Charles Darwin with a purple swarm around his head, contemplating the twist of fate that natural selection sidestepped these still-living honorable mentions.

2004 Honorable Mention

Next Prev Random Honorable Mentions have misadventures that stop short of the ultimate sacrifice. Nevertheless we salute the spirit of their colossal blunders with an Honorable Mention. Better luck next time!

A Fast Escape
2004 Honorable Mention
Confirmed True by Darwin

(5 January 2004, New York, New York) Security guards caught a 19-year-old woman who had been sneaking into offices, stealing wallets out of coat pockets. The guards locked her in a room on the tenth floor and waited for police to arrive.

The woman was desperate to escape. There was no way she could get past the guards outside the door. But she was in luck--the window opened! She-- --climbed onto the ledge,and she was free!

Far below, traffic whizzed by on 42nd Street. Was she startled by the security guards coming back into the room? Or caught off-balance by a wayward pigeon? or hoping to win a Darwin Award? She's not telling, but she fell or jumped from the ledge, landing on scaffolding eight stories below.

She lost her bid for a full Darwin, surviving the fall with several broken bones. But her escape was only temporary. She was arrested and charged with burglary before being taken to a hospital in critical condition.

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