Pending Review
Up in Skies, down with suffocation
Historical Darwin Awards are pretty rare because what may seem stupid now may not be dumb then and usually what happened then can be common now. But history can produce a good Darwin Award.
200 to 300 years ago, alot of people especially French people were intrigued in ballooning. One dude was borderline blinded by this fascinating past time. The year of 1899 yielded a fabulous darwin award. One man was setting up a balloon ride. But with technical hiccups, he wasn't ballooning at the time he wanted. Like a petulant child, he completely disregarded common sense and he set off without a basket and without the ballast. He held onto the circle that connects the ropes. Going too fast, he passed out and fell. He died... of stupidity.
Article translation: "Aerostation accidents have become extremely frequent for some time; just recently, in beuzeville, an unfortunate man was killed. it was on the occasion of the fete de beuzeville that a balloon had been inflated which, after a loss of gas, could not be removed at the agreed time. Night had come, it was half past nine; the aeronaut still wanted to keep his commitment; this scruple cost him his life. He set off without a basket and without ballast, clinging to the circle which unites the ropes. The ascent was extremely rapid; it is likely that he was suffocated and passed out; still he fell and died near a farm not far from ‘in right where he had left."
I'd argue that this is worthy of a darwin award because I've never heard of someone ever going without a basket.
Link for the article: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k716340m/f7.item.zoom
Link for the beautiful artwork depicting this stupid event: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k716340m/f8.item.zoom
Submitted on 05/20/2021
Submitted by:
John3ofpr3
Reference: