apartment windows blown out, and the internal walls were shifted and weakened so badly that they were forced to evacuate the entire building. Robert himself, at the epicenter of the blast, was not as badly injured as you might expect. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition with severe burns, but was expected to pull through. His child, who was also in the apartment at the time of the blast, escaped unharmed -- proving that Robert's DNA is possibly the toughest stain of all. DarwinAwards.com © 1994 - 2009 Submitted by: Paul HarleQ, Kevin Jones, The Roger & Susan Glad Family, Robert Jacobi Reference: Associated Press Awful? 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Great? Hate it! Love it!

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