Charles Darwin's Darwin Awards 
HOME
Darwin Awards
Honorable Mentions
Urban Legends
Personal Accounts
Slush Pile
2008 April Slush
DA:Priest in balloon is blown to ocean
DA:Priest Visits boss
DA:More details on the missing priest
DA:Off to heaven
DA:Sky Pilot Priest Balloon Bye Bye
Balcony jumper wanted to test himse
HM:Battered Sausage
On The Road Again
Bonfire Night
DA:Off to Heaven
(?)Four Wheel Drive
DA:DIY Pensioner Meets Shocking End
DA:Look Before You Leak
ice diving instructor misses hole
(DA)Intravenous Birdseed Man
Mr
Crushed crooks
Vibrator, blender and bathtube
(?)Pedestrian Killed on Barlow Trail
(?)cutting up gas tank
A "Hot" Idea.
Beer, baseball, and an escalator
Crank it up a little Virgil
DA:A Screw Loose...
He wasn´t the Hulk...
No balls No brains
Huntingdon Man Shoots Himself in L
battered and bruised member
Guns are not effective bee killers
Boys Will Be Boys
Chloroform and Sex Don't Mix
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
Teen sneaks out, plunges 11 floors
blasted dog
Skateboarder Crashes into Bus
no through road my ass
Train hits man peeing on track
Police: Man dies in freak accident
Teens, Bonfire and Gas
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
Older Slush 
 
~ Random Story ~
Newsletter
Gift Shop
Rules  Search
Contact Darwin
Submit a Story
Philosophy Forum
Home

  

Darwin Awards
2008 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

DIY Pensioner Meets Shocking End

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Darwin says, "Accepted into the Archive."


ORIGINAL SUBMISSION:

A 71-year-old pensioner from Bedee in the Brittany region of France met a shocking end when a sneaky attempt to wire up his garden shed to the French version of the National Grid backfired spectacularly.

The gentleman was trying to add some lighting to his shed to be able to do some work during the winter months, and opened up a major junction box at the front of his house (illegally) to hard wire a power cable to his garden shed.

Unfortunately for this poor chap, he attempted to do all this during a major downpour, and the fatal result was all too predictable. He was fried immediately and declared dead at the scene.

Lessons to learn:

1 - Don't try to hardwire your garden shed to a local substation. 2 - Don't even try to attempt (1) if it's raining!

BOTH MEDIA REFERENCES IDENTICAL:
www.rennes.maville.com
www.ouest-france.fr

(Translated by Google)
A retired Bedee s'electrocute with a high-voltage line

A man aged 71 was electrocuted this morning around noon by a high-voltage line near his home in Bedee near Rennes. The intervention of Samu was of no use. The retiree appears to be killing him. The circumstances of the accident have not yet been determined.

Submitted on 04/15/2008

Submitted by: John Gray
Reference: Ouest France - Tuesday 26Feb08 - Un retraité de Bédée s'électrocute avec une ligne à haute tension

Copyright © 2008 DarwinAwards.com

Great? 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Awful?
Love it! Hate it!
>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
This is a bit above the typical idiot-playing-with-electricity story so I'll vote to keep it. Thanks, John!


James said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
Sure, why not run the garden shed straight off the power grid...and during a rainstorm, yet, even!! This definitely goes above and beyond the usual electro-stupidity and merits full DA consideration! Thanks, John!


$5 Darwin Fish.
6" x 2.25" Silver Emblem like those commonly seen on cars
only way sexier. A cute fish, floating belly-up, illustrating
the mechanism of natural selection. Minimum order is 2.
  

Slush Pile
Slush Pile Rejects


Advanced Search

HomeRulesFAQsAwardsSlushSite Map
DarwinAward | HonorableMention | PersonalAccount | UrbanLegend